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And I was probably doing it more than ever in May 1984, as his latest film The Temple of Doom hit the world's cinemas.
No doubt, generating far more heat and light than even sixteen candles ever could, the month also witnessed an explosion at the Soviets' Severomorsk Naval Base, which destroyed two-thirds of the missiles stored for the nation's Northern Fleet. Western military experts described it as the worst naval disaster the Soviets had suffered since World War 2.
Rather more harmlessly, May also saw the introduction of Australia's one-dollar coin.
Back in the Old World, Liverpool beat Roma 5-2 on penalties to become European champions for the fourth time in seven years
When it came to the UK singles chart, just two songs held sway that month. The first was Duran Duran's The Reflex which topped the chart for May's first three weeks before being dethroned by Wham!'s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.
Meanwhile, the British album chart was topped by just 2 LP's. The first was Various Artists' Now That's What I Call Music 2, while the second was Bob Marley's Legend.
Speaking of music, nightmare horror broke out across the continent when Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden. Amazingly, the track went on to become a top ten hit in five different countries.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?
As so often, it was serving up a diet of Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Tharg's Future-Shocks, Sláine and D.R. & Quinch.
However, there were innovations, with Prog 370 presenting a tale called The Art of Advertising, while Progs 368-369 unveiled a strip that bore the enigmatic name of Maze Dumoir.
I had no idea what 'Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley' was Steve, so I looked it up on Youtube. Which is something I certainly won't be doing again next time I read about a song I'm not familiar with in one of your posts.
ReplyDeleteIt was like Bucks Fizz if they'd been three fellas, only worse.
Slaine and DR & Quinch are only in the first prog here, so theres a bit of a drop in the level of thrill power after that, although not for too long as fortunately the Moore droid returns with a zarjaz new series in a couple of months.
Maze Dumoir was a light and fairly enjoyable two-parter about an intergalactic secret agent with the rather un-2000AD characteristic of being female, who visually resembled Halo Jones. Mainly thats because she was drawn by Ian Gibson, which makes me wonder if the story was some sort of try out.
I think it was the last work Alan Hebden - the reliably entertaining writer of Meltdown Man and Major Easy - did for the progs.
-sean
It’s been sooo long since i thought about george michael in pink hot shorts and tube stockings with Wham! Thanks Steve!
ReplyDeleteCan one assume the Dredd artists moonlighted drawing the stickers in Odd Rods and Wacky Packages?
ReplyDeleteI can't recall Maze Dumoir and a quick online catch up suggests I probably skipped these issues. The Gibson art is quite nice (as Sean mentioned, very Halo Jones) but I wonder if these were originally intended for another vehicle. They seem a bit off-tone for 2000AD, with the girl somewhat scantily dressed throughout. Not a direction 2000AD usually went.
ReplyDeleteSixteen Candles is John Hughes directorial debut, and very much within his usual coming of age oeuvre. Not sure if Steve already knows this and is simply messing with us ;-)
DW
Have Hughes' films aged well? Have they withstood the test of time?
ReplyDeleteI dunno anymore. I can't watch 'em. Now that I'm middle-aged, teenagers seem like aliens to me now. Even teenagers from when I was one.
It seems to be retroactive. I'm becoming a cranky old bastard retroactively, backwards in time.
"Goddam Neandertal punks! Get that dead wooly mammoth offa my yard! Don't make me come outta my cave!"
M.P.
Sean, I was hoping the phrase, "nightmare horror," would be a warning that Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley isn't the greatest of songs.
ReplyDeleteSean and DW, Thanks for the Maze Dumoir info.
DW, thanks for the Sixteen Candles info.
Matthew, I'd say the Dredd, "Vote for Dave," cover is my favourite of the ones above.
You're welcome, Anonymous.
MP, I've just looked at John Hughes' filmography on Wikipedia and have to confess he's managed the remarkable feat of never having made a film I like.
Steve, our American friends won't understand what "four candles" refers to!
ReplyDeleteUnlike Sean, I do remember Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley which was Sweden's first Eurovision winner since ABBA exactly ten years before. And the UK's Eurovision entry in 1984 was Love Games by Belle & The Devotions who all sported beehive hairdos.
Duran Duran's The Reflex is a masterpiece, isn't it (yes it is)...
The Refle-fle-fle-fle-fle-flex...
You're right Steve, you did give a bit of a trigger warning about Diggi-Wtf, and I only have myself to blame. When I take over the planet I'll let you off lightly.
ReplyDeleteDW, What do mean 'scantily-clad' wasn't a direction 2000AD generally went in? Slaine often didn't wear much...
Seriously though, bearing in mind the changes Ian Gibson's work went through, Maze Dumoir was obviously drawn around this point, so I'm not sure where you think it might have been intended to appear?
I guess the script could have been on file for a few years, and intended for Misty, or Tornado, or whatever.
But it seems more likely to me that it was written for the 2000AD. Probably Tharg wanted to try a series with a female lead - in itself a new direction for the progs - but after Hebden wrote a couple of episodes he decided Alan Moore was probably a better bet for come up with something that would appeal to the long-term reader.
Which seems reasonable. I liked Hebden's stuff well enough back then - Meltdown Man, El Mestizo, Mind Wars - but he didn't quite have the edge or depth of a Mills or Wagner, let alone Moore.
-sean
*for coming up
ReplyDeleteApologies for the typo.
And for going on a bit there about 2000AD stuff hardly anyone is really interested in.
Allow me to make up for that, and leave a link for the live stream of the solstice sun rise at Stonehenge tomorrow morning. Now theres a bit of excitement for you all.
Starts at 4.00 BST -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YelR5j0SKQM
-sean
Steve
ReplyDeleteYou didn't like 16 Candles where, against the odds, poor Molly Ringwood made it into the cool group? Or Pretty in Pink where, against the odds, poor Molly Ringwood made it into the cool group? Or Breakfast Club where, against the odds, cool Molly Ringwood made it into the poor group? What about Some Kind of Wonderful where, against the odds, poor Eric Stoltz made it into the cool group only to move back to the poor group? Molly Ringwood was offered the Mary Stuart Masterson role (poor group) but turned it down. Not sure why.
DW
Sean
ReplyDeleteI vaguely recall Gibson mentioning, in an interview, that he did a bit of work for a foreign publisher (possibly Scandinavian). I wonder whether this was done on spec for that market, and 2000AD purchased it prior to commencing Halo Jones to test the water. Hebden may simply have re-scripted in English. Having just looked at these issues online, they publish a letter querying the lack of a lead female character and announce the forthcoming Halo Jones, in reply. I get the sense they were a bit concerned how the strip would sit with heir traditional teenage boy readership. Probably correctly given the first Halo book wasn't spectacularly well received.
Maze Dumoir seems a bit too Benny Hill for 2000AD. As I mentioned I had no recollection of the story, or any mention of it. Given Gibson's standing post Halo, I'm surprised it was never mentioned or considered for continuation. Particularly once it became obvious that Halo wasn't going to continue.
DW
I guess its all speculation DW. Fwiw, Hebden wrote the first series with a female lead in the progs, Death Planet - I think it was the only one before Maze/Halo? - and that didn't seem very 2000AD either (even though back then what qualified as thrill power was a bit more up for grabs).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, plenty of opportunity to consider the whys and wherefores of Halo Jones after next month's post.
On the subject of Moore though, Saga of the Swamp Thing #24 came out this month, the one with the Justice League in it.
Probably the only time the Flash was ever even slightly interesting.
As far as I'm aware, I have never seen a film with Molly Ringworm in it...
-sean