2000 AD - October 1984.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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I said I'd be back.

And I am.

But I'm not the only one.

Because we're about to dive into October 1984, and that month's cinematic claim to fame is it was then that The Terminator first smashed, drove and exploded his way into our cinemas. How we gasped as he chased Sarah Connor around for 100 minutes and then got squashed.

But he wasn't the only mechanical marvel making his debut. For, verily, it was also the month in which the first episode of Thomas the Tank Engine hit our TV screens.

Thomas or Terminator? Who'd win a fight between the pair?

Sadly, we shall never know, as it seems Hollywood will never get round to making the meeting we all demand.

But, speaking of things that can't be done without the aid of technology, October was the month in which Kathryn D Sullivan became the first American woman to perform a spacewalk, thanks to the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Things, however, were far less rosy on the planet below, as the BBC's Michael Buerk told us all of a famine in Ethiopia which threatened to kill up to ten million people.

Matters of life and death were also hitting India, as its Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh security guards, sparking anti-Sikh riots that left 10-20,000 dead in Delhi and surrounding areas.

When it came to the UK singles chart, just two records ruled the roost, that month. They were Stevie Wonder's seemingly interminable I Just Called to Say I Love You which then, finally, lost its top spot to Freedom by Wham!

Over on the British album chart, it was U2's The Unforgettable Fire that reigned supreme at the month's inception. That was then deposed by Big Country's Steeltown before that too was deposed by Paul McCartney's Give My Regards to Broad Street. That album proving to be more successful than the movie that spawned it.

But what of the galaxy's greatest comic? Could it match the drama of all those real-world events?

I've no doubt it made a serious stab at it, thanks to strips involving Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Ace Trucking Co, Rogue Trooper and Tharg's Future-Shocks.

But of most interest was a brand new strip called The Hell Trekkers starring someone called Banjo Quint and brought to us by Alan Grant, John Wagner and Horacio Lalia. Tragically, I possess no recollection of it and, so, can offer no opinions on whether it was an offering that was worth the read.