Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Needless to say, of those, Piranha II is the one I'd opt to watch if forced to make a choice. And I do believe it was James Cameron's first full-length feature as a director. So, there's a bit of history in the making, for you.
Jim Starlin's Dreadstar gets its first-ever issue and it's under the Epic imprint which the cover blurb writer's clearly decided is big news.
Bill Sienkiewicz gives us a typically memorable cover, for a double-sized issue in which a man's sanity snaps and he decides to become an Anti-Moon Knight while also running to become Mayor of New York.
Meanwhile, here's a cover that guarantees I'll never want to play with a Rom action figure again, now that I know it's got an animated corpse inside it.
Frank Miller provides an enigmatic cover for Wolverine's third issue, as Yukio kills Asano, forcing our hero to recognise her treachery, and set out to do something about it.
Conan too gets his own annual. This is his seventh, which means that, curiously, he's had more than Captain America, despite that character having been a Marvel stalwart for far longer.
If there's anything I don't like on the cover of a super-hero comic, it's a photo and, this issue, we get exactly that from Eliot R Brown. Still, at least he had the sense to turn the lights out when he took it.
Surprisingly, it's taken until 1982 for Star Wars to get its second annual. And, when it does, it does so with an air of mystery, for I know naught of its contents.
Having said that, I've never read it.
However, from what the internet tells me, Oedi's origin is recapped, as Dreadstar and his crew steal a big satellite. Frankly, I don't have a clue who Oedi is nor why Dreadstar wants a satellite. But it's by Jim Starlin. So, I'm sure it's all worth a read.
It's another one I've never read but, if the Serpent Cult's involved, I'm going to assume the Serpent Crown can't be far behind.
But wait. Does this mean Rom's technically a cyberman?
I must confess I've no clue what happens in this annual, other than what's depicted on the cover. I believe the villain may be called Stardust. Whether this is a tribute to Ziggy or Alvin, I cannot say.
Then again, it could be a tribute to the David Essex film of that name. Who can know?
In this one, the Contemplator gathers four men who've worn the mantle of Captain America, then sends them to an alternate world where someone called Adam II has seized control and turned all human beings into cyborgs.
I know little of the contents but can guess that magic, monsters and maidens are involved. I do know, though, that the yarn within is entitled Red Shadows and Black Kraken! and adapts a tale by L Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter.
For a moment, I thought Vizzie and Scarletty were up against Thoth Amon but it seems they're facing someone called the Living Druid.
After moving into a new house, the pair take delivery of an ancient tome from which emerges someone called Samhain who then mutates several trick-or-treaters into villains and has them attack our heroes.
Meanwhile, Robert Frank arrives, claiming he's Wanda's father.
Yet again.
Tragically, I don't know anything about this issue's contents, other than that they're called Alison Blaire, This Is Your Life.
Inside, Dracula's back and demanding Storm aid him in obtaining the Darkhold.
But that's when a dark and sinister Kitty intervenes.
It would appear that, when the death deities of various pantheons band together, they accidentally release Demogorge, a wrongdoer who feeds on gods.
However, I do know it's drawn by Carmine Infantino and written by David Michelini.
And features Star Wars characters.
20 comments:
Wonderful!Was havin' fun in '82, being 10 y/o and all ...
That Thor annual talks about showing us a map of Asgard for the first time.
But there was a Lee & Kirby map in Journey Into Mystery Annual #1 that includes an arrow pointing to a shopping centre.
To be found at (for example, and I did try looking in PPOC first) https://fuckyeahfictionalmaps.tumblr.com/post/5853554991/thors-asgard-from-journey-into-mystery-annual-1/amp
Hmm. Han Solo here looks more like the crap Han Solo in the crap Han Solo film ‘Solo’ than he does Harrison Ford.
Also, can anyone shed any light on the ROM thing?! I also thought he was a cybernaut type thing.
If memory serves, the Space Knight armour was permanently grafted on to human (or rather Galadorian) flesh. I seem to remember, in the story in which Firefall's armour was grafted onto a human criminal, his death was required to remove the armour. This might be wrong, though. I'd have to check!
Phillip
The first ever UK singles chart was a Top 12 published in the NME dated November 14th 1952 so it's the 70th anniversary of the UK singles chart!
Today, November 14th, is exactly 100 years since the BBC started broadcasting!
Colin, those are indeed noteworthy facts. Happy birthday to the BBC. And, also, to the UK singles chart.
Matthew and Phillip. I always assumed Rom was a man who'd had his consciousness uploaded into a robot. It never occurred to me that he was basically Outer Space Iron Man.
Super-Duper ToyBox, comics were definitely at their peak whenever it was that we happened to be ten.
Dangermash, I wonder if the map in this Thor annual also includes a shopping centre?
STEVE, ET AL.
Congrats to 100 years of the BBC Radio. Whilst on the treadmill this evening I tuned in to BBC America and they spent a good 5 minutes on that! Arthur Burrows (SP?) apparently read the news for the first "event" and said it was the most physically demanding thing that could be asked of a human (thereabouts.)
In Chicago, WGN went online around March 2022 and the other "50,000 Watt Monkey" WLS AM went online in 1924.
But they played nowhere near the prominent role the BBC seemed to in the life of the UK.
Washington DC, itself, didn't have any nationwide radio influence as far as I know.
Who were the 4 Captain Americas???
Steve Rogers, the 1950s Cap and Bucky... who else???
Lastly, but for Judge Dredd and Marvel UKs Captain Britain, is it fair to say that the UK did not have any "men in tights?"
If not, has anyone posited why not?
Just curious b/c Charlie is sitting in on a presentation tomorrow by Damien MacDonald who wrote the just-released "An Anatomy of Comics." He is going to focus on the French comic book scene.
But the French don't have any "men in tights" either.
Cheers All!
No men in tights, Charlie? You're forgetting the Brits had Robin Hood.
Steve, you've got to give it to Judo Jim Starlin - fifty years ago he was just breaking into comics with pisspoor covers for Marvel's British reprint division, and within ten years he was one of their top creatives, the obvious guy to start off a new creator-owned imprint, having already written and drawn two of the first three 'Marvel Graphic Novels'.
I wonder if he was a bit burnt out getting there, because Dreadstar was disappointing.
Being the start of the Epic imprint is the most notable thing about the comic. Although the line got off to an iffy start - I think the next title was Steve Englehart's Coyote, which wasn't that interesting either - it did eventually give us the brilliant Marshall Law, Elektra: Assassin, Stray Toasters, and Plastic Forks.
So well done Marvel for actually letting the writers and artists control and own their work, as we got some great comics to read out of it. I doubt they'll do that again any time soon though.
-sean
Cover of the month is obviously Moon Knight #25. I suspect we'll continue to see the series in this feature for the rest of Sienkiewicz's run.
Steve, I know what you mean about photo covers, although I can't help but think using them might have worked better on Dazzler if they'd tried one with nipple clamps...
-sean
Btw Charlie, besides the 50s Commie Smasher era there were also post-war Captain America appearances from the late 40s that needed to be explained away, eg All-Winners Comics.
The Patriot and the Spirit of'76 were both replacement Caps.
-sean
Dredd didn’t wear tights.
He wore leather.
Charlie, there were some British superheroes in The Invaders - I wasn't a fan of that series but there was a British superhero called Union Jack and his daughter was a superhero called Spitfire I think.
I completely forgot to mention that yesterday, November 14th, was also the 74th birthday of King Charles - and it was his first birthday as King to boot. If His Madge reads Steve Does Comics (and why wouldn't he?) he's probably a bit miffed we forgot the big day so we humbly apologise, sir, and please don't send Steve to the Tower of London!
Charlie - Marvel does have a French superhero, in Peregrine (or is it Le Peregrine?) He was in 'Contest of Champions'.
Phillip
No-one else here recalls masked British crimefighter King Cobra, from the Hotspur?
Or Nick Jolly, the Flying Highwayman?
https://downthetubes.net/comic-creator-spotlight-the-art-of-ron-smith-part-three-the-hotspur-mark-ii-1970-to-1980/
And come on, what about Marvelman?
Or Miracleman? I mean Mick Anglo's original Miracleman there (although funnily enough he was adapted from some earlier Marvelman strips) -
www.internationalhero.co.uk/m/mircman.htm
-sean
Is there a British superhero anywhere whose name doesn't sound like a beer?
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