December 1982 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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

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This month in 1982 was a bad one for all lovers of family-friendly Swedish pop that mixes singalong tunes with Nordic angst, as ABBA made their final public appearance, on the British TV programme The Late, Late Breakfast Show.

That was a broadcast I remember watching. I have a feeling that, as well as interviewing the quartet, it played the videos for both The Day Before You Came and Head Over Heels.

But it was a bad month for human beings in general, as Time magazine's Man of the Year title was awarded, for the first time ever, to a non-human.

That non-human was the computer. Which computer, I cannot say but I'm fairly sure it wasn't mine, as that only had 3.5K of memory, and 3.5K of memory is definitely not enough to win you Man of the Year.

Over on the UK singles chart, it was both a good month and a bad month for the Jam whose final single Beat Surrender began December at Number One but soon had to make way for the musical titans that were Renée and Renato who clinched both the top spot and the Christmas Number One with their close approximation of music the world knew as Save Your Love. Some of us felt the people who bought it would have been better off saving their money but there's no accounting for taste.

Over on the British album chart, there was only one Number One that month. And that was The John Lennon Collection by, as coincidence would have it, John Lennon.

I may not have been a fan of Renée and Renato but among the singles I did approve of on that Christmas chart were:

Our House - Madness

A Winter's Tale - David Essex

Beat Surrender - The Jam

Mirror Man - The Human League

Let's Get This Straight (From the Start) - Dexy's Midnight Runners

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

Mad World - Tears for Fears

Gloria - Laura Branigan

State of Independence - Donna Summer

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John and Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir

Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade

and

I Believe in Father Christmas - Greg Lake.

For those who wish to investigate the matter further, that year's Christmas singles chart may be found right here.

While the corresponding Christmas album chart resides here.

Peter Davison looks very grim, as we're treated to a guide to Doctor Who merchandise and a feature on the Second Doctor adventure The Faceless Ones.

And I do believe the strip The Stockbridge Horror is still going.

More thrilling space action's served up when the magazine dedicated to the BBC's second-most popular sci-fi show hits the shelves. 

Sadly, I can shed no light upon the issue's contents, other than to say that Servalan would seem to be making an appearance, which, given that she's the show's main bad guy, is hardly a turn-up for the books.

Iron Fist may make the front cover but this issue's main tale is a thing called Prelude of the War-Devil! which stars the Avengers.

I can shed little light upon what happens in that one but I do know that Red Ronin features.

Elsewhere, Night-Raven's battling with Red Nightmares.

And, in the issue's final tale, Iron Fist finds himself up against three assassins. One of whom is the Boomerang!

Everyone's favourite barbarian must face the Stalker Amongst the Sands, an adaptation of Robert E Howard's Valley of the Worm.

At least, that's what the front cover says.

According to the issue's index page, what we get are a Conan tale titled Black Lotus and Yellow Death and a Brule the Spear-Slayer yarn called Wizard and Warrior. The latter being adapted from a piece by Lin Carter and Howard.

That may all be confusing but the exciting news is the advertised poster is the Boris Vallejo painting of a tree-crucified Conan being watched by vultures. Anyone who doesn't want that on their bedroom wall is a madman.

I do believe this is the last-ever issue of Rampage and it goes out with a clash between the Thing and Hyperion that all logic suggests Benjy can't possibly win - especially when Thundra shows up, as well!

But, of course, the book's true stars are the X-Men. And they're still having trouble with the Dark Phoenix, as the saga that no one will ever forget starts to approach its cosmos-crunching climax.

Rampage may have bitten the dust but there are no such problems for Marvel UK's Star Wars mag which continues rolling along like a veritable juggernaut.

Sadly, that's all I can say about it, as I don't have a clue what happens in this issue.

Hooray! I had this issue!

The UK's favourite sci-fi mag takes a very very very in-depth look at the hot new film Krull, starring Bernard Bresslaw.

And there's great news for Charlie because this issue features a retrospective of Catweazle.