Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Sheryl Crow once sang that a change would do you good.
That shows how much she knew.
After all, Coca-Cola tried a change in April 1985 and it did the company no good at all.
It's true. That was the month in which the company infamously changed its long-standing formula and unleashed the triumph that was New Coke.
Sadly, public response was so overwhelmingly negative that the original formula was back on the shelves less than three months later.
Also on the market, that April, were werewolves.
At least, they were lurking in your local cinema which, granted, is not technically a market. It's more of a theatre. However, that theatre was filled with the twin delights of Ladyhawke and The Company of Wolves, both of which featured thrills of the lycanthropic kind.
At least, I think they did, as I always get Ladyhawke mixed up with Hawk the Slayer. So, I could be wrong.
Then again, I get Hawk the Slayer mixed up with Beastmaster.
Over on the UK singles chart, it was not werewolves but people called Phil, Philip or Phyllis who ruled the roost, with the early month dominated by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins' Easy Lover which was soon dethroned by USA For Africa's We Are the World which then lost its crown to Move Closer by Phyllis Nelson.
Amazingly, despite its eight million contributors, there was no one called Phil, Philip or Phyllis on We Are the World - although it did contain the keyboard player Greg Phillinganes.
On the British album chart, there was no such churn, with only one record holding the top spot during the month. And that LP was Hits 2 by those indomitable Various Artists.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?
It was giving us the familiar diet of The Ballad of Halo Jones, Sláine, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper and The Hell Trekkers.
However, Prog 412 hit us with big news by revealing that Whoopee was merging with Whizzer and Chips. And, with that news, a small part of my childhood died.
But, hooray, my inner child has been revived by the discovery that Prog 415 came with a free set of six Masters of the Universe stickers!
I have the power indeed.
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10 comments:
Whoopee was the comic relegated in that merger, Steve, the one that would soon disappear, the Starlord or Tornado to Whizzer & Chips' 2000AD if you will. Does that make it better or worse for you?
Not to rub it in, but if anyone's interested...
www.greatnewsforallreaders.com/blog/2017/3/25/on-this-day-6-april-1985-whoopee-joins-whizzer-and-chips
Unfortunately, after a mere ten episodes, that series of Halo Jones came to an end in prog 415. Six free Masters of the Universe stickers wouldn't have made up for that with me.
On the the other hand though, Hell Trekkers finished too. Swings and roundabouts, eh? You win some you lose some.
-sean
Btw Steve, Hawk the Slayer has Bernard Bresslaw in it, and Beastmaster doesn't. Its an easy way to remember which is which. You're welcome.
-sean
But, Sean, Krull also has Bernard Bresslaw in it. Now how am I going to tell Hawk the Slayer from Krull?
He's a cyclops in one of them, Steve.
Admittedly I'm not sure which one, but then I can't think of any situation where I'd need to know the difference between Hawk the Slayer and Krull.
-sean
I assume the comedy classic 'Carry On Up The Khyber' is banned from TV nowadays due to Bernard Bresslaw blacking up as Bungit Din, the chief of the Burpas, and Kenneth Williams blacking up as the Khazi of Kalibar.
Steve
Your inner child would have exploded the previous week because Prog 414 came with a free Masters of the Universe album and 5 stickers. He-man-tatistic!
As said Sean said Halo Jones book 2 wrapped up in Prog 415, but did go out in style, with a love-struck psychotic android dog, the Clara Panda end of year disco, and the Rodice let down. Roll on book 3 and I'm still pumped that this is a seven book saga. Slaine is looking better, albeit there's only Fabry to three Pugh this month. Dredd are probably better-then-average and so we have overall winning issues.
Funnily enough the scan of Prog 413, I perused, had an old-school Sean's Newsagent price tag stuck to the cover. Is this how Sean gained his, at-times, encyclopaedic knowledge of comics ;-)
I used to think Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw could have done a passable take of 'Carry on DR and Quinch'. Not sure Babs Windsor would have pulled off Crazy Chrissie, however.
DW
Clara Pandy
Not… great covers. As is my usual refrain here.
I guess the Halo Jones one wins because it’s Halo Jones.
Dredd covers by Robin Smith and Cliff Robertson (I think?), whose work used to really annoy me at the time and still does a bit. Robertson initially had what you might call a ‘faux-Bolland’ inking style that caught the eye, but I could never get on with his stiff figures and unnatural character postures.
Odd coincidental similarity between the Ron Smith and the Gibson.
I just found out that Hatchette did collections of 2000AD covers from over the years. Themed by decade. Ordered the 70s one; actually excited.
*Cliff Robinson
Agree about Cliff Robinson's artwork, Matthew.
And the Dredd in that Robin Smith cover for prog 412 is a swipe from Bolland - I've definitely seen the figure before, done better.
DW, gotta say I was a bit disappointed by Halo Jones bk2. Not that it was bad (obviously!) but compared to the first series - which I liked a lot more than the rest of the Squaxx dek Thargo round these parts seemed to - it didn't quite hit the spot.
Possibly that was because of the need to set up stuff - the Rat-King, the Cetaceans - that paid off later? Which turned out to be worth it of course, as bk3 is an all-time classic.
-sean
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