November 1983 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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If there was one thing you could rely on in the 1980s, it was that the next near-miss with a global nuclear holocaust was no more than weeks away.

And so it was that, in November 1983, Soviet officials misinterpreted NATO's Able Archer 83 exercise as a nuclear first strike!

Fortunately, sense prevailed and this would turn out to be the last nuclear scare of the Cold War.

Fittingly, it was also the month in which the United States' ABC channel aired the TV movie The Day After which supplied a fictionalised prediction of just what it would be like to survive a nuclear war.

Not quite going nuclear, that month, was the Turkish part of Cyprus which declared independence. Wikipedia didn't bother to tell me who it declared independence from. So, I shall assume it was from Turkey.

Elsewhere, Dad's Army star John Le Mesurier died, aged 71.

Elsewhere, following fertility treatment, 31-year-old Janet Walton gave birth to six daughters at once. A feat which made them the world's first all-female surviving sextuplets.

Over on the UK singles chart, the month began with Billy Joel's Uptown Girl at Number One and it ended with Billy Joel's Uptown Girl at Number One. In between those two dates, Billy Joel's Uptown Girl was Number One.

The British album chart was not quite so static, with Culture Club's Colour by Numbers initially seizing the throne before being given the boot by Duran Duran's Seven and The Ragged Tiger.

Captain Britain and the Special Executive continue to battle the Fury and - hooray - manage to bury it in rubble!

But have they - and we - really seen the last of the relentless killer of heroes?

Only time will tell but we can know that, in our second strip of the issue, Night Raven finds himself in a Quiet Town.

And, rounding off the book, the Kingpin sends his wife to New York to hire Nelson and Murdock so he can turn state’s evidence against East Coast crime bosses.

Sadly, for his plan, she's captured by the mob, who're looking to use her to lure him back to the city, so they can kill him.

It's a thrilling issue because the magazine dedicated to the world's greatest time traveller brings us news of the shock discovery of previously lost episodes.

That's followed by a look back at the William Hartnell adventure The Gunfighters.

There's also, as the cover can tell us, an interview with John Levene of Sgt Benton fame.

And there's a look forward to the imminent arrival of the 6th Doctor Colin Baker who's going to be inheriting the role from Peter Davison.

Doctor Doom's castle's still causing trouble for the X-Men. Inside it, the captive mutants are placed in deadly traps from which there's only one way of escape.

Needless to say, every single one of them manages to find that way.

Meanwhile, Havok, Polaris, Iceman and Banshee are battling their way through Murderworld, in a bid to rescue their teammates' friends and relatives.

In our second tale, Wolverine's in Japan but his latest girlfriend's horrified when she sees him in full-on berserker mode.

Conan's hired by beautiful twins to rob a bloke who lives on an island in the Vilayet Sea.

Needless to say, it all escalates quickly and Conan kills him. Then, on the way home, the twins are eaten by a sea monster.

As if that's not excitement enough for us, we're supplied with a backup strip the world knows as Demon in the Dark as relayed to us by the redoubtable pairing of Michael Fleisher and Alfredo Alcala.

The Nation's top sci-fi mag interviews Pamela Stephenson about her role in Superman III. 

Production designer Stephen Grimes talks about his work on Krull.

Anthony Perkins talks about Psycho.

And Michael Medved talks about his love of bad movies - and about Channel 4's upcoming season of the worst films of all time.

I do recall that season including such gems as Plan 9 From Outer Space, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Wild Women of Wongo, They Saved Hitler's Brain and Godzilla vs the Smog Monster.