May 1984 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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This month in 1984 found it all kicking off in the Soviet Union.

For one thing, that nation announced it would boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, in retaliation for the 1980 American boycott of the Moscow Olympics.

For another, it experienced the Severomorsk Disaster in which a Naval Base explosion destroyed two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets' Northern Fleet. The blast also caused the deaths of hundreds of technicians and was believed to be the worst disaster the Soviet Navy had suffered since World War II.

Rather less dramatically, the one-dollar coin was introduced in Australia, Liverpool beat Roma 5–2 on penalties in the final of the European Cup, and London's Thames Flood Barrier was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

But there was bad news from the world of showbusiness when legendary UK comedian Eric Morecambe died from a heart attack at the age of 58, having collapsed on stage at the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, the previous day.

On the UK singles chart, two acts ruled the roost, that May.

The first was Duran Duran with The Reflex and the second was Wham! who succeeded them at the top, thanks to their catchy pop ditty Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.

Over on the accompanying album chart, the month kicked off with Now That's What I Call Music 2 in charge before that was dethroned by none other than Bob Marley's Legend which is still in the UK Top 40, a full four decades later.

It's all tension for Cloak and Dagger as they star in True Confessions, a tale which I believe begins with the unconscious Dagger being rushed to hospital.

Elsewhere, the Jim Jaspers saga comes to a close, as fresh from killing Jaspers, the Fury returns to our world - only for Captain UK to finally finish the thing off by tearing it to pieces.

Not quite so elsewhere, Night Raven stars in a tale Marvel knows as When in Rome...

And we conclude with a two-page showcase story called The Living Planet by Anthony Smith. Does this yarn involve Ego? That, I cannot recall.

Joy reigns unfettered across the land, as a brand new Doctor arrives!

And he does it in style by trying to strangle his companion to death in his first scene!

Still, I'm sure things'll get better from this point on and he'll go on to be everybody's favourite Doctor. After all, he's called Baker and that has to be a good omen.

Aside from a look at that, there's an interview with Lalla Ward who played the second Romana and there's a retrospective on The Time Warrior, the serial which first introduced the potato-headed Sontarans to us all.

For those who demand even more from a magazine, we're treated to a new strip called The Shape Shifter which I suspect stars the brand new Doctor.

And there's a look at the depictions of the future that the show has given us over the years.

Strap yourself in for adventure when Conan returns to the land of Ophir where a coup d'état has taken place.

Not only that but the government's been overthrown.

Someone called the Iron Maidens now rule in conjunction with someone called Balthis but they're both conspiring against each other. Can Conan decide which side to assist?

And will it just happen to be the one that has a beautiful queen in its ranks?

We also, in this issue, are treated to a three-page portfolio by Pablo Marcos.

You can probably guess, from that cover, that, this month, Stephen King talks about possessed-car-on-the-rampage movie Christine.

But that's not all because the magazine also reviews the movie

There's a report on a Belgian film festival, David Cronenburg talks about Videodrome and we take a look ahead to the new Tarzan movie known to us all as Greystoke. Disappointingly, Tarzan at no point in that movie shouts out, "I HAVE THE POWER OF GREYSTOKE!!!"

Clearly, that man has no class.