July 1984 - 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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July 1984 was an exciting time to be female. Not only did Liechtenstein become the last country in Europe to grant women the right to vote, it was also the month in which Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a space walk.

But there was also reason to be excited if you were an Argentinian male. Especially if your name was Diego Maradona. After all, that very footballer was sold by FC Barcelona to SSC Napoli for a then world record fee of £6.9 million.

And there was other news on the sporting front because July saw the start of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, in Britain, the government announced the abolition of the dog licence, meaning you no longer had to pay to watch your dog. The licence had long been a matter of contention, thanks to the fact that owners of black and white dogs had to pay less than owners of dogs that were in full colour. Also, there'd been much confusion as to whether you needed a licence if you recorded your dog on VHS and watched it later.

Drama hit Wales, thanks to a magnitude 5.4 earthquake with an epicentre in the Llŷn Peninsula. So powerful was the event that it was felt throughout the United Kingdom. Although I have to say it wasn't felt where I was and I managed to completely miss it.

Sending shock waves through the UK singles chart were Frankie Goes to Hollywood whose Two Tribes spent the entire month at Number One.

And it was a near-identical tale on the British album chart, with Bob Marley's Legend spending the whole of July in pole position.

In light of Peter Davison's stint in the show coming to an end, the magazine that's, presumably, bigger on the inside than on the outside pays tribute to his era.

And that includes an interview with Graeme Harper director of Davison's last serial The Caves of Androzani.

I do believe he's also the only director from the Classic Who era to have directed a story in the Nu-Who era.

I could thrill you with all kinds of information about the contents of this comic but I choose not to.

Mostly because I don't have a clue what the contents of this comic are.

Granted, I think I can safely guess that Conan the Barbarian's in it and there's likely a beautiful young lady and a dodgy sorcerer.

There may even be an inhuman fiend on the loose but that's purely speculation on my part.

I do believe this is the last issue I ever encountered of this comic.

I also believe that, in his first post-Alan Moore tale, Captain Britain encounters a strange female called Meggan and thus do we get the start of a beautiful friendship.

Next, we're delivered a Marvel Showcase piece titled Disenchantment (part 2), as brought to us by Simon Jacobs.

Then, Night-Raven finds himself in a thriller they call Pathology: Episode One.

Now, there's a second Marvel Showcase story. This time, labelled Metempsychosis and created by Tim Perkins.

And, finally, the X-Men are still teaming up with the Micronauts against Baron Karza and and an evil version of Professor X.

The nation's favourite sci-fi mag presents an exclusive preview of the new archaeological adventure the world will come to know as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Elsewhere, Ron Howard's interviewed about his brand new film Splash.

And, speaking of directors, we're presented with the second part of the magazine's interview with Joe Dante.

Plus, there's a chat with the new boss of Hammer Films, although some may be surprised to learn there is still such a thing as Hammer Films in 1984. Apparently, he'll be talking about all the company's plans for the future.