October 5th 1974 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

Martial arts mayhem was still ruling unsurpassed in Britain, this week in 1974, with Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting retaining the singles chart pinnacle it had claimed seven days earlier.

However, there was change - of a sort - atop the corresponding LP listings, thanks to Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells having now snatched pole position from his own Hergest Ridge. Clearly, there was no stopping the lad.

It's like a flashback to the early days of the venture, with Jim Starlin giving us a MWOM cover. Although, admittedly, this time, it wasn't drawn specifically for the comic.

Inside, I do believe Hulkie's crashed back to Earth, following his outer space adventure and is about to have another run-in with the Sandman who, in his urge to find a cure for being made of glass, decides to invade a hospital and force Betty Ross to give him a quick and total blood swap.

I can't see the jade one taking this lying down.

Meanwhile, the man without fear has been sentenced to death by the Owl - as has a judge - and this leads to the feathery fiend unveiling his greatest weapon yet - a giant robot owl that looks like it weighs more than a planet and would struggle to get off the ground even if gravity had never been invented.

The Fantastic Four are still having their first ever meeting with Galactus. And I do suspect Alicia is having her first ever meeting with the Silver Surfer.

But can she convince him of the innate goodness of humanity?

Judging by his whingeing about the awfulness of humanity in his later solo series, seemingly not.

This week's cover does somewhat oversell the threat Man-Mountain Marko poses to Spider-Man.

Still, at least he does pose a threat to the Shocker's girlfriend.

And that's bad news for us all because she's the latest custodian of that pesky ancient tablet the whole world seems to want. Latest to want it is Marko's employer Silvermane, ageing head of the Maggia.

Next, it's a tale never to be forgotten, as the Chameleon decides to trick Iron Man into fighting Captain America, for reasons I can't recall.

To do this, he, of course, shows up at Tony Stark's factory, claiming he's Cap and has been given a good beating by the Chameleon who's now posing as the star-spangled superstar.

Possibly the most disappointing aspect of this tale is the sight of Iron Man knocking Kraven the Hunter out with one punch, making Spider-Man's numerous epic labours to defeat the villain look a bit pathetic.

Thor, meanwhile, pays a visit to the trolls' homeland in a bid to retrieve his stolen hammer.

And, there, he encounters the mysterious captive alien Orikal and releases him from his flame-lined prison.

Iron Fist claims the front cover and reiterates his legendary ability to beat up pavements, as he must confront the menace of the Scythe.

In total contrast to what we've been getting from Shang-Chi's strip, he's an assassin, sent to kill our hero.

Elsewhere, the stars of the comic are still behind the Iron Curtain and still trying to liberate the Black Widow from her former communist overlords.

But for that to happen, Captain America must overcome her husband the Red Guardian, a man designed to be equal to him in every way.

Needless to say, he doesn't turn out to be equal to him in every way.

Not that it does Cap much good, as he's soon captured by others.

And what of the doctor of strangeness?

He's still trying to recoup Victoria Bentley from the clutches of Scientist Supreme Yandroth who's now resorted to inflicting monsters from his id on his opponent.

Fifty years ago today - October 1974.

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

***

Rain is currently falling wherever I look but just who was raining on our heroes' parades, fifty years ago?

Thanks to Agatha Harkness wanting to test our heroine's newfound magic powers, the Scarlet Witch finds herself locked in her bedroom and confronting the terrifying menace of Necrodamus.

It seems I once reviewed this issue.

And that you can read that review, right here.

Red Sonja is back - and on her back - as our favourite tomb raiders discover a mysterious tower in the middle of nowhere and must endure a pair of sorcerers with filthy designs on their bodies.

It turns out I once reviewed this one, as well.

And you can read my review of it, here.

On the other hand, you can't read my review of this issue anywhere - because I've never read it and have no idea what happens within, beyond the villain Lucifer showing up.

However, I do know its cover has strong hints of the one for the Smasher story-line from 1973's Amazing Spider-Man #116.

DD confronts the menace of Death-Stalker and the Gladiator in the wilds of the Everglades.

It all has something to do with the search for missing scientist Ted Sallis and a certain formula he was working on when he disappeared...

As it happens, I remember first reading this one in the Mighty World of Marvel 1977 annual.

And you can read my review of that book, right here.

It can only be trouble for our heroes - especially Benjamin J Grimm - when Mahkizmo arrives from his other-dimensional world, looking to take Thundra back with him.

The Wendigo's back!

And, unless my memory fails me, that can only mean a certain future X-Man is about to make his debut.

In other news, the Hulk's in Canada and lured to a cave occupied by a man and woman who want to transfer the curse of the Wendigo onto him.

I can't help feeling that might be a terrible idea.

Assuming, that is, that they ever have the chance to fulfil it.

Harry Osborn's still being the Green Goblin - and has attached a bomb to Peter Parker's nearest and dearest.

But just which of his acquaintances is his nearest and dearest?

And can he get there in time to do anything about it?

I genuinely know nothing at all about this issue but my razor-sharp senses tell me Ego may be involved.

"Not a Hoax! Not a dream! Not an imaginary tale!"

I could be wrong but doesn't it turn out that it is a hoax and Professor X is really alive and well and has decided to hide in the basement for the next five years?

You can't blame him. We've all done it.

But because even that might not be enough to keep the demanding reader happy, we're also treated to a second tale. One called Why Won't They Believe Me? and brought to us by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Seasoned Marvel enthusiasts may not be startled to discover it's the one about the man who accidentally uncovers an alien plot to take over the planet Earth.

Then tries to warn everybody.

And then discovers he's the alien and has been suffering from  amnesia!

And that he's just thwarted his own invasion attempt!

Is this the most reprinted Lee/Ditko sci-fi short ever created?

That's all our favourite Marvel heroes covered.

But what of the superstars of the company's biggest rival? What were a random sampling of them up to in comics which bore the selfsame cover date?

Jack Kirby's latest creation makes his debut, as OMAC flings his way into our lives.

I remember little of this tale but I do know it involves the man we know as Buddy Blank becoming OMAC.

And that there's a woman in a box who's literally gone to pieces.

And that she might be called Lila.

OMAC's book may be making its first appearance but Supergirl's is busy departing the stage.

That said, it does bow out with style, as the Maid of Might encounters America's first teen president!

And I do believe she has to save the politician from multiple assassination attempts.

I also believe she succeeds, even through the tactic of using her X-ray vision in a way that X-ray vision couldn't possibly be used.

There's also a backup adventure in which a mad scientist creates a male clone of Supergirl, then uses him to rob banks!

And my review of this issue resides here.

What's this? The Legion of Super-Heroes discover they possess a photo of a member no one can remember?

One who became a Legionnaire by outdoing Superboy?

How can this be possible?

it can be possible thanks to the wonders of time travel and future technology.

After that, we get a tale of high strangeness, as Brainiac is so lusty for Supergirl that he creates a robot replica of her.

But he does it in his sleep, which means he's totally unaware he's done it and thinks she's the real deal.

Fortunately, the real Supergirl shows up to sort it all out and totally fail to notice how weird the situation is.

My review of this issue may be found here.

The creepy crime crusher's supporting cast expands very slightly, as we meet Earl Crawford, a bespectacled reporter who's convinced that a supernatural force is dispatching the city's criminals.

Could he be right?

And can hard-nosed detective Jim Corrigan help him get to the truth?

Elsewhere, Aquaman has to contend with the latest scheme by the Black Manta who's putting Atlantean farmers to sleep with his mystery gas and then stealing their crops.

Nick Cardy produces another phenomenal cover - and it's for a tale in which villains try to convince Superman his dead parents think he's a failure, in order to demoralise him into abandoning his fight with crime.

Needless to say, that tactic fails, thanks to them making a simple but fatal error.

In our second tale of the issue, in a back alley, somewhere, the Green Arrow encounters a stray dog with strange powers and a talent for thwarting crimes.

Can it be?

Can it be that that dog can be none other than Krypto the Superdog?

I do believe I reviewed this issue here.

Tigon. The horror the world ignored.

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

***

A crueller man than I once remarked that if Amicus was the poor man's Hammer, Tigon was the poor man's Amicus.

He was, of course, completely wrong.

Well, admittedly, he wasn't completely wrong.

However, there was far more to Tigon than being doomed to dwell in the shadow of two other content creators.

Tigon was a British film production company founded by the splendidly named Tony Tenser, way back in the dark days of 1966 and it quickly made a name for itself as a purveyor of the kind of horror that all sensible people avoided.

It never achieved the National Treasure status of Hammer nor the quirky distinctiveness of Amicus and it was never in danger of winning the Queen's Award to Industry that the former company had but it did bestow upon us a string of chillers that are strangely difficult to forget. And at least two of those proved to be pivotal in the history of British and, even, world horror.

But just what kinds of triumphs did Tigon present to us during its seven year history?

Doomwatch, a kind of Wicker Man for people who like common sense solutions. 

The Beast in the Cellar in which Beryl Reid and Flora Robson shared their house with a spectacularly unfriendly brother.

The Crimson Altar brought together Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Barbara Steele and future Coronation Street serial killer Mark Eden for a tale of witchcraft that promised to be far better than it actually was.

On the other hand, The Creeping Flesh united Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing to pleasing effect in the tale of a man who acquires a mysterious skeleton with a penchant for finger removal.

The Sorcerers brought Catherine Lacey, Boris Karloff and Ian Ogilvy together for the tale of an ageing couple who take possession of a young man and force him to do terrible things.

The Blood Beast Terror saw UFO star - and mother of Benedict Cumberbatch - Wanda Ventham as a woman who habitually became a giant homicidal moth in a film that, it has to be said, bore more than a passing resemblance to the far more popular Hammer film The Reptile which had materialised a couple of years earlier.

And there was more than even that. Among Tigon's other films were For the Love of Ada, Au Pair Girls, Neither the Sea Nor the Sand, Hannie Caulder, The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins, Virgin Witch, The Body Stealers, What's Good for the Goose, The Haunted House of Horror, 1917, Monique, Zeta One, Black Beauty, Love in Our Time and Mini Weekend.

The more astute reader will have guessed that not all of those were horror films. Not even Black Beauty.

But perhaps the company's two most important offerings were Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw. The former being a highly fictionalised account of the work of Matthew Hopkins, as played by Vincent Price, with the second being a study of what happens to a small rural community when the skull of a mystery creature is unearthed.

Both films are set in the same milieu, occur around the time of the English Civil War and involve accusations of witchcraft. However, while the former makes it clear there are no supernatural happenings and the only evil exists in the hearts of men, the latter makes it clear the supernatural is very much present and eagerly warping the minds of teenagers.

Together, these two films form two limbs of the three-legged milking stool which is often credited with being the very foundation of the genre known as British Folk Horror. The other being the previously mentioned Wicker Man which Tigon had no involvement in. Both Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw share a nihilism that would probably have had Hammer running a mile and are genuinely uncomfortable watches in a way that Hammer's more flamboyant fare never was.

So, which is my favourite of Tigon's movies?

I do have a fondness for The Creeping Flesh and seem to be the only person alive who enjoys The Blood Beast Terror. Witchfinder General is, of course, highly regarded.

But I have to go for The Blood on Satan's Claw in appreciation of its total lack of traditional narrative structure and refusal to have anything that genuinely qualifies as a protagonist. These factors are often cited as critical flaws but they lend the piece the feeling of a fly on the wall documentary, as though a film crew has, somehow, turned up in an 18th Century village and started filming what's going on without being totally sure what's going on. As one who appreciates those who eschew story-telling convention, I find this a more interesting approach than if the tale had had the sense to follow the rules.

You may of course, disagree with me.

On the other hand, you might not have a clue what I'm talking about. In which case, should you wish to know more about Tigon and its output, the studio's, admittedly not exhaustive, Wikipedia page can be found by clicking this very link.

September 28th 1974 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

Readers of a certain age will know that, before there was the internet, there was Ceefax, that magical service on the BBC where, with a press of a remote control, you could access the latest written information about the worlds of news, sport, weather, politics and arts. All done with hi-tech blocky graphics.

But when was this veritable miracle launched?

It was during this very week in 1974. Truly, there could have been no doubt the future was well and truly with us.

Slightly more retro was The Brides of Fu Manchu which BBC One was showing in the early evening of the 28th, followed by It's Cliff!

How strange that the fiendish doctor should appear on our TVs so shortly after the adventures of his son had disappeared from the pages of Marvel UK's Avengers comic.

The Klaatu Saga comes to its sad and mournful conclusion, as Captain Cybor and Klaatu plunge to their deaths in the heart of the sun, Xeron and his crew are stranded on a rowing boat doomed to run out of oxygen and, after a brief battle in Earth's upper atmosphere, the Hulk and Abomination come plummeting from the heavens, with the only witnesses being a small girl and her father. It has to be the most downbeat ending to a Hulk story yet.

Meanwhile, Daredevil's still having to contend with the Owl's trial of a judge the villain happens to have to have it in for. It's a trial that goes so well for the defence that both the judge and his lawyer find themselves sentenced to death.

Elsewhere, the Fantastic Four, back from their epic encounter with the Inhumans, find the streets of New York paved with chaos, as the Watcher, Silver Surfer and then Galactus turn up. Can any human mind possibly process such drama and survive?

We'll find out next week.

Spider-Man's still out to retrieve that pesky stolen tablet from the Shocker.

But he's having a bit of a shocker himself, as he falls out with Flash Thompson, thinking his old friend and nemesis is making a play for his girl Gwen when Flash was only trying to help her patch up her relationship with our hero.

Hawkeye's still having his first encounter with Iron Man but, when his brand new girlfriend the Black Widow is hit in the head by one of his arrows, the archer flees with her. No doubt, intending to return to bother Shellhead on some future occasion.

Thor, meanwhile, having barely survived their first scrap is yet again having a punch-up with Ulik. One that, if I remember rightly, goes far better for the thunder god than the first one did.

Or does it?

Because, despite winning that fight, the Asgardian, somehow, finds himself back on Midgard, without his hammer and about to transform back into the feeble Don Blake.

I do believe we're getting more of Iron Fist's origin. Having defeated a robot, last week; this week, he must overcome a dragon!

Fortunately for him - and mankind - he succeeds and ends up with a dragon symbol emblazoned upon his chest, thanks to his unique tactic of hugging the beast to death

The Avengers, though, are still in the process of rescuing the Black Widow from her former Soviet puppet masters. But, now, Captain America has been captured and is being held in a Plexiglas tube!

In his tireless quest to prise Victoria Bentley from the clutches of evil, Dr Strange is well and truly out of his wheelhouse, as he has to fight a giant robot called Voltorg.

I do believe this week's Marvel UK books feature the winners of the contest to design the most impressive possible piece of technology. A contest in which the prizes are boxes of Meccano. Sadly, I didn't enter that one and, therefore, have no anecdotes to recount about it.

Speak Your Brain! Part 88.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

As I type these words, summer feels very much over, with a chill in the air and puddles on the ground.

But there's one thing that is very much not over.

In fact, I begin to wonder if, like the Hydra before it, it can even be killed.

And that's the feature the world has grown to love, fear and anticipate in equal measure.

You guessed. It's the one in which the first person to comment below gets to decide the topic of the day.

I possess no foreknowledge of what that might be. Nor would I wish to possess any. Therefore, feel free to set your topic afloat and discover in which direction the zephyrs of discourse carry it.

September 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. 

***

Who hates Stevie Wonder?

Probably no one on the entire planet.

However, to be honest, in September 1984, I was starting to wish he'd never been born, as his latest single I Just Called to Say I Love You clung on to the UK Number One spot for week after week after week. In fact, it spent the entire month and more in pole position, giving some of us a distinct air of having outstayed its welcome.

Over on the British album chart, an almost equal level of dominance was achieved by Various Artists' Now That's What I Call Music 3 which seemed like it was going to rule the roost forever. But, then, at the very death of the month, it was finally dislodged, by David Bowie's newest offering, a thing called Tonight.

The UK's favourite sci-fi mag surprises some of us by interviewing Michael Douglas about his brand new movie Romancing the Stone.

Much as I may enjoy the film, I can't say I've ever viewed it as fitting into the categories of sci-fi, fantasy or horror.

Elsewhere, this issue reviews new cinematic offering Iceman which I've never heard of, and interviews Laurene Landon, star of upcoming sword and sorcery flick Hundra which I've also never heard of.

Fortunately, I have heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Starburst interviews him about his latest gift to the world Conan the Destroyer. 

We also receive a preview of The Philadelphia Experiment and are presented with a review of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Tom Baker once more graces the cover of the only magazine dedicated to Time Lords that any sane man would ever buy.

And he accompanies that cover with an interview about his stint on the show.

We also discover, within, Part 3 of the comic strip the world must call The Voyager.

In keeping with the Fourth Doctor theme of the issue, there's a look at the the life and times of the anti-matter antagonist Omega and a look back at Baker's first-ever story Robot.

But it's not all nostalgia, because we also encounter a look ahead to the return of the Cybermen in whatever story it is they return in. I'm assuming it's the splendidly violent one with Brian Glover and all that shooting in the gravel pits.

Drama hits Steve Does Comics Towers, as we reach the last issue that I ever read of this book.

Then again, it's not far off being the last issue of it that anyone ever read, as the mag will survive for just one more month before folding.

In it, Captain Britain returns to Braddock Manor to do whatever it is he returns to Braddock Manor to do. I think the creation of a computerised butler may be one of the feats he achieves while he's there.

Next, Night-Raven finds himself in a tale called  Pathology III.

Then we discover four-page Marvel Showcase yarn Unicorn on Winchester, as brought to us by Martin Lock and Dave Hartwood.

And we round off the issue with the X-Men and Micronauts still battling an evil version of Professor X who, for some reason, is roaming around dressed like a Roman gladiator.

No danger of the UK Savage Sword of Conan folding imminently. Anyone can tell it's got bags of life left in it yet. Just like its star.

Having sad that, I can't tell you anything about the contents of this one, although I am going to assume pirates are involved and Conan gets to fight them.

No doubt, he kills their captain and then takes over as their leader, as that's what usually happens when Conan encounters pirates.

He'll then lead them into terrible danger in some jungle somewhere and get most of them killed, as that's also what happens whenever he encounters pirates.

September 21st 1974 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

Who's gone martial arts crazy?

The whole country's gone martial arts crazy!

I know that because it's September 21st, 1974 and the Number One slot on the UK singles chart has only gone and been nabbed by none other than Carl Douglas, with his monster smash hit that's proving to be a wow everywhere from K'un Lun to Cleethorpes. That hit is, of course, Kung Fu Fighting.

Who can be surprised by its success? It was, after all, as fast as lightning.

And it was a little bit frightening.

Over on the accompanying album chart, Mike Oldfield was still ensconced in the top spot he'd claimed the week before with his latest LP Hergest Ridge.

Someone probably not as happy as Mike Oldfield was UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson who, this week, unable to secure a majority in the House of Commons, announced there'd be a second general election of the year. This time, to be held on October 10th.

Drama continues and tension mounts, as the Hulk find himself on an alien spaceship with a bunch of random crew mates, the Abomination for a nemesis and an imminent meeting announced with the mysterious captain of the ship. Can things get stranger? I suspect they can.

With John Romita gone off to draw Spider-Man, a brand new artist starts on Daredevil's feature, as Gene Colan pencils it for the first time. And does so just in time to herald the return of the omnipotent Owl.

As far as I can recall, the Owl's kidnapped a judge and intends to put him on trial, with Matt Murdock the unwilling lawyer for the defence, and the villain's own lackeys as a jury.

But we complete the issue with the failure of Maximus the Mad's plan to annihilate all humanity, and him reacting as any reasonable man would by sealing his own people off from the outside world in a giant indestructible dome.

But not in time to prevent the Fantastic Four fleeing back to civilisation - and straight into the arms of another crisis, as a man on a surfboard starts flying towards the Earth, and the streets of New York fill with panic-stricken locals.

The Shocker's back and I believe he announces his return by stealing that pesky, mysterious and ancient tablet from the personal safe of Captain George Stacy.

Needless to say, this guarantees the subsequent intervention of Spider-Man.

But, first, he has to avoid getting into arguments with Gwen and Flash. Which, given his impetuous nature, proves far more difficult than it should be.

Elsewhere, in Iron Man's strip, a brand new super-hero makes his debut, as a circus bowman is inspired to become Hawkeye!

Sadly, for him, his attempts to be a hero quickly go awry. At which point, he displays his versatility by becoming a super-villain, with the prodding and encouragement of the mysterious Black Widow.

Meanwhile, in a realm far above our heads and slightly beyond our imaginations, the naughty Rock Trolls have stolen Thor's hammer, thanks to the assistance of a mysterious but powerful prisoner called Orikal.

With Shang-Chi on sabbatical, the Avengers get their first appearance on the cover of their own mag in 25 issues.

And what a cover it is, as the gang battle an imaginary Hydra.

It's all part of their attempt to rescue the Black Widow from the Reds.

But to do that, they're going to have to overcome both a machine that makes its victims hallucinate and the Red Guardian.

Iron Fist, meanwhile, is still going through his origin. One which includes him having to defeat an android in the Himalayas. How an isolated monastery in the Himalayas got its hands on a android is never, to my knowledge, explained.

And what of Dr Strange?

He's still out to liberate Victoria Bentley from the clutches of mad alien scientist Yandroth.

But to do that, he's first going to have to overcome a massive robot that looks like it was designed by someone who really really likes designing massive robots but hasn't seen a picture of a robot since 1937.

Speak Your Brain! Part 87. Double acts.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

In the last few days, the world has been rocked by the news that Oasis are to return. Frankly, with both Gallaghers still knocking out records on a regular basis, I never really felt like the band had gone away.

But the Mancunian mayhem-meisters are not the only thing returning in our lives. So is the feature in which the first person to comment below gets to decide the topic of the day.

That topic could encompass anything from the entire realm of human experience - or even from far beyond it. Therefore, make sure to rush in and register your talking point before someone beats you to it.

2000 AD - August 1986.

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

***

Pablo Picasso famously created a painting called Weeping Woman and, in August 1986, she had plenty to weep about.

That's because she was stolen.

I can give few details of the crime because the culprits were never apprehended but I do know that, just two weeks after vanishing, she was found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia. How she got there, I would struggle to tell you but it all sounds a rum do and no mistaking.

There were, however, works of art, that month, where there was no doubt at all where they could be found.

And that's because they were movies.

Which meant they could be found in movie cinemas.

August saw the release of a whole slew of the things, both celebrated and shunned but, amongst them were Flight of the Navigator, Friday the 13th Part VI, She's Gotta Have It, The Transformers: The Movie, The Fly, Manhunter, Night of the Creeps, Stand by Me, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and legendary Madonna/Sean Penn flop Shanghai Surprise.

But, of course, what really mattered was the release of just one film. 

And that film was the one we'd been waiting all our lives for.

At last, the world got to know the thrill of being able to go to a picture house and see a movie dedicated to Howard the Duck!

To be honest, I feel it probably wasn't the best movie released that month. Or possibly any month. In fact, it'd probably struggle to be the best film released in a month in which it was the only film released.

Still, at least it tried

For my pick of the month, I suspect I'm going to have to go for Manhunter, even though it has nothing to do with a certain comic strip of the same name. However others may disagree with my choice. Especially as I know The Fly has its devotees.

And, amazingly, so does Chris de Burgh. Or at least he did back then. Despite being terminally unhip, he managed to spend a large chunk of that August at Number One on the UK singles chart, thanks to his track The Lady in Red, before subsiding before the challenge of Boris Gardiner's I Want to Wake Up With You.

On the accompanying album chart, just two LPs ruled the roost, that August. The first being Madonna's True Blue which was then forced to make way for the inevitable rise of Now That's What I Call Music! 7. Truly, there was no escaping from those albums, back then.

But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

To the surprise of absolutely no one, it's still giving us Strontium Dog, Tharg's Future-Shocks, Judge Dredd, Ace Trucking Co, Sooner or Later and Nemesis the Warlock.

Surely worthy of mention is that Prog 484 features a Judge Dredd tale titled The Fists of Stan Lee in which the redoubtable upholder of the rule of law must battle a martial arts expert named in honour of "The Man" himself.

But the biggest news is that Prog 483 sees the start of the new series Metalzoic which has the distinction of being serialised and reprinted from the DC book of the same name, a 62-page graphic novel by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill with a cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. There's fancy for you.