Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
It's 1986 and Christmas is well and truly on its way.
But what if we've been bad?
What if, when he gets here, Santa decides that, instead of rewarding us, he's going to punish us? That sack of his looks easily big enough to accommodate us all. And it seems to be inescapable.
There's only one thing for it.
We'll have to take refuge in our local picture house. He'll never find us there.
But just what's on offer in that picture house?
Impressively, the only one of those films I've ever seen is King Kong Lives.
And I've seen it three times.
And, having seen it those three times, there's absolutely no way I'm ever going to believe it's even possible for it to be the film of any month, let alone this one.
Other opinions are, of course, available.
The big news was that it hit its 500th issue. And how many comics can make that boast? Certainly not any of the ones that had merged with it over the years before being totally subsumed by it.
And, to celebrate such glad tidings; that month, the mag was feeding us a diet of Sláine, Sooner or Later, Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Nemesis, Tharg's Future-Shocks, something called Tharg's Head Revisited, and Bad Company.
But what of the musical exploits of the human race?
For the UK singles chart, December kicked off with Europe's The Final Countdown on top before it was deposed by the Housemartins' Caravan of Love.
But then, with just two weeks to go before the end of the year, and thanks to a legendary but nightmarish claymation video, Jackie Wilson's Reet Petite snatched the throne, to claim that year's Christmas Number One slot for its very own.
No such bubbling, frothing and churning on the accompanying UK album chart, because Now That's What I Call Music! 8 spent the entirety of that month at Number One.
And what of the galaxy's greatest comic? What was it up to as Rudolph prepared to power up the dynamo on his shiny nose?
Sadly, there seems to have been no return for the likes of Shako, Bill Savage, Dan Dare, MACH 1 or the Harlem Heroes to mark the occasion.
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23 comments:
Steve, I’ve never seen KING KONG LIVES but I did see PLATOON. I think you made the right choice .
Out of curiosity, are you going to be doing any more posts on Atlas comics?
b.t.
Tuesday's post will be about Atlas.
I didn't see any of those films at the time. But I have seen The Three Amigos and Platoon since. Just the once.
Was 2000AD 500 the prog where they did that writers' and artists 'celebratory jam, and the Moore / Gibson bit was quite acidic? And McMahon had some choice words to say as well. Or was that later?
Is this the last 2000AD post, Steve? If so, many thanks - they've been fun read.
Have no fear, Matthew. The 2000 AD posts will continue.
Great — thanks, Steve, looking forward to it :)
b.t.
Borag Thungg, Steve.
Prog 500 had a wraparound cover, continuing with the same grid format on the back, with more of the comic's characters drawn by different art droids. As you can see here -
https://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=profiles&choice=500
- it includes Dan Dare by Dave Gibbons, and Bill Savage by (unfortunately) Robin Smith.
You will be pleased to hear that to mark the quincentenary of the galaxy's greatest comic those two, and plenty of others from progs' past, including MACH 1 and the Harlem Heroes* also reappear in the one off ''Thargshead Revisited', a story made up of a page each by various popular creative teams.
For instance, here's the one by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson -
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=271589
As you can see, the focus is on Halo Jones but you also get a bit of Sam Slade, and even a reference to Star-Lord.
The page by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill can be seen here -
https://www.tcj.com/disgusting-pong-kevin-oneill-takes-one-final-trip-down-the-bile-tubes/
- if you scroll down a bit. Although any true Squaxx dek Thargo will want to read the article about the late, great Kevin O'Neill's revisit of Bonjo From Beyond the Stars.
You get the general idea.
*Sadly though I don't recall Shako turning up.
-sean
Brian Bolland also contributed a page (with a bit of assistance from Pat Mills) to 'Thargshead Revisited' but it wasn't used. While he wasn't the only one to have a bit of a dig at Tharg, perhaps his was just too close to the bone...
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1132045
-sean
Isn't it Inauguration Day in the US tomorrow? And the invasion of Canada on Tuesday?
Good luck to our American friends. They're going to need it!
-sean
I’d never seen or heard of that Bolland page before. I’m surprised it hasn’t surfaced in any official capacity since then. In a ‘History Of 2000AD’ book or doco of some kind (of which there are now quite a few).
-Sean
I think the invasion of the Panama Canal is Tuesday. And Greenland ls Wednesday.
And I believe Elon Musk's hostile takeover of the U.K. is slated for next month.
Amerika uber alles!
M.P.
Love those pages guys - the Bolland page is pretty near the bone lol . I think I saw all these films at the cinema at the time ( except Heartbreak Ridge) but Platoon was the runaway winner for me , although I did enjoy the Golden Child as well.
I don't think Trump or Musk need to attack the UK, most political parties seem to have surrendered to him already!
When you are born, you get a ticket to the shit show of life. If you are born in the usa you get a front row seat.
Don't forget about the former Gulf Of Mexico - it'll be the Gulf Of America by Friday!
Paul, it's sickening to see our government grovelling to the orange fascist already. This morning on Radio 4 David Lammy was assuring us that Keir Starmer will meet Trump "within weeks" but will Starmer hold Trump's hand like Theresa May did?
Can anyone think of Marvel or DC covers that were painted in the style of GOLD KEY (Tarzan, Phantom) or CHARLTON (notably their war comics)?
I wonder why they dis not tey this notably with the war and western comics? Seems like it’ve sold more issues?
HAPPY Martin Luther King day all. An american hero.
ChRlie
Charlie:
Marvel started using painted covers by Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Kaluta and Mike Golden on some of their standard-sized color comics in the early 80s, but it never became a company-wide “house style” the way it did at Gold Key. I want to say DC didn’t start using painted covers until the Vertigo days, but I wouldn’t swear to it.
b.t.
There were a few painted Swamp Thing covers in the Alan Moore run. Just *just* predates Vertigo.
The painted cover ( by Earl Norem ) of Moon Knight # 6 compelled me to buy it !
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Moon_Knight_Vol_1_6
Phillip
You didn't mention my favourite musical exploit of the human race released this month, Steve - I guess it must have slipped your mind? - noisy American provocateurs Pussy Galore's cassette only cover of the 'Exile On Main Street' album. Much better than the Rolling Stones original -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58IDj9a6szM
Er, I suppose the start of that requires some sort of parental advisory warning.
-sean
Didn't DC publish a few Alex Ross painted covers ( Justice etc) as well and Astro City at Image ( also by Ross) were painted. Charlton in the mid 1970s did a few of these as well, although perhaps not to Gold Key standards.
Matthew:
Yeah, I remembered those few Swamp Thing painted covers too, but just lumped them in with the whole Vertigo Thing (too lazy to research the actual chronology). Also, I just now remembered that SUPERMAN 400 and BATMAN 400 also had painted covers in ‘84 and ‘85.
So, to Charlie’s question — yes, DC and Marvel did have some painted covers (long after Gold Key’s heyday).
b.t.
Paul:
Yes, Charlton did publish a fair number of painted covers on their various titles. Tom Sutton did a bunch of excellent painted Horror covers, and some War and even Romance ones too. Joe Staton did some fun painted covers for E-MAN, SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and SPACE:1999. Don Newton painted covers for all of his Phantom comics and his moody portrait of Baron Weirwulf on the cover of HAUNTED 21 is probably the best painted cover Charlton ever published.
b.t.
Matthew, you now have me wondering where I first heard about that page. Because I definitely saw the main 'Bolland's last Dredd' image published somewhere in print before the era of the internet.
It was probably in an issue of Escape (if anyone remembers that) or maybe the Comic Journal or something like that. But you know, I can't discount the possibility that it might have appeared in an early issue of the Dredd Megazine.
I think my favourite bit is the last panel, and the face of Judge Fear. Its such a dead pan reference to a classic image...
-sean
I remember Tom Sutton and I definitely remember Baron Weirwulf.
Now,, Winnie the Witch was my favorite horror-host, but as they say, reasonable men may differ.
M.P.
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