Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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I can sensationally declare that I haven't seen a single film that came out in January 1985. I have, though, heard of most of the January 1985 releases I'm about to list. And those films are The Plague Dogs, Too Scared to Scream, Blood Simple and The Falcon and the Snowman.
Given my total ignorance, I shall make no attempt to rank them and shall, instead, get on with contemplating just what we'll find if we look at a random selection of Marvel mags bearing that month's cover date.
In it, our heroine's captured by SHIELD who fear she'll become as big a menace as her less popular cousin.
However, somewhere along the way, a bunch of intelligent cockroaches attack the Helicarrier, and She-Hulk gets exposed to enough radiation to prevent her ever becoming Jennifer Walters again.
It does that because the Enchantress sets out to capture them and they find themselves separated from each other on Asgard where they must reunite, find their bearings, defeat the villainess and set out to rescue Storm.
If so, that's a bit of a shock, bearing in mind she only lost her abilities a couple of months ago. I'd always assumed she endured a substantial length of time before regaining them.
This thrilling tome seems to centre around chaos breaking out at the Marvel offices when a whole bunch of super-heroes and villains turn up and have a brawl.
It seems to be an Alan Zelenetz/Charles Vess tale in which a flighty Asgardian must find his courage and retrieve a Raven Banner from the trolls who've captured it. If he doesn't, the whole of Asgard will fall prey to mighty giants.
I'm not sure why possession of a banner would make any difference to such a thing. But Asgardians, they're a strange bunch.
It seems the town of Venture Ridge has been isolated from the rest of the humanity, by a mighty forcefield.
But not to fear, because the wishes of Holly-Ann Ember are able to summon the above-mentioned heroines to the rescue.
Interesting to see Storm in her original costume. Can this have significance?
I can shed no light upon the contents of this one, other than to reveal that its story's called The Witch Queen of Acheron.
But, then, you probably noticed that, from looking at the cover.
In this month's adventure, Selene and Emmanuel Da Costa join the Hellfire Club, Sunspot consumes Colossus, Aletys brings Magneto to his island, and Mirage and Cannonball discover that Wolfsbane and Sunspot have the powers of Cloak and Dagger!
But will we like them?
It seems they attend a Lila Cheney concert. Only for Lila to be attacked by an alien who teleports her and Cannonball to a Dyson sphere.
But what's this? The devious Lila is trying to steal the Earth!?! You wouldn't get that kind of behaviour from Taylor Swift.
And that's why Taylor Swift doesn't have a Marvel comic.
At least, I'm assuming she doesn't.
Thinking about it, she probably does.
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3 comments:
I saw BLOOD SIMPLE in the theatre and thought it was stylish and well-made but rather cold and uninvolving. I regret to say I feel the same way about most of the Coen Brothers’ subsequent movies. I do like RAISING ARIZONA, FARGO and TRUE GRIT. I need to re-watch MILLER’S CROSSING.
I think I may have seen FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN but have just the faintest memories of it. David Bowie’s song “This Is Not America” must have gotten a lot of airplay on MTV because that was literally the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the movie’s title here just now.
I had the SHE-HULK GN. My one memory of it is the page where a scientist regretfully tells her she’s stuck in her She-Hulk form forever and she responds, “What’s the bad news?” or something to that effect.
I remember being impressed by Arthur Adams’ art on the NEW MUTANTS and X-MEN annuals at the time, but must not have revisited them much since then, as I can’t recall anything about them. Like, ZERO. It’s weird.
b.t.
BT -
I saw Blood Simple probably that year as it was on TV almost immediately. It went down a storm with me and my teenage friends. I haven't seen it for a while now.
I also vaguely remember The Falcon & The Snowman [which sounds like a comic book team-up] but very very vaguely - probably a late night TV thing from the 80s.
That issue of New Mutants is the only I one I bought [or even saw].
Two NM specials as well! That Claremont really churned them out. Only Tom King these days can match him for workload.
Old Charlie may have seen one of these covers, but, regrettably, never read any of the innards.
Falcon and Snowman... I think the reviews were basically "above average." Saw it on the tv maybe in the past couple years. Seemed quite good for that medium.
Most likely though, in the USA, as BT has mentioned, the movie is probably remembered for BOWIE's THIS IS NOT AMERICA.
Charlie asked Mrs. Charlie if she remembered either. The film vaguely but the song absolutely.
BOWIE was an enigmatic dude here in the USA at least in the midwest, A solid "B+ / A-" level name over several years who bust out with the album "LETS DANCE."
Charlie pondered the context for that a bit. It came out after the STONES "TATTOO YOU" album, perhaps just after the WHO'S "IT's HARD" and in the middle of the 2nd BRITISH INVASION. It certainly had a NEW WAVE feel about it though he used actual instruments and not synth.
And somewhere in all that he teamed up with MICK JAGGER, FREDDIE MERCURY, and BING CROSBY.
And then he had BLUE JEAN the song. And then he had THIS IS NOT AMERICA. (Or vice-versa) and then he was gone. Then he was gone. I kinda miss him.
(Did he ever do anything with McCartney?)
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