Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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The dark days of 1980s English football got noticeably darker, this month in 1985 when, in response to the Heysel disaster, just four days earlier, UEFA announced an indefinite ban on all English clubs taking part in European competition, with Liverpool expected to serve an extra three years after other English clubs had been readmitted.
In a more positive sporting vein, the city of Birmingham, England, unveiled its bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics.
When it came to films, A View to a Kill was unleashed upon an awestruck world, marking Roger Moore's seventh and final appearance as James Bond.
Also waving goodbye to us was Route 66 which was officially decommissioned. Whether that means it's still there but not used, I cannot say.
On the UK singles chart, June sauntered into our lives with Paul Hardcastle ruling the roost, thanks to his track 19. That was then dethroned by the Crowd's You'll Never Walk Alone which, in turn, lost its top spot to Frankie by Sister Sledge.
The associated album chart watched the month begin with the Style Council's Our Favourite Shop in pole position before that was dislodged by Bryan Ferry's Boys and Girls which then had to subside before the might of Marillion's Misplaced Childhood which then had to make way for Bruce Springsteen's Born in The USA!
Abslom Daak, meanwhile, finds himself in Daak Alliance.
And Night-Raven finds himself In the Frame.
Mike Collins, however, gives us Part Two of City Snapshot.
And Space Thieves presents PARTS vs. Zarts, though, frankly I have no idea what it is.
Yet again Conan discovers The Devil Has Many Legs!
But does he have too many?
And just how many is enough?
That's followed by Pete Scott's article The Eternal Champion.
Next, Red Sonja learns that While Lovers Embrace--Demons Feed. A fact she'd already learnt in the pages of 1983's Red Sonja #1.
After that, Night-Raven must contend with Time & Tide, this issue's Marvel Showcase sees Mike Jones unveil a four-page yarn called To Win a Maiden's Heart, and King Conan must endure the Red Moon of Zembabwei!
Please tell me it's Doctor in Distress. Who wouldn't want a copy of that slamming away on their gramophone?
There's also a gallery of readers' art, a look back at the Davison era story Frontios, a review of The Two Doctors/Mark of the Rani, and an interview with Vengeance on Varos director Ron Jones.
And, if the cover's to be believed, on top of all that, this issue includes all my favourite regular features!
But this is what we all came here for. A look at the making of Return to Oz!
There's also an interview with John Halas but I don't know who he is. So, I'm going to assume he's some sort of animator.
There also looks to be a chat with Jeff "Starman" Bridges.
And there's definitely a retrospective of classic ITC show The Prisoner.
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23 comments:
Some great covers here.
That Alan Davis wraparound shows he can still bring it when required. And a recycled Sienkiewicz - nice!
I reckon I’ve still got that Starburst as I kept all of them up to early 1983 plus the ones later than that with films I’m interested in. And I’m definitely interested in Return To Oz.
John Halas was half of Halas & Batchelor, master animators. They did the animated Animal Farm movie and lots of really interesting stuff right through to the 70s. They did a trippy film to accompany Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’ in 1979.
As a footnote I saw Kraftwerk live again last Sunday, outdoors through a brilliant sound system and they were still incredible.
I also watched ‘Starman’ for the first time recently and it was rubbish.
Every time I see a mention of RETURN TO OZ here at SDC, I’m reminded that I should re-watch it. And then I always forget to. But dang it, I really should — I’ve only seen it once before (on opening day, I think).
I also saw A VIEW TO A KILL back in the day (maybe not on opening day but sometime on opening weekend for sure) — and managed to block out almost all memory of it for decades. Broke down and re-watched it a few years ago, during the lockdown. In some ways, it wasn’t as horrible as I’d expected but in other ways it really really WAS. I’m not a big fan of the Daniel Craig movies, but at least they don’t score action scenes with “funny” needle-drop pop songs anymore.
I’m trying to remember where Bill Sienkewicz’ SAVAGE SWORD cover art first appeared— pretty sure it wasn’t originally on a U.S. SAVAGE SWORD. I used to own a Conan calendar that Bill did way back when — maybe it’s from that?
b.t.
b.t.
Ignore that second “b.t.” above.
Or pretend it’s below this post.
ROUTE 66 started in Chicago and meandered south and west in the USA. There are an interminal number of “former route-66” signs helping one remember and barious restaurants and saloons using the moniker as well.
FWIW my uncle told me he drove rt 66 several times as a kid in the early 1950s from Chicago to Cali, the entire distance of like 2,500 miles. He said it took a good 4 days. I told him “no way… with all those stoplights on a two-lane road???” He said “Joey back in those days there were no stoplights because there were no cars. Really. We seldom had to stop except in big cities like St Louis. It was easy driving.”
And there you have it: rhe good ole days.
I forgot to add
CH and
CH to my remarks above.
CH
I’ll second the David cover as a good one. It evokes the chaos of the Saturnyne trial from the Daredevils era. That exclusion of English teams from the European competitions was particularly galling as West Ham finished 3rd in the 1985/86 season and would have qualified for the UEFA cup (along with Man Utd and Sheffield Wednesday). Liverpool qualified every year and so their self-inflicted ban wouldn’t have hurt as much. Not my favourite team, to be honest.
DW
Davis cover (FFS)
DW
Was anyone into Marillion, at all?
I was 14 at the time and surrounded by people who loved all the pop music of the time but suddenly, bafflingly decided Marillion were ‘proper, serious’ music and became fans.
It was maddening, because they were rubbish - everything about them was fatuous and derivative - but like a nasty addictive drug they somehow managed to get their claws into a whole load of my friends.
I’m glad they completely faded away and haven’t had any kind of revival whatsoever in the years since. Apart from the drummer turning up in the Alan Partridge film.
Matthew, apart from Kayleigh, the appeal of Marillion was completely lost on me.
Marillion's Kayleigh reached #2 and was blocked from hitting #1 by The Crowd as I recall. I quite liked Kayleigh but I can't actually remember any other Marillion songs to be honest!
FUN FACT: Sister Sledge's Frankie reached #1 exactly 10 years after the group had first charted in the UK in June 1975.
Roger Moore was 57 when A View To A kill was released and he was definitely past it as an action hero.
ANOTHER FUN FACT: My father was only two days older than Roger Moore.
YET ANOTHER FUN FACT: Duran Duran's theme song was the first Bond theme to hit #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Steve, in your coverage of events this month you forgot to mention the suppression of the People's Free Festival at Stonehenge. The authorities wanted to do it the previous summer, but the cops had been too busy cracking skulls at Orgreave in June '84.
Here's an interview with an ITN journo who was present, discussing the police violence (with some surviving footage) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8SM4e-W0lc
-sean
I seem to recall Marillion sounded a bit like Genesis from ten years earlier (who were bad enough first time round). Apalling. And I don't get the appeal of Bruce Springsteen either.
But strangely, despite being one of the few young people living in the UK back then who didn't much care for The Jam, I thought the Style Council were alright. Not quite my cup of cappuccino, but Paul Weller's prickliness and willingness to go in an unexpected - and sometimes unpopular - direction was interesting anyway. Good for him.
Still, forget all that, what matters is that around the end of the month Propaganda's 'A Secret Wish' lp came out. And the brilliant 'P.Machinery'/'Frozen Faces' single (a big improvement on the previous 'Duel/'Jewel'!) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3wbDp_1yb4
-sean
Charlie never understood the appeal of Springsteen either… to this day.
On the other hand my younger brother (2 years) saw him twice in concert and had a variety of his albums. Go figure.
I even asked him about Springsteen about six months ago, “was he really all that?” And he said, “for sure. “
But then again, this is the younger brother who, when we are in the record store, saw the first Culture Club album cover and said “I guess she ain’t that bad looking…” But i was the one who bought the album.
I also never really understood the appeal of Marillion they had some earworm singles but that was it for me prog rock wannabes ( not that I'm a prog rock fan). However, I seem to be in the SDC minority re Springsteen , Im a big fan of the boss best concert I've been to and worth every overpriced penny
Christmas isn't Christmas without Springsteen's version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
Sean, you forgot to mention the Brexit anniversary last week - you must be slipping!
Well, Colin, the UK left Europe at the end of January 2020 so really the anniversary of Brexit was months ago. But you're right - it was remiss of me not to congratulate you and the rest of Steve's British readers on Independence Day, nine years on from the referendum, and say thanks for the border in the Irish Sea.
Apologies.
Tbh I think the fifty year ago posts about the 1975 referendum threw me.
Also, Brexit is soooo last decade. I am looking to the future, and Reform UK getting into government under prime minister Farage. He will be like Liz Truss on steroids!
Its inevitable. Like the Americans putting Trump into office a second time, the British won't be satisfied tíl they've voted to **** their country completely. Don't ask me to explain it.
-sean
I like Springsteen too, Paul. Saw him in concert once, on his “Born in the USA” tour. Great show!
b.t.
So, er, getting back on topic... Steve, I looked on Discogs and there was a 'Dr Who: The Music II' record released in 1985, following a first volume the previous year. Probably one (or both) were the competition prizes in the Who mag?
They were picture discs, which - going by the track listings - repackaged BBC Radiophonic Workshop albums from a few years earlier. Vol I seems to be basically the same record as 1978's 'Dr Who Sound Effects' which I had a copy of. Fwiw that did indeed sound slamming, with bangers like 'Metebelis 3 Atmosphere' -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMjlzXegOmg
Any thoughts on the Ncuti Gatwa era Who now that it's over, Steve? Did you enjoy the recent series?
Were you excited by the return of the Rani...?
-sean
Sean, I thought the Gatwa era was OK but never seemed to get up a full head of steam and was ultimately sunk by terrible season finales that seemed to have had no thought at all put into their writing.
As for the Rani, it was good to see her maintain her unique achievement of never having appeared in a good story.
MARK WAID just posted Jim Shooter has passed. The man was a giant in the industry. CH
CHARLIE really enjoyed his first LEGION run. I still occasionally
R.I.P. Jim Shooter. Very saddened to hear this. He was a rather controversial figure at Marvel, particularly in regards to his editorship. But I give him high marks for the overrall quality he brought to Marvel, and the greatly reduced incidence of 'dreaded deadline doom'. As a writer, he was most impressive. Charlle mentioned his Legion work; much of his writing on Avengers stands among my favorites.
On a more personal note, I had the pleasure of meeting Jim at a couple of comic conventions; most notably an appearance about eight years ago in Indianapolis. I was blogging at the time, and Jim spoke with me at some length and shared numerous entertaining stories about his experiences in comics. He was very generous with his time, and quite easy to talk to. One anecdote he shared was his amusement by the number of legs on the ants depicted all over the cover of Avengers 161. Incidentally, Geoge Perez, the cover artist on that issue, happened to be at the same show (didn't get to meet him, sadly)- apparently the ants were a source of some humor between them.
Anyway, Jim struck me as a gentleman; and was certainly well versed in comics history. He will be missed.
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