Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
People may often tell you not to count your chickens but, in July 1985, if there was one person in the UK who knew how to count chickens - or anything else, for that matter - it was 13-year-old Ruth Lawrence who, that month, achieved a First in Mathematics at Oxford, thus becoming the youngest Briton to ever earn a first-class degree - and the youngest known graduate of that University.
Also achieving big things was the world of popular music which, on July 13th, staged twin Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia. Events which, thanks to their star-packed status, raised over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
On the other side of the world, the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour by French DGSE agents.
And what of the pop charts in the time of Live Aid? Just what were they up to?
When it came to the UK Hit Parade, the month began with Sister Sledge's Frankie on top, before that was dislodged by Eurythmics' There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) which then had to make way for Madonna's first UK Number One Into the Groove.
On its associated album listings, most of July saw Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA ruling the roost before, at the month's very end, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms reclaimed the top spot it had held previously.
Starburst greets us with a face we’ll never forget - especially if we live in Chicago.
It’s true. The nation’s favourite sci-fi mag talks to director Anabel Jankel about none other than Max Headroom himself!
As well as all the usual features, we also encounter an interview with screenwriter Richard Carpenter who talks about the Robin of Sherwood TV series - which I’m going to assume he’s involved in writing, or it would be fairly pointless for the magazine to interview him about it.
We're getting plenty of interview action this month, with both Patrick Troughton and Mark Strickson sharing their thoughts on their work on the show.
And there's a full-blooded review of both Revelation of the Daleks and Timelash.
In the publication's regular comic strip, meanwhile, the Doctor and Frobisher find themselves trapped in a diabolical funhouse!
My memories of this issue's main tale are fuzzy, but I do know it involves Mastermind reappearing to help get Braddock Manor back in tip-top shape - and to mentor Captain Britain.
From what I recall, I do believe that Mastermind is the Captain's very own AI.
That's followed by Mike Collins' City Snapshot: Episode 3.
Which is followed by Night Raven entering an adventure in which he encounters the Ace of Ravens.
Then there's Abslom Daak in Kill Wagon which I misread as Kill Your Wagon, when compiling this post, and assumed it was an angry sequel to Paint Your Wagon.
And we finish off the issue with an 8-page Space Thieves tale from Dave Harper and Barry Kitson.
What's this?
Can it be?
That Marvel UK's longest-running monthly title has come to a crashing end, at a time when the battling barbarian's profile in this land has never been higher?
It can indeed.
Which is all the stranger, as the US version of the mag will continue to go from strength-to-strength for another decade before entering Valhalla - or wherever it is that Cimmerians go when they kick the bucket.
Regardless, our hero bows out in style by giving us a Thomas/Buscema yarn in which the bruiser strengthens the Bamula tribe by helping them conquer other tribes.
Then, we get 28 pages of Red Sonja action in While Lovers Embrace - Demons Feed, as reprinted from 1983’s Red Sonja #1.
Then we get King Conan in Red Moon of Zembabwei!
Then there's a 6-page Marvel Showcase tale from Simon Jacob. One called There’s a Demon in Wardour St.
Which is followed by Conan encountering The Bride of the Vampire!
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1 comment:
Hmmm. I thought that Eurythmics single was 1986! It is one of my favourite pop songs, so you'd have thought I'd have remembered that right.
I wasn't really a fan of the whole Madonna wave of hype through summer 1985. I did like 'Into The Groove' but not enormously [though I have come to enjoy it a lot more since], and the rest of the singles off that album always sounded a bit tinny.
The Shep Pettibone mix of 'Into The Groove' from the 1987 remix album 'You Can Dance' is really great, but when Madonna brought out her greatest hits package in 1990 the version of 'Into The Groove' on there was an edit of Shep's remix.
And as the Greatset Hits became the go-to source for Madonna airplay from then on, the original 7" single almost disappeared off the face of the Earth.
It was frustrating. Like a sort of Star Wars Special Editions moment.
I had that Starburst. I'm guessing it's discussing the 'Max Headroom' TV movie. The drama rather than the music videos show. I remember seeing it and thinking it was pretty good. It felt like the first post-'Blade Runner' bit of SF to approach that level of visual sophistication. Obviously I hadn't seen 'Brazil' yet.
I used to like the show because it used to have a pretty wide range of music videos featured. I saw Cabaret Voltaire's 'Sensoria' video on there for the first time.
I had that Captain Britain. No memory of it. I'll have the story from it reprinted in an omnibus on the shelf behind me, but can I be bothered checking it out? No.
A nice Bill Sienkiewicz cover for the last Conan.
'There's A Demon In Wardour St' sounds interesting.
I used to work in Wardour Street. Oddly enough, in the same building my Dad worked in 20 years earlier. There were no demons in it, but I did bump into Leslie Phillips in the foyer once. And Mark Lamarr's production company were on the floor above.
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