November 1985 - 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. 

***

This month in 1985 was great news if you were an aircraft that was tired of flying round and round over the sea, looking for somewhere to land before your arms got tired.

And that's because it was the month in which the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was commissioned by the Queen Mother.

Elsewhere, in the UK, unemployment for September fell by nearly 70,000, bringing the total to less than 3,300,000.

When it came to board games, in an all-Soviet match, 22-year-old Garry Kasparov defeated Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest-ever undisputed World Chess Champion.

And there was epoch-making news for computers everywhere when the Microsoft Corporation unleashed the first United States release of Windows 1.0.

When it came to music, November launched with Jennifer Rush's The Power of Love still hogging the Number One spot on the UK singles chart. However, even Jennifer's cast iron lungs weren't enough to save her from an attack by Feargal Sharkey whose A Good Heart managed to depose it, before that track itself had to make way for Wham!'s I'm Your Man.

Things were decidedly more soothing on the accompanying album chart, with the month beginning with George Benson's Love Songs ruling the roost before that was gently dethroned by Sade's Promise which then had to make way for The Greatest Hits of 1985 by those always unstoppable Various Artists. 

After their recent jaunt to Africa, the good Captain and Meggan visit the far cooler climbs of the Russian wilderness in which they encounter legendary folkloric character Baba Yaga.

Up against far more metallic opposition is Abslom Daak who gets caught up in a tale the world knows as The Dalek Killers.

Elsewhere, Night-Raven finds himself in not one but two adventures. The first being Showdown and the second bearing the title Midsummer Madness.

And, then, as far as I can make out, Cap Brit's back for a five-page thriller called Playgrounds and Parasites! 

Jon Pertwee may be on the cover but, inside, the star of the show is 5th Doctor Peter Davison who grants the mag an interview!

And that's appropriate because this issue also contains a look back behind the scenes of his serial Resurrection of the Daleks.

We also encounter a look at some of the strange planets the Doctor's visited, uncover an interview with the show's Production Associate Angela Smith and visit a retrospective of the villains of the 1970s.

But all of this, I'm sure, pales into insignificance before the true highlight of the issue. 

Which is that we get the announcement of the winners of The Doctor Who Songwriting Competition!

If two young lads called Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty don't win it, there's no justice in the universe.

As we may have guessed, from that cover, the UK's Number One source for news of sci-fi, Fantasy and horror is, this month, carrying Interviews with various people involved in the making of Mad Max III.

And they're not the only ones, because we also stumble across a chat in which Ridley Scott talks about the creation of his film Legend.

Speaking of which, a man named Martin Asbury talks about visualising scripts for that film - and for Labyrinth and Greystoke.

For fancy people, there's a look back at Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast.

And there's a retrospective of The Man from Uncle.

But the issue closes with a feature upon which I can shed no light at all; The Filing Cabinet of Dr Sally Gary. Just how Expressionist that turns out to be, I cannot say.

November 22nd, 1975 - 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. 

***

On November 22nd, 1975, BBC One showed The Vengeance of She, a film that made such an impact on my soul that I can recall nothing of it other than that Ursula Andress wasn't in it.

My Googling tells me this was the most interesting thing that happened anywhere in the world on that day.

Clearly, I was going to need to fling myself into the pop charts, for excitement.

And what excitement I got, with a brand new Number One on the UK singles rankings.

Granted, that brand new Number One was D.I.V.O.R.C.E. by Billy Connolly but perhaps I could find more thrills atop the accompanying album chart.

No, I couldn't because the peak of that listing had now been claimed by the Godfather of Punk himself Perry Como, with his 40 Greatest Hits.

Perhaps I could find, within the pages of that week's Marvel UK publications, the excitement I craved.

Except my local newsagent only had one of them in stock.

What kind of madness was this?

I'm getting the feeling this week's Inhumans tale may pivot around Black Bolt using the devastating power of his voice.

So, that's basically the same as every Inhumans tale ever.

But what is new is that Jack Kirby's departed the strip and a new artist has taken his place.

And that artist is Nefarious Neal Adams who adds a whole new visual sophistication to events.

The Sub-Mariner, meanwhile, has tracked down Lady Dorma and must now liberate her from a vast horde of unfriendly sea-creatures they call the Faceless Ones.

I do believe Nick Fury and SHIELD are up against Hydra.

Meanwhile, it's deadly peril for the free world, as Captain America's been captured by the Red Skull and brainwashed into wanting to kill a big-shot American general!

And Captain Marvel is having to battle a giant robot created by Walter Lawson, the man the captain is pretending to be in his bid to avoid detection by the humans!

I don't remember much about this week's Conan thriller other than that the barbarian famously wrestles a horse into submission.

But, of course, the big story is one which involves another barbarian.

One who comes from another dimension and can throw lightning bolts at you.

You guessed it. It's the electrifying debut of Arkon! 

And that,'s not all because we're also treated to the thrilling return of the Scarlet Witch and her brother!

Not to mention that of the mighty Toad!

Meanwhile, Dr Strange's Shuma-Gorath epic drags on and on, as the master of mystic arts now encounters a giant monster that probably doesn't exist.

Rather like an end to this saga.

What's this? I do believe this is the first issue of Dracula Lives not to feature the book's title character in the main cover image.

In London, the lord of all vampires gets caught up in an investigation into the theft of a statuette.

But, first, he must see-off a gang of muggers.

No problem for a man with the power to mesmerise the feeble-witted.

Speaking of which, Jack Russell continues to have trouble with Atlas, the Hollywood star who's more than miffed about having become disfigured.

And the Living Mummy's still having to contend with the fact that the Elementals have taken over Cairo and are lording it over the local populace, like the wrong 'uns they undoubtedly are.

Cornelius and Zira have escaped the Planet of the Apes but how are they going to escape the Planet of Mankind now mankind knows the truth of what happened to Taylor and his friends?

Not to mention knowing the fate of the world itself?

I have no doubt this issue is where we'll start to find out.

Following that, I think we reach the final part of Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars, with their leader departing for other worlds, after getting a cavewoman up the duff.

And we finish the issue with a Tony Isabella, Robert Shaw, Gene Colan short called The Star-Magi, although I struggle to recall anything of what happens in it.

It all starts off as fun and games in the Savage Land, for the crew from the Daily Bugle - until a giant reptilian space alien called Gog shows up to poop the party.

Meanwhile, Iron Man's trying to cure Happy Hogan of being the deadly Freak.

But that's soon going to be the least of his worries - because the Unicorn's back and looking for trouble!

Speaking of which, Thor's found the biggest trouble in the universe, in the form of Galactus!

But, fortunately, the planet-eater's too busy, determined to tell the thunder god his origin, to do any of his usual devastating.

The Super-Heroes is still trundling along, inoffensively.

And is doing so by offering us the second part of Giant-Man's first encounter with the Black Knight. One which takes place in a funfair!

Elsewhere, The Cat must fight the Man-Bull after bumping into him in a bar.

And, this time, he's got a herd of cows with him!

And, not having to deal with any cows, the X-Men defeat Dominus and Lucifer by destroying the robots that have been doing all the work for them.

I may never have had this issue but I did have a copy of its Hulk tale, thanks to the 1975 Marvel Annual. So, my sense of deprivation is not as great as it might have been.

As for what happens in it, the Hulk only goes and bumps into a man called Captain Omen and, as we can all spot, "Omen" is "Nemo" backwards.

And that gives us a clue as to what kind of tale we're heading into.

A very watery one.

On far drier land, Daredevil's in his gym and still fighting Starr Saxon's murderbot!

And, in the Fantastic Four's strip, Galactus has taken a break from chatting with Thor, to scour the Earth for the Silver Surfer, so he can re-hire him as a herald.

Speak Your Brain! Part 112. Patterns, coincidences, duos and corn.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Can it be true?

Can there really be barely more than a month to go before Christmas is once more upon us?

Yes, it can.

But is that what's on the minds of dear visitors to this dear journal?

That, I cannot say.

But I know how to find out.

And that's to fling the doors of Speak Your Brain open to the world again!

That's right. It's the return of the feature in which you The Reader get to decide just what the topic for debate shall be.

Therefore, waste no time in posting that topic and we shall see in just which direction our collective wind is blowing.

2000 AD - October 1987.

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

***

How much do you love new countries?

Is it as much as I do?

If so, you were no doubt as thrilled as I, in October 1987, to hear Colonel Gaddafi announce that Algeria and Libya had agreed to a proposed union of the two states, with the brand new nation being called Algibya.

40 years later, we're still waiting for that to actually happen.

What we didn't have to wait for was Fiji becoming a republic. That's because it happened that very month.

When it came to the UK, it was a period in which the Great Storm of 1987 hit southern Britain - as well as northern France - and was one of the strongest storms to ever hit the region.

And there was more bad news. This time, financially, because it was a month that saw the arrival of Black Monday in which stock market levels plunged, notoriously, all around the world.

But the bad news didn't stop there.

At least not if you were a legendary British jockey called Lester Piggott because, if you were, you were jailed for three years, after being convicted of tax evasion.

And what of the cinema? Could we find refuge from all that calamity in there?

We might do, should we possess a hankering to watch such brand new fare as Near Dark, The Princess Bride, Someone to Watch Over Me, The Glass Menagerie, The Killing Time, Prince of Darkness, Suspect and The Sicilian.

The only ones of those that I've seen are Near Dark, The Princess Bride and Prince of Darkness. Of those, I shall vote for The Princess Bride as my Film of the Month.

And what of the UK singles charts?

October began with M|A|R|R|S' Pump Up The Volume at Number One but that soon had to make way for the irresistibly crunching beat of the Bee Gees' You Win Again.

When it came to the accompanying album chart, the month crept in with Michael Jackson's Bad in pole position before that was deposed by Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love which then had to make way for Sting's Nothing Like the Sun which then had to flee before the might of Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night.

And the galaxy's greatest comic?

It was still bringing us a steady flow of such strips as Zenith, Universal Soldier, Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd and Tharg's Future-Shocks.

But there was also innovation to be found in the form of a three-page tale called Bradley which appeared in Prog 545, brought to us by Alan McKenzie and Simon Harrison. While Prog 542 saw the debut of Freaks, as delivered by Peter Milligan and John Higgins. As far as I can make out, Freaks is a series in which a young man called Carl Woolf is abducted  by hostile aliens who demand he gives them Earth's military secrets, even though he doesn't know any of them.

Needless to say, this can only lead to trouble.

November 15th, 1975 - 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. 

***

On November 15th, 1975, BBC One's Model World taught us how to modify toy soldiers for use in other scenarios.

I suspect it may have been Bob Symes who was teaching us.

This may not be the most riveting piece of information you've ever heard but, apart from the formation of the G6, it's the most interesting thing I can find that happened on that day.

"But wait!" I hear you cry. "What about the pop charts? What was happening atop their twin luscious peaks?"

I can sensationally reveal that David Bowie's Space Oddity was still over the moon on the UK singles chart, while we had a new Number One on the LP rankings, thanks to Max Boyce's We All Had Doctors' Papers.

And, speaking of models, this is the tale in which Gwen beats Mary Jane at her own game and becomes a model as well when half our regular cast decamp to the Savage Land and find themselves re-enacting King Kong, as Spidey goes up against the gargantuan grip of Gog.

Following that, Iron Man triumphs over the Freak by gassing him in the back of a van.

And Thor bumps into Galactus who insists on telling the thunder god - and us - his origin.

In this week's thrilling edition, the Sub-Mariner's still wasting his time, looking for Neptune's Trident, when a bunch of eels tell him Warlord Krang's handed Lady Dorma over to a bunch of creatures called the Faceless Ones!

Now our hero's going to have to abandon his search for the trident, in order to save his beloved!

Having staged a daring attack on SHIELD's barber shop, last week; this week, Hydra launches a daring attack on an empty warehouse - only for it to turn out to be a trap. And, now, their crack Futile Attack Squadron is a prisoner of SHIELD!

Far away from that, the Inhumans are fighting the Mandarin but Black Bolt thwarts the sinister son of Seres, thanks to his power of hypnosis.

Following that, Captain America encounters the origin of the Red Skull.

And Captain Marvel discovers that the late Walter Lawson - whose place he's secretly taken - was building a great big death-bot in his house. Which seems like a normal thing for a man to do.

Hooray! After a couple of weeks of me being denied the pleasure of owning the latest Avengers issues, the book mysteriously returns to my local newsagents, for one week, which means I've actually read this one.

And I believe it was the first time I ever saw the combination of John Buscema and Tom Palmer on an art job. Needless to say, I was most impressed.

But, first, Conan.

And I have strong memories of his story too. One which features him blundering around in Zembabwei, rescuing a hapless blonde and fighting yet another of those man-apes that are always described as being rare but which seem to lurk behind every Hyborian tree.

The aforementioned Avengers, meanwhile, are having trouble with an impostor running around, masquerading as the Black Panther, in order to commit a crime spree, while the real one is being held hostage by the Sons of the Serpent!

I suspect it's in this issue that we get the shock revelation - on nationwide TV - that the two leaders of the notoriously racist gang are, in fact, a white man and a black man!

Dr Strange, meanwhile, is being bothered by the Demons of Shuma-Gorath!

Thunderbolt Ross is chasing the Hulk around the icy wastes of Canada when the pair of them are abducted by the Gremlin who conducts tests on the brute's abilities, in order to better improve his lackeys' Super-Trooper suits.

Back in New York, Starr Saxon's robot is still engaging in fisticuffs with Daredevil, before Saxon accidentally sends it off to kill his employer Biggie Benson.

And the Silver Surfer's still facing the prospect of having to return to the role of being Galactus' herald.

Good God, what's going on on that cover? Is everyone fighting everyone, this week?

We'll soon find out.

As far as I can make out, the good news is that Drac's not involved. He's too busy fighting Hannibal King.

And the Werewolf by Night's not fighting the Living Mummy, at all. He's too busy fighting an embittered ex-Hollywood actor called Atlas.

And the Living Mummy's still fighting the Elementals in the streets of Cairo.

I can, therefore, decree that cover to be pure clickbait and not at all an accurate representation of what transpires within.

It's helpful of the authorities to put pictures of Zira and Cornelius on that Wanted poster, so we won't mistake them for any other talking apes we might encounter.

Inside the comic, the two chimps are having a whale of a time getting to know the world of humans.

But, then, naughty Dr Hasslein gets Zira drunk and she lets slip just what the future has in store for those humans.

And, of course, the United States isn't going to take that sort of thing lying down.

That's followed by a four-page feature on Roddy McDowall

And we get the latest instalment of Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars.

But there's a bonus because we also encounter Barry Smith's first stab at drawing barbarians for Marvel when fictional antediluvian swordsman Starr the Slayer sets out to kill his creator before his creator can kill him!

I assume Starr the Slayer isn't related to Starr Saxon even though they both feature, this week, in stories drawn by Barry Smith.

Interesting to see The Super-Heroes, using the style of split cover The Mighty World of Marvel will later adopt in its merger-happy era.

You have to hand it to The Super-Heroes. It doesn't even have to merge with anything for it to act like a merged comic. That's how ahead of its time it is.

In this thrilling issue, despite what the cover claims, Giant-Man must find a way to thwart the Black Knight, a man who's decided to put on a suit of armour and create a winged horse after seeing a statue of a man on a horse.

Then, the Cat must find a way to stop the charge of the Man-Bull.

And the X-Men are still being pestered by both Dominus and Lucifer.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - November 1985.

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

***

Just how moving were the moving pictures that came out in November 1985?

Here's where we find out.

Were we to venture into our local bug hut, in that very month, we would be confronted with such new releases as Death Wish 3, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, To Live and Die in L.A., Target, King Solomon's Mines, White Nights, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, Rocky IV and Santa Claus: The Movie.

Tragically, the only one of those I've ever seen is King Solomon's Mines which is rubbish and, therefore, I can't with clear conscience declare it to be my Movie of the Month. I shall, therefore, leave it to those better informed than I to decide just which of those films is the cream of that crop.

Marvel's determined to inflict yet more new comics upon me. And so it is that we encounter the first-ever issue of Nightcrawler.

It would appear the shadow-loving rogue's practising in the Danger Room when he, somehow, gets yanked into another dimension where he begins a swashbuckling adventure!

All I know beyond any reasonable doubt is that this story is both written and drawn by Dave Cockrum. 

What's this? Rom's comic is not only still going but is suddenly guest-starring Rick Jones who appears to have Hulked himself up to some degree?

It all happens when the Beyonder arrives at a cabin occupied by Rick, Brandy and Cindy, gives them super-powers and sends two of them into Limbo to retrieve Cindy's parents!

But, hold on, where does Rom fit into all of this?

Mike Kaluta's cover heralds the arrival of an issue in which something or other happens.

All I know about that something or other is it's a yarn called Big Mombo and is the product of Mike's pencils and Elaine Lee's words.

Marvel's latest multi-part epic crossover hits its fifth issue when the Beyonder dismantles a train upon which is riding a young mutant on her way to Professor X's school.

The Beyonder agrees to take her the rest of the way but, once they arrive there, the X-Men attack him and, somehow, this all leads to him beating up the Celestials!

At last, it's the storyline we've all been praying for, as Mary Jane Watson becomes Spider-Man!

Or does she? 

Alistaire Smythe seems to think so.

Seeking revenge for the death of his father, he's out to get rid of the web-spinner.

However, he, bizarrely, comes to the conclusion that Mary Jane is that very web-spinner.

Even though she's clearly not a man.

It's exactly what we've all been praying for, as Marvel gives us its stunning adaptation of the Red Sonja movie that did its best to keep us awake.

I would say we're all familiar with the plot but I've seen the film at least three times and still couldn't tell you what the plot is.

Apparently, this version is written and drawn by Mary Wilshire. 

After years of being Thor's sidekick, Balder finally lands a comic of his own and would seem to be doing so by crossing over with the thunder god's book, as he too journeys to Hel, in a bid to liberate those who don't deserve to be there.

The Fantastic Four's 19th annual sees the gang team up with the Avengers, for reasons I'm not familiar with.

However, it does seem the Infant Terrible puts in an appearance!

Forty years ago today - November 1985.

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

***

1985.

November.

Let's see what it's got to throw at us.

I do believe the Avengers - with able assist from the Skrulls and the Beyonder - finally manage to bring an end to Nebula's interplanetary reign of piracy.

However, that occasion does see the departure of Starfox who's been reminded, by it all, that there's a universe out there to explore.

There's not a pterodactyl safe when Conan's around.

But, come to think of it, does this story even involve a pterodactyl? I believe it involves a cult leader who cynically exploits his followers, and a whole bucketful of rain.

Oh, the veritable meta of it all. Steve Rogers only goes and gets a job at Marvel Comics, drawing the adventures of...  ...Captain America!

But, through that act, he becomes aware of a letter to the editor which claims there's something strange going on in a barn.

Needless to say, Captain America's not the type to ignore a strange barn and, so, he goes there.

Only to find it's guarded by the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android!

It's going to be a hot night for the man without fear, as a small-time crook accidentally gets his hands on Sunturion's suit of armour and sets out to bump off his old gangland boss.

Needless to say, our hero is more than up to the task of stopping him, with a climax that suggests to me that Sunturion was always intended to be Marvel's answer to DC's ERG-1/Wildfire.

Will the drama never end? In a sub-atomic realm, the Fantastic Four are helpless prisoners of the Psycho-Man who's keeping them harmless, with his emotion-controlling devices.

But they may be able to find a little help from a princess they've not seen in a long time...

Also, this is the issue in which Sue Storm stops calling herself the Invisible Girl and officially becomes the Invisible Woman!

That's a very Alex Nino-esque cover from Mike Mignola.

Inside, at an alien crossroads, the Hulk's body, now separated from Bruce Banner's spirit, is possessed by the soul of Walter Langkowski who I think used to be Sasquatch but is currently deceased.

And that all leads to the Hulk being brought back to Earth, by Alpha-Flight!

Spider-Man's managed to arouse the wrath of the normally even-tempered Firelord and must find a way to survive the issue.

But, as that cover makes clear, he not only survives, he thrives!

Then again, we already knew that because we saw the climax of this fight in last month's Avengers comic.

The wall-crawler's quest to bring Jean DeWolff's murderer to justice leads him into conflict with the Sin-Eater who's also killed a judge friend of Matt Murdock.

Our hero, however, finds the villain's not so easy to contain when there are innocent onlookers getting in the way.

Thor and his army descend upon Hel in a bid to liberate those who don't belong there.

But it's not long before he and his army begin to get distracted by the shades of those they care about.

And then Hela shows up and tears Thor's face off.

Tony Stark finally has his big showdown with Obadiah Stane who's got himself a suit of armour and is now calling himself Iron Monger.

Seriously, that's what he's calling himself.

With super-villain instincts that bad, it's no wonder it doesn't take Stark long to completely clobber him.

As that cover suggests, Rachel Summers decides to become the Phoenix, for reasons that completely elude me.

But there are other concerns, as well, because no sooner has he reformed and joined the X-Men than Magneto gets arrested by the government!