2000 AD - January 1988.

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

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January 1988 was a big month for anyone hoping to restructure the Soviet Union because it was the month in which that entity launched  its program of perestroika, thanks to legislation introduced by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

Also in the world of Communism, vice-president Lee Teng-hui became President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang.

When it came to ventures more capitalistic, Hollywood was, no doubt, hoping to rake in the big bucks, thanks to the release of such never-to-be-forgotten blockbusters as Cop, The Couch Trip, The Telephone, Biggles: Adventures in Time and, of course, Braddock: Missing in Action III.

I am 100% sure I've never seen any of them and I must suspect that not too many cinematic fortunes were made that month.

But proving to be highly profitable were the following artists and tracks, for they each seized the top spot on the UK singles chart: Always on my Mind by the Pet Shop Boys, Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle and I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany.

When it came to the adjacent album chart, January kicked off with Now That's What I Call Music! 10 dominating before it was dethroned by Wet Wet Wet's Popped in Souled Out which was then toppled by Johnny Hates Jazz's Turn Back the Clock which was then replaced by Terence Trent D'Arby's Introducing the Hardline According to ...

But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

As you'd expect, it was providing us with the latest thrills from Bad Company, Nemesis the Warlock, Judge Dredd and Tharg's Future Shocks.

But it also saw the return of the ABC Warriors - who found themselves up against The Black Hole - and the return of Grant Morrison's Zenith.