Speak Your Brain! Part 108.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Once more the entire world descends upon this site to discover just what it is I'll be blathering on about next.

But the truth is I don't know what I'll be blathering on about next.

That's because it has yet to be decided.

You guessed it. Mostly because it says so in the post's title. It's the return of a feature that's become so revered that I wouldn't be surprised if the whole of humanity starts to spontaneously worship it.

It's the feature in which you The Reader get to decide the topic of the day.

And that means all you have to do is post a subject you wish to see discussed, in the Comment Section below, and, lo, that topic shall be born!

2000 AD - July 1987.

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

***

There were so many well-known movies released in July 1987 that it was almost enough to make a man or woman's head spin.

For instance, it saw the unveiling of Adventures in Babysitting, Innerspace, Full Metal Jacket, Jaws: The Revenge, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, RoboCop, La Bamba, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, The Living Daylights and, of course, The Lost Boys.

I am, to the surprise of no one, going to nominate Adventures in Babysitting as my film of the month, if only for the fact that it has Thor in it.

But what's this? Things were also happening in the world of television?

It would appear so because that August also saw the first broadcast of a TV movie based on Will Eisner's The Spirit. One starring Sam J Jones of Flash Gordon fame.

But that's enough of movies. What about music?

It was a month which kicked off with the Pet Shop Boys' It's a Sin standing astride the summit of the UK singles chart. But soon that had to subside before the power of Madonna's Who's That Girl? which then had to recede before the might of Los Lobos and their cover of La Bamba.

Over on the parallel album chart, July launched with Whitney Houston's Whitney on top before it was shoved aside by Introducing the Hardline According to ... by Terence Trent D'Arby which then had to make way for Various Artists' Hits 6.

And what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

It was still serving up a familiar diet of Anderson: PSI Division, Tharg's Future-Shocks, Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Mean Team and Strontium Dog.

But there was also less-long-established fare, in the from of D. R. & Quinch's Agony Page, Ro-Jaws' Robo-Tales and Tales From Mega-City One.

August 23rd, 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. 

***

Vikings. They weren't just savage brutes who trashed everywhere they encountered. They also discovered the planet Mars.

At least I assume they did, as, this week in 1975, NASA launched the Viking 1 planetary probe at that very world. A year and a half later, Mars would be part of the Danelaw and would never be the same again.

But, on TV, a whole other level of history was being made. That's because, on August 23rd, 1975, BBC Two showed a never-to-be-forgotten late-night double-bill of Barbarella and This Island Earth.

It was the first time I'd seen either film and, on first viewing, they both seemed like masterpieces.

Sadly, these days, only This Island Earth still appeals to me, as Barbarella now feels like a joke that only the director got.

This Island Earth, on the other hand, features a mutant with its brain on the outside of its head. And that's quality entertainment in anyone's book.

As I think we can all spot, Spider-Man's still battling the Green Goblin, and Harry Osborn's still losing his battle with drugs.

Can these two facts be related to each other?

And can our hero use one of them to put a stop to the other?

Despite what the cover claims, I do believe it's the Grey Gargoyle who's battling Iron Man, this week, and that Whiplash will have to wait at least another seven days before making his metal-shredding debut.

Meanwhile, Thor's still in the process of discovering the origin of Galactus.

Apparently, this week's cover was drawn by 

Paty Cockrum. As far as I know, this makes it the only artwork by her that I've ever seen.

I do believe we kick off this issue with Conan still mixed up in the siege of Makkalet and on course to have an encounter with ace swordsman, assassin and wearer of cardboard wings, Mikhal Oglu. Otherwise known as The Vulture!

Following that, determined to make amends for unleashing an indestructible Ultron upon the world, the Vision confronts the fiend but, just as the Avengers had done before him, fails to bring a halt to his plans.

And Shang-Chi's involved in the adventure the world knows as Snow Buster, a story I recall the title of but whose plot is more than a little opaque within my mind.

Yet again, the Defenders prove triumphant, as they thwart Dormammu's dastardly plan to rule Vermont!

Meanwhile, wanted by the police, for the murder of the Jester's everyday alter-ego, Daredevil must take to the streets and hide in the form of Matt Murdock.

But is he about to have a fateful encounter on an underground railway?

And Reed Richards and a world-renowned scientist strive to find a cure for the Thing's condition.

But one of those two men is actually the Mad Thinker in disguise!

Needless to say, it all leads to the Thing - not for the first time in his career - becoming evil and turning against his teammates!

Marvel's adaptation of Beneath the Planet of the Apes is threatening to get explosive, what with the mutant humans deciding to prepare their doomsday bomb for use

But will even that be enough to prevent the apes from invading their city?

Elsewhere, Captain Marvel has plenty on his plate when the sinister Sentry decides to wake up and attack the military base at which Marv is now working.

And we close the issue with the Tony Isabella / George Pérez short tale War Toy which I remain convinced was at least a partial inspiration for the movie Short Circuit.

There's plenty at stake for Dracula who's been captured by Dr Sun, a communist blood-drinking brain-computer in a jar who, I think, wants to transfer Drac's mind into the body of Lucas Brand in an attempt to control the vampires of the world.

Or something.

Meanwhile, Jack Russell's having trouble with his homicidal cleaning woman who goes by the name of Ma Mayhem.

And he's having equal trouble with his next door neighbour who's turned out to also be a werewolf!

As for the Living Mummy, I do believe there's consternation in the museum because he's only gone and gone missing from it!

It does strike me, though, that isn't a, "living mummy," just a normal man wrapped in bandages?

Clearly, they should rename the strip The Normal Man Wrapped In Bandages. There is such a thing as The Trades Description Act, after all.

Readers of long-suffering and even longer-standing may be aware that, possibly, the first story I ever read which featured a Marvel character was the one in which the Silver Surfer must battle the Abomination, thanks to the activities of a bunch of witches.

And I read it in the summer of 1971, in the pages of TV21.

However, it's now 1975 and I have a chance to read it all over again!

Not that I do so, because, if it's available in my local newsagents, I never see any sign of it.

Meanwhile, in his strip, Doc Savage is involved in what can only be titled Savage Fury!

And the X-Men are about to have their first ever run-in with the Sentinels when a man called Dr Trask unveils the ruthless robo-bigots, on live television!

Apparently, this cover is also the product of Paty Cockrum.

This means I've now seen two pieces of work by her.

Speak Your Brain! Part 107. CGI and fish and chips!

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

It's amazing what you can find in caves.

However, you can't find this in caves.

That's because it's the feature that refuses to be hidden away.

It's the feature in which you The Reader get to decide the topic of the day.

That topic could involve almost anything on this world, within it, without it, or even beyond it.

Therefore, have no hesitation in launching that topic, in the comments section below - and we shall see just what might might be.

Atlas/Seaboard August 1975.

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

***

As we saw last month, we've entered a period in which Atlas/Seaboard is visibly receding from every shop that sells comics.

However, Chip and Martin Goodman are clearly not men to go down without a fight.

And so, this month, the venture brings us four more books to feast our eyes and minds upon.

Who could forget this issue?

Not me.

Not only does it carry articles about The Thing, Flash Gordon, Lon Chaney Jr and dinosaur-packed lost worlds, it also shares an exclusive eye-witness account of an encounter with the Loch Ness monster, in which the writer claims to have literally stepped on part of the beast, by accident.

To be honest, even as an eleven-year-old, I was sceptical of this claim.

You have to hand it to Vicki. She's survived where more ambitious Atlas protagonists have failed.

However, now even she meets her doom, as her fourth and final issue hits our spinner racks and does so with a bunch of tales reprinted from late 1960s Tower Comics' Tippy Teen issues.

"The World's Most Exciting Magazine!" smashes into the buffers with its second issue but does, at least, do so in style, thanks to a dramatic Neal Adams cover and interior action that everyone who's read it seems to have a fondness for.

Inside this not-so-death-defying issue, Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson spin a yarn in which feuding samurais encounter trouble with giant spiders.

We also discover eight pages of The Kromag Saga which I'm struggling to recall the details of. I think it might be a Ka-Zar type thing.

Then there's action from Tough Cop. I think that might be a law-enforcement type thing.

Then there's an article about The Towering Inferno.

And we round the issue off with Town Tamer and A Job Well Done. Both of which stories, I have no recollection.

Doom is piled upon doom because the Destructor too has met his Waterloo.

His fourth and final outing sees Gerry Conway and Steve Ditko produce a thriller the world can only know as Doomsday -- Minus One. Exactly what it entails, I'm struggling to remember but it looks to involve cave action with someone called The Outcasts!

The Grand Comics Database informs me our hero gains energy powers in this story.

This is good.

Energy is useful.

August 16th, 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. 

***

I'll tell you who was happy, this week in 1975.

The Stylistics.

And why wouldn't they be? Not only did they ascend to the top of the UK singles chart, with their smash hit 45 I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love), they also seized the pinnacle of the corresponding album rankings, thanks to their LP The Best of The Stylistics!

Can Marvel UK even hope to rival that level of awesomeness?

Here's where we found out.

Can it be? Is the Green Goblin going to suffer death by strangulation at the hands of Spider-Man, as that cover implies?

More importantly, can Harry Osborn survive the bucketful off tablets he's crammed inside himself in a bid to deal with MJ's treatment of him?

I do believe history may be being made in the pages of Iron Man, as this may be the week in which SHIELD's greatest-ever agent Jasper Sitwell makes his knee-trembling first appearance in the strip.

In other news, that tale also sees the return of the Grey Gargoyle who's out to cause chaos at Tony Stark's factory.

And, to wrap it all up, Thor's about to get himself a dose of Galactus' origin!

Thanks to the Avengers, Conan hits the 100th issue landmark his own mag could only have dreamt of.

And I do believe he celebrates the feat by having a fight with a giant killer toad-monster near a pair of black monoliths.

In more modern times, the Avengers are in their mansion and having a one-sided scrap with Ultron who the conflicted Vision has rebuilt from indestructible metal!

And I do suspect Shang-Chi's having to tackle a gang of hungry panthers while armed with nothing deadlier than a stone ear he's grabbed off a statue.

I do believe the Defenders are still attempting to prevent the Dread Dormammu from breaking through the barrier that separates his dimension from Tom Fagan's Halloween parties!

It can only mean it's time for guest appearances by various members of Marvel's creative staff, including Roy and Jeannie Thomas!

And things are looking bad for Daredevil. Not only is he accused of killing the Jester's real-life alter-ego but the villain himself then helps the police arrest him for the murder!

And it all goes wrong for the Fantastic Four when Reed Richards decides to recruit a world-renowned scientist to help him cure the Thing.

But that scientist isn't so renowned that Reed is capable of spotting that he's actually the Mad Thinker in disguise!

I do wonder if wooden bullets would survive being fired from a gun.

It's like all those murder mysteries where someone's been shot and the cops can't find the bullet and then it turns out it's because the bullet was made of ice and melted in the wound. Could a bullet made of ice actually survive being blasted from a gun?

Only Steve Does Comics asks these questions because only Steve Does Comics doesn't have a clue.

More to the point, Drac has serious problems to deal with, thanks to him having been captured by the brain in a jar that is Dr Sun!

Jack Russell, meanwhile, must survive the attentions of a moving statue that's been sent to capture him.

And the Living Mummy is doing something or other.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes hurtles towards its fatalistic conclusion and I deduce, from that cover, that this is the issue in which Taylor and Brent are made to fight each other, to the death, by their mind-controlling mutant captors.

I do have to say I'm more impressed by the mutants in this comic than I am by the ones in the movie. The ones in the movie look barely mutated, while these ones really do look like people who've just pulled their faces off.

We then encounter an article called Finding the Future on the Fox Ranch which reports on the multi-faceted production of Beneath.

And it's bad news for Captain Marvel because not only is Yon-Rogg still trying to steal his girlfriend, the sinister Sentry's sprung back to life on the military base where the Kree warrior's landed himself a job by pretending to be dead rocket scientist Walt Lawson!

The cover creates the impression that the Silver Surfer's, "Deadliest battle ever!" involves him tangling with both Doc Savage and the X-Men.

I can officially confirm he's battling with neither of them when you open the comic.

On the other hand, I suspect the hapless Shalla-Bal manages to get herself shot and has to be sent back to Zenn-La, by the Surfer, giving him, no doubt, much excuse to stand on the front of his surfboard and float around bemoaning his lot in life.

Doc Savage, meanwhile, is still encountering The Doom on Thunder Isle!

And the X-Men are still in the Savage Land and having their first encounter with a man called Ka-Zar.

Apparently, this issue tells us how to actually pronounce his name.

But what's this? 

It took me the first 40 years of my life to learn to call him Kay-Zah instead of Kuh-ZAH.

Now it turns out I have to pronounce it, Kay-Sar!

The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1985.

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

***

Movies. Movies Movies. What were they up to in August, 1985?

They were being released.

That's the kind of thing they do.

And these are those that what was being released:

Fright Night, Weird Science, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, The Bride, The Return of the Living Dead, Year of the Dragon, Godzilla 1985, Teen Wolf and American Ninja.

I have to admit it, that is probably the most 1985 list of films I've ever seen in my entire life.

Of them, I'm going to go for Return of the Living Dead as my favourite - even though I've not seen it since the 1980s - as I don't think much of the others, other than Godzilla 1985 which I remember being quite good, unless I'm mixing it up with another Godzilla film, which, given how many of them there are, is quite possible.

And now. Comics. Comics Comics.

The Defenders is still going strong after all these thousands of years and is doing so by doing something.

You may get the feeling I don't have a clue what happens in this one.

And you'd be right, other than that the tale's called Fun and is brought to us by Peter Gillis and Luke McDonnell, with a front cover by Frank Cirocco.

And what can Alien Legion be up to?

I've no idea but it's a tale that's called Rude Awakening despite not being the work of either Steve Rude or Bob Awakening.

Part 2 of Secret Wars Part II smacks us between the eyeballs with yet more action when the Beyonder begins to experience life as a human being but finds it difficult to adjust.

So, he asks Spider-Man for guidance on how to succeed as a person. Let's be honest, that's the last individual you should go to for such advice.

He then turns the office of Luke Cage, and Iron Fist into solid gold!

It's that comic I keep picking for this slot purely because of Bill Sienkiewicz covers.

As for what happens within, it would seem Shadowcat uses Illyana's Soulsword to transform her back into a human being, after her having been the Darkchilde.

And, of course, the Beyonder's hanging around, as well.

As far as I'm aware, there's no sign of the Beyonder here but there is plenty of the Micronauts who are trying to breach a space wall.

What's this? Back from the comic book graveyard? The Rawhide Kid rides again?

And it's not even a bunch of reprints? It's all-new magic, as the ageing cowpoke visits Laramie to place a rose on the grave of someone or other but then encounters a railroad crew who mock him for wearing  false teeth?

And it all happens thanks to the talents of Bill Mantlo and Herb Trimpe?

Someone who still has his teeth, and is returning purely through the medium of reprints, is Captain Marvel.

And he's doing it with mountains of Jim Starlin goodness. Therefore, it would be churlish to complain about it not being fresh material.

And another new mag hits us with old stuff, as Elfquest presents 21 pages recycled from WaRP Graphics' 1979 ElfQuest #1.