1989: DEATH'S HEAD HOUSE AD (Marvel UK)

This was a one-page strip-cum-House Ad that appeared across the MARVEL UK range in late 1988/ early 1989.  It was, of course, plugging DEATH'S HEAD's US-format monthly.  

1983: SCHOOL FUN House Ad Campaign (IPC)

15 October 1983

22 October 1983

29 October 1983

5 November 1983

These are the IPC House Ads that launched 1983's new humour weekly: SCHOOL FUN.  They petered out after the fourth issue...

2000: STARLOG UK Issue 1

By special request, the launch issue of the British edition of the venerable STARLOG from May 2000.

I must confess that I didn't buy this at the time and I don't know much about the details.  US imports of Starlog had been appearing in newsagents for over a decade (I was a regular buyers around the time that ST: TNG launched in 1987) so I don't know if this was effectively competing with the US edition… or whether it replaced it.  

The print dimensions were wider than A4 which is why the edges are cut off on my A4 scanner.

1983: SCHOOL FUN Issue 1 (IPC)

It's back-to-school so, to mark the occasion, here's the first issue of IPC's ill-fated SCHOOL FUN, an October 1983 launch which tried to make - ahem - school fun.  It ran for 33 weeks, two holiday specials and one annual.

The Kings Reach Tower mandarins were smart enough to throw in a little star power: two of the strips were based on characters from CORONATION STREET and GRANGE HILL.

Swift failure can probably be attributed to kids not wishing to be reminded of school when they're not in it.  It merged, as so many comics did, with BUSTER in May 1984.

1993: DARK GUARD House Ad (Marvel UK)

Here's a MARVEL UK House Ad for DARK GUARD (starring… guess who?!?) from September 1993.

This was M-UK's equivalent of THE AVENGERS: pulling together their most bankable roster of GENESIS 92 stars in the hope that it would muster some of the previous blockbuster sales levels of a few months earlier.

The first issue featured a lenticular cover enhancement to make it all shiny and new.

The title only clocked-up four issues before succumbing to the GENESIS IMPLOSION at the beginning of 1994.  Issue five was solicited in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE but was never published.

DARK GUARD GOLD: OLD FRIENDS was announced for April 1994 but never appeared.  It seems likely that material originally intended for issues 5-6 of the monthly would have appeared here instead.

1983: THE SAGA OF CRYSTAR Launch Ad (Marvel USA)

This eye-catching, hard-selling, MARVEL House Ad appeared in the first issue of COMICS INTERVIEW in February 1983 and heralded the launch of the new US title.

CRYSTAR was an attempt by Marvel to create their own multi-platform property (except it never reached the screen) to try and grab a slice of the lucrative toy/ merchandising boom of the eighties.

The US run lasted only a year before fading.  The strip briefly surfaced as a MARVEL UK back-up strip in RETURN OF THE JEDI before being quietly dropped.  

1994: CINESCAPE MAGAZINE Issue 1

CINESCAPE was yet another in the mid-ninties boom in new SF film/ TV magazines.  

This is the first issue from October 1994.

I recall it had a long run but, presumably, succumbed to the general decline in magazine sales as the Internet rode into town.

1974: STAN LEE VISITS THE UK (Marvel UK)

I've already published details, from the MARVEL UK weeklies, of STAN LEE's October 1975 sojourn to the UK, including the ICA exhibition and his one-night-only outing at the Roundhouse, but Stan was making annual (or more) transatlantic trips throughout the seventies.

Here's a full page account (published 25 January 1975) of his 1974 trip including a TV appearance on PEBBLE MILL AT ONE, presumably now purged from the BBC archives.

1975: SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN Launch Ad (Marvel UK)

This is the March 1975 Launch Ad for MARVEL UK's SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN.  

This turned-out to be the first duffer from the Annex of Ideas: the ill-fated weekly closed after only eighteen issues… although the strip went on to have a healthy run as the regular back-yup strip in THE AVENGERS and then transferred into THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL.

The British Bullpen recycled the title (purloined from the US magazine… which supplied the bulk of the material) for a monthly incarnation a few years later.  This proved a much more successful endeavour, clocking-up a commendable 93 issues.

The material here, which came from the earliest issues of the US colour comic (the b&w printing was a great showcase for Barry Windsor-Smith's stunning art), appeared again in the 1980-81 CONAN THE BARBARIAN POCKET BOOK.  

1994: SCI-FI UNIVERSE Issue 1

The 1990s were a good time for science fiction magazines with several new launches, on both sides of the Atlantic, which upset the complacent status quo of Starlog and Starburst.

The best to emerge from the States was SCI-FI UNIVERSE, a glossy monthly, enited by Mark Altman, with a more independent attitude compared with "the 'log".  Apparently, his less than sycophantic coverage of the TREK franchise burnt bridges with the Paramount production teams.  But… he was right… VOYAGER was pretty wretched.  

I loved this first issue, published July 1994, because it had a serious and detailed look at PLANET OF THE APES.  It seems unbelievable now (especially after the 2001 movie - which replaced the Oliver Stone version mooted here - spawned a number of behind-the-scenes books) but there was scant coverage of the original Apes saga when this was published.

It's a simple but iconic cover image as well.

Incidentally, the "sci-fi" part of the title was demanded by the publisher because they were concerned it might be mistaken for an astronomy magazine.

The Altman-era eventually wrapped when the title was sold and became allied with the Sci-Fi Channel.  Things were never the same.