1987: STARLOG GROUP OFFICIAL MOVIE MAGAZINES AND POSTER MAGS

From 1987: a selection of Starlog's officially licensed movie magazines and poster magazines from a house ad.

As you can see, it addition to STAR TREK (three mags for TREK IV!) they also seemed to have a thing for Stallone with a succession of tie-ins for his flicks (even STAYING ALIVE where he wisely stayed behind the camera) which surely shows who was buying this stuff. 

The SF issues still surface in back issue boxes from time-to-time but the titles related to other genres are much harder to find today. Presumably because their target audiences lacked the same collector mentality as SF boffins. How many fan boys have cherished their ANNIE movie mag for all these decades?

The range continued to grow over the next few years and I'll unearth and publish a later ad at a later date. 

1979: SUPERMAN THE MOVIE UK PRINT AD

From May 1979: a UK print ad celebrating the success (still showing in London's glittering West End... and other "important" venues!) of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE.

1987: SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS ISSUES 9-13 (MARVEL UK)

From 1987: the May issues (a five week month!) of MARVEL UK's SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS weekly.

The two title strips (one originated, one reprinted) continued throughout. The Fantastic Four reprints, occupying the flexible third slot, bowed out with issue 11 and the vacant pages were given over to an extended allocation of Spidey pages whilst the British Bullpen shuffled their line to prepare for the next merger. 

BTW: Can you still say "Ghettoblaster"? The hardware must seem positively antique to today's MP3/ Bluetooth speakers generation. 

Next week... June. 

1999: CULT TIMES SPECIAL #11: CRUSADE (VISUAL IMAGINATION)

From 1999 (and the random scans file): Visual Imagination's CULT TIMES (basically the TV TIMES for Geek TV with full SCI-FI CHANNEL - from when it was good - listings as well as details of genre TV shows scattered across the multi-channel schedules) SPECIAL.

Like most of the other VI mags (although curiously not SHIVERS), CT also spun off quarterly themed specials alongside the core mag. This was was largely devoted to the ill-fated launch of the successor show to BABYLON FIVE: CRUSADE.

That show went horribly wrong and has the distinction of being cancelled months BEFORE its premiere.

1987: AFTER IMAGE FANZINE ISSUE 1 (ACE COMICS)

From July 1987: the launch of Essex-based comics fanzine AFTER IMAGE. And I was there.

After Image started out as a little A5 affair published (or, at the very least, published in association with) Colchester's Ace (American Comics Enterprises) Comics and sold through their little Museum Street store (virtually in the shadow of the town's castle... the store is still going but has relocated several times since). I'm not sure whether copies were also sold further afield or by mail order. 

The launch was pegged, as you'll see below, to a signing by the creative team (Wagner and Grant) behind DC's new OUTCASTS limited series. They were signing (in a loading bay/ delivery area at the back of the store) copies of the first issue of their series... And copies of the first issue of this series. 

AI itself was a nice mix of comics and media news, interviews and articles. This was the first place that Teen Me had ever heard of the movie PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE... and it sounded such fun. 

The zine continued in the A5 format for several more issues and then adopted a more traditional A4 format with better paper and print quality. But still with the same alt-ink "colour" covers and black & white interiors. I'm not sure how long it ran and I don't think I kept any other issues. Grrr. 

2016: PANINI LAUNCH NEW MARVEL CIVIL WAR COMIC IN THE UK

From - ahem - yesterday: spotted in WH SMITH, the first issue of Panini's new CIVIL WAR Collectors Edition format mag.

Top marks to the publisher for investing in the launch (pegged to a certain movie don't you know) by buying space in one of those shelf boxes.

The contents itself are another outing for the oft-reprinted Marvel event of a few years back. The core series wasn't a long-runner but the sheer number of crossovers and spin-off could fuel this launch for years.

In addition to the opening salvo of strips, there were also some feature pages tucked in the back culled from the old in-house hype mag (and successor to MARVEL AGE) MARVEL SPOTLIGHT.

I grabbed my copy but haven't had a chance to look at it in detail yet.

1994: CINESCAPE PREVIEW ISSUE

From August 1994: the special (free!) preview edition of CINESCAPE MAGAZINE, published just ahead of the official launch, that was bagged with copies of HERO ILLUSTRATED and a computer games mag (the catchily titled ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY). My copy came with the former... not the latter.

TREK prominently features, BOND is always back and we DID see two AVP flicks, one considerably better than the other but neither really much cop. 

The regular mag clocked up 76 regular issues through to the Winter of 2004. It also spun off assorted one shots under generic brands like CINESCAPE PRESENTS (TV MANIA, SEQUEL MANIA, BUFFY/ ANGEL OFFICIAL YEARBOOK, THE X-FILES, MOVIE ALIENS, THE X-FILES AND CONSPIRACY TELEVISION), CINESCAPE INSIDER (PHANTOM MENACE, STAR WARS), CINESCAPE COLLECTORS EDITION (THE X-FILES YEARBOOK) or the CINESCAPE 1995 SCIENCE FICTION TELEVISION YEARBOOK that sometimes appeared as part of the usual numerical run and sometimes appeared as specials. 

1986: TRANSFORMERS SPECIAL TEAMS MARVEL UK HOUSE AD

From May 1986: a MARVEL UK house ad touting the imminent arrival of the combining SPECIAL TEAMS (how long did it take the Hasbro Brians Trust to come up with that name?) in the TRANSFORMERS comic.

The push, of course, coincided with the launch of the toys themselves in UK stores. Their UK debut happened earlier than their official arrival in the reprinted American strips so Simon Furman and the Annex of Ideas had to concoct a new tale (Buster's dream) to tease the characters without wrecking continuity.

The free gifts (bankrolled by Hasbro) were also, of course, geared to making the new toys top of kid's gifting wishlist. Unleash the pester power!

1987: "V" MERCHANDISE ADVERT FROM STARLOG MAGAZINE

From 1987: a selection of "V" merchandise, as advertised in an issue of STARLOG MAGAZINE.

I've published the VISITORS TECHNICAL INFORMATION MANUAL (purchased from a London Comic Mart back in the Eighties) on STARLOGGED in the past but I've never stumbled across a physical copy of the Writers/ Directors Guide... although I think I read a copy online at some point and found it less than illuminating. 

Ordering a copy of the TO SERVE MAN COOKBOOK would probably get you investigated by the appropriate authorities. 

Despite being offered by Starlog Press, I suspect all these items were fan produced and not officially licensed or endorsed by the studio (who ran their own officially sanctioned ad, starring Jane Baddler, to shift their own wares... see STARLOGGED past). Naughty naughty. 

1981: THE FLASH GORDON MOVIE SPOOFED IN MARVEL'S CRAZY MAGAZINE

From June 1981: Marvel America's CRAZY MAGAZINE (not even the Bullpen had any qualms about cloning the MAD formula) spoofs the Sam J. Jones FLASH GORDON movie.