1981: MARVEL UK'S STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MONTHLY ISSUE 144

From 1981: STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MONTHLY issue 144, reprinting Starfire Rising from issue 54 of the US run.

This issue boasts another unique-to-the-UK cover.  Curiously it also omits the issue number and hedges its bets over the month of publication, suggesting that the British Bullpen were having some production and scheduling issues around this time.

The main story is, as with the last issue, an old John Carter inventory story left on the shelf when Marvel lost the license and closed the title.  Marvel tried to stockpile stand-by strips that could be slotted in at any time if a title looked like it would drop behind schedule... but these were often left unpublished when a title closed.  This wasn't a problem when Marvel owned the character as the one-shot story would eventually see print in one of the 'spotlight' anthologies or - in the 1980s - in the pages of MARVEL FANFARE.  But licensed books were more of a challenge.  And Marvel's accountants demanded that everything paid for had to appear somewhere.

So the unpublished strip was rather crudely reworked into a STAR WARS two-parter.  And it stood out a mile.  I suspect sales, on both sides of the Atlantic, took a hit when casual browsers spotted that the main strip barely looked like a dispatch from the galaxy far, far away.

Marvel, of course, had previous form in this area: famously, an issue of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA run reworked an unpublished TARZAN story... recasting Apollo in the role of the Lord of the Apes.  And then there was Apeslayer....

1976: STARLOG ISSUE 1 LOOKS AHEAD TO SPACE:1999 YEAR TWO

From 1976: the very first issue of STARLOG MAGAZINE looks at the changes afoot on the set, and behind-the-scenes, on the second year of BRITISH-based SPACE:1999.  

Well, that went well...

1983: ADVERT FOR 2000AD PROG 300

From January 1983: 2000AD celebrates surviving 300 issues in print (and several behind-the-scenes close calls during the first few years) with a special issue... and a free metal (of some sort) JUDGE DREDD badge.

Unfortunately, the Mighty One couldn't stretch the budget as far as putting a pin on the back so the badge had to be affixed with some double-sided spongy tape stuff stuck to the back. 

The other attraction was one of those multi-week, build-it-yourself, cut-out-and-keep booklets beloved of the IPC Youth Group of the time: an eye-straining reproduction of the very first prog.  Which was at least pretty cool.  

This advert appeared in the pages of the EAGLE.  

1989: MATT FREWER TALKS MAX HEADROOM IN STARLOG MAGAZINE

From 1989: Matt Frewer looks back at his time playing MAX HEADROOM (on both sides of the Atlantic) in STARLOG MAGAZINE.

1983: IPC ADVERT FOR THE FIRST EAGLE HOLIDAY SPECIAL.

From April 1983: a House Ad for the very first EAGLE HOLIDAY SPECIAL of the new era.

IPC's specials always went on sale much earlier than summer 'proper' so they were always a marker that the long summer break was approaching.  I'm not sure whether they were simply trying to maximise their shelf life, coincide with a late Easter or just hit the two May Bank Holidays.  Marvel's summer specials always seemed to hit much later... more closely timed to the start of the school holidays themselves.

The special itself was very much modeled on the format and formula of the weekly during its first eighteen months... a mixture of original photo strips, traditional comic strips and features.

1981: GERRY ANDERSON'S SUPERMARIONATION IS GO! ISSUE 2

From the summer of 1981: the second edition of GERRY ANDERSON fan magazine SUPERMARIONATION IS GO!

This issue includes the announcement of the formation of Fanderson, an amalgermation of Anderson fan efforts (including the magazine itself) into one organisation recognised by both the man himself and copyright holders ITC.

1981: MARVEL UK'S STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MONTHLY ISSUE 143

From February 1981: another excellent cover from the British STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MONTHLY, published by Marvel UK.

This issue reprints Number 53 in the US run, with a new cover which isn't a million miles from the US design but manages to be more dramatic and makes Leia less of the passive victim.

The appearance of the double-bodied T.I.E Bomber created something of a playground thrill back in the day.

1988: JANE BADLER TALKS 'V' AND THE HIGHWAYMAN IN STARLOG MAGAZINE

From 1988: the lovely Jane Badler discusses 'V', Larson's THE HIGHWAYMAN (behind-the-scenes punch-up alert!) and her other 1980s projects with STARLOG MAGAZINE.

DEATH'S HEAD RETURNS... IN THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.2 MOVIE SPECIAL

From today... Look who's back... In the exclusive (it says here) new comic strip in Panini's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 OFFICIAL MOVIE MAGAZINE. Bit of a surprise, yes?

Does this mean that the Marvel movies and the TRANSFORMERS movies are now one-step-removed?

1976: STARLOG MAGAZINE ISSUE 1

From August 1976: the very first issue of multi-decade Geek magazine mainstay (and regular source of posts for Starlogged) STARLOG.

The (really nice) cover art says it all: this was concieved as a less-than-official STAR TREK magazine to cash-in on the ongoing reruns in first-run syndication.  But the lawyers pointed-out that Paramount would sue if it was too obviously a Trek tie-in.  So packing out the pages with other SF (pre-STAR WARS) was the best way of staying legit.

And thus an empire (which - from the early 1980s onwards - did include officially licensed Trek mags) was spawned....