1980: VALOUR

Monday, 30 April 2012

1980: VALOUR

VALOUR was one half of Marvel UK's late-1980 double-act of new weeklies alongside SF-centric FUTURE TENSE. FT had the sic-fi crowd (and presumably the weekly slots recently vacated by stablemates THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK WEEKLY and DOCTOR WHO WEEKLY) in its sights, leaving VALOUR to cater to fantasy fans. Assuming there were any.

The all-reprint line-up consisted of Conan the Barbarian, Thor, Doctor Strange and - errm - Devil Dinosaur. Surely (not) a winning combination.

Conan had clearly been fully rehabilitated since the disaster of THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN weekly: not only appearing here but also in the rather more successful monthly incarnation of THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN as well as in the CONAN THE BARBARIAN POCKET BOOK. The conclusion to be drawn is either that M-UK felt the (pre-movie era) was a bankable star OR they were short of suitable reprints.

The fantasy line-up clearly wasn't enough to hook the punters (and, besides, FUTURE TENSE had belatedly added William Shatner to its line-up) and, after a couple of weeks of hype and bluster, the two stablemates merged.

Conan survived the cut. Thor and Doctor Strange resurfaced in the new MARVEL ACTION weekly launched in late March 1981. And Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur emerged again as back-up strip in THE X-MEN weekly in 1983.

Valour also published a contemporary WINTER SPECIAL in 1980 (which, like the weekly, was published on newsprint without a glossy cover) , something FUTURE TENSE never managed. Possibly, early in the life of the two titles, Marvel management considered Conan the safer bet.