1988: WILDCAT ISSUE 1

From October 1988: the first issue of Fleetway's new fortnightly WILDCAT.

This is something of a landmark title: not only was it the first time (as far as I know) that IPC/ Fleetway had launched an anthology where all the strips shared the same universe but also the last time that they took a punt on a boys adventure title that wasn't either based on an existing media property or spun out of one of their existing titles.

It's ambitious stuff with a top-notch creative team (Boix, Belardinelli, Ortiz, Pino, Smith and others) and a remit to do something different at a time when the boys adventure market was really on its uppers (even Marvel UK was discovering that a heavily promoted toy tie-in were no longer pulling in the punters in sufficient numbers to keep the lights on at a number of weeklies) and only toy tie-ins seemed to have any chance of survival.

The shared universe premise was not a million miles away from Glen Larson's late 1960s unsold effort Adam's Ark (which was drastically reworked a decade later to become BATTLESTAR GALACTICA): Turbo Jones predicts the impending destruction of the Earth in a meteor shower and constructs a space craft (the Wildcat) to whisk a select group of survivors off world in search of a new planet to colonise.  Cue: various alien-centric adventure built around the four main characters: Jones, Loner, Kitten Magee and Joe Alien.

The fortnightly was teased with the now traditional preview issue giveaway, bagged with copies of 2000AD, EAGLE and (presumably in an attempt to broaden the audience) WHIZZER AND CHIPS.  Only twelve issues appeared before a hasty merger with - predictably - EAGLE (issue 368, 8 April 1989).  Two further specials, now very hard to find, followed in 1989.  Unusually, these probably weren't just burning off unused inventory as the strips were also appearing in EAGLE every week.

There was also two Stateside spin-offs courtesy of the often rough-and-ready Fleetway Quality imprint: the Loner strips were collected into a US format title that clocked-up a not-to-be-sniffed-at seven issues in 1990-91. Turbo Jones: Pathfinder mustered a one-shot in 1991. Neither title is particularly easy to find in the 50p boxes.

1989: JAMES BOND 007 PERMISSION TO DIE ISSUE 1

From 1989: the first issue, published in a swanky format, of Mike Grell's JAMES BOND 007 comics adaptation PERMISSION TO DIE.

This marked Mr Bond's return to comics after a hiatus of several years since the Roger Moore era Marvel movie adaptations.  This, in contrast, was an original story (written and illustrated by Grell) and not directly based on any existing movie or Fleming novel.

A patchy publishing schedule meant the third issue didn't appear until 1991.  That, and the collected edition that followed, seem pretty hard to find.  Not that I have looked too hard.

Eclipse also published an adaptation of the movie LICENSE TO KILL, but i don't recall ever seeing a copy.

Co-publisher Acme Press was a spin-off from British fanzine SPEAKEASY.  Other titles from the outfit included POWERMAN (not THAT one), reprinting rare mid-Seventies Gibbons/ Bolland strips created for export to the Nigerian market.and MAXWELL THE MAGIC CAT, collecting Alan Moore's gag strip from his local paper.

1989: THE ORIGINAL DAN DARE RETURNS TO EAGLE

From August 1989: another EAGLE landmark... the return of the original DAN DARE.

It's safe to say that the new Eagle was ever quite sure what to do with their biggest brand.  The relaunch started with Daniel Dare, action-packed gandson of the original Pilot of the Future.  The reboot was partly down to the fact that a TV version of the character was in pre-production (the ATV series went nowhere because of changes within the ITV system... possibly a lucky escape as the plan seemed to be along similar lines to CAPTAIN ZEP: SPACE DETECTIVE) and partly down to trying to put some clear blue water between the incarnations.  As if kids actually cared... as long as the strip was good.

They even decided to mess around with the original from afar by suddenly making him a WWII pilot who was sucked into the future (ala the plot of the BIGGLES movie) by a Treen mishap.  Thus the Mekon accidentally created his own greatest foe.  Bad day in the office.

After The Return of the Mekon played out, the character and the strip seemed to get a little lost.  Subsequent stories couldn't match the epic scope of the first outing and it all became a little average.  They even teamed New Dan and Old Dan together for one adventure.  I forget how they did it.  One ill-advised reboot saw the character sporting a lot of Magnum-esque chest hair as a 'Space Commando'.  Surely Starfleet would not have approved.  Which might have been the point.

This particular reboot not only saw the original character return but also one of the original art team with Keith Watson taking over the strip.  It's unlikely, beyond novelty value, that kids cared but maybe Fleetway were hoping some nostalgic dads might grab an issue... and some nostalgic journos would devoite some time to the oft-overlooked weekly.

This is also the cover that the Dan Dare copyright holders are mostly likely to turf out whenever a Dare revival is mooted... and the press are happy to run with it.

1989: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL ON THE COVER OF TIME SCREEN REVISED ISSUE 4

From Summer 1989: the revised and updated second edition of TIME SCREEN issue 4, with a cracking line-up of classic British Telefantasy shows.

Sapphire and Steel have been assigned...

1989: COMICS SCENE MAGAZINE ISSUE 6

From February 1989: the relaunched US magazine COMICS SCENE kicks-off 'The year of the Bat' with a preview of the BATMAN movie.

The age of the superhero movie was about to begin...

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.

1989: FANTAZIA ISSUE 1

From 1989: Turtle Power! The first issue of British mainstream media & comics mag FANTAZIA (Disney lawyers take note: no relation).

This rode the wave of the post-BATMAN super boom with a mix of superhero fare covering film, TV, comics and - unusually - RPG. And even - as this cover shows - theatre.

This always seemed like a "lets do anything we fancy" type mag with a diverse range of contents which didn't seem to adhere to the original mission statement. Horror and SF movies also started to sneak in as the remit flexed. Even the animatronic sitcom DINOSAURS managed to snag a cover.

One of the highlights was the Hollywood Heroes feature filed monthly by Andy Mangels. This was the same piece he filled for US fanzine AMAZING HEROES but with better presentation.

Launched in 1990 and published monthly by Pegasus, this clocked-up 18 issues before folding into the pages of ACADEMY (22 issues between 1990 and 1992). The latter part of the run enjoyed better production standards including squarebound printing. Distribution was predictably patchy and I used to have to go to one newsagent in a neighbouring village to find a copy.

1989: PRIMETIME MAGAZINE ISSUE 15

From 1989: PRIMETIME (The Television magazine) issue 15.

1989: THE BOG PAPER ISSUE 1, WITH FREE GIFT (MARVEL UK)

On sale right now back in 1989: the first issue of the - ahem - unusual MARVEL UK weekly THE BOG PAPER. As the title suggests, this humour weekly was devoted to all things toilet.

It's unusual because the British Bullpen seldom embraced humour with any real enthusiasm, clearly preferring to leave it to the genre masters on the South Bank and in Dundee. Maybe, at the end of the decade,  Marvel sensed their traditional grip on a declining market was starting to weaken. Or maybe Marvel just had a mad moment.

It was also unusual for Marvel UK to invest so heavily in originated material (no reprints here) without a toy or media tie-in to prop up sales.

I've posted this initial issue before but my previous copy had long since parted company with the free gift. I found a replacement with gift still attached. Bog on!

1989: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: THE GREAT RAIN ROBBERY (MARVEL UK)

From 1989: an oddity from the vaults of MARVEL UK: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN in THE GREAT RAIN ROBBERY.

Published under the Marvel Books banner, this was an easy reading outing for a younger audience. It's a reworked version of the material that first appeared in SPIDEY SUPER STORIES issue 15, published back in early 1976.

As you'll see from the back cover below, this was part of a range of similar softcover books issued by the British Bullpen at the time. They would have been sold in book departments and stores rather than with the comics and magazines.

I particularly like that this one - which i found a couple of years ago in a secondhand store - still has the Woolworths reduction sticker attached. A double whammy of nostalgia.

I don't recall seeing these promoted in the regular comics of the time although it's entirely possible that house ads were restricted to titles I wasn't reading... like THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS.

Ironically, this appeared during the extended hiatus between the end of SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS and the launch of THE COMPLETE SPIDER-MAN.

1989: MIDNIGHT COP UK VHS RELEASE (NEW WORLD VIDEO)

From 1989: the UK rental release (aka 'big box') of MIDNIGHT COP (aka NICK KNIGHT) from NEW WORLD VIDEO.

This stylish tele-flick was a pilot for what would have been a regular US drama about a night shift cop who just happens to be a vampire. Unfortunately, the tele types bounced the idea of a hero who was also undead and the Rick Springfield (memorable for his early departure from the good ship GALACTICA a decade earlier) vehicle stalled.

Except. It didn't. The concept was reworked - and recast - and rebooted as the late night cheap-as-chips cult drama FOREVER NIGHT.

New World Video repackaged as much of the US studio's TV work as possible for the UK rental market. And this was no exception. There was no rental release and it seems to have been all but forgotten in the digital era (although FOREVER KNIGHT did get some R1 box sets way-back-when.

It's a good watch and - for my money - betger than the series.

1989: THE DESTROYER (REMO WILLIAMS) MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 (MARVEL COMICS)

From November 1989: THE DESTROYER MAGAZINE issue 1, part of Marvel's late decade push back into black & white mag publishing.

This was a spin-off from Warren Murphy's 1971 pulp paperback creation Remo Williams. The character had (almost) gone mainstream that decade thanks to the movie (which no one watched) and spin-off TV pilot (which didn't sell) but didn't quite make it. Both, however, are well worth seeing.

Marvel published nine issues of the magazine (no British editions) before pulling the plug. They percevered with a colour special which collected some of the matqerial, first published in black & white, from the first four magazines. Then they changed track and tried a four-issue comic book mini-series and one further one-shot. And then they bailed.

Warren Murphy also created the rather good but little remembered US TV series MURPHY'S LAW, starring George Segal, which attempted to straddle drama and comedy with varying degrees of success over its short run. The episode with Patrick (The Avengers) Macnee is particularly fine. It was carried by the ITV regions during the early days of overnight TV and another of the unusually fine series created by New World Television.

1989: THE MEAN GREEN LETTERZINE (RIPTIDE) ISSUE 11

From 1989: THE MEAN GREEN LETTERZINE issue 11.

Remember the world before the internet and instant messages? Of course you do. One way that fandom stayed active was to write Letters of Comment (LoCs) about whatever subject or show tickled the writer's fancy. These would often appear in club newsletters or in standalone zines like this one.

This was, as the cover suggests, devoted to the Stephen J. Cannell show RIPTIDE from way-back-when. UK broadcasts were limited to a few episodes in a few regions (I discovered it on Thames where It played in the afternoon's alongside the swiftly cancelled TUCKER'S WITCH) so I think contributors were keeping up to date thanks to the long lost art of tape swapping.

I think the zine eventually broadened its horizons to cover other Cannell shows (the Eighties was his creative peak) or there may have been a companion zine with a broader remit. The memory cheats.

The title is a reference to something in the show... although the significance is lost on me. The helicopter (Eighties shows had to have moustaches and helicopters... The audience research demanded it) was definitely pink.

1989: THE VIZ-ALIKES: GAS ISSUE 1

From 1989: an attack of GAS!

The rags to riches (and massive circulation) success of VIZ (the local fanzine that became a sensation) promoted what seems like dozens of other publishers to have a punt at producing their own wannabes. And it seemed like WH SMITH and indie newsagents were happy to devote acres of shelf space (normally near the top shelf and titillating close to the topless mags) to them.

Although Viz occasionally tickled my fancy, I had no interest in this deluge of clones and didn't give any of them more than the most cursory of glances at the time. With good reason in many cases as there was certainly a lot of unfunny dross served up in the race to the top shelf. However, I recently stumbled across a stash in a secondhand bookstore so I snapped up the various first issues so that I could shine the STARLOGGED spotlight on them. 

One thing that did become clear as I flicked: the town I grew up in was a hitherto unknown (at least to me) hotbed of VIZ-alikes with several hailing from Witham, Essex.  

Gas was published by an outfit called Tristar whilst BRAIN DAMAGE (We'll get to that one in a future post) came from Galaxy. These may have actually been the same people but it certainly seems like the relatively sleepy Essex town (once voted Britain's Worst Town by the GAY TIMES purely on the basis that the mag's editor used to live there) was once a centre of subversive smut. Hurrah. 

1989: INDIANA JONES ANNUAL (MARVEL UK)

From 1989: the third, and final, INDIANA JONES ANNUAL published by Marvel UK.

Once again it was pegged to a movie release but, unlike its two predecessors, it didn't include an adaptation of that year's film.

The strip version of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE had two outings courtesy of the British Bullpen: a done-in-one special which reprinted the whole thing in black & white (a fairly backward step considering London had switched to a virtually all-colour, at least in the comics, operation by this point) and a serialized colour reprint in the pages of THE INCREDIBLE HULK PRESENTS.

This annual did include some text and picture features on the film but the bulk of the contents were strip reprints from Marvel's THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INDIANA JONES. The two part story had, from memory, originally appeared in issues 4 & 5 of the US book. It was also the storyline that was in mid-flow when Britain's STAR WARS MONTHLY morphed into RETURN OF THE JEDI weekly. The annual was the first time the strip had appeared in the UK in colour throughout.

Why that particular two-parter? It partially took place in the UK (albeit a stereotyped version of the UK concocted by a creative team who hadn't done a ton of research) culminating at Stonehenge. 

One odd thing about this book is that it appeared in both hardback and softback editions, most unusual for an annual. There is nothing to indicate that either edition was exclusive to one particular chain or distributor. The contents are, as far as I can tell, identical. 

1989: FANGORIA PRESENTS CINEMAGIC HORROR FX (STARLOG GROUP)

From 1989: Ever fancied making your own ketchup consuming scarefare killathon?

This Starlog Group one-shot probably told you all you needed to know to craft your own teen massacre for the cameras.

FANGORIA PRESENTS CINEMAGIC HORROR FX combined two of the group's stalwart titles to encourage film makers to get creative with latex. 

I've not looked at this in any detail (another £1 discovery) but it seems chancey to encourage the ill-prepared and the poorly informed to be encouraged to be let loose with chemicals, glue and other skin-blistering hardware. 

Did this kick start any careers? Can any top-notch make-up boffins claim their careers started when they picked up this mag? Are there any lawsuits still pending?

1989: HORROR FAN MAGAZINE ISSUE 4

From the random scans file: a copy of the quarterly US magazine HORROR FAN from back in 1989.

I found this recently for a pound and decided to pick it up as an example of the title. 

Incidentally, the Englund take on PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has recently been released on shiny disc. I grabbed a copy in the Fopp Halloween promotion last year... but I've yet to find the time to see it. I'm not expecting great things. 

Its funny how the editor managed to shoehorn in the (severely underrated) CAPTAIN AMERICA movie into what is obviously a horror mag. US audiences had quite a wait to see this post-Cannon clunker. 

1989: TERRY WOGAN INTERVIEWS LEONARD NIMOY ON WOGAN

From 1989: Leonard Nimoy is interviewed by Terry Wogan on WOGAN.

This weekend, British radio and television lost one of the true greats. Probably the greatest.

For me, Terry Wogan was the BBC. There was never a time when he wasn't there. When I was very little, mum would listen to his BBC RADIO TWO breakfast show (the first time around) every morning. His voice became part of the breakfast routine... along with the Weetabix.

And I loved his early undemanding telly game show excursion BLANKETY BLANK. Especially when mic-worrying Kenny Everett and nice-but-dim Lorraine Chase were on the guest list.

I never knowingly saw his late night TV chat show but I must have seen hundreds of episodes of the three-nights-a-week chatathon from 1985 onwards. I almost certainly saw this one. I can legitimately claim to have been there for David Icke and George Best. Although I can never claim to have set foot inside the hallowed halls of the BBC Television Theatre on the verdant Shepherd's Bush Green. But, now that I pass it every day (now the SB Empire), I wish that I had.

And, of course, there was the EUROVISION SONG CONTEST and BBC CHILDREN IN NEED. Two definitions of event television. And Terry was synonymous with both.

Plus, of course, there was AUNTIE'S BLOOMERS (the in-house Television Centre florists was the soundalike Auntie's Blooms... until changes to the corporation buying policy put such purchases beyond the reach of the all-powerful internal charge code) and a myriad of other projects.

I was lucky enough to work with him in a small capacity on a couple of occasions and I found him to be a true gentleman. They say "never meet your heroes" but I felt honoured to do so then and equally so today. 

1989: STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER COMICS ADAPTATION - BRITISH EDITION

From October 1989: the British edition of DC's STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER movie adaptation, issued by London Editions.

The UK edition benefited from better paper stock and enhanced printing compared with the US original. 

This marked the first time that a Trek comics adaptation had been widely seen on this side of the Atlantic for a decade. Marvel UK had published The Motion Picture as an annual and serialised the strips in the pages of FUTURE TENSE. 

STAR TREK II fell into the gap between Marvel ditching the license and DC launching their post-Kahn ongoing series. Treks III and IV had been given the DC treatment but, with no British editions, they could only be found in specialist stores. 

London Editions were also publishing licensed Superman and Batman British editions (and tried, with no success, to grow the line over the next few years) so this was a natural fit.

The success of THE VOYAGE HOME clearly convinced British publishers that the franchise was gaining mainstream traction as Marvel UK, under the FANTASY ZONE banner, reissued Starlog's official movie tie-in mag. Neither experiment was repeated although Titan eventually added the Trek movies to their stable of licensed tie-in. 

1989: ON SALE THIS MONTH: TV ZONE MAGAZINE ISSUE 2

On sale now back in 1989: the second issue of the still bi-monthly TV ZONE magazine.

Just like the launch issue, the second outing stuck firm to the sure-fire sellers of WHO and TREK. This period also marks something of a transition: WHO was currently on British TV, albeit in the final weeks of what turned out to be its final season before the start of the prolonged wilderness years. Although quality was on the upswing, it had the feeling of a show in need of reinvigoration. 

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was, on the other hand, the show that had captured fandom's attention... Even if very few British fans had seen very much of it. We were still almost a year away from the BBC's acquisition of the show, leaving early adopters to rely on the CIC tapes (launched onto the rental market in a flurry of promotional activity spearheaded by media appearances by Brit abroad Patrick Stewart), conventions and ropey off-air NTSC recordings imported by tape swappers. 

The magazine itself fortunately dispensed with the tacky Pritt Stick powered cover of the launch in favour of a strong single image. Unfortunately, the spoofy comic strip was still around... Although not for too much longer.

The Fantasy Flashback was a summary of the first episode of the original SURVIVORS (accompanied by some stills... TVZ's saving grace on many occasions) complemented by a few lines of behind-the-scenes background. We were still a long way from Pixley.