1990: STARLOG'S ACTION HEROES MAGAZINE ISSUE 2

From 1990, the 'that'll do' cover for ACTION HEROES magazine issue 2, another in the numerous spin-offs from the Starlog Group.

1990: RELAUNCH ALERT: THE NEW 'NEW EAGLE'

From April 1990: the 'new' New EAGLE!

Another year... another relaunch.  And this one is interesting because it took the comic back towards its 1982-83 origins with a greater mix of 'real world' celebs and subjects likely to appeal to the target readership.  Definately a move towards a more magazine-centric format... albeit no sign (of course) of the return of the signiature photo-strips from those first 15-odd months.

I think the move reflects how much the comics market was struggling at the time and a recognition that the contents had to have a broader appeal.

Comic strips were - of course - a mainstay... including yet another DAN DARE makeover.  And a DD badge (still attached) as a freebie.

1990: PRIMETIME MAGAZINE ISSUE 16 AND THE UNPUBLISHED THE BOX

From 1990: the 16th, and final, issue of British television fanzine/ magazine PRIMETIME.  And a tease for something that never actually launched.

As fara as I know, the unpublished version of THE BOX has no relation (other than name and subject matter) with the really rather good (but very shortlived) Haymarket magazine of the same name that appeared, for three issues over six months, in 1997.

It joins the list of never-published or shortlived TV magazines that also includes Marvel UK's PRIMETIME (just a single special, again unrelated to this magazine, published before the magazine department was closed) and a DWB/ DREAMWATCH spin-off the details of which I must unearth and share some day.

1990: JUDGE DREDD DATABASE: FLEETWAY MERCHANDISE STYLE GUIDE

From 1990: The thrill of the hunt is always that you don't know what you might find next... and this is a good case in point: THE JUDGE DREDD DATABASE, a styleguide for merchandisers published in 1990.

This was never meant to be seen by or circulated to the general public or readership but one escaped into the wild and - decades later - I found it lurking in a back issue box for a few pennies.

I've not scanned the whole thing but I have included a few pages so that you get the idea.

The purpose of such a 'bible' is to ensure consistant standards or applied across the brand to prevent licensees, deliberately or accidentally, going off-message.

I'm sure such guides, or their modern (and no doubt more detailed) versions, are also familiar to any editor of publisher working on a licensed comic or magazine that has to carefully adhere to the 'masterbrand' at all times and at all costs.  Long gone are the days when Marvel UK could run a backcover advert for a piece of bootleg STAR WARS merchandise without anyone being too bothered.

Clearly the makers of the (under appreciated) 1995 movie didn't read it too closely...

1990: BAYWATCH: PANIC AT MALIBU PIER UK VHS RELEASE

From 1990 (although it aired on NBC the previous year) the original BAYWATCH pilot movie PANIC AT MALIBU PIER.

This release was unusual because, as the cover suggests, this contains some scenes trimmed from the telecast. I'd assumed these were just scenes that ITV had snipped to fit the timeslot allocated to the movie (not an uncommon practice for broadcasters at the time) but its actually a couple of mildly racy topless female scenes (not involving any of the show's regular actresses) presumably shot by the production company to give the one-off a little more spice in the all-important overseas market. Neither scene is critical to the plot... and I doubt they were part of the original NBC outing.

This additional material was somewhat at odds with the family friendly flavour of the show itself, airing around 6pm Saturday nights on ITV, and must have come as a surprise to buyers who expected to leave their kids unsupervised and entertained for ninety-odd minutes.

I vaguely recall seeing this released again later with a PG certification, suggesting the 'rude bits' had been snipped.

1990: BIZARRE ISSUE 1: THE AVENGERS, THE NEW AVENGERS AND THE PROFESSIONALS

From July 1990: the first issue of BIZARRE, a British AVENGERS (of the TV, not comics, variety) fanzine named after the show's last episode.

As the cover design suggests, it also devoted space to THE NEW AVENGERS and THE PROFESSIONALS: two Seventies action shows from the same creative stable.

1990: DARKMAN MOVIE ADAPTATION (MARVEL COMICS)

From October/ November 1990: Marvel's three issue adaptation of the horror/ superhero hybrid movie DARKMAN, co-written and directed by Sam Raimi and starring Liam Neeson.

Despite a distinctly b-movie feel, this seemed to enthuse both audiences and critics and had a fair amount of mainstream success. Marvel was one of the original licencees and timed these three issues (and a black & white magazine version) to coincide with the big screen release. Buoyed with initial success, they then followed up with a second series of new stories. That hit three years later (no rush) and ran for six issues.

Universal bankrolled a TV pilot in 1992 but couldn't find a buyer for a weekly series version. Direct to video sequels inevitably followed.

1990: COMICS INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 1 (QUALITY)

From April 1990: the first issue of British magazine COMICS INTERNATIONAL.

This doesn't boast of being the launch issue anywhere on the cover and - I must confess - I only realised it was when reading a retrospective on issues-to-date in the 50th edition. I imagine editor/ publisher Dez Skinn (him again) was trying to create an impression of immediate longevity.

The thought process behind CI is that it was to serve as the BROADCAST, VARIETY or HOLLYWOOD REPORTER for the comics industry: a news bible for both insiders and the fan. This was, of course, pretty much pre-internet when almost any trade or industry of any note had some form of news chronicle.

This was initially a freebie placed (in my experience) next to the tills in comic stores with the intention that readers grab a copy with their weekly stack of purchases. Costs were, of course, bankrolled by the many stores and dealers (far less so actual publishers) advertising inside. However, its status as a giveaway didn't last long and within a few issues a small cover price was slapped on each copy. But print runs continued to rise, buoyed by the industry boom.

By luck or judgement, CI launched at just the right moment. The industry boom was just about to go into overdrive and - at the very least - there would be no shortage of new product to write about. The boom was fuelled by newcomers attracted to the prospect that comics could become a valuable commodity but little actual knowledge of the industry or the output. The boom in buyers, and back issue investors, also boosted the number of comic book stores which jacked up the number of outlets carrying the  magazine and the number of advertisers. As I've posted in the past, there was also an awful lot of marts and fairs (pre EBay) taking place around the country. All of which needed publicity. Great timing.

CI predates WIZARD and the host of other wannabes that flooded into the marketplace in the early nineties. It also saw off its nearest UK competitor COMICS SPECULATOR NEWS. Its news-based agenda made it a nice compliment to the more features-based COMICS COLECTOR/ WORLD.

At some point CI apparently secured distribution through the newstrade but I don't recall ever seeing a copy in a newsagents which suggests that distribution was far from mainstream.

It survived the industry collapse mid decade and continued to report of the convulsions that shook the business. It faired less well as the Internet  became the principle means of disseminating news, reviewing titles, sharing gossip and debating whatever. It tried to adjust by adding more feature and retrospectives which did - once again - make It an essential purchase.

Dez, who published under his long standing Quality Comics banner, sold out in 2006 and fandom mainstay Mike Conroy took the helm. However, the gap between issues began to expend and it was not uncommon to find that the contents - even the adverts - were out of date by the time the issue hit stores. Articles on the comics histories of DOCTOR WHO and GERRY ANDERSON's shows were highlights.

CI bowed out with two excellent specials devoted to horror comics and a (near) complete history of STAR TREK comics. The latter is well worth tacking down.

1990: ALIEN NATION: THE SPARTANS LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION (ADVENTURE COMICS)

From 1990: The premium ALIEN NATION: THE SPARTANS LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION, published by Adventure Comics.

As posted previously, Adventure snapped up the rights to the about-to-be-cancelled Ken Johnson TV series (based on the earlier film) in 1990 and published a run of black & white mini-series which dug deeper into the (near) future Earth established on the screen. This creative route seemed to be governed by a limited licence which - with one exception - didn't allow them to use the characters from the film or TV versions.

The Spartans was the first four-parter to go into print and the launch was marked by this premium edition version with alternative cover art and foil logo. Those were the days...

Follow the ALIEN NATION link below for more...

1990: TOTAL RECALL MERCHANDISE

From 1990 and the self same DC Comics adaptation... a full page advert for TOTAL RECALL merchandise. Someone - somewhere - is a collector...

1990: TOTAL RECALL MOVIE ADAPTATION (DC COMICS)

From 1990: the done-in-one DC Comics adaptation of the Arnie movie TOTAL RECALL.

The cover is - I think - the key art from the film's marketing campaign.

Carolco were the high spending studio that eventually spent themselves into bankruptcy.

1990: SPEAKEASY ISSUE 114

From October 1990 (and the Random Scans File): British fanzine SPEAKEASY (now presented as an A4 magazine with colour covers, black & white interiors and pretty decent print quality) with an interesting line-up of contents.

Including a piece on the Fleetway lawyer baiting British movie HARDWARE, which turned out to have more than a passing resemblance to a 2000AD strip.

1990: THE DARKSIDE ISSUE 1

From October 1990: the first issue of the long-running (and still in business today) British horror magazine THE DARKSIDE.

Edited forever by Allan Bryce, it has managed to survive the collapse of Robert Maxwell's publishing empire and nose diving magazine sales (it went on an extended hiatus between 2009 and 2011) to become one of the few survivors on WH Smith's diminishing Film and TV shelf. 

The best part of flicking through random back issues (if you can survive the sometimes shoddy layouts) is finding the old video adverts and reviews from deep in the VHS era. How many long-forgotten Nineties goodies (or should that be baddies?) never graced the shiny disc?  

1990: SPACE JUNKK PODULE 3 (VISUAL IMAGINATION)

From 1990: Visual Imagination's long-forgotten (with some reason) incursion into the sphere of mature readers comicdom: SPACE JUNKK. 

This was a comic so cheap that they couldn't even push the lifepod out for a colour cover. Presumably publisher Stephen Payne justified such frugality to himself (and retailers) by pointing to the success of the similarly minimalist Viz. Even through that was pitched at a different audience and reveled in its roots as a cheap and cheerful fanzine made good. 

I swerved this back in the day but picked up this copy of "podule" 3 quite recently. I have no idea how long it ran for so although they were still hawking subscriptions, this could have been the finale. 

Its unlikely Tharg the Mighty lost much sleep over this interloper.  

1990: REVOLVER ISSUE 1 (Fleetway)

From July 1990: Chuffed with the success of CRISIS, Fleetway (along with, it seems, everyone else) dived into the murky Mature Readers world with another launch: REVOLVER.

The creative team were aiming to tap into the percieved pent up demand for adult comics (were readers ever there in any numbers?), perennial interest in the  1960s from people who weren't there and, of course, music. 

The Star Age highlight was DARE, yet another reboot of the Pilot of the Future, now given a satirical political edge. The regular DD (also prone to regular publicity-chasing reboots) still appeared in the EAGLE. 

REVOLVER expired after only seven issues and, in the grand tradition, folded into the pages of Crisis. Apparently not quite prepared to call it a day (or with inventory that needed to run somewhere), two standalone specials also appeared. The 1990 HORROR SPECIAL hit for the Halloween season alongside the regular monthly. The following February saw the ROMANCE SPECIAL drop just after the comic itself had expired. 

1990: JUDGE DREDD THE MEGAZINE Issue1

From October 1990: one of the great survivors of British comics (and the only one of the wave of Mature Reader chasing title to launch in the early 1990s to get any traction): the first issue of JUDGE DREDD THE MEGAZINE.

This was seen as far from a safe bet back at the launch and IPC, and then Maxwell, had toyed with launching a ROY OF THE ROVERS type spin-off for the best part of the previous decade but always backed off for fear of cannibalising the success of 2000AD.  The collapsing market for traditional weeklies was the final shove Fleetway's management needed to take a chance.

The success of DREDD stateside in he licensed Eagle and Quality reprints also convinced the publisher that they could double their income streams by issuing a bookshelf/ prestige format US edition. That part of the project ultimately proved short-lived.

Its been a rocky 25 years as the megazine has endured a sucsession of relaunches, bloated confidence that the 1995 movie misfire would catapult Joe D into the mainstream and a succession of budget cuts that forced the editors to reprint some good, but not always appropriate strips, just to stretch finite budgets further and keep the book alive. 

Volume 1 ran for 20 issues through to May 1992.

Deemed a success, the second volume saw the frequency upped to fortnightly for an 83 issue run, ending in 1995 to coincide with the overhaul of the 2000AD family of titles on the eve of the movie release.

The 79 issue third volume startedfortnightly but, once it became clear that the movie was not the success that everyone had hoped for, management lost faith and the schedule was dropped back to monthly. This was accompanied by a new fortnightly, LAWMAN OF THE FUTURE, chasing a younger crowd attracted to the franchise by the Stallone outing.

Volume four ran a mere 18 issues, ending with the overall 200th issu of the Meg's run.

Volume 5 is the one currently on sale. It launched, with issue 201 in January 2001 and is still going strong. 

Happy Birthday Joe! 

1990: STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION NOVELIZATION PHOTO-COVER EDITION (Titan Books)

From 1990: The Titan Books reissue of the STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION: ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT novelization, now adorned with a cast photo cover, and released to coincide with the BBC's belated acquisition of the show for BBC TWO's early evening schedules.

That was a controversy-baiting bit of scheduling because fans, after having been made to wait three years for the British telly premiere, had expected a more respectful peak time slot... ideally on the main channel.  They took the sleight as further evidence that the Corporation mandarins were anti all things SF but conveniently overlooked that the early episodes weren't always much cop.

The first editions of the book had appeared in 1987 to coincide with the show's US syndicated premiere but such was the haste to hit the release date, the image-free cover looked more like a crude mock-up for publicity and solicitation purposes.

I've not read this since that first 1987 edition (now unfortunately long-since lost) but I do remember that, to hit that on-sale date, it was based rather obviously on the shooting script and series bible and (like the early DC Comics tie-ins) wasn't entirely faithful to either the show as aired on its principal characters. 

1990: PLANET OF THE APES in COMICS SCENE MAGAZINE (Starlog)

From June 1990: STARLOG spin-off COMICS SCENE (the revived second incarnation, officially volume 2, issue 13) celebrate the launch of Adventure Comics' PLANET OF THE APES line.

This was the first time that the saga had been gifted a comic book version since the dying days of the 1970s Apes boom and Marvel's decision to drop the license on both sides of the Atlantic.

I'm not overly familiar with the Adventure Comics titles but I do know there was a lot of them... and the creative teams liked to play fast-and-loose with the format established in the screen incarnations.  Licensing restrictions meant that, with the exception of reprints of Marvel's after-the-fact adaptations of the first two movies, the film and TV characters were off limits.  

Adventure also reprinted some of Marvel's original strips (the only time to date that any of that inventory has seen the light of day again... amazing considering POTA's intermittent longevity in print and on screen) in the TERROR ON THE PLANET OF THE APES four-parter.  See here for more on that run.  

The POTA books (all of which, with the exception of the bonkers APE NATION, see here, appeared in black & white) seemed ubiquitous at the time but seldom seem to surface in any numbers in the UK today. 

1990: STRIP ISSUE 21 Preview (Marvel UK)

From November 1990: The STRIP that never was.  

A full-page plug, from the twentieth issue, for the launch of the new NIGHT RAVEN strip destined for the never-to-be-published twenty-first edition. 

1990: STRIP PART 4 - Issues 16-20 (Marvel UK)

From 1990: The final five issues of MARVEL UK's twenty-issue wonder STRIP.

The sixteenth issue saw the arrival of THE PUNISHER to the ranks.  Although this may appear to be a merger of Castle's own weekly (cancelled after thirty issues), it isn't really.  The last issue of his solo title had actually hit the stands in late February) and he didn't join Strip until September.  Nevertheless, the British Bullpen still pushed the boat out with a free fabric patch along the lines of the ones that accompanied the contemporary launch issues of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION and THE COMPLETE SPIDER-MAN (suggesting that there were some economies of scale by having three designs made).

Rather than pick up where the ongoing title unexpectedly left off, Strip went back to the character's roots by representing, albeit now in colour, his first pulp-inspired adventure from two decades earlier.  

See here for the final issues of Punny's own British book.  

The DEATH'S HEAD strip (The Body In Question, collected as a graphic novel the same year.  See here) wrapped with the twentieth issue, leaving a vacant slot destined to be filled by the return of another M-UK here: NIGHT RAVEN.  

Unfortunately, the Marvel axe swung without warning again and despite the investment in the new material (and continuing to offer subscriptions), the 21st issue never appeared.  Ooops.

The new NIGHT RAVEN material did appear in book form.  Twice.  It was first issued in late 1990 as a graphic novel and then, with the GENESIS line in full swing, reissued as a prestige format one-shot.  It's actually the latter that is far harder to find.  Both editions appear here.