Showing posts with label 1991. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1991. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 May 2017
1991: PERSONALITY PRESENTS: THE ORIGINAL CREW - JAMES DOOHAN
From December 1991: STAR TREK's James Doohan gets the PERSONALITY COMICS bio treatment in this issue of THE ORIGINAL CREW comic book profiles...
Tuesday, 23 May 2017
1991: CHIMERA COVER ON SAMHAIN MAGAZINE
From 1991: More CHIMERA coverage courtesy of British horror fanzine/ magazine SAMHAIN.
The publicity still used on the cover rather gives the game away that the 'monkey boy' wasn't the most horrific of scary creatures. But it passed muster back in the day.
Despite the cover feature, coverage inside the magazine was limited to a fairly brief review of the first episode... which wasn't atypical of the following three outing anyway. Buyer beware.
The magazine itself, part of a flock of horror floppies that appeared that decade (including SHIVERS, THE DARKSIDE, FEAR and the FANGORIA spin-offs and wannabes), started out as a fanzine and then shifted over to a more professional (although one suspects still a 'labour of love') footing before eventually fading.
The publicity still used on the cover rather gives the game away that the 'monkey boy' wasn't the most horrific of scary creatures. But it passed muster back in the day.
Despite the cover feature, coverage inside the magazine was limited to a fairly brief review of the first episode... which wasn't atypical of the following three outing anyway. Buyer beware.
The magazine itself, part of a flock of horror floppies that appeared that decade (including SHIVERS, THE DARKSIDE, FEAR and the FANGORIA spin-offs and wannabes), started out as a fanzine and then shifted over to a more professional (although one suspects still a 'labour of love') footing before eventually fading.
1991: CHIMERA BY STEPHEN GALLAGHER
From 1991: Anyone remember CHIMERA, the Anglia TV drama/ horror based on the Stephen Gallagher novel? The TV tie-in edition of the original 1981 novel is pictured here.
The four-parter was - apparently - a last-minute commission when a drama gap suddenly opened up in ITV's summer schedules... and Anglia (one of the mid-level companies in the system) were able to step in at short notice.
The first episode is a Hitchcock style bluff that sets things up for the meat of the three parts that follow. Anglia also produced a shorter done-in-one TV Movie version (which gives you a hint at the amount of padding in the full-length version) which was subsequently 'repeated' on ITV and released on VHS. It was probably also offered to overseas buyers as an alternative to the full multi-parter. The edited version sometmes goes under the how-many-meetings-did-it-take title MONKEY BOY. The original version has been released on DVD and is worth picking up for some undemanding chills... albeit with some dodgy performances and bad dubbing.
The four-parter was - apparently - a last-minute commission when a drama gap suddenly opened up in ITV's summer schedules... and Anglia (one of the mid-level companies in the system) were able to step in at short notice.
The first episode is a Hitchcock style bluff that sets things up for the meat of the three parts that follow. Anglia also produced a shorter done-in-one TV Movie version (which gives you a hint at the amount of padding in the full-length version) which was subsequently 'repeated' on ITV and released on VHS. It was probably also offered to overseas buyers as an alternative to the full multi-parter. The edited version sometmes goes under the how-many-meetings-did-it-take title MONKEY BOY. The original version has been released on DVD and is worth picking up for some undemanding chills... albeit with some dodgy performances and bad dubbing.
Monday, 15 May 2017
1991: STAR TREK PERSONALITY COMICS: DEFOREST KELLY
From October 1991: DeForest Kelly gets the unauthorised STAR TREK PERSONALITY COMICS once over. Bet he was chuffed.
Friday, 7 April 2017
1991: THE STAR WARS DEATH STAR TECHNICAL COMPANION (WEST END GAMES)
From 1991: THE DEATH STAR TECHNICAL COMPANION, another of the many STAR WARS reference books published during this period by WEST END GAMES.
It's a softcover with black & white interiors weaving a fictional background to the battle station. The contents, always geared to players of the RPG as well as non-player SW fans, have been rendered obsolete by the prequel trilogy and by ROGUE ONE... but it remains a fun read for fans who enjoyed the idea of the Expanded Universe. At least until it got too complicated...
The West End line of games, supplements and sourcebooks were mostly sold through games hobby stores - or comic book stores with a games section - so i think many fans would have been oblivious to the range at the time. Which is a shame, if they had arranged better distribution they could have had a much larger audience. I used to buy my copies from the local independent games store as well as branches of Virgin Games (remember that?)
It's a softcover with black & white interiors weaving a fictional background to the battle station. The contents, always geared to players of the RPG as well as non-player SW fans, have been rendered obsolete by the prequel trilogy and by ROGUE ONE... but it remains a fun read for fans who enjoyed the idea of the Expanded Universe. At least until it got too complicated...
The West End line of games, supplements and sourcebooks were mostly sold through games hobby stores - or comic book stores with a games section - so i think many fans would have been oblivious to the range at the time. Which is a shame, if they had arranged better distribution they could have had a much larger audience. I used to buy my copies from the local independent games store as well as branches of Virgin Games (remember that?)
Friday, 17 March 2017
1991: MARVEL UK'S RUPERT AND FRIENDS ISSUE 1
From November 1991: The first issue of MARVEL UK's RUPERT AND FRIENDS.
This is not to be confused with the previous Rupert weekly published by the British Bullpen a decade or so earlier.
What a happy looking bear!
Wednesday, 7 December 2016
1991: PERSONALITY PRESENTS STAR TREK LEONARD NIMOY
From August 1991: Leonard Nimoy is the subject of the second issue of Personality Comics' unofficial biography comic book STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL CREW.
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
1991: PERSONALITY PRESENTS STAR TREK: WILLIAM SHATNER
From June 1991: PERSONALITY PRESENTS THE ORIGINAL CREW: WILLIAM SHATNER, the first of a long run of unlicensed biographical STAR TREK tie-ins published during the 1990s boom by PERSONALITY COMICS.
Depending on the creative team, these unauthorised retrospectives either took the form of traditional cimic strips or - like this Shat-tastic starter - illustrations with accompanying text. I picked a career highlight, below, by way of an example.
I steered well clear of these when they were published but recently stumbled upon a pretty good run of copies which I picked up as interesting oddities in the Trek publishing pantheon.
Depending on the creative team, these unauthorised retrospectives either took the form of traditional cimic strips or - like this Shat-tastic starter - illustrations with accompanying text. I picked a career highlight, below, by way of an example.
I steered well clear of these when they were published but recently stumbled upon a pretty good run of copies which I picked up as interesting oddities in the Trek publishing pantheon.
Friday, 14 October 2016
1991: LOST IN SPACE ISSUE 3 (INNOVATION COMICS)
From December 1991: the third issue of Innovation's LOST IN SPACE TV tie-in comic book.
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
1991: FILM THREAT VIDEO GUIDE ISSUE 1
From 1991: the first issue of FILM THREAT VIDEO GUIDE, a 14-issue (ending in 1995) spin-off from the main US magazine.
Friday, 7 October 2016
1991: LOST IN SPACE ISSUE 2 (INNOVATION COMICS)
From 1991: the second issue of Innovation's LOST IN SPACE ongoing series.
Thursday, 6 October 2016
1991: LOST IN SPACE ISSUE 1 (INNOVATION COMICS)
From August 1991: the first issue of Innovation's ongoing (at least until the publisher went bust) LOST IN SPACE comic book.
This series attracted some (not undeserved) early criticism for sexing up the shenanigans and making the Robinson gals (pretty much paragons of virtue in the family-friendly CBS crowd pleaser) into cheesecake victims of lusty alien life forms. That didn't sit well with fans who probably wanted something a bit more mature than The Great Vegetable Rebellion... but not THAT mature.
Things settled down after Innovation took the feedback on board and the title, along with its other TV tie-ins (notably the 1990s DARK SHADOWS, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and QUANTUM LEAP), became solid reads. Unfortunately Innovation fell foul of the industry contraction of 1993 and went out of business.
LiS returned to comics in 2016... but good luck finding copies as many UK stores didnt seem to keen to stock it. The hardback compilation hit shelves this week.
This series attracted some (not undeserved) early criticism for sexing up the shenanigans and making the Robinson gals (pretty much paragons of virtue in the family-friendly CBS crowd pleaser) into cheesecake victims of lusty alien life forms. That didn't sit well with fans who probably wanted something a bit more mature than The Great Vegetable Rebellion... but not THAT mature.
Things settled down after Innovation took the feedback on board and the title, along with its other TV tie-ins (notably the 1990s DARK SHADOWS, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and QUANTUM LEAP), became solid reads. Unfortunately Innovation fell foul of the industry contraction of 1993 and went out of business.
LiS returned to comics in 2016... but good luck finding copies as many UK stores didnt seem to keen to stock it. The hardback compilation hit shelves this week.
Friday, 30 September 2016
1991: PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE COMICS ADAPTATION (MALIBU COMICS)
From Malibu Comics in 1991: Before the Ultraverse there was... PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.
This is the first - and to my knowledge only - official comics adaptatiin of the notorious Ed Wood cinematic clunker.
I never really understood the point of this one (which clearly didn't stop me grabbing a copy) because the joy of the film is in the watching and its plentiful shortcomings can't really be translated to print. But it remains a fun Star Age oddity looking back to a bygone time.
Flying saucers over Hollywood indeed.
This also links back to the previous post... The launch issue of HOTDOG MAGAZINE had an article on "buying your first DVD" (hohum) and - weirdly - PLAN 9 wss the first DVD I bought... because I wanted the companion documentary. Which was actually longer than the film itself.
This is the first - and to my knowledge only - official comics adaptatiin of the notorious Ed Wood cinematic clunker.
I never really understood the point of this one (which clearly didn't stop me grabbing a copy) because the joy of the film is in the watching and its plentiful shortcomings can't really be translated to print. But it remains a fun Star Age oddity looking back to a bygone time.
Flying saucers over Hollywood indeed.
This also links back to the previous post... The launch issue of HOTDOG MAGAZINE had an article on "buying your first DVD" (hohum) and - weirdly - PLAN 9 wss the first DVD I bought... because I wanted the companion documentary. Which was actually longer than the film itself.
Thursday, 22 September 2016
1991: CINEFANTASTIQUE CELEBRATES STAR TREK'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY
From December 1991: CINEFANTASTIQUE magazine celebrates the 25th anniversary of STAR TREK.
Thursday, 1 September 2016
1991: THE DESTROYER (LIMITED SERIES) ISSUE 1 (MARVEL COMICS)
From December 1991: Marvel USA followed-up THE DESTROYER black & white magazine (see post previous) with this more traditional (IE slightly more likely to be stocked in comic book stores... and noticed by would-be readers) comic book limited series.
The REMO WILLIAMS film is now available on shiny BR disc... and well worth revisiting. Or - more likely - seeing for the first time.
The REMO WILLIAMS film is now available on shiny BR disc... and well worth revisiting. Or - more likely - seeing for the first time.
Monday, 8 August 2016
1991: 'V' in TV ZONE MAGAZINE (VISUAL IMAGINATIION)
From December 1991: 'V' gets the cover treatment in TV ZONE issue 25, published by Visual Imagination.
The still is part of a set of widely circulated publicity photos especially shot for the launch of the 1984-85 weekly series. They popped up in various magazines and merchandise including the trading card collection.
The still is part of a set of widely circulated publicity photos especially shot for the launch of the 1984-85 weekly series. They popped up in various magazines and merchandise including the trading card collection.
Tuesday, 19 July 2016
1991: MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE ISSUE 100
From May 1991: MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE, the in-house fanzine for Marvel's wares, celebrates its 100th regular issue with this silver ink cover.
Despite being officially designated a magazine, it always appeared in a comic book format and in standard comic book dimensions.
A 100 issue run is it itself pretty impressive but MA eventually mustered 140 regular issues (it succumbed to the imploding market in September 1994) as well as sundry annuals and preview specials as well as several magazine one-shots.
Despite being officially designated a magazine, it always appeared in a comic book format and in standard comic book dimensions.
A 100 issue run is it itself pretty impressive but MA eventually mustered 140 regular issues (it succumbed to the imploding market in September 1994) as well as sundry annuals and preview specials as well as several magazine one-shots.
Tuesday, 12 July 2016
1991: UK STAR WARS FAN CLUB MAGAZINE ISSUE 3
From the end of 1991: The third issue of the UK STAR WARS FAN CLUB MAGAZINE (unofficial of course) celebrates the festive season (so ideal fodder for a mid-July post) with a cover that repurposed art originally created for a Luasfilm corporate Christmas card.
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
1991: MARVEL ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT EDITION (MARVEL COMICS)
From 1991: STARLOGGED is celebrating the official start of the summer season with a bit of Fan Boy stress relief... The oh-so-blatant MARVEL ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT EDITION, packed full to the rafters with newly commissioned cheesecake art of your favourite Marvel Guys and Gals (with an emphasis on the ladies) ready to catch the summer sunshine.
The artists clearly enjoyed it because it gave them a chance to show their characters in more - ahem - casual attire and inject a bit of humour. The teenboy audience clearly liked it because it combined their two favourite subjects: comics and the untouchable opposite sex. What more could you need on those hot summer nights?
Swimsuit editions were a bit of a thing back in the day, even the otherwise reputable AMAZING HEROES jumped on the bandwagon with a couple of special issues of the regular run. Unfortunately their comparatively low-fi production values hardly elevated them into the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (which is what this one-shot was spoofing) top tier.
I don't think Marvel ever repeated this just-post-pubecent PLAYBOY substitute and the whole thing feels like a bygone from another age today.
The artists clearly enjoyed it because it gave them a chance to show their characters in more - ahem - casual attire and inject a bit of humour. The teenboy audience clearly liked it because it combined their two favourite subjects: comics and the untouchable opposite sex. What more could you need on those hot summer nights?
Swimsuit editions were a bit of a thing back in the day, even the otherwise reputable AMAZING HEROES jumped on the bandwagon with a couple of special issues of the regular run. Unfortunately their comparatively low-fi production values hardly elevated them into the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (which is what this one-shot was spoofing) top tier.
I don't think Marvel ever repeated this just-post-pubecent PLAYBOY substitute and the whole thing feels like a bygone from another age today.
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
1991: JUDGE DREDD 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (TITAN BOOKS)
From 1991: Titan Books celebrated a decade of publishing JUDGE DREDD and 2000AD reprint albums with this special anniversary edition of the first JD book.
The Titan albums were regularly advertised in the pages of 2000AD but, unless you happened to live near Forbidden Planet or another comic book stockest, hard to find in the real world. That gave them something of a holy grail quality... a perception enhanced by their substantial cover price (for kids) for soft cover black & white reprints (with no royalties paid to the creative teams... although they were commissioning new cover art).
It took a few more years for IPC themselves to realise that their inventory could have value in the UK. In the mid-Eighties they launched a range of BEST OF monthlies built around the back catalogue (traditionally used to take the pressure off origination budgets in the weeklies and to pad out the specials and annuals) with varying degrees of success. The 2000AD edition, later joined by a separate Dredd spin-off, ran for a decade (and a bit longer if you count the post-movie relaunches).
Titan milked the Tharg franchise as long as possible and used it as the launch pad to expand further into book publishing (including UK editions of some DC trade paperbacks as well as the original STAR TREK novels) followed by magazines, UK comics and - now - the extensive range of US format comic books.
The Titan albums were regularly advertised in the pages of 2000AD but, unless you happened to live near Forbidden Planet or another comic book stockest, hard to find in the real world. That gave them something of a holy grail quality... a perception enhanced by their substantial cover price (for kids) for soft cover black & white reprints (with no royalties paid to the creative teams... although they were commissioning new cover art).
It took a few more years for IPC themselves to realise that their inventory could have value in the UK. In the mid-Eighties they launched a range of BEST OF monthlies built around the back catalogue (traditionally used to take the pressure off origination budgets in the weeklies and to pad out the specials and annuals) with varying degrees of success. The 2000AD edition, later joined by a separate Dredd spin-off, ran for a decade (and a bit longer if you count the post-movie relaunches).
Titan milked the Tharg franchise as long as possible and used it as the launch pad to expand further into book publishing (including UK editions of some DC trade paperbacks as well as the original STAR TREK novels) followed by magazines, UK comics and - now - the extensive range of US format comic books.
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