From December 1994: Malibu's one-shot STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE spin-off LIGHTSTORM, one of a number of one-shots and assorted specials that appeared alongside the regular monthly book for the duration of the license.
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
1973: ON SALE THIS MONTH: THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL Issue 17 (Marvel UK)
On sale this week in 1973: MARVEL UK's THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL issue 17, cover-dated 27 January 1973.
This was still the British Bullpen's only title (SPIDER-MAN would follow in a few months) so it still boasted the premium tier line-up of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, FANTASTIC FOUR and SPIDER-MAN. All of the reprints would have been familiar to readers of the Power Comics line of the previous decade... but it's a safe bet that many of those readers had long since moved on from comics... leaving the next generation of Marveldom to discover them for the first time.
Monday, 19 January 2015
1993: THE NIGHT MAN Issue 1 (Malibu Ultraverse)
From October 1993: the first issue of THE NIGHT MAN, part of the ambitious ULTRAVERSE line of shared universe books published by MALIBU in the wake of IMAGE COMICS leaving the fold after their first year in business.
In addition to being a successful comicbook series, THE NIGHT MAN was also Glen Larson's last foray into the action/ adventure genre. The TV version ran for two syndicated seasons between 1997 and 1999.
Ironically, by the time Larson's show launched the comic that it was based on had been canned. MARVEL, desperate to maintain market share in a floundering market, snapped-up Malibu in October 1994 to stop the upstart publisher falling into the hands of DC Comics... a purchase that, if it were allowed to happen, would cost Marvel their status as the biggest publisher. A claim deemed essential to keeping the share price inflated.
Marvel tried to bolster the fortunes of their acquisition by integrating, through a series of crossovers, the Ultraverse characters with the mainstream Marvel Universe. Typically, this alienated their existing readership and failed to excite Marvel fans who hadn't sampled the line before. The Ultraverse, like the UKverse before it, was a little corner of the Marvel Universe overlooked by most readers.
Larson's TV show was notable for a ridiculously cheap looking approximation of the comicbook's costume design. It looked OK on screen but ludicrous in stills and publicity material. The realities of syndication deprived Larson of the budgets he'd enjoyed in his network years and left him heavily dependent on cutting edge, but unconvincing, CGI lending the show a bargain basement air.
Standout moments included a David Hasselhoff cameo in the show's feature-length opener (presumably a favor from an old friend), a revival of Larson's fondly-remembered (but quickly cancelled) MANIMAL (which doubled as a backdoor pilot by shamelessly adding a daughter, time-travel AND Jake the Ripper to the already improbable premise) and a virtual remake of one of Larson's THE HIGHWAYMAN episodes (complete with plentiful stock truck shots, mixed with new material featuring the same vehicle, and a rehash of the script).
The opening credits contained a name-check for Marvel, making this the live-action show that Marvel never talks about.
The Ultraverse also spawned an ULTRA FORCE animated series which had the misfortune of hitting the screens just as Marvel were sealing the deal. Marvel's existing animation deals with New World Television made it odd-man-out in the roster of shows and little was done to extend its life beyond the first run of episodes, despite a big licensing push spearheaded by a range of action figures. Night Man appeared in one of the episodes.
The Ultraverse has lain dormant in subsequent decades thanks, apparently, to some complicated royalty deals signed with the original creators which makes it uneconomical for Marvel to revive the characters. The need to renew Marvel's copyright claim will probably see them revived, in some form, at some point.
Unsurprisingly, given the limbo status of the characters, neither the animated series nor Larson's show is available on shiny disc although convention bootleggers have (once again) filled the gap with the latter.
I'm not sure the NIGHT MAN show ever even aired in the UK. It was announced as upcoming, at one point, by Sky but (if I recall correctly) it was pulled prior to TX and I don't think it was ever rescheduled. Whether this was down to a deal never being inked, or quality control on Sky's behalf, is unknown.
Fans of Larson's brand of easy-going adventure will find much to enjoy.
1992: A.L.F Issue 50 (Marvel Comics)
From February 1992: the finale of the American A.L.F (Alien Life Form), the one-time Marvel best-seller which also spawned the British edition (which rolled into the pages of THE MARVEL BUMPER COMIC).
The TV series had been canned in March 1990, after four seasons and a hundred-odd (depending how you split them) episodes, so Marvel did well to keep the comic going as long as it did.
The A.L.F animated series ran between 1987 and 1989, joined by spin-off A.L.F TALES between 1988 and 1989. A.L.F overkill?
The show was briefly revived in the 1996 TV movie PROJECT: A.L.F which, bizarrely, didn't feature any of the sitcom's supporting cast.
1983: ON SALE THIS MONTH: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES Issue 393 (Marvel UK)
On sale this month in 1983: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES issue 393, the first to incorporate RAMPAGE following the demise of its monthly stablemate, after 54 issues, the previous month.
The tie-up meant the best of both titles... The Avengers continuing to appear in their old home but now joined by the (new) X-Men, just in time for the epic Dark Phoenix saga.
The British Bullpen marked the momentous moment with the new Alan Davis poster in the previous post.
RAMPAGE had already hoovered-up the unmemorable BLOCKBUSTER the previous March. MARVEL SUPER-HEROES had snaffled-up SAVAGE ACTION a month earlier in February.
Friday, 16 January 2015
1983: ON SALE THIS MONTH: ALAN DAVIS X-MEN POSTER from MARVEL SUPER-HEROES 393 (Marvel UK)
On sale this month in 1983: Some early Alan Davis Mighty Marvel Magic: an X-MEN poster from the glossy centre pages of MARVEL UK's MARVEL SUPER-HEROES Monthly issue 393 (the first to feature Marvel's merry mutants, thanks to the recent closure of RAMPAGE Monthly).
1995: GERRY ANDERSON'S SPACE PRECINT: THE LAST WARRIOR (Manga)
From 1995: The one-and-only (I think) SPACE PRECINCT Graphic Novel from British publisher Manga (an offshoot from the VHS people, notable for scoring a hit in the UK with reprints of the American X-FILES strips).
I was never won over my Gerry Anderson's uncomfortable combination of live-action, models and men in masks at the time. The tone seemed inconsistent and the production values were all over the place. It looked (and was) out-of-time compared with the likes of BABYLON FIVE and THE X-FILES.
That said, I've acquired the DVD set in more recent times (and watched the excellent documentary SPACE PRECINCT LEGACY) and my appreciation has grown (although never particularly soared).
The whole enterprise wasn't helped by some random scheduling on both sides of the Atlantic. US syndication was patchy in a market already saturated with similar fare (and evolving so that the number of off-network slots on local stations was diminishing, thanks to the rise of the next generation of networks). In the UK, the show was sold twice: once to Sky and then to BBC TWO (who insisted on their own edits of some episodes for Compliance reasons)which should have given the show massive exposure... but somehow didn't.
Merchandising was plentiful (I have an action figure of the robot, still on the card, at home somewhere) and included a all-new-material fortnightly from upstart Manga. The business sense was impeccable: this was a brand spanking new Anderson series at a time when the BBC repeats of his older fare was translating into massive sales for Fleetway's tie-in titles (although, true to form, JOE 90 proved hard to shift). But, the high cost of the license and commissioning cover-to-cover new material (long-gone were the STAR WARS WEEKLY days when anything with a sniff of science fiction could be used to bulk out the page count), led to (sudden) closure after only six fortnightly issues.
Preempting the business plan of modern comic books, Manga also planned to package-up the strip content into a succession of collections... but managed only this one.
1982: G.I. JOE CLUB ADVERT
From 1982: A chance for American kids to sign-up with G.I. JOE.
In the days before the web and social media changed all the rules, Fan Clubs and similar "clubs" were a surefire way of direct marketing to kids. Getting them to sign-up was a great way of harvesting contact details (the Tesco ClubCard of the time) so that direct marketing could then be zapped-out when the toy maker had something new to promote.
ACTION FORCE operated a similar scheme in the UK.
This ad is from the very early days of the G.I. JOE revival.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
1980: MARVEL TEAM-UP WEEKLY (Marvel UK)
Here's a rapid romp through the US MARVEL TEAM-UP strips that appeared in the British weekly over 25 issues between 1980 and 1981:
UK Issues 1-2: Spider-man and Daredevil from US issue 25 (1974)
UK Issues 3-4: Human Torch and Thor from US issue 26 (1974) NOTE: Spider-man appears in the WHAT IF reprint (from US issue 19) instead.
UK Issues 5-6: Spider-man and the Falcon from US issue 30 (1975)
UK Issues 7-8: Spider-man and Nighthawk from US issue 33 (1975)
UK Issues 9-10: Spider-man and Valkyrie from US issue 34 (1975)
UK Issues 11-12: Spider-man and Iron Fist from US issue 31 (1975)
UK Issues 13-15: Spider-man and Doctor Strange from US issue 76 (1979)
UK Issues 16-17: Spider-man and Ms. Marvel from US issue 77 (1979)
UK Issues 18-19: Spider-man and the Black Widow from US issue 82 (1979)
UK Issues 20-21: Spider-man and the Beast from US issue 90 (1980)
UK Issues 22-23: Spider-man and Power Man from US issue 75 (1978)
UK Issues 24-25: Spider-man and Machine Man from US issue 99 (1980)
Continued in SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY INCORPORATING TEAM-UP issue 418, beginning with:
The Human Torch and Iron Man from US issue 29 (1975)
The MARVEL TEAM-UP WINTER SPECIAL 1980 reprinted Spider-man and Red Sonja from US issue 79 (1979).
A full MARVEL TEAM-UP UK cover gallery can be found here.
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