1993: STAR WARS HOUSE AD (Dark Horse International)

From March 1993: a Dark Horse International House Ad for the seventh issue of their STAR WARS monthly.

The first few months of the British edition had reprinted the DARK EMPIRE limited series. The rreplacement was CLASSIC STAR WARS, the reworked versions of the newspaper strips. These were of extra interest to British readers as, as far as I can tell, no UK paper ran them in the early Eighties. Even now, they have been out-of-print again for more than twenty years. 

The backup strip was still, in a nostalgic nod to the Marvel UK monthly/ weekly circa 1983, reprints of the Dark Horse Indiana Jones adventures.

Casual and lapsed readers were lured in with a free cover-mounted "May the Force be with you" pin badge. 

Despite these attractions, and a resurgence of interest in the saga, the revival was not a great success and shuttered after only ten issues.

The run is worth seeking out because the good print quality, and larger page sizes, are a nice showcase for the art. 

2001: PLANET OF THE APES in COMICS INTERNATIONAL

From February 2001: A PLANET OF THE APES cover adorns COMICS INTERNATIONAL, the comics newszine.

This, of course, technically falls outside the Star Age... And there were no shortage of magazines with covers pegged to the Burton retooling of the Apes saga... But this one focuses on the return of the saga to comic books rather than the movie itself.

Dark Horse, no stranger to working with Fox on adapting their movie franchises to the four-colour world, brought back the Apes for the first time since Adventure Comics ran their extensive, but not always great, line a decade earlier.

Except, this was a license for the new movie and not the original saga, so the good old' days of the future were off-limits. Its tempting to think that the DH run might have enjoyed more longevity if they had been allowed to play with more aspects of the franchise. Once the excitement over the Burton version diminished (which, for me, pretty much happened during the film... Although you can't deny that THAT ending was memorable... Albeit nonsensical) then sales and enthusiasm about the comics version dropped in equal measure. DH bailed pretty fast and the franchise went on hiatus again.

There was, briefly, a British version published under license by Titan Magazines. It was only notable for being the first UK POTA comic since the Marvel strips had quietly faded from the pages of THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL over twenty years earlier. 

1978: FANTASTIC FILMS Issue 4

From October 1978: the fourth issue of FANTASTIC FILMS magazine.

I picked up a few of these in a 50% off sale over the summer so I'll post them as-and-when. Like their genre companions, they provide a nostalgic snapshot of the Star Age... And the covers may remind you of some long-forgotten treasure that somehow didn't gather much in the way of cultural traction.

1975: UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION Issue 1 (Marvel)

From January 1975 (so it would have been on sale during the last few months of the previous year): the launch issue of Marvel's American black & white mag UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION.

These mags were shipped across the Atlantic (and subject to the sane erratic distribution) alongside the colour books and were another reason why the first few years of the British Bullpen focused strictly on traditional weeklies rather than rolling out a variety of frequencies and formats to see which performed best. 

But they also supplied useful reprint fodder for the early hard-to-fill British SF outings PLANET OF THE APES and STAR WARS WEEKLY. The formulas, and licensing restrictions (no BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or STAR TREK in SWW) often left much of the Marvel inventory off limits and occasionally (usually through mergers) created some tenuous combinations (scare-fare in POTA or Conan in FUTURE TENSE) just to keep the pages filled and the presses rolling.

Canny Marvel management made their lives easier (and their margins fatter) by quietly making each issue of STAR WARS WEEKLY eight pages lighter, for the same cover price, as its easier to fill contemporaries. The US magazines proved a useful source of filler whilst Marvel New York ratcheted up their SF offering (allowing Marvel UK to publish FUTURE TENSE in 1980-81: essential a compendium of SWW supporting features belatedly anchored by STAR TREK's return to a British weekly after a five year 'away mission').

Six issues of UNKNOWN WORLDS shipped on a bimonthly schedule during 1974 with a further one-shot the following year. This first issue consisted of a lot of non-Marvel commissions that had originally appeared in other magazines or fanzines. The amount of new material increased for the remainder of the run. Adaptations of literary work was often accompanied by interviews with their authors. 

1992: ALIENS 3 MOVIE ADAPTATION (Dark Horse International)

From August 1992: a House Ad for the British edition of ALIENS 3, from Dark House International.

Maybe it was a sign of how the newcomer wanted to shake up the British business... Or maybe they just didn't have a firm grasp about how different it was to the US Direct Sales market... But launching a three issue mini-series in newsagents was highly unusual.

Of course, there are plenty of magazines and comics that only muster a few issues before sliding into oblivion. But that's a different business model.

As far as I know, this was the only time that DHI tried to publish anything other than ongoing series. The three "specials" (maybe the language was the key to getting it past the trade) appeared alongside the just relaunched DH edition of the regular monthly. 

The film didn't live up to expectations... Which might have had a detrimental impact on sales. 

1994: THE CLANDESTINE PROMO TRADING CARD (Marvel UK)

From February 1994: the free MARVEL UK CLANDESTINE Trading Card, cover-mounted with COMIC WORLD magazine issue 24.

This, unfortunately, really was the last gasp of the British Bullpen'smarketing mahine. Even as this freebie adorned issue of COMIC WORLD magazine was hitting British newsagents (it had pretty good distribution through WH Smith stores and selected independent newsagents, including inexplicably my own local shop which probably didn't carry more than 100 titles overall) and specialist stores (where it served as a nice compliment to the more news-based COMICS INTERNATIONAL from the House of Skinn), word of the Genesis Massacre was spreading through the industry.

The British Bullpen had put a lot of promotional weight behind this and LOOSE CANNONS in the hope that they would address the perception issue that the whole UKverse line was suffering from quantity over quality. Twelve months earlier it had been perfectly acceptable to flood the market with (sometimes) substandard fodder but, now the speculators had bailed, readers and retailers were being more choosy with their pounds and dollars. And, frankly, the amount of British books still surfacing in the 50p boxes twenty years on suggests a lot of retailers had been overordering on an epic (not Epic) scale. 

The speed of the collapse was so fast that dozens of books and projects were caught in the final maelstrom. And very few emerged unscathed. 

THE CLANDESTINE was one of the lucky ones. Having Alan Davies' name above the door certainly helped but being a Marvel UK book didn't. So it shifted to the US operation. LOOSE CANNONS also looked like an obvious winner but didn't make the cut. 

If it comes as any consolation to the Annex of Ideas, TOPPS COMICS, publishers of THE MARK OF ZORRO, also didn't last... Despite bankable franchises like THE X-FILES, MARS ATTACKS, STAR WARS GALAXY MAGAZINE, JURASSIC PARK and XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS.

Those were indeed hard times. 

1988: ALIEN NATION MOVIE ADAPTATION (DC Comics)

From 1988: the DC Comics adaptation of the ALIEN NATION movie.

Marvel were masters of stretching their movie adaptations over several issues (although they often issued them as done-in-one magazines or books as well) but DC preferred to recreate the viewing experience more faithfully by restricting their movie books to extended-length one-shots.

This ALIEN NATION tie-in was no exception.

Its a pretty standard, but still entertaining, riff on the familiar buddy-cop formula by making one of the bickering detectives an off-worlder and making the crime they investigate related to these "Newcomers". 

The movie, which boasts a great cast, presumably did OK business but not enough to tempt Fox into making it a franchise. 

Except the newly launched TV part of the business was looking for new shows that whilst superficially similar to normal telly fare, tweeked the formula sufficiently to give a twist on the tried and familiar. Alien Nation fitted the bill and blasted back as a weekly series, now overseen by Kenneth (" V") Johnson. 

The feature-length pilot, with a whole new cast, doubled as a follow-up to the first flick (Fox were clearly thinking that it could double as a straight-to-tape sequel overseas) but, after that, Johnson used TV's generous running time to flesh out the world of the near future and use the aliens for a bit of (occasionally on the nose) social commentary. 

The series fell victim, after only a season, to a change of policy at Fox which saw the new semi-network dump its expensive but soft rated one-hour dramas in favour of less risky sitcoms (inspired by the success of THE SIMPSONS and MARRIED: WITH CHILDREN).

The TV show inspired the Adventure Comics subsidery of Malibu to launch a seccession of mini-series set in the same world but, with one exception, no direct link to the show. I've posted those series in the past. 

Fox eventually revived the TV incarnation as a package of five TV movies.

The film, weekly series and movie package have all been released on DVD. 

1976: A TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE'S ANGELS POSTER MAGAZINE Issue 1

From 1976 (or thereabouts): the first issue of the A TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE'S ANGELS POSTER (or, err, "posta") MAGAZINE, featuring the first season cast of Farrah, Kate and Jaclyn.

I found this recently in a second handstore and it was too good to pass up. Its obviously British (or a British edition) and, judging from the title and the lack of publisher information, an unlicensed take-a-chance cash-in. 

There's no publication date but it features the original 76-77 line-up before, famously, Farrah walked away at the height of her fame. The US TV Movie THE CHARLIE'S ANGELS STORY is a fun, but probably not entirely accurate, dramatic reconstruction of the show's rollercoaster origin and turbulant first season. 

There's something charming about revisiting this and Spelling's other primetime crime shows like TJ HOOKER and MATT HOUSTON, not least because they frequently seemed to share the same plots, just tailored for the formats of the individual series. The legendary Angels in Chains (the prisonepisode that made the show a sensation) is not a million miles from the HOUSTON episode Caged, which gave Star Age icon Pamala Hensley a chance to shine when she found herself banged up in a similar establishment which also happened to be operating a prostitution business on the side. Such things must have been endemic in the US correctional system. 

Just remember: it's seven boobs including Bosley. 

1992: ALIENS Volume 2, Issue 1 (Dark Horse International)

From July 1992: the first issue of the second volume of the British ALIENS comic.

The Dark Horse strips (ultimately the strips that elevated the indie from being just another publisher to being a major player with those all important Hollywood connections) had previously been published under license (or possibly not: a DH published guide to their own output claimed the British editions were unlicensed although, as I've noted before, this seems improbable to me) by Trident.

But, when DH decided to follow the Marvel model and open up a London office, the publishing rights to Aliens, Predator and The Terminator (appearing in "his" own monthly) were brought in-house and relaunched.
The DHI editions looked more classy than their predecessors and benefitted from better feature pages and design work. I seem to recall DHI also claiming that the British edition would feature exclusive strips but, in reality, I expect they just appeared in the UK ahead of a US outing.

DHI pretty much followed the template laid down by their predecessors and also ported across the Predator supporting feature. They'd already crossed over in the comics but were still more than a decade ahead of a cinematic slamdown.

DHI also published (unusually) a three-issue mini-series adapting ALIEN 3.

Other titles in the ultimately short lived DHI stable included STAR WARS, TOTAL CARNAGE and MANGA MANIA. All of which I've posted about in the past.

1981: STARBURST ANNUAL (Marvel UK)

From 1981: the first hardback STARBURST ANNUAL, published by Marvel/ Grandreams.

Unliked the second (and final) edition, this didn't riff on a single theme (the second book focused on classic monster movies just as the Great British Public, and press, were becoming obsessed with slasher movies and video nasties) but instead took a broader approach more typical of an average issue of the magazine itself. 

Some of the features were traditional, easy-to-assemble, mainstream crowd pleasers like photo features on "robots". The sort of lazy page filling that just wouldn't pass muster today.

The main cover image is from BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY, released in UK cinemas some two years earlier. The designer obviously thought that the spot was spectacular yet ambiguous enough (the two Hollywood stuntmen are kitted out as Draconian pilots having a bad day when their fighters start exploding as they launch) to make the grade.