Tuesday, 6 June 2017
Monday, 5 June 2017
1981: MARVEL UK'S STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MONTHLY ISSUE 147
From July 1981: Luke Skywalker takes on an AT-ST 'Scout Walker' in a memorable issue of MARVEL UK's STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MONTHLY.
The Scout Walker had been a blink-and-you-miss-it ILM bonus (no doubt one that Kenner and Lucasfilm appreciated as it allowed them to shift more toys) in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK so this reprint (although publication dates were so close this may have actually hit just ahead of the States) of US issue 51 is the first time we really see one in combat.
This issue also kicks off, under the new creative team of Walter Simonson (previously of Marvel's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and David Michelinie, one of the most memorable story acs of the era. Pre-empting ROTJ, the comic book Empire decide that the Death Star, despite a little design flaw, was actually a jolly good idea and construct a stripped-down replacement. A mobile super weapon called the 'Tarkin'. I still think the producers of THE FORCE AWAKENS missed a trick by not borrowing that name for their own Death-Star-in-all-but-name super weapon. Which would have also looped nicely back into ROGUE ONE a year later.
It seems like Marvel originally pitched the construction of a second Death Star, a storyline they assumed the film series would not revisit. When they got notes asking for changes, they began to piece together the still-top-secret plot for the 1983 sequel.
This issue also featured Gundarks, another nice nod to the movie series itself.
The Scout Walker had been a blink-and-you-miss-it ILM bonus (no doubt one that Kenner and Lucasfilm appreciated as it allowed them to shift more toys) in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK so this reprint (although publication dates were so close this may have actually hit just ahead of the States) of US issue 51 is the first time we really see one in combat.
This issue also kicks off, under the new creative team of Walter Simonson (previously of Marvel's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and David Michelinie, one of the most memorable story acs of the era. Pre-empting ROTJ, the comic book Empire decide that the Death Star, despite a little design flaw, was actually a jolly good idea and construct a stripped-down replacement. A mobile super weapon called the 'Tarkin'. I still think the producers of THE FORCE AWAKENS missed a trick by not borrowing that name for their own Death-Star-in-all-but-name super weapon. Which would have also looped nicely back into ROGUE ONE a year later.
It seems like Marvel originally pitched the construction of a second Death Star, a storyline they assumed the film series would not revisit. When they got notes asking for changes, they began to piece together the still-top-secret plot for the 1983 sequel.
This issue also featured Gundarks, another nice nod to the movie series itself.
1997: COMICS INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 83: JUDGE DREDD AND PREDATOR
From July 1997: A very eyecatching franchise mash-up cover for COMICS INTERNATIONAL issue 83, promoting (from memory) a JUDGE DREDD/ PREDATOR crossover event.
THE BEST OF THE BIG BREAKFAST VHS
From the VHS era: THE BEST OF THE BIG BREAKFAST.
Channel Four's BB is probably the only British breakfast TV show to ever commercially release a clip-show tape. TV-am had been occasionally known to try and bolster the depleted bank account a decade earlier by releasing the odd tape of Roland Rat or Mad Lizzie.
I think we can safely say there was no DVD re-release.
Channel Four's BB is probably the only British breakfast TV show to ever commercially release a clip-show tape. TV-am had been occasionally known to try and bolster the depleted bank account a decade earlier by releasing the odd tape of Roland Rat or Mad Lizzie.
I think we can safely say there was no DVD re-release.
Friday, 2 June 2017
1984: ON SALE THIS WEEK: EAGLE
Onsale this week way back in 1984: EAGLE.
I thought it would be fun to take a little more time and look at all the strips that appeared in the copy of EAGLE that went on sale on this date way back in 1984.
For copyright reasons I've only included the first page (or pages in the case of Dan Dare) of each story... just enough to bring the memories flooding back. I hope.
The Happy Families done-in-one-pager is a little grim... and a little unusual. It's the sort of thing you probably wouldn't get in a kids comic today without a flurry of compaints from parents, a social media storm and someone turning-up in the paper complaining of "traumatized' kids and demanding some compo from the publisher. It seems better suited to SCREAM!, which was still just about in business at this point.
I thought it would be fun to take a little more time and look at all the strips that appeared in the copy of EAGLE that went on sale on this date way back in 1984.
For copyright reasons I've only included the first page (or pages in the case of Dan Dare) of each story... just enough to bring the memories flooding back. I hope.
The Happy Families done-in-one-pager is a little grim... and a little unusual. It's the sort of thing you probably wouldn't get in a kids comic today without a flurry of compaints from parents, a social media storm and someone turning-up in the paper complaining of "traumatized' kids and demanding some compo from the publisher. It seems better suited to SCREAM!, which was still just about in business at this point.
1984: EAGLE DOOMLORD CROSSWORD PUZZLE
From 1984: Something for the weekend (or the long commute): a page-filling DOOMLORD CROSSWORD, possibly concocted by the IPC Puzzles Department, from the pages of EAGLE.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
1984: BARON IRONBLOOD BATTLE ACTION FORCE HOUSE AD
From 1984: It looks like - judging from the illustrations in the new issue of the Diamond PREVIEWS door-stopper - that a certain BARON IRONBLOOD is about to be introduced to the new IDW/ Hasbro shared universe. Which - if I'm reading the runes correctly - would make me want to snap up a copy in a round three months time. They've given him a makeover so he looks a little less like Ned Kelly. I can't imagine why...
In the meantime, here is a bit of vintage Baron Booby Buckethead in an IPC House Ad for another buy-it-for-the-next-month retention ruse: a Baron Ironblood poster hogging one of the colour pages of BATTLE ACTION FORCE.
Good luck making the four parts line-up!
In the meantime, here is a bit of vintage Baron Booby Buckethead in an IPC House Ad for another buy-it-for-the-next-month retention ruse: a Baron Ironblood poster hogging one of the colour pages of BATTLE ACTION FORCE.
Good luck making the four parts line-up!
Thursday, 1 June 2017
STARLOG MAGAZINE BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY RETROSPECTIVE - PART TWO
From 1996: the second part of STARLOG MAGAZINE's brilliant two-part look back at the making of BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY.
THE AVENGERS HMV STORE EXCLUSIVE VHS
From the video department of HMV: A store-exclusive AVENGERS VHS release.
Maybe they should have called this one the 'End of an era' edition as it marks two important turning points in the show's history: the switch to colour and - err - cancellation.
Maybe they should have called this one the 'End of an era' edition as it marks two important turning points in the show's history: the switch to colour and - err - cancellation.
1994: THERMAL LANCE ISSUE 21
From October 1994: the 21st issue of the DOCTOR WHO/ Telefantasy fanzine THERMAL LANCE.
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