1986: SPEAKEASY ISSUE 60

From March 1986: SPEAKEASY issue 60 cover features METALZOIC, the Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neil collaboration which first appeared as one of the early DC Comics graphic novels in the States before being serialised in 2000AD (progs 482-492) here in the UK.

The timing is right as I'm currently reading Mills' recolections of his time on 2000AD in the book BE PURE! BE VIGILANT! BEHAVE! which is now available as a print edition.  I find Mills to be rather too opinionated at times (he certainly has a lot to say in FUTURE SHOCK, now available in a swanky new BR edition from Arrow) but his writing here is most agreeable and it's hard to deny the creative force that he has been in British comics.  Indeed, his contribution is almost certainly still undervalued in the grand scheme of things.

1986: MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS UK STICKER ALBUM

From 1986: The MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS STICKER ALBUM.

Buyers of MARVEL UK's 1986 weeklies will be familiar with this one... the (empty) album came bagged with copies of SECRET WARS II issue 66, SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS issue 31 and TRANSFORMERS issue 81.  All cover-dated 4 October.  So, if you were a True Believer, there was a good chance you ended up with three of the things!

The following week's issues all included a packet of stickers to help fuel the addiction.

The timing of this one seemed a bit weird back-in-the-day.  MARVEL UK was deep into the sprawling SECRET WARS II saga (the weekly switched storylines, and title, from issue 32) and the original Battle World romp seemed a little like ancient history.

Secret Wars - probably because it lacked the support of an animated series (although this album did briefly spark playground rumours that one was on its way) - never became the same mass marketing event in the UK that it was in the States... but we did get some spin-off merchandising, including the Mattel action figures that sparked it all.

As for the album itself: it basically takes the Jim Shooter-created premise of the original limited series and fleshes it out with more events, as illustrated in the not-seen-in-the-comics page below.  Maybe Shooter should get more credit for creating a scenario where - in theory - the heroes and villains could encounter an unlimited number of new threats and challenges.  Much like the we're-on-a-quest SF shows of the 1970s.  Except they never seemed to last long.

The artwork is uncredited throughout.  The panels are not lifted directly from the comics so I assume they were probably done by one (or maybe a team) of jobbing artists somewhere.  It must have kept them busy for a while... which may explain the relatively late launch.

The events of the sequel are - possibly because it was something of a sprawling mess - ignored.

The giveaway didn't seem to have much of an impact on my peers.  Unlike the TRANSFORMERS album given away earlier in the year, no one I knew (including me) bothered with this one.  Maybe it's because superheroes weren't quite as cool in the mid-eighties or maybe it lacked the all-important shiney cards (a gimmick nicked from football sticker collecting).  The art - whilst cool - couldn't compete with actual animation stills as seen in the TF collection.

Marvel Productions did - btw - punt the idea of a Secret Wars animated series to the US broadcasters but couldn't find any takers.

This isn't one of the three albums I ended up with that week.  All are now long-gone.  I found a completed copy (result!) in a store and couldn't pass up the chance to finally own it.

1986: LOOK-IN AIRWOLF COLOUR POSTER AND JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT ARTICLE

From September 1986: A LOOK-IN cover and centre spread devoted to Jan-Michael Vincent and AIRWOLF.

It's interesting to note that the show had already been relegated to Saturday afternoons (LOOK-IN hadn't even got around to launching their comic strip version) despite starting off as a fixture of the primetime schedule (and the sauced-up home video version of the pilot was a certificate 18 release).

AIRWOLF's new early afternoon, before-the-shops, slot made it part of the essential post-WORLD OF SPORT (axed the previous September when ITV ran out of decent sport) schedule of SAINT & GREAVSIE and WRESTLING.

I'm guessing that the publicity still used for the pull-out poster is posed the way it is because there was no chance of getting Ernest Borgnine on his knees.  I wonder how many teenage girls (and boys) had him Blu Tacked to their wall...

1986: MASK SUPER PREVIEW ISSUE

From October 1986: The MASK PREVIEW ISSUE, published by IPC.

This was a little bit of a comics landmark.  It wasn't the first IPC title to be launched with a free preview issue (that was - probably - OINK which started with a freebie copy given away with the other IPC humour weeklies in April the same year) but it was the first time that IPC had really embraced the idea of doing a boys adventure comic based on a toy line.

It wasn't the first of course.  BATTLE had featured ACTION FORCE from the summer of 1983 onwards (and fully embraced the tie-in from later the same year) and EAGLE had run ROBO-MACHINES between November 84 and July 85.  But those had been strips running in an established title... this was the first time IPC had followed the MARVEL UK model of devoting the whole title (or - at least - the bulk of it) to a tie-in.

The toy was, of course, a TRANSFORMERS/ G.I. JOE hybrid (secret agents and bumbling villains use cars with secret 'enhancements' to foil each other's plans) intended to snatch sales from the two Hasbro powerhouses.  There was also the obligatory cartoon/ extended plug which was syndicated in the States and shown - mostly at weekends - on TV-am here in the UK.

This preview was a nicely put together full-length teaser which includes the origin story for the MASK organisation.  A story untold elsewhere... but retold in the first proper issue of the fortnightly comic.  Indeed all the stories (probably put together for the in-house dummy) are original, leaving the DC strips from the States to appear in the MASK annuals instead.  It's printed on glossy paper (another first for IPC... who were mostly content with leaving their weeklies to languish at the bottom end of the production standards league table) with a fair few interior colour pages (but, unlike the standard MARVEL UK comic of the time, not full-colour throughout).

Management were clearly taking this opportunity to fight back against the British Bullpen pretty seriously.

Copies were bagged with issues of EAGLE, BATTLE ACTION FORCE and ROY OF THE ROVERS.

The ongoing MASK series was initially published fortnightly (Marvel had done likewise with THE TRANSFORMERS... not least because there was a shortage of material to reprint) but later - no doubt due to strong sales - switched to weekly.

The tone of the ongoing run was a little less serious than this pilot... especially compared with the TV show and rivals such as the aforementioned Robots in Disguise or ACTION FORCE.

MASK ultimately ran for 80 issues before going the way of most licensed comics... But IPC continued to show faith by folding it into EAGLE rather than instantly ditching the license.

As one might expect, the strips have never been reprinted although I suspect some of the strips that appeared post-merger in EAGLE had previously appeared in the main comic.

IPC - and then Fleetway - were a little hit-and-miss with selecting which toy lines to ally themselves with.  Possibly because Marvel and London Editions already had good relationships with most of the big toy makers and had first choice with new liceses.  SUPERNATURALS, a toy with a hologram gimmick, was also launched with a free preview issues but - without a TV show - couldn't recreate the MASK effect.  The unfortunately named RING RAIDERS (also a pants toy) couldn't take flight either.

1986: ALIENS MAGAZINES STARLOG HOUSE AD

The new ALIEN movie is out in the UK today.... so here is a STARLOG MAGAZINE House Ad for their two official tie-in publications to the first sequel, ALIENS.

I'm not sure whether the ad's copywriter (IE someone in the office) knew anything about the plot of the film (possibly not) or just decided to make up a top line that worked because there were two magazines regardless of the countless number of aliens that turn up in the movie itself.

1986: THE DC STAR TREK COMIC CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF TREKKIN' IN STARLOG MAGAZINE

From 1986: More STARLOG MAGAZINE salutes to the STAR TREK spin-offs during the 20th anniversary year.  This time: the first run of the DC Comics series....

1986: THE STAR TREK NOVELS REVIEWED

From 1986: Remember when you could fit all the STAR TREK paperbacks on one bookcase?  Remember when you actually had time to read - and remember - them?  Remember when they were still an event rather than fodder to feed the cash cow (no disrespect intended to any author who was part of the Trek book machine)?

I get the impression that sanity (dictated as much by the decline of the franchise as the introduction of Trek book rationing) has returned to the publishing line in recent years (although since the closure of TV ZONE and the like I feel less informed on the matter) but the 1990s were certainly a crazy time with every version of the screen Treks (and a few that were non-screen bolt-ons to he bolt-ons) flooding the market with paperbacks and hardbacks.  Often in multi-book arcs just to keep the punters coming back.

But back when STAR TREK was celebrating twenty years on the screen things were a lot more simple.  There were no multiple shows.  Pocket Books hadn't figured out how to floof the market.  Here is a STARLOG MAGAZINE look back at the novels published up until that point...

1986: TRANSFORMERS SPECIAL TEAMS MARVEL UK HOUSE AD

From May 1986: A MARVEL UK House Ad for one of the earliest targeted marketing tie-ins between THE TRANSFORMERS comic and the Hasbro toys.

Of course, the whole comic (and all the other gubbins) were always there to flog the toys but Special Teams marked an opportunity to co-ordinate what was happening in stores with Hasbro's marketing machine... and the weekly's storyline.

Only one snag... the Special Team characters weren't due to debut in the US strips for a while, and Redan Place couldn't pull them forward without creating a continuity train wreck.  So Simon Furman's solution was to create a storyline which introduced the new characters and foreshadowed their official premiere without screwing continuity.  Job done.  Hasbro happy.  Sales bolstered.  Probably.

This add is also a classic example of Marvel UK design during this period... lots of text boxes with cut corners.  The house style appeared a lot on covers and in interiors.

1986: GERRY ANDERSON FANZINE S.I.G ISSUE 16

From Autumn 1986: Gerry Anderson fanzine S.I.G reports on SPACE POLICE, the pilot project (now available on DVD from Network) which - after an extended hiatus and much retooling - eventually emerged the following decade as the uneven (to say the least) SPACE PRECINCT.

The name change was down to Lego having already copyrighted the original name for toys, something that would have scuppered the critical merchandising plans.

GOBOTS IN STARLOG MAGAZINE ISSUE 106

From May 1986: the OTHER giant robot animated movie of the year - GOBOTS: WAR OF THE ROCK LORDS gets some coverage in the pages of STARLOG issue 106.

This is the joy of picking up cheap back issues of 'the log' when they occasionally surface (yup, I know they are all online but it's not the same somehow)... finding articles on long-forgotten projects which haven't been elevated into the cultural zeitgeist.

1986: LABYRINTH MOVIE ADAPTATION ISSUE 1 (MARVEL COMICS)

From November 1986: the first (of three) instalement of Marvel's adaptation of the Mighty Jim Henson's LABYRINTH.

The adaptation also appeared as a done-in-one edition of the glossy MARVEL SUPER SPECIAL magazine.

There was no British edition.

I was reminded of this because I spotted the new Titan Books coffee table book dedicated to the making of the movie in Forbidden Planet last week.

All hail the Goblin King.

1986: 2000AD's DICEMAN ISSUE 5 (IPC)

From 1986: 2000AD's DICEMAN bows out with its final offering... You Are Ronald Reagan! Yes indeed.

As I've said before, I put DICEMAN's failure down to the whopping cover price (way above the weekly or IPC's holiday specials), sporadic scheduling (although the issues were given hefty promotion in 2000AD itself which did at least alert readers thst the new issue was due) and some random racking by newsagents which saw it flip-flop between the bottom shelf and buried with the hobby magazines. These were the days before comics would legitimately make a land grab for space on the upper shelves.

Nevertheless, it was a bold experiment which did - at the very least - explore the different ways Tharg's growing stash of intellectual property could be deployed in different creative ways.

Anyone for You Are Donald Trump?

1986: 2000AD'S DICE MAN ISSUE 4 (IPC)

From 1986: the fourth issue of IPC's comics/ Fighting Fantasy hybrid 2000AD'S DICEMAN.

This time the line-up was Slaine and the eponymous Dice Man, both scripted by Pat Mills.

Cover by Brendan McCarthy.

1986: JEM ISSUE 1 (LONDON EDITIONS)

From 1986: the launch issue of JEM, published by London Editions.

This was, of course, another toy-animation-merchandising triple play by the guys at Hasbro. The enjoyable animated series (from the Hasbro-Sunbow-Marvel alliance) was a fixture of the TV-am weekend schedules for a while. The premise was to spice up the traditional Barbie market with a range of highly fashionable dolls based around the concept of an all girl rock group.

LE quietly cut a niche for themselves by being the 'other' publisher of such licensed fare, although they seldom gave Marvel UK much to worry about. Their biggest hit was MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (a property the British Bullpen let slip through their fingers) but they also published SHE-RA, MY LITTLE PONY (writing for that must have been painful... and just how does a pink horse play tennis anyway?), BATTLE BEASTS (originally, in Japan at least, part of the TRANSFORMERS universe), CENTURIONS and no doubt others I didn't notice or have long forgotten.

Most LE titles suffered from sub-standard - and usually uncredited - artwork which I always had the suspicion originated somewhere in Europe. Although I'm not sure if that is actually true or not.

Jem has subsequently returned to comics in a new series from IDW. There was also a underwhelming feature film reboot which managed to be a lot worse than the JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS film of a generation ago, not least  because they tried to bolt on a silly high-tech subplot (a nod to the original I think) onto what should have been a fairly decent flick about a teen who becomes a rock star in the age of social media. I'm still flummoxed by the fact that no one recognised her, despite apparently living an average teenage life. The now obligatory end of movie teaser, which introduced rival rockers the Misfits, promised a far more interesting follow-up, which won't happen thanks to a disastrous worldwide box office gross.

I've no idea how long the British Jem comic stayed in the charts. This is the only issue I've ever seen.

1986: 2000AD'S DICEMAN ISSUE 2 (IPC)

From 1986: the second issue of 2000AD's DICEMAN, Tharg's short-lived  venture into the world(s) of Choose Your Own Adventure books and Role Playing Games.

This issue actually gets around to including the eponymous hero, created by Pat Mills and Graham Manley. Rick Fortune is a 1930s Private Detective with psionic powers.

Slaine (Mills and Williams) and the ABC Warriors (Mills and Dillon) also appear.

1986: 2000AD's DICEMAN ISSUE 1 (IPC)

From 1986: the first of five issues (all of which I'll post in the upcoming days) of 2000AD's DICEMAN from IPC.

This was an attempt by comics innovator Pat Mills to fuse 2000AD's bankable roster of characters with the burgeoning worlds of Fighting Fantasy/ Choose Your Own Adventure and Role Playing Games.

Creatively the concept worked (although it must have been a brain strainer to plot and plan everything) but some odd decisions hampered its chances of success. The cover price, compared with that of a normal weekly, was whopping and it bought you heavy paper stock and more pages but still didn't drag IPC into the age of colour interiors.

Newsagents also seemed unsure ahst to do with these periodically published specials. It was a bit pricy for a comic which meant some didn't rack it in its natural home next to the weekly. Some placed it next to WARLOCK and the games/ hobbies mags... but Tharg's loyal and lapsed readers may not have thought to adjust their eye line to a different part of the display.

And this cover is stunning... but doesn't do much to attract the Tharg followers. Maybe that was the idea. Maybe IPC figured the extensive advertising in the weeklies (which I've posted before) would ensure buy-in from that crowd and the more ambiguous design was intended to capture the attention of older would-be readers. Even so, I think Judge Dress or Slaine might have drummed up a bit more interest.

1986: DEEP RED ISSUE 0

From July 1986: The first issue of the fanzine DEEP RED ("Horror from the heart of Hollywood").

Ignore the £15 price tag (which I didn't even notice when I bought it), I picked this up for a £1 (far more agreeable) whilst browsing a comic book store that I don't get a chance to visit very often. Its not really my sort of reading matter but it was a launch issue so I thought it was worth getting for the STARLOGGED vaults.

This is "issue zero" with nine more editions (including, most recently, a 15th anniversary special published in 2002.

1986: SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS ISSUES 40-44 (MARVEL UK)

From December 1986: The final four issues of SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS weekly for the year.

It may be coincidence but its interesting that the bulk of the covers were devoted to the Web Head despite appearing in the run-up to Christmas and the peak period for toy sales. Could it have been that the British Bullpen were testing the appeal of Spider-man whilst formulating plans for splitting the title to allow the ZOIDS to go solo in 1987?

The Spider-man strip was also a crossover with concurrent issues of SECRET WARS II.

1986: MARVEL UK AT NOSTALGIA AND COMICS HOUSE AD

From August 1986: The British Bullpen are (were) coming to town!

The Redan Place dwellers hit the road (or the rails) for a public appearance at Nottingham's NOSTALGIA AND COMICS.

Were you one of the team that made the trip? Who attended? Were you a reader that turned out for the day? Any pictures you want to share?

1986: SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS 35 - 39 (MARVEL UK)

From November 1986: A bumper month for MARVEL UK's SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS weekly.

The Spidey strip continued the crossover with SECRET WARS II which kicked-off the previous month. A canny, and fairly unusual, way of cross promoting the two weeklies by encouraging the readers of one to sample the other. That combined readership, however, must still have been pretty small as both titles were defunct within the next couple of months. The crossover fan between issues 33 and 36.

Other things happening in an eventful month: the STAR BRAND strip bowed out after a brief run in issue 37. If you want to know what happened next Marvel have just reissued the first ten issues as a trade paperback collection. The British Bullpen did eventually explain why they curtailed the run... and I'll post that sometime soon. Redan Place's commitment to the New Universe was transitory at best and they dropped this and SPITFIRE AND THE TROUBLESHOOTERS (in THE TFANSFORMERS) pretty promptly.

The following week marked the arrival of STRIKEFORCE: MORITURI, another non-core US strip presumably deemed self-contained enough to work well for a British audience.