1999: ACTION TV MAGAZINE ISSUE 1

From the winter of 1999: the first issue of ACTION TV magazine.

This issue wasn't the strongest of launches (starting with the masthead...) but it settled down to become a must-read magazine over the next few years with a lot of excellent and insightful journalism about the great adventure TV shows of yesterday.

There was always a heavy emphasis on the ITC adventure shows spanning the 1950-70s.  Which is no bad thing as they were great shows but, for me, I would have liked to have seen a bit more coverage of 1980s US adventure series which might have been formulaic but were entertaining and - from a production perspective - pretty slick given the restrictions of the format.  But it was never less than an essential read and I'm glad have got the complete run.

This is the sort of magazine I really miss.

1999: APESFAN PLANET OF THE APES RODDY McDOWALL SPECIAL EDITION

From 1999: A special 'Farewell to Roddy McDowall' edition of the American PLANET OF THE APES fanzine APESFAN.

This title - other than this issue - didn't seem to have much - if any - distribution here in the UK.  This was the only issue I ever spotted, in London's Forbidden Planet on New Oxford Street.  I don't think I ever saw it plugged in PREVIEWS so I assume it wasn't carried by Diamond.

McDowall, of course, appeared in all the original POTA movies (he sneaks into BENEATH - which he otherwise skipped - thanks to footage from the first film) and the live-action TV series.  He also hosted the excellent (find it on the DVD or BR boxsets) feature-length documentary BEHIND THE PLANET OF THE APES.  His other STARLOGGED-centric work included FANTASTIC JOURNEY and the weekly series (not the pilot) of TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY.  He could also be relied upon to spice up any TV Movie or guest spot that he was booked for.

The next in the modern cycle of POTA films is out this summer and - across the year - there are several paperbacks and - finally - reprints of the old Marvel strips planned or already published.

fans of the original cycle should also look for the several, mostly unofficial, retrospectives that appeared alongside the 2001 reboot.  The quality can be patchy but - across the board - they are a good little nostalgia hit.

1999: TOONS MAGAZINE (WIZARD)

From Fall 1999: TOONS, a brief spin-off from WIZARD MAGAZINE.

1999: HEAT MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 (IPC)

From the first week of February 1999: the first issue proper (after the previous week's freebie giveaway) of IPC's deep-pocketed entertainment weekly (not to be confused with ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY... which it was clearly modeled on... and occasionally shared international material with) HEAT.

Ironically, the first edition's big exclusive turned a bit sour when Kelly (proper actress) Brook struggled to anchor a free-flowing daily magazine programme like THE BIG BREAKFAST (I suspect the production team probably didn't help her predicament once they sensed blood in the water) and the press latched onto every gaff as further evidence of her - ahem - shortcomings.

Her telly track record has been patchy ever since (although people keep employing her... maybe they just like her hair) but she has been in PIRANHA 3D and SMALLVILLE. Beat that Vaughan.

1999: XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS MAGAZINE ISSUE 1 (TITAN MAGAZINES)

From November 1999: the first issue of Titan Magazine's XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS MAGAZINE, based (of course) on the fun syndicated action show.

I'm not sure how long this ran for... some online sources suggest 25 issues, which isn't a bad run for a licensed magazine... especially one from Titan.

Xena fans looking for another perspective on the show should seek out the documentary THE XENAPHILES which turned up on Channel Four back in the day. It looks at Xena's fandom... particularly within the gay community. The burly bloke cosplaying (before the word even existed) is a sight to behold,

1999: STAR WARS COMIC ISSUE 1 (TITAN MAGAZINES)

From July 1999: the first issue of Titan's STAR WARS COMIC, a reprint vehicle (beginning inevitably with the adaptation of THE PHANTOM MENACE) for the myriad of US Dark Horse strips.

The first issue stayed on sale for a fortnight which allowed Titan to cover flash the second issue as "the first weekly issue"... unobservent collectors take note as I've seen at least one dealer trying to sell it as issue one!

This was a bit of a landmark as it was the first time that a regular WARS comic had appeared in the UK since the ill-fated Dark Horse International monthly at the beginning of the decade. Titan had, however, already been publishing the magazine (which initially featured some comics reprints) for several years.

I didn't follow the fortunes of the comic after this because the film was such a crushing disapointment (I was however surprised to find that I had some copies in storage which I must have acquired at some point) but I am aware there's been numerous reboots and relaunches over the next seventeen-odd years, usually coinciding with the next development in the screen life of the franchise.

1999: HEAT MAGAZINE PREVIEW ISSUE

From January 1999: the special free one-week-before-launch preview issue of HEAT magazine.

This wasn't the same Heat that became a sizzling success (possibly one of the last great magazine success stories before the internet made real inroads into the industry) with an understanding line-up of celebs, gossip, fashion and interviews.

When it started It was positioned as the British version of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: a concoction of up-to-the-minute news and features focused across the entertainment spectrum. IPC sunk huge amounts into a strong editorial line-up, TV advertising, hoardings on Soho newsagents and - of course - this glossy giveaway.

Unfortunately the punters didn't flock in any great numbers and it looked like IPC had a hugely expensive dud. Until they reworked it and dropped the entertainment in favour of OK style celebrity coverage... and circulation figures soared. It was at they moment that I stopped buying it.

1999: CLASSIC STAR WARS: A LONG TIME AGO.... DIGEST ISSUE 1 (DARK HORSE)

From March 1999: the first issue of the Dark Horse black & white digest CLASSIC STAR WARS: A LONG TIME AGO....

It sounds strange now but - at the time - this was a really big deal. It was the first time that pretty much any of the 1977-85 Marvel Star Wars run had been reprinted. Despite the boom in Star Wars publishing pretty much throughout the 1990s, no one had tackled the inventory of Marvel material (107 regular issues, one mini-series, three annuals and two Star Comics series). And the price of back issues (never exactly in plentiful supply in he UK thanks to a long-standing embargo on copies shipped to UK newsagents) had shot up as collectors returned to the saga.

However, Dark Horse didn't exactly jump at the opportunity. These digests shrunk the artwork (making text tough to read) and reproduced it in b&w. And they cherry-picked the reprints so collectors weren't getting a complete chronological run. Even the selection of cover art hardly sold the product inside.

Nevertheless, this run of six 96-page editions (sometimes described as trade paperbacks online although they are actually digests) were essential purchases at the time. Only to be superseded by a run of (really expensive) Dark Horse trade paperbacks. Which were then replaced by Omnibus editions. More recently, with the license back at Marvel, the original run has been collected into several whopping volumes... with prices to match.

1999: CINESCAPE INSIDER STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE SPECIAL ISSUE

From 1999: Another of the square-bound bumper editions of the US magazine CINESCAPE INSIDER... and yet more coverage of STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE.

1999: BABYLON FIVE VHS BOX SETS ADVERT (HMV)

From September 1998: a highly cost and space effective way of getting hold of the whole series of BABYLON FIVE (to date): the VHS box sets.

It might not sound it now (when you can almost certainly pick up all five years on DVD for less than one shelf-devouring set shown here) but that's probably actually a pretty good deal considering the going rate for a single VHS tape, with two episodes on, was normally £10.99 and found sneak higher depending on the release and the retailer. 

Me? I was just tapping them off the telly. 

1999: CULT TIMES SPECIAL #11: CRUSADE (VISUAL IMAGINATION)

From 1999 (and the random scans file): Visual Imagination's CULT TIMES (basically the TV TIMES for Geek TV with full SCI-FI CHANNEL - from when it was good - listings as well as details of genre TV shows scattered across the multi-channel schedules) SPECIAL.

Like most of the other VI mags (although curiously not SHIVERS), CT also spun off quarterly themed specials alongside the core mag. This was was largely devoted to the ill-fated launch of the successor show to BABYLON FIVE: CRUSADE.

That show went horribly wrong and has the distinction of being cancelled months BEFORE its premiere.

1999: RETROVISION SPECIAL Issue 1

From 1999: Another issue of RETRO VISION magazine, the first of a four-part run of specials devoted to the two bastions of the Star Age: Trek and Wars.

The SW aspect was covered by the start of an extensive guide to the various fiction spin-offs from the trilogy.  This has been done a few times since, most notably in book form, but this was new (at least to me) at the time and was a perfect antidote to the burgeoning (and bewildering) number of new SW novels and short stories that had hit the stands throughout the Nineties.  Star Wars had gone from an entertainment franchise traditionally under represented in paperback form (no one in my school was excited by the prospects of Lando solo novels) to (once Lucas has spotted their was a buck to be made) tons of the stuff.

I'm not convinced this ever made it to the promised four-issue run.  I'm pretty sure issue 2 appeared (I think I have it somewhere) but I think that was it from the Retro Vision empire. 

1999: MARVEL MONTHLY CATALOG Issue 7 (Marvel Comics)

From February 1999 (and the very outer limits of the Star Age): the mildly historic last issue of the MARVEL MONTHLY CATALOG.

It's significant because it marked then end of Marvel's misplaced ambitions to distribute its own products to the Direct Sales sector.  The ambitious suits within the burgeoning comics-to-cards empire thought they could cut out the middle man by ditching comicdom's traditional wholesalers (who were at least more efficient, and less corrupt, than the news stand suppliers that publishers had wrestled with in previous decades) and offering product direct to the retailers... on Marvel's terms.

That legendary misstep sparked the short-lived Distributor Wars which saw Diamond and Capital fight to sign exclusive deals with the other publishers.  Diamond did well.  Capital less so.  And the other, smaller, players were squeezed out entirely.  Capital eventually conceded defeat and merged with Diamond, leaving just two (the other being Marvel) to slug it out.  

Marvel's HEROES WORLD subsidery never nailed it and, as the losses mounted, Marvel also folded and... with no other option... were forced to go back to the only other player in town.  Marvel's greed and ineptitude had shaken out the industry... and left it going cap-in-hand to the monolith it had helped to create.

This issue was the last to appear as a standalone magazine-cum-catalog.  From the following month, Marvel's books were once again listed inside (or, more accurately, as a standalone insert) in the main Diamond PREVIEWS phonebook-a-like (albeit much diminished from the whoppers that appeared during the boom years).