1978: SUPERMAN POCKET BOOK (UK EDITION) ISSUE 1

From 1978: the first issue of SUPERMAN POCKETBOOK, a UK DC reprint title from London Editions/ Egmont.

Unlike the traditional British Pocket Libraries, this (and its BATMAN POCKETBOOK companion) was published with colour interiors.  The upgraded production standards were made possible because London Editions (who eventually had a long - albeit intermittent - association with DC) were part of a bigger European outfit, and the digests appeared in other European markets with the black plates swapped out in favour of the local language during a single print run.

The sudden pan-European interest in the character was, of course, down to that year's SUPERMAN live-action movie.

The UK-only monthly THE SUPERHEROES followed, to limited success despite boasting attractive new covers and some vintage (albeit possibly dated) reprints from the DC vaults.

Once that title faltered, London Editions turned their attentions to other licensed fare scoring hits with the likes of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and MY LITTLE PONY and less success with the likes of THE CENTURIONS and BATTLE BEASTS.

But, towards the end of the decade, they rediscovered their DC mojo with a slate of new reprint titles (now in colour) beginning with - as you might expect - SUPERMAN.  This expansion may have been prompted by the rising profile of DC characters (Superman celebrated his 50th with some hoopla, including a RADIO TIMES cover, in 1988), the post-CRISIS reboot of many of DC's top tier characters (making them more accessable to a wider audience), the impending BATMAN movie and MARVEL UK's retreat from the superhero market.

The new line, anchored by SUPERMAN and BATMAN but also including (at various times) HEROES, DC ACTION, ZONES and SHOCKWAVE, proved to be only a limited success and titles seemed to come and go (departing with little warning or fanfare) on a regular basis.

Robert Maxwell, now owner of the former IPC Youth Group  rebadged Fleetway, managed to annoy Egmont's European bosses by snatching the Disney license.  His ownership of MIRROR GROUP newspapers being a decisive factor in commiting to expose Disney's wares to the largest UK readership possible.  Egmont's response was to buy into Fleetway, an offer that Maxwell (no doubt very aware of the financial mess buried at the heart of his media empire) found hard to resist.  After his death, and the swift collapse of his crooked empire, Egmont bought the rest of Fleetway for a knockdown price.  

1979: SUPERMAN THE MOVIE UK PRINT AD

From May 1979: a UK print ad celebrating the success (still showing in London's glittering West End... and other "important" venues!) of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE.

1978: SF COLOR POSTER BOOK Issue 2 (Starlog)

From 1978: Another early Starlog spin-off... The SF COLOR POSTER BOOK TV AND MOTION PICTURE SCIENCE FICTION. Phew.

Its not really a book at all. Its just another Poster Mag, albeit packed with Star Age goodies. Especially if you're a fan of Larson's screen jumping SF epics. 

It's very much a preview piece teasing upcoming productions... Which left the editors somewhat short of visual references and hard facts. Fortunately for them, Poster Mags are seldom a vehicle for heavy detail. 

1978: FANTASTIC FILMS MAGAZINE issue 1

From June 1978: the launch issue of yet another Star Age magazine launched in the wake of the success of Star Wars... FANTASTIC FILMS.

To the credit of the editorial team, this was (for its time) a pretty good package and, whilst not quite Starlog, was certainly several notches above the various quickies that Warren and co were churning out.

The attempts to translate the alien language of CE3K and others is fun but also the sort of thing that gave fandom a bad name in the mainstream media... At least in the Star Age.

FF wasn't initially big on cover numbers and frequently relaunched with new volumes which makes trying to figure out which issue is which pretty tricky. This is identified in the small print as Volume 1, issue 1 but there was an earlier "première" issue dated April '78 which I don't have in my collection.

The magazine eventually ran through to 1985.  

1978: STARBURST Issue 5 (Marvel UK)

From December 1978: Can it be... Superman on the cover of a Marvel mag?

Yup.  And not for the last time either.  The late Christopher Reeve graces the cover of MARVEL UK's STARBURST issue 5. 

1978: THE MAKING OF SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE paperback

This is a paperback novel-sized tie-in to the 1978 superhero extravaganza. It's a text-based account of the making of the blockbuster movie SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE.

These days, of course, any movie deemed to have half-a-chance of a reasonable career at the box office is given the copiously illustrated hardback treatment, packed to the rafters with reader-coxing production designs and paintings and other behind-the-scenes insights.

Back in the 1970's, a cheaply produced paperback was deemed all that was required. 

Incidentally, according to the movie's Wikipedia entry, the book's author makes a cameo appearance in the film's Smallville High School Football scene.  Somewhere.  I've not reread the book yet so can't confirm whether that's covered (and true!).  

I first found a copy of this book in the mid 1980s, hidden in a spinner rack of assorted paperbacks in a general store in Clevedon, North Somerset.  I bought it at the time, had it for years and then (eventually) misplaced it or dumped it in one of those periodic clear-outs we all regret later.

This summer, I stumbled across this copy on the book stall of my local village fair, and eagerly paid-out the 30p required to become reacquainted with it.

As an aside, there's something that never gets old (unlike me) about rummaging through summer fairs and fetes in the hopes of stumbling across something unusual.  When I was a kid, these were ideal places to find copies of seventies Marvel UK titles and the like.  At various times, at various fairs, I acquired copious copies of slightly-before-my-time copies of STAR WARS WEEKLY, HULK COMIC and SPIDER-MAN as well as all sorts of old annuals.  This hitherto undiscovered history was always fascinating... as well as a great read.  Do kids still do this today?  Can they ever be as excited as I was?  Do they even care about our printed past?

1977: MARVEL MAGAZINE: PIZZAZZ

Today, Slow Robot lives the seventies dream with a complete cover gallery for Marvel's teen pop-culture magazine: PIZZAZZ!

The US magazine (not available in the UK, making this slice of Americana particularly rare) ran for 16 issues between (cover dates) October 1977 and January 1979.  

Its fun to see what (and who) Marvel thought were hot: Shaun Cassidy clearly had fans in the Ballpen but issue 14's cover probably caused the circulation department headaches.  It's easy to speculate why Pizzazz closed a couple of issues later.

The SUPERMAN THE MOVIE cover is fun to see on a Marvel magazine, Marvel UK (largely out-of-sight, out-of-mind as far as the US management were concerned) pulled a similar trick with an issue of STARBURST MAGAZINE.

Pizzazz also included a regular STAR WARS strip each issue, one of the deadline-busting 'extra' strips also created to fill scheduling gaps in STAR WARS WEEKLY.  Pizzazz presented the strips in colour but the sudden cancellation of the magazine left the strip mid-story.  It was concluded in an early eighties paperback compilation.

ISSUE 1

OCTOBER 1977

ISSUE 2

NOVEMBER 1977

ISSUE 3

DECEMBER 1977

ISSUE 4

JANUARY 1978

ISSUE 5

FEBRUARY 1978

ISSUE 6

MARCH 1978

ISSUE 7

APRIL 1978

ISSUE 8

MAY 1978

ISSUE 9

JUNE 1978

ISSUE 10

JULY 1978

ISSUE 11

AUGUST 1978

ISSUE 12

SEPTEMBER 1978

ISSUE 13

OCTOBER 1978

ISSUE 14

NOVEMBER 1978

ISSUE 15

DECEMBER 1978

ISSUE 16

JANUARY 1979