SATURDAY 12th AUGUST 1989
You’ll have the beginning of a certain classic Surfaris song stuck in your head with that caption on John Marshall’s and Dave Harwood’s cover to The Real Ghostbusters. Meanwhile, a favourite storyline makes the cover of Transformers and Action Force again, courtesy of Lee Sullivan.
The ghost busting team seemed to be having a time of it in the summer of 1989. After their sojourn in England last week, now they were living it up in the sun of LA and once again the strips and prose stories were all linked by the theme. Even Ecto-1 could be seen with huge sand tyres thanks to the art of Anthony Larcombe inside. As usual when the comic ran a theme like this it wasn’t just the main stories either, features such as Spengler’s Spirit Guide, Dead True and humour strip Blimey It’s Slimer were all LA-centric, making it another special one.
The main event of my week back then was the second part of The Big Shutdown with the introduction of the new Big Bad, Thunderwing and the infectiously enthusiastic Nightbeat. It’d be a while before they’d appear in the US strips so we were being treated to a superb prelude and it really added a level of fear to the former before his main arc. Between the last issue and this one it’s been a particular delight rereading these, the first glimpses of what would eventually become the epic Matrix Quest and all of the storylines that came off the back of that, all the way to that fateful final #332 almost two-and-a-half years later. It was a truly phenomenal time to be a reader.
We make up for the lack of adverts with a bumper checklist. It didn’t take up any more space but it was chock full of Marvel UK goodness. The best story of the week barely got a mention in Transformers’ bit of the list and I always wondered if anyone who didn’t read The Real Ghostbusters actually believed the checklists when they described the stories this way (instead of realising they were comedy strips)? The final issue of Death’s Head kept that bit quiet, which is a shame since that would’ve made it an unmissable candidate for the ‘Don’t Miss…’ box. Not that there is one this week. Cheekily, and possibly to get people to buy it, the summary doesn’t mention which Iron Man he’s battling.
The Punisher’s new weekly saw the end of its first back up strip, the full movie adaptation of RoboCop done in only three issues. The next back up (The ‘Nam) would stay for the rest of its run, making it feel like ol’ Murphy was only there to help push the new comic out of the starting block. Finally, Doctor Who Magazine makes a welcome return to these posts and I’d love to read that feature about the early stunts, back when imaginations had to outdo the measly budget. Although, the competition prizes don’t seem as “fabulous” as they were made out to be. Two adverts next week, including (at long last) another in the form of a comic strip. Wonderful! See you in seven.
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