SATURDAY 4th NOVEMBER 1989
The return of two huge baddies this week on the covers of our main Marvel UK comics, although there’s a rather big difference in vibe. Anthony Williams, Dave Harwood and Robin Bouttell were behind the huge, lumbering Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for The Real Ghostbusters, while Megatron and his shadowy alter ego were drawn by Andrew Wildman for Transformers and Action Force.
The reason behind two Megatrons was that a previous plot point in the UK strips had gone unresolved for a long time, namely whether his mind was his own or that of the Cybertron-based commander, Lord Straxus. With writer Simon Furman now working for Marvel on both sides of the Atlantic and given his plans for future stories, any original plan he had for resolving this was brought forward into this two-parter. It did feel rushed after all this time and it was a bit disappointing after the brilliant set up, but at least long-time readers had it addressed rather than ignored. Of course, as a kid I hadn’t read the original storylines so this was all very confusing!
Inside The Real Ghostbusters was a story called These Spooks Were Made For Walking, a fun play on words for a tale about haunted shoes forcing people into long runs around New York. It’s not a reprint, but there was a previous strip some time back in the same comic called These Boots Were Made For Haunting. The plot? Haunted boots forcing people into long runs around New York. Hmm. Between this and the recent reprints was the comic running out of ideas 19 months into its run? (No pun intended.) Oh well, at least the rest of the issue was completely original and didn’t include more returning spooks from the movie like it did just ten weeks ago. Ahem.
Elsewhere, Doctor Who Magazine leading with pin-ups might sound strange in hindsight, given how they’d be considered as nothing more than space-fillers today, but you’ve got to remember these were the days before widespread internet, so pin ups were often the only way fans could enjoy stills from older episodes. I’ll forgive The Punisher for the misplaced apostrophe (I’m sorry, when it’s used like that it really bugs me) because the quick description of the stories more often than not make me want to add it to the blog’s list of potential real time read throughs. Even if it’s just to find out more about The ‘Nam, which as the back up is criminally underserved on the checklists.
The Incredible Hulk continues to present other stories he himself probably wouldn’t give a hoot about but which British Marvel fans would hopefully lap up. In fact, reading this checklist you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a range of titles in rude health, that Marvel UK were riding high. Unfortunately, one would be cancelled by Christmas (actually, right at Christmas!), with another only a few months behind. Oh well, at least that could make them easier to collect the complete sets of for the OiNK Blog, right? “Every cloud” and all that.
Next week we’re checklist-less again for the last time. In its place is an advert for a graphic novel that felt very out of place in the pages of my comics, although it may have been of interest to my mum! Plus, some insight into the behind-the-scenes of one of our regular comics from a Marvel UK editor and writer! See you in seven.
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