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THE MiGHTY MARVEL CHECKLiST: WEEK 40

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SATURDAY 29th APRiL 1989

Today way back in 1991, Brian Williamson’s and Nick Abadzis’ cover to The Real Ghostbusters #47 and Art Wetherell’s for Transformers and Visionaries #216 were shining bright from newsagent shelves across the UK. As far as I’m concerned, together they make quite the impact.

I’ve mentioned recently how I’m currently watching Doctor Who from the very beginning and have been for nearly two years. Before I began, I took somewhat less time to enjoy every episode of Grand Designs on Channel 4 (resulting in me beginning to pay for it so I didn’t have any ads while doing so – bliss) and one of Kevin McCloud’s rules is never cut down grand old trees. Advice Egon should’ve followed and he might not have ended up being turned into his favourite fungi.

I really enjoyed these split screen Transformers covers, highlighting the new story format inside. It’s a shame they didn’t do more of them because over the next 100 issues there were some great double-bills I’d loved to have seen presented on the cover this way. Inside, there’s news of the first UK stories to be created specifically for the new five-page black and white strips. I think it would’ve eased the blow for some long-time readers if they’d waited until they were ready to change the comic’s make up.

Race With the Devil was memorable for two reasons. The first being Andrew Wildman’s depiction of a team of archeologists who were very similar to the stars of the sister comic in the photo above. The second was it ending on the reanimated corpse of Starscream. That image stayed with me for decades! Check it out at the link below. The trouble with having three stories now of course means there’s less room for details of each in the checklist, which is a shame because it’s a blinder of an issue.

Last week’s Action Force Monthly and Thundercats instalments remain for obvious reasons, while the only new entry is another monthly title which’ll most likely also be stuck here for a few more checklists. This issue’s slapstick humour perfectly complimented the action and wry wit of Death’s Head, making it one of the funniest issues of the run, which was no small feat.

We’re in the middle of a bit of a dry spell as far as comics adverts go and this continues next week, but don’t despair they’ll be back soon to tug at the ol’ grey cells.

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WEEK 39 < > WEEK 41

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SATURDAY 22nd APRiL 1989

Ponquadragor returns on Anthony Williams and Dave Harwood’s cover! If you never collected The Real Ghostbusters this will be lost on you, and let’s face it if you never collected it you were already missing out big time.

In a turn up for the books it’s Transformers and Visionaries that brings us a light-hearted cover this week, courtesy of Jeff Anderson. Inside, the UK strip was now black and white. This saved money obviously, and having two shorter Transformers stories instead of one long one gave the comic the ability to run reprints that wouldn’t take up the whole comic. Together, these enabled Marvel UK to reduce the budget in a harsh comics environment. The story still wasn’t written for the new five-page format yet, but between this and the US strip we got a double dose of Dreadwind and Darkwing to soften the blow, the UK strip a prequel to the American one running at the same time, which was a neat idea.

Did I mind the black and white? Not at all. On the contrary, reading Fleetway’s comics I was used to the same length of strips and a mixture of colour and monochrome. Plus, once they started to be drawn for this new format the details really began to shine in the art! Across the way in the New York firehouse Peter and Egon found themselves in another dimension fighting side-by-side with our returning villain in a story which feels epic, even if it is only six pages long. It ends with a funny visual gag of the defeated demon on a trike being chased by Ponquadragor, the story then spilling over into Spengler’s Spirit Guide and the prose story, making it a rather special issue.

It’s presented on the checklist in a way that very much makes fun of the overly complicated names in fantasy novels and films of the day.

Hasbro had released a G.I. Joe action figure kids could only get by mail order after collecting tokens from the packaging of other figures. Nothing but a mishmash of parts from previously released toys, the Supertrooper never made it into the US comic but Marvel UK brought him to life in Action Force Monthly. I wonder if his story was a series of rehashed plot lines too? The excellent Death’s Head #6 was still on sale and the latest monthly Thundercats took the top spot yet again, with one of the new stories written by friend of the blog John Freeman, no less.

Both Action Force and Thundercats presenting “classic” tales should’ve been a sign of things to come for readers of the two main comics, both of which would “re-present” classic stories before the year was out. While Transformers had a long history to pull from, it was particularly galling to suddenly “have another chance to read” content in the much younger Real Ghostbusters. However, it was a sign of the times across the whole industry.

Now officially past the halfway point, there’ll be another checklist next week, and the week after, all the way until the festive season. See you in seven.

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WEEK 38 < > WEEK 40

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SATURDAY 15th APRiL 1989

The Real Ghostbusters didn’t have the most exciting of covers this week despite having Anthony Williams’ talent behind it. Over on Transformers and Visionaries meanwhile, for a few weeks the covers would remind readers they now had two stories for the Cybertronians inside.

John Stokes returned for #214’s cover and while the Mecannibals were a fun villain the hyping of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fight between Megatron and a Decepticon not mentioned until now is a choice. The American story wins out this week thanks to shady subterfuge from Dreadwind and Darkwing and the funny way they bicker while in their combined form. As a teen it was extra exciting because I’d previously played with the toys of these characters at my friend’s house.

In New York, hair cuttings on a barber’s floor came back to life and, hilariously, Slimer got a job as a ghostwriter! Brilliant. The Real Ghostbusters’ creative team had the best imaginations. Also, after previous issues had contradicted the cartoon, an answer to a letter references the episode that explained the change to their uniforms compared to the movie’s, so someone was paying attention after all. Okay, it’s checklist time.

Yes, Marvel UK, you could say more for Death’s Head. This is a bit too close to that dreaded and overused “Nuff said” phrase they seemed to trot out ad nauseam in their editorials around this time. It was a great issue and this really doesn’t sell it, although it must’ve been difficult only having one paragraph for each of five comics. Alongside the continuing presence of Action Force Monthly #11 is Doctor Who Magazine, which finally seems to be a regular addition to the list.

It’s taken long enough, although I suppose you could argue this is a comics checklist and DWM is a magazine, so that could be why it wasn’t featured for the first several months. Coincidentally enough, I’ve been watching Doctor Who from the very beginning (the very beginning from 1963) for a couple of years and I’ve just watched Silver Nemesis for the first time about a month ago. It was a good ‘un so I can understand why it proved so popular.

I never did collect the Collected Comics series for my two main Marvel comics, although it was one of the Transformers specials that got me into it in the first place. As a kid, once I was reading the weeklies I didn’t see the point in collecting stories I’d already read. As an adult though, I appreciated getting the chance to enjoy classic tales all in one go and catching up on certain story arcs at regular intervals in my Transformers real time read through.

Finally, that Spring Specials advert certainly showed the variety in Marvel’s range, didn’t it? I’m surprised they put them all together on one page rather than separating them into genres or age groups. As it stands, I’ve no recollection of Snorks or Wimple Village, however I do remember Care Bears being on TV Sunday mornings, I’ve reviewed the Visionaries already and I owned that Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends poster mag. Hmm, now that I see this I do remember buying the ‘Collected Stories’ (as they were called) for Thoma, so that’s made a liar out of me!

That’s us for another week and we’re now officially halfway through the lifespan of The Mighty Marvel Checklist. See you in seven.

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ViSiONARiES SPRiNG SPECiAL

WEEK 37 < > WEEK 39

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SATURDAY 8th APRiL 1989

It was an exciting week as a Transformers reader this week in 1989, which John Stokes’ cover sums up perfectly. Meanwhile, the perfect pairing of Andy Lanning and Dave Harwood worked their funny magic with The Real Ghostbusters.

My friends who were long-time Transformers readers weren’t too enamoured with the new three-story format in the newly-retitled Transformers and Visionaries. We now had a pair of five-or-six-page Transformers stories (and the same size of back up) every week but they preferred the previous 11-page strip and found it hard to adjust. I was used to Fleetway’s action comics though, so this felt like an upgrade over the previous format, even if it took a while before the UK strips were written for the new format.

Visionaries was yet another reprint of the origin tale (to give the American G.I. Joe comic time to get ahead again) but that didn’t dampen things for me as a teen. Although, now I think a reprint of an early G.I. Joe from years before may have been better, as many readers would’ve read this back up strip just the previous Christmas! As a whole it all felt fresh, new and exciting though, and would lead to what would eventually become my favourite period of time with the comic. It also kicked things off with the superbly titled, “Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?” Great fun.

Obviously, this issue was going to take the top spot on the checklist. It was a mammoth change to such a long-running comic. Yes, it was to save money down the road amid rising production costs. By changing to this format they could churn out the British strips in black and white and run some reprints while still having new strips for the readers, but young me wasn’t aware of all of that and it deserved this fanfare regardless.

Alongside The Real Ghostbusters are the same editions of Marvel UK’s monthly Action Force and Thundercats as last week but we did have some brand spanking new comics adverts. Cartoon Time was essentially the Flinstones and Friends comic from earlier checklists in all but name. That had made it to 24 issues before cancellation and was basically rebranded as Cartoon Time, each issue’s main title relating to a different Hanna Barbera character with the “Cartoon Time” banner off to the side or top.

It certainly proved popular, running for 40 fortnightly issues before turning monthly. This would normally signal the beginning of the end for a comic but Cartoon Time continued for another 38 monthly issues after that, so fair play. Our other advert is for a Doctor Who graphic novel collecting a strip from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, starring Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor and Frobisher, his penguin companion. No, really.

In reality (well, you know what I mean) Frobisher could take on any form but for some reason preferred to be a talking penguin, and he and the Doctor found themselves on a Death Ship falling off the edge of the universe. The 80s TV show couldn’t have brought this to the screen! It sounds wonderfully inventive and I’m aware it stands in high regard with fans even today.

There are new issues of some top Marvel UK monthlies in next week’s checklist and a whole host of Spring Specials in the ads to jog your memories. See you then!

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WEEK 36 < > WEEK 38

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SATURDAY 1st APRiL 1989

This week’s Marvel UK cover for The Real Ghostbusters by Brian Williamson and Dave Harwood was overshadowed by the strap line for me. Also, at the time I didn’t realise this week’s Transformers and Action Force cover was something of a big deal.

That’s because it was drawn by John Stokes (Doctor Who, Star Wars, The Invisibles), making his first return to the weekly in three years. The story was great, focusing on the mental toll of being the human part of a Head Master, while the big changes coming next week were hyped with a full-page Next Issue promo. However, it contained no text or details, just three comics panels. The editorial made a big deal about Visionaries returning without mentioning it’d be a reprint. How very on brand after last week’s checklist post (link below).

So yes, that Atari ST competition in The Real Ghostbusters really takes me back. I always loved the look of that machine and was in awe of how a friend used his to produce incredible music, albeit a few years after this, so I never entered at the time. Strip-wise, after contradicting the cartoon last week the comic now contradicts itself by featuring Father Time, forgetting he’d already appeared in a completely different guise in an earlier issue. It was still fun though, as always. On to the checklist.

Death’s Head remains because let’s face it we all should’ve bought every single issue, it was that good and deserved more success. There are also a few details for you there about the sheer amount of stories The Real Ghostbusters comic could include in its 24 pages every week, while Transformers’ checklist entry does little to sell its fantastic, human story beyond a basic action piece. But hey, they had to get the kids interested so we won’t hold that against them.

Action Force Monthly was Marvel UK’s attempt to repackage their content back to the States (as ‘G.I. Joe The European Missions‘), so they had a forgivable excuse for including some reprints. Some of the regular features from the ol’ weekly a couple of years previous were also making their way back into the comic, giving it a feeling of being in rude health. Such a shame in five short months it would just… stop! But those UK stories were superb, the few that I’ve read anyway.

A short one this week but the adverts return in seven days, featuring a dog, a cat and a penguin! You’ll see what that’s all about in week 37 of The Mighty Marvel Checklist.

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WEEK 35 < > WEEK 37

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SATURDAY 25th MARCH 1989

Kicking things off for Marvel UK’s two best-selling comics are covers from Brian Williamson and Bambos Georgiou for The Real Ghostbusters and Andrew Wildman for Transformers and Action Force, the latter of which reminds me of a school trip to London in P7.

While there we had to visit Hamley’s toy store, naturally. I bought Ecto-2 while my friend Roger bought Decepticon Pretender Beast, Carnivac. For the remainder of the trip Roger kept it sealed in its box, fearful of losing anything if he opened it before we got home. I didn’t have the patience for that so I took my Ecto-2 helicopter out of its box for a closer inspection… and promptly lost the missile launcher!

Anyway, Carnivac would become a favourite character of mine later in the comic’s run when he’d team up with the Autobot survivors of the recent Time Wars and Underbase Saga storylines. Back to this week and the Ghostbusters comic has a strip inside it that fans would find somewhat confusing. On the checklist it simply states they’re at a haunted film set but that’s only half the story.

They’re actually filming the live-action movie, with them in the starring roles. That’s weird enough, but in the cartoon they’d already visited the set of the film in which the original actors were playing the roles. It was a fan favourite episode (it even contained movie footage) so, combine this with Week 32’s Spengler’s Spirit Guide and it’s clear the comic’s team weren’t researching the show their work was based on.

Despite being an excellent issue and a sequel of sorts to a strip in Doctor Who Magazine, the first appearance of Death’s Head’s fifth issue wasn’t important enough to knock the first monthly Thundercats issue off the top spot. Thundercats seems to be getting the ‘Don’t Miss’ spot more than any other comic. They were really trying to push it, weren’t they? What else were they pushing at us this week, adverts-wise? Two Spring Specials, that’s what.

First up is Droids. This wasn’t an extra edition of a regular comic, rather a one-off special importing an American strip to the UK for the first time. Droids was a cartoon Star Wars spin-off released in the States as a companion series to Ewoks, the latter of which I remember my friends watching. Toys, comics and various other merchandise were all created for what would surely be a sure-fire hit, but in the end Droids only lasted one season of 13 episodes and a special, the comic also cancelled after eight bi-monthly issues so it never got beyond this edition and some Marvel Bumper Comic appearances this side of the Atlantic.

At least Droids brought us a strip we hadn’t seen yet, our next Spring Special was another matter entirely. I remember stumbling upon this edition of the Visionaries comic by accident, buying it immediately and loving it. I’d missed out on the monthly but had devoured the annual the previous Christmas. Little did I know this Spring Special was pretty much just the fifth and final issue of the comic repackaged with minimal changes.

Even the advert was recycled from the one used to promote the first issue the previous year. Released at the same time Visionaries returned to Transformers as the back up strip (a third printing of the origin story within 12 months), this was probably why the special was released. A quick copy and paste of a whole issue and any new readers would hopefully start picking up Transformers as a result. You can check out just how similar it was to the last issue in its review, link below.

After what seemed like a bumper year for Marvel UK in 1988, a year in which we got constant news of new comics and which saw me spending a lot of my parents’ money on them, not many survived and 1989 was turning out to be a year of reprints and big changes to some of their biggest titles. More on that soon!

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WEEK 34 < > WEEK 36

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SATURDAY 18th MARCH 1989

A funny cover by Brian Williamson and Bambos Georgiou to mark the Easter school holidays for readers of The Real Ghostbusters, while those buying Transformers and Action Force were probably gasping in horror rather than giggling, thanks to Andrew Wildman’s shocking image.

The free gift was a Slimer-shaped jelly, a special sweet treat for that particular Saturday morning. I loved those things! I’d keep the plastic moulds to fill with my favourite drinks and stick in the freezer on warm summer days. Just me? Inside, a story about haunted shopping trollies explains a lot about those at my local supermarket, and Bad News was a very funny tale of a TV-addict ghost watching his own bust live on the gogglebox.

Cover artist Andrew is also a news story on the editorial page inside Transformers with the news of the birth of his third child, which was a lovely little moment in the comic. In the main strip, Starscream looks much more like last issue’s cover and it’s a cracking read, one of the very best of the American stories. It also sees the beginning of the fascinating dynamic between Optimus Prime and Scorponok that’d continue to play out until for next two years until they become firm friends(!) and it came to a tragic end.

The checklist is a good one this week.

How strange that the previous issue of Thundercats’ was the one to bring a brand new look to the comic instead of waiting until the first monthly issue to do so. It now contained two strips, the first was all about one of the most annoying cartoon characters ever while the other was a reprint. I don’t think it lasted too long after this if my memory of these checklists serves me right. Dragon’s Claws #10 missed out on top billing again but the ‘Don’t Miss’ title this week is rather special for us because it’s actually been covered on the blog before.

Doctor Who Magazine #147 not only contained that very funny comic strip of the Seventh Doctor’s run-in with The Sleeze Brothers, it also contained a full guide to season 25 of the classic show which began with a certain story called Remembrance of the Daleks. This just so happened to be the very first Doctor Who story I ever watched, so it was a nice surprise to read about it when I’d bought the issue solely for the brothers’ section of the blog.

So, I said previously we’d make up for the lack of comics adverts these past few weeks…

We’ve no less than three this week, beginning with the big news that The Marvel Bumper Comic was going weekly with #14, the same issue number as The Real Ghostbusters’ first weekly the year before. This wasn’t the only thing the two comics had in common either if you look at the free gifts coming up. A new weekly schedule usually meant a degree of success so it’s a surprise to know the comic would end up cancelled before the end of the year.

That’s a hell of a packed line-up too, so we know each strip had to be very short but it still intrigues me. Another star of the Bumper Comic at a later stage would be William Tell, who we saw previously when his non-existent fortnightly comic was advertised across Marvel UK’s range. Here, those first strips were collected together into a graphic novel so at least they could get them out there. Not that anyone in the UK was aware of the show yet.

Finally for this week, a brand new humour comic was revealed!

Oh dear. Not only has the printing gone horribly wrong for the advert’s debut but there’s no indication of what It’s Wicked! would actually be. The inclusion of Slimer (whose popularity Marvel UK was rinsing as much as they could) told us it would be a funny comic, but the line of text at the bottom read like it was telling us something completely different. It’d essentially be a ghosts-and-monsters-themed take on Beano and The Dandy but it didn’t last long, just 17 issues in the end. With this advert as the pre-release hype I can see why kids didn’t exactly rush out to buy it.

If you thought that was a bad advert, wait until you see one (of two) to come next week. It changes one line of text from a year-old advert to publicise a supposedly new Spring Special, but it’s really just a carbon copy of a previous comic with a different issue number. Not the company’s finest hour. I’ll catch you back here in seven.

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WEEK 33 < > WEEK 35

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SATURDAY 11th MARCH 1989

The Real Ghostbusters’ cover by Brian Williamson and Bambos Georgiou doesn’t stand a chance this week when compared to the epic nature of that for Transformers and Action Force. They even had Geoff Senior render the scene for the front page! A shame then that it refers to next week’s issue instead.

Inside, Starscream does appear as a yellow ethereal being but for the most part he keeps to his normal proportions so he can get up close and personal with his victims. It’ll be next week before he’ll appear like the cover in some of the best artwork the US comic imports had before the UK team made the transfer. There are plenty of Starscream victims though with the death toll increasing exponentially, while Cobra Commander shows his softer side when he finds his long-lost son.

Across the way, some of toy company Kenner’s original ghost creations made their first appearances in this week’s issue, something they never did in the US comic or the cartoon series. Spengler’s Spirit Guide made me laugh with its details about Egyptian Pharaoh Halitoses Nuff, and a haunted cinema brings to life Mr Stay Puft (again), a vampire Charlie Chaplin and even Howard the Duck is spoofed, which he deserved after that movie!

The editorial in Transformers broke the sad news of the cancellation of Dragon’s Claws so it’s surprising to see it wasn’t given the ‘Don’t Miss’ slot on this week’s checklist. In fact, that honour isn’t given to any new comic, instead going to last week’s Thundercats again. You’ve got to start wondering what that slot is even for by this stage.

The description of the Transformers story, that Starscream is taking on not only the Autobots but all Transformers makes it sound unmissable too, so it could’ve got the top billing and I’d have been happy. Death’s Head #5 was also released this week but is for some reason completely absent here to make room for yet another repeated listing for Action Force Monthly. 

Hopefully more thought is put into next week’s checklist. What I do know is that new comics adverts return in seven days. As promised previously, they’ll make up for being absent these past few weeks because there are no less than three to transport you back to 1989 in The Mighty Marvel Checklist: Week 34. See you then!

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WEEK 32 < > WEEK 34

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SATURDAY 4th MARCH 1989

This week we’ve got two covers that really made me feel like a big kid again. My two favourite characters on Anthony Williams and Bambos Georgiou’s The Real Ghostbusters image and fond memories of the fantastic story inside Transformers and Action Force are portrayed by Andrew Wildman.

In The Underbase Saga the Autobots finally entered the Decepticon civil war and the casualty list was vast! Towards the end of this week’s chunk of story Starscream absorbed the Underbase, the millennia-spanning knowledge base drifting through space and everything was building to all hell breaking loose. On the editorial there was another appearance of the teaser for The Sleeze Brothers, still three months out from their comic arriving, although they did pop up in Doctor Who Magazine this month, not that this is mentioned anywhere.

Across the way, in a strange Spengler’s Spirit Guide the Ghostbusting jargon stuck to that used in the film rather than the cartoon, perhaps giving it away that writer Dan Abnett maybe didn’t watch the series. It was still very funny though, as always. There was also an interesting story that explained how ghost energies actually hold up old haunted houses, as the team find out when one collapses after a bust! How about the rest of the Marvel UK range?

The only other new addition this week is Thundercats #94 and after the descriptions on some recent checklists made it sound like they’d gone back on their promise of a “new, younger look” (which they’d hyped previously), here it’s clear that wasn’t the case. Hand puppets, posters and jokes pages? How the mighty had fallen, and yet another new look? I thought cats liked routines and detested change.

No new adverts this week again. In fact, it’ll be a couple of weeks before we get some more but we’ll more than make up for it when we get there! In the meantime, can I just say I’m thrilled with how popular this series has proven. Across socials it’s been great fun conversing with people about their memories of the specific issues highlighted every week and their memories of their childhood trips to the shops, of reading their comics with family and friends, and more besides. So come and join in the checklists conversation here or on:

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WEEK 31 < > WEEK 33

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SATURDAY 25th FEBRUARY 1989

It’s Predacons versus Pretenders on Lee Sullivan’s Transformers and Action Force cover, while Anthony Williams and Bambos Georgiou’s cover for The Real Ghostbusters was one of a handful of British covers that got used by NOW Comics’ monthly in America.

The Transformers story was full of of icy alliances, double-dealing and back-stabbing amongst the Decepticons, and it was fantastic! It also ends with the reveal of The Underbase, a collection of vast knowledge that previously lay dormant inside Cybertron and was now roaming the stars… and Starscream wanted it! You can check it out at the link below. Then in Action Force that 80s staple the evil twin popped up. Although, there were two Destros so is “evil twin” the correct phrase?

In The Real Ghostbusters one of the strips is only one page in length, which sounds like it shouldn’t work. However, while the main strip every week was usually five pages, the rest could be of any length. This was the idea of launch editor Richard Starkings and when the creative team stepped up and produced the goods it led to Marvel UK’s brilliant one-page strip adverts which you’ll see throughout this Checklist series (I’ve already shown you some).

No new comics ads this week but at least we have our checklist back after a week’s hiatus. To the uninitiated, having one of the smallest Transformers toys and one of the largest as leaders of two opposing forces might sound silly but the comic really made it work. One of the artist credits for The Real Ghostbusters caught my eye here after I was just introduced to their work on the cover of Aliens #21 eight days ago on the blog.

Dragon’s Claws and Action Force Monthly are the same as two weeks ago (although the latter removes the reprint reference) and The Marvel Bumper Comic makes its first appearance since #3 in week 12 (and an advert in week 19). You’d think it would’ve been on the checklist regularly given the variety of content that could’ve appealed to a wide audience. That feels like a huge missed opportunity for Marvel UK to promote it, and given the fact so many listings have been repeated they could’ve used it instead.

Every time I see the Bumper Comic’s rather random-sounding contents I’m intrigued to find out how it reads. Thanks to this checklist series I’ve decided the comic will be coming to the blog in its own real time read through, although a quick search on eBay shows it could be a while before that collection will be complete and ready for review. For now, I’ll sign off and see you back here next Wednesday.

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WEEK 30 < > WEEK 32

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