Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Many people in this life have started at the bottom. Me, for instance. I started at the bottom and have resolutely worked my way down from there.  How apt, therefore, that this post is a perfect reflection of its author because it too starts from the bottom. Or at least from what's at the bottom of it. And that's a handy-dandy comments section.  This is, of course, my convoluted way of heralding the return of the feature in which the first pers ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Hello? Is it me you're looking for? No. It's Lionel Richie. And I know that because this is April 1984 and sat resplendent at the top of the UK singles chart, as the month begins, is the singer of that very name with the song that starts with those very words, just as this post has begun with those very words.  However, "Hello," soon became, "Goodbye," for the former Commodores frontman, with his crown being snatched from him, in the month's second half, by Duran Duran a ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** When it comes to music, TV and current affairs, nothing too thrilling happened in the world, this week in 1974. Therefore, let us fling ourselves into our look at what Marvel UK was offering up during that spell. As the cover makes clear, everyone's favourite martial artist is still battling for survival against the menace of Midnight. Granted, he's not his own father's most popular martial artist. If he was, Midnight wouldn't have been sent to kill him in the first pl ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** How desperate are you to see really small things? If you're inescapably desperate to do it, the 3rd of March in 1986 was the happiest day of your life. You guessed it. It was the day which saw the publication of the first paper that described the atomic force microscope! I know. I was excited too! Things were, possibly, not quite so thrilling in your local cinema but the month did see the release of such offerings as Highlander, The Care Bears Movie II and Police Academ ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** The past is once more beckoning us to join it. And who are we to spurn a good beckoning? A brand new comic arrives in our lives and I could impress you by telling you exactly what happens in it. But that would be far too easy. Or it would be if I had the slightest idea what happens in it. However, from the title, I'm going to assume it's like some sort of mashup of Star Trek and The Legion of Super-Heroes. Whatever it is, it's brought to us by the team of Alan Zele ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** I do believe this month is a huge one in the history of Marvel Comics and its biggest heroes. But how will that event impact upon the lives of those heroes in their everyday books? Rhodey's still in China and having to tackle the Mandarin without bursting out laughing at his terrible costume. Granted, it'll be fairly easy to avoid laughing, as the villain's using his mind-control ring to force the hero to slit his own throat. Also, the Manchurian mischief maker's out to s ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** April Fools' Day is come and gone but what fools we would be to not investigate what our favourite Marvel heroes were up to in magazines whose cover date is exactly fifty years ago. The Avengers are still having ludicrous amounts of difficulty defeating Zodiac, despite the bad guys barely being able to muster a super-power between them. However, I'm sure the good guys will triumph eventually. But what's this? I do believe the cover image was also used on the fron ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** If there's one thing visitors to this site can take for granted, it's that it will never be anything but topical. And so it is that, this Easter Sunday, it can be found reviewing that most Easterly of comics. Shazam #5. OK, I admit it. It has nothing to do with Easter. But, who knows? Maybe we can find a little of that Easter magic contained somewhere within its pages. I first acquired this comic in the early 1970s in a shop just beyond the city centre, before being dragge ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Have you ever wanted your own private army? If you so, you'll have to put some effort into it to get a bigger one than Qin Shi Huang the first emperor of China  Admittedly, his was made of terracotta and buried with him and, therefore, may not have been much use in an actual fight. But who cares about that? Not archaeologists. Not this week in 1974 because that's when members of that profession first impressed the world by unearthing it near Xi'an in the province of Shaa ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** A wise man once remarked that, "Time marches on," while another claimed, "An army marches on its stomach." Clearly, that man had an army of slugs, as no human army would dream of marching on its stomach. However, right now, it's neither time nor slugs that are marching on. Instead, it is March who is marching on, progressing relentlessly towards a brand new April that will, no doubt, be somewhat like previous Aprils but also have an identity all of its very own. Wh ..read more