"Great News Chums!" was the dreaded phrase that met British comic fans in the 1970's when they opened up their favourite weekly only to find that from next week, it would be merging with a crap publication you never bought. I can't guarantee that we won't merge this blog with one on, say, Taiwanese politics. But for now, enjoy a trip into pre-1985 graphic goodness.
The young people today might think they're 'all that' with their Lynx body sprays, but back in 1978, there was only one scent to use if you wanted to impress the ladies - and no, it wasn't Brut, Hi Karate, Denim or even Old Spice. No, if you wanted to make damn sure you never went home alone - ever - then you'd splash on Monsieur Le Stud.
Brought out to coincide with the year's most sophisticated film, Monsieur Le Stud mixed the legendary powers of musk and ginseng, and was just the thing before heading for a night out at the local discotheque and dancing to the latest hits from Tina Charles, Leo Sayer and Smokie - that is, of course, if you could fend off the ladies! Or, you could stay at home and listen to The Stud's soundtrack LP on Ronco - where this enticing ad could be found. Sadly, Monsieur Le Stud is no longer on sale. If anyone out there has any, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. After all, as the ad says, 'wearing Monsieur Le Stud can be very demanding'. And I'm happy to make your life that little bit easier.
Time has again run away from me, like a freeloading MP fleeing the angry mob, so no exciting updates today kids. It's just like the time when the staff at your favourite weekly went on strike, resulting in no comic that week. Oh, how we wept. However - I'll soon be mixing the visual thrills that you have come to know and love with insightful, probing reviews of similar tat as it arrives at Chums Towers. Producers of morally and artistically indefensible rubbish take note and message me for details of where to send your offerings. While I'm banging on - opinions are solicited on whether I should label this blog as 'mature' (or whatever the term is) and include some of the nippletastic stuff that abounded in the 70's, from LP covers to newspapers to ... well, just about everything. Let me know what you think!
The Raven series was written by Richard Kirk - in reality authors Robert Holdstock and Angus Wells, who co-authored the first volume and then took it in turns to write the next four.
Chris Achilleos' sexy cover art for Swordsmistress of Chaos caught the eye of Kate Bush, who modified the costume (ie covered BOTH boobs) for her Babooshka video.
Proving that naziploitation didn't start with Love Camp 7, Ilsa She Wolf of the SS and The Night Porter!
'Ernst was just a high-spirited German kid... until he joined the Hitler Youth. From that moment his development into a bestial Nazi thug --- inhuman, brutal and without conscience --- was only a matter of time.' Suitably restrained stuff from 1959.
'No indignity, no torture or suffering was forgotten' in this 'towering novel of moral disintegration' from 1965
Western prisoners are at the mercy of the fiendish Colonel Yamamitsu in this 1974 reprint of the 1958 original, based on the Hammer film.
The first annual from the famed Eagle comic, circa 1951. It came my way in the mid-70's, and as a Marvel-obsessed nipper, I was less than impressed with the frightfully polite, rather dull middle class contents. Today - it's still awful.
The Eagle was revived in 1982, complete with Dan Dare and The Mekon (both of whom had already had a more dynamic reinvention in 2000AD back in 1977), alongside some ill-considered photo-strips. A terrible effort that somehow kept going for years.
Blonde On Blonde were Page 3 Girls Nina Carter (aka Penny Mallett) and Jilly Johnson, and they failed to have a hit with this surprisingly solid disco version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, though the picture disc became the stuff of legend. Carter was married to Rick Wakeman, who probably doesn't play on this. This French(?) 1978 LP featured truly awful disco versions of Pink Floyd tracks. Yes, the world was crying out for dance versions of Interstellar Overdrive, Have A Cigar, One Of These Days and The Theme From 'More' apparently. Or perhaps not. Still, the gratuitously sexy cover stared out of record racks and bargain bins for years, defying you NOT to buy it. I succumbed in the end and it was worth at least half the 99p paid.
The Crunch appeared in 1979 and was DC Thompson's attempt to capture the Action / 2000AD market. Strips included the futuristic Arena, 'Injun' bounty hunter Mantracker, a vaguely sci-fi themed soccer story (!), The Walking Bombs, Hitler Lives (always a good standby) and the conspiracy thriller Who Killed Cassidy? Oh, and a feature on Eddie Kidd.
Issue 1's free Black Band was ill-fitting and uncomfortable, and the stickers were rubbish.
I can't recall how exciting (or more likely not) the Crunch Crazy Cars were, but four issues of freebies? You have to like that.
Sadly, though The Crunch was almost laughably macho and as violent as would be allowed in those post-Action days, it never quite hit the spot, and I stopped buying it after issue 9. Great cover though!
Alex Block was the first to cash in on the death of Bruce Lee with this biography, in which he implies that Lee was killed by the 'hand of death'
This biography by Lee's wife has more legitimacy, though of course is somewhat rose-tinted in its views
The JKD Band were disco opportunists who sampled a bit of Bruce's battle cries and dialogue to spice up a couple of pretty forgettable instrumentals
Lee's popularity was still high in 1979, and the publishers of Kung Fu Monthly (of which more at a later date) produced this photo-packed 'tribute'.
This poster magazine from around 1979 was published in Hong Kong. The publishers also produced a whole bunch of Bruce Lee softcover books - watch out for examples soon, chums!
James Moffat was the real name of Skinhead author Richard Allen. Complete with several pages of photos, this book was the only evidence that Queen Kong actually existed for several years after the film was legally blocked from release. You can buy it now and you won't believe your eyes!
Amazingly, this novelisation of the wonderfully tasteless 50's throwback went through two printings - the other version had gory images from the film on the cover, making this the 'tasteful' version.
Spiders were all the rage in the second half of the 1970s (see also Kiss of the Tarantula, Giant Spider Invasion)until producers realised that no-one was actually paying to see the films. This one stars William Shatner and was directed by John Bud Cardos.
This vigilante hit made a straight-to-video star of Robert Ginty (doomed from this point on to only be referred to as Robert The Exterminator Ginty - maybe it really was his middle name) and this tie-in boasts several pages of full colour stills.
This 1974 softcover spin-off from kids comic Buster mixed humour (Rent-a-Ghost, Davy Jones' Locker, The Creepy Crawleys), adventure and 'true life' ghost stories
Frankie Stein was one of the most popular characters in weekly comic Whoopee! and here gets his own 1976 special (though he had to share it with Mervyn's Monsters, Weird Wolf, Ghost Ship, Headless Harry and the dull Crabbe's Crusaders)
Shiver and Shake was a weekly comic that mostly (though not exclusively) had stories with a spooky theme. Characters included here are Ghoul Getters Ltd, Scatty Bat, The Hand, Frankie Stein, Sweeney Toddler, Creepy Car, Lolly Pop, Scream Inn and the legendary Grimly Fiendish (as later immortalised by The Damned). The comic itself was defunct by 1977!
Poster magazine in which we learn that Martin Shaw has a sheepdog called Harry and Lewis Collins has a girlfriend who "turns me on more than any other girl I have known. She is very sensual and can look good whatever she is wearing." Lewis, you old smoothy!
Although adapted from episodes of the TV show, the novels were pretty dull efforts.
Two badges that came cover mounted with 2000AD in the early 80s. The lower one was a bit too big and cumbersome, while the replica shield looked impressive, but oddly came without any means of attaching it to you.
After the Space Spinner in issue 1 and the 'biotronic' arm stickers in issue 2, the Mighty Tharg gave away this bit of cardboard tat in issue 3, encouraging readers to mutilate their comics by slicing out pages containing 'hidden codes' which would help on those all-important missions of going to the shop for some sweets.
"Was there more to the legend of the wolf-people than just an old wives' tale?" Magazine reporter Quintin Barkley investigates. 1979.
"Only a crazed beast could be responsible for the ghastly killings of innocent young women" in this Toronto-based shocker with a Universal-copyright defying cover illustration. 1979
The second of Guy N. Smith's werewolf novels, and as sleazy as you would hope. 1977
It's better than the film! 1975
A more accurate cover blurb might be "now sharing a title but very little else with a major film". Gary Bradner's rubbish novel gets a new lease of life. 1980
Throwing as many ideas as they could out there in the hope that one would stick. Valour proved just as unpopular as The Savage Sword of Conan weekly had five years before, while Marvel Team-Up was another superhero free-for-all. Star Heroes was revamped as a pocket book later; Future Tense had some success as a 2000AD copycat. Forces in Combat tried to appeal to the war comic crowd (although the genre's popularity was by now on the decline) and Savage Action was a beefier monthly.
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