Cover Of The Day

[MacNimon]

Mick McMahon may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I like this 2000AD effort from 1980

[Andrew Curnow]

He seemed to get... well, let's say more 'stylised' as the years went on. That cover (which I remember fondly, as I was well into 2000AD at that time) is darned good, but some of his work in things like Block Mania (and DWM's Junkyard Demon) was very much a 'love it or hate it' sort of output. To be fair, he clearly wasn't trying to make it look 'realistic' so it was a definite 'artistic decision' as opposed to being a bad artist.

Perhaps he should have been called Marmite McMahon!

[MacNimon]

Star Waaugh...

[MacNimon]

Today we have the 100th issue of the new Eagle, from 1984...

[Andrew Curnow]

I've got that one upstairs! I can't remember much about 'The Brothers' but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a comic strip adaptation of that old seventies series about the lorry business...

[MacNimon]

Doctor Who wasn't the only BBC series to get it's own magazine from Marvel...

[Stuart Wallis]

Now it's my turn to wonder whether I had this one at some point!

[Dirk Gently]

I remember reading my friend Mark's copy back in the day. But the only other magazine I got other than DWM was the Red Dwarf Smegazine. I might still have some of them in the loft.

[MacNimon]

A Patrick McGoohan themed cover today with TV Tornado #48 from December 1967. It certainly looks like McGoohan and the cover blurb states Number 6 -The Prisoner, but he's dressed like John Drake from Danger Man...

[Stuart Wallis]

A bit like the Salamander pictures they used for reference for the 3 Doctors novelisation cover - "Doesn't Number 6 look a bit too Welsh?"

[MacNimon]

Who remembers this Saturday morning series from back in the 70s?

The interior art was an early effort by John Byrne, who would of course go on to become one of the biggest names in the comics industry...

[Stuart Wallis]

Wouldn't surprise me if he drew the cover as well. I vaguely remember the series now you come to mention it...

[Dirk Gently]

Remember it! Stuart's memories were the inspiration.

[MacNimon]

EC are a 1950s company fondly remembered for their range of horror and sci-fi comics such as Tales From The Crypt, but they also had a wide range of comics covering just about every genre you can think of. I don't think we've had a cover in this thread yet which covers the subject of...

[Stuart Wallis]

Remember it! Stuart's memories were the inspiration.

As far as I can remember... Ah yes, Mr. and Mrs. Diplodocus from number 52...

Piracy Comic - don't let Mr. McCow see this one!

[MacNimon]

Scream! #11 from 1984 today, with a Brendan McCarthy Tales From The Grave cover (A Fatal Extraction). Not one for the dentists waiting room...

[Stuart Wallis]

Now you're giving me ideas...

[Alex]

Ah, I loved Scream so much, it's such a shame that it had a very short lived run...

[MacNimon]

A classic X-Men cover from 1976 by Dave Cockrum featuring Jean Grey's resurrection as Phoenix...

[MacNimon]

Sticking with Marvel today, we have a great Jim Steranko cover from 1968 featuring the character he was most associated with...

[MacNimon]

Another Eagle today...this time it's the final issue of its original run. Dated April 26, 1969, Eagle was finally cancelled (and merged with Lion the following week) after the 17th issue of it's 20th Volume...a total of 991 issues since 1950. An impressive run for a British weekly.

Although the comic's heyday was in the 1950s, Eagle continued to be published through the 1960s, under a succession of editors (founder Marcus Morris was succeeded by his deputy, Clifford Makins). Regular changes in emphasis, including an increasing number of features on contemporary music and sport, were not enough to ensure the comic's continued survival. Although in 1961 its circulation was still about 500,000, under IPC, then Eagle's owners, the comic suffered a drastic fall in quality. The centre spreads were replaced with the historically inaccurate Last of The Saxon Kings, and letters of complaint poured in to the comic. Within months the comic's circulation fell to 150,000, and continued to drop. By 1966 it was in decline. IPC continued production until the comic's last issue, on 26 April 1969. Nine issues short of its 1,000th edition, the comic was merged with its rival, IPC's Lion.

Even production on Dan Dare had ceased by this time, and what appeared for the last couple of years were reprints. While Frank Hampson had drawn the strip throughout the 1950s, he was followed initially by Frank Bellamy and a succession of other artists, none of whom proved as popular as Hampson. Following Hampson's departure, the emphasis on Dan Dare's exploration of the Solar System had changed to include interstellar travel. Continuity became strained, and production on Dan Dare ceased in 1967.

[Rob McCow]

9 issues away from the big 1,000! Though like most heroes, Dan Dare had his time. He couldn't have survived into the 70's - though an 80's Top Gun style Dan Dare might have been interesting.

[Andrew Curnow]

There was a Dan Dare strip in 2000AD in the late-70s, but to be fair other than the name & the eyebrows there wasn't much of a link to the original. Then there was of course the revived Dan in the 80s...

[MacNimon]

A pre-Cheeky Weekly Cheeky cover today from Krazy, February 1977...

Those jokes are awful, aren't they?! They still managed to raise a smile here, though...

[Stuart Wallis]

We're easily pleased, that's why!