By Steve Moore (w); Dave Gibbons (a); Andy Yanchus (c) & Jim Salicrup (e)
I remember seeing Doctor Who comics on the spinner racks in corner stores as a toddler and they looked powerfully lame. Look at this boring cover with its limited color palette. How could a frumpy white guy with an afro and a scarf compete with the likes of Teen Titans or X-Men?
He couldn't.
But growing up means growing wise and sophisticated. Little did the stupid toddler with a mullet that I once was realize that some of the best stories Marvel Comics ever published were hidden behind these drab covers.
By the mid-80's Doctor Who had invaded American shores after 20 years as a British television staple. Marvel's UK division had produced a weekly, then monthly magazine dedicated to the Time Lord since 1980 and this mid-80s series reprints the best comics from the British magazine. This particular story involving Prometheus taking Doctor Who to the planet Olympus to meet the gods was originally published (in glorious black and white) in early 1981.
There was a surprising amount of writing and artistic talent floating around the U.K. working in relative obscurity at the time, many of whom would bust out in the much larger overseas market: Pat Mills and John Wagner, Jamie Delano, Steve Dillon, John Bolton, Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore, Alan Davis, Paul Neary, David Lloyd, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan and on and on. One guy who never got his due across the pond was writer Steve Moore.
Today, he's probably best remembered as "Alan Moore's buddy (no relation)" but his writing skills have gone grossly under-appreciated. His stories weren't loud, rude or flashy but resembled great myths: labyrinthine moralistic tales in the long-standing tradition of John Bunyan. He's gone now and his original comics (his Father Shandor series in the legendary British magazine Warrior is one of my favorite comics ever) are incredibly difficult to come by but if you can track them down, rush to do so. This Doctor Who reprint series from the 80's is a good place to start as I'm sure you won't have trouble finding them in the back issue bins of your better comics retailer for dirt cheap.
This particular issue also contains a reprint of an earlier Moore-Dillon tale.
***
MUSIC SUCKS! DESTRUCTION 'Infernal Overkill'
I'm no walking encyclopedia metallum but this is one of the best metal albums I've ever heard. It's got a little bit of everything you want in a mid-80's metal album: speed and thrash and a little darker something extra. But don't call them a black metal band, they don't like it. They were a good halfway point between Slayer and Celtic Frost, meaning they had speed at their disposal, but their ideas were a bit more varied and interesting. They could shred with the best of them and they favored a dark, heavy tone. They were one of the most complete bands of the era. The German trio continues to this day with two (of three) original members still in the fold (Mike on guitar and Schmier on bass). I highly recommend this album to any and all metal fans, but especially to those interested in the darker end of metal's early days.
***
MOVIES SUCK! THE STUFF
Directed by Larry Cohen
Cast - Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci & Paul Sorvino
I only just found out about this movie in the last couple years on some "best obscure horror" list on one of those clickbait websites. It's not the best of movies but it has that 80's feel in abundance.
The Stuff is like a dry run for the much more popular The Blob, which would follow shortly. Ironically, The Stuff is the better of the two, it gives you all the dangerous goo and melting people you could possibly want with better writing and a superior cast. Just looking at the cast listed above it's hard to get a sense of what kind of movie it will be with that mish-mash, but for your information it has a fairly light tone considering some of the horrific dissolving and child endangerment scenes.
If you had to elevator pitch the film to your movie night galpals you might say it's like The Blob meets They Live and not be far off the mark. The Stuff is recommended for a "fun scares" kind of night, it will probably make your most squeamish friend cringe and cover her eyes while you down another handful of popcorn and grin with sick pleasure.
By Mike Baron (w); Steve Rude (a); Les Dorscheid (c); Mary Pulliam & Rick Taylor (l) & Richard Bruning & Rick Oliver (e)
Mike Baron. Steve Rude. Nexus the intergalactic assassin and Badger the schizophrenic superhero. How, when and where does it get any better than this?
In 1984 Capital Comics, the original publishing home of Nexus and The Badger, retired its printing press, stranding both titles on the side of the proverbial road. But for the first time,
if there were ever a fortunate time for newer, independent creators with great ideas to look for a publisher, it was the mid-80's. Indy comics hadn't really been a thing before. There were numerous Comics Code Authority circumventing black & white comics magazines cropping up in the 1970's (Skywald, Heavy Metal to go along with the pre-existing Warren), but aside from former Marvel production manager Sol Brodsky's ill-fated Atlas / Seaboard, there wasn't much in the way of independent publishers of costumed adventure heroes until indie distributor Pacific Comics began publishing new material in 1981 and graphic novel specialty publisher Eclipse Comics joined the fray. First Comics was the third indie publisher to survive for more than a few months on comics specialty shop shelves, but with titles like American Flagg, Dreadstar, Jon Sable, Grimjack and the newly acquired Nexus and Badger, they may have been the best ever.
The Badger shakes hands with Nexus as Judah Maccabee
looks on.
But the newly acquired properties got off to a bit of an awkward start. This was the first issue of Nexus to be published in a little over a year. Issue #6, the final one to be published by Capital was cover dated March 1984, though I'm sure buzz was high among those in the know about writer Mike Baron and artist Steve ("The Dude") Rude's Nexus joining a growing publisher, I'm equally sure that the momentum gained by universal critical acclaim was somewhat stifled in the meantime. The most awkward part of the transition between publishers was that this issue, #7 was the middle part of a three-part story teaming Baron's two signature characters, unlikely as the meeting would seem. Here's how they overcame those potential obstacles:
The issue starts with a four-page recap before diving into the adventure. The recap isn't something we see anymore, if we do see it in comics, it's usually rendered as text-only synopsis of previous issues on the inside front cover or title page. As somebody who only just caught the tail end of Marvel's heyday of creativity growing up, I loved the recap pages. It gave one an instant sense of familiarity with the world and the way things are supposed to look, it also gave the reader little bits of trivia and teased old villains and allies who you might have missed and who you might looking forward to reading about in future issues. Something was lost in the comics fan's experience when creators moved away from recap pages ... (LK Ultra steps down from soapbox, bracing himself with weary hand on creaking knee.)
Anyway, as the story unfolds, Nexus and his ally Judah Maccabee have found themselves trapped on a bowl-shaped world with an annoying presence who keeps calling everybody "Larry" (and if you don't know what that means you really need to get some Badger in your brain). They are met by a telepathic, flying manta ray and a robot arms dealer with the personality of a used car-salesman.
It's explained to the trio along the way that to escape this strange planet, they need to cross three thresholds. It turns out each of the three heroes is uniquely suited to handle one of the three ordeals they must face. During the course of the story one page explains that it takes the trio 65 days to reach the threshold of the first barrier. "Their adventures would fill a book". The story has a classic Fairy Tale feel to it. Baron's writing is clear and direct and the themes are intrinsic to the characters, which is the way serial stories should be told. The issue is well structured, too. Immediately before we are told of the 65 day journey, the story cuts to the b-plot involving a Tor Johnson look-alike zombie awakening on Nexus's homeworld of Ylum (pronounced "eye-lum"). The main story isn't interrupted again for the rest of the issue, the b-plot finishes off the last four pages of the issue, leaving us with a cliffhanger.
It's refreshing to read logically structured stories. Today's distracted writer will ping-pong endlessly between multiple plots and subplots so that a 22-page story will have 12 different scenes, none of which are back to back from the main plot. I know, because I'm often guilty of this same kind of ADD-afflicted storytelling in my own scripts.
Nexus continues to this day, having recently been revived in the pages of Dark Horse Presents (Dark Horse Comics). The now classic character is still handled by the original storytellers, in fact Baron and The Dude are hard at work cooking up a new Nexus yarn even as I write this. To date there have been 102 issues released by four different publishers (the three listed above as well as Rude Dude Productions). Steve Rude remains one of the best artists in the long and beautiful history of comics art. Like many of the most brilliant comics artists (Jim Steranko, Paul Smith, Frank Brunner, Gray Morrow, Mike Ploog and Steve Lightle for starters), he doesn't have a prolific portfolio of comics work. He's primarily known as the Nexus artist, but he's done various one-off issues and mini-series for Marvel and DC Comics. Never enough for this greedy fan!
Baron is one of my favorite comics writers, though I discovered him late. When I was 10 years old or so I had an issue of Previews Magazine that I think Nexus was on the cover or maybe it was an inside advert, either way the image resonated with me. It was probably 15 years later that I actually checked Nexus out, but it was always there in the back of my mind to do so. When I did, I found out about The Badger as well, whom I actually remembered seeing on shelves but 10-year old me thought the character looked like a lame knock-off of Wolverine. Obviously, I was too young to appreciate satire. But, when I was in my pre-teens, one of the most popular characters in all of comics was The Punisher. I didn't like him because he wasn't colorful enough, his villains weren't "super" and I preferred characters who shot ray beams from their eyes rather than guns, but everybody else I knew or ever met later in life who had even a passing interest in comics during the early 90's loved the character. It turns out Mike Baron was the guy writing the bulk of those Punisher stories, and he's the one responsible for injecting biting humor into the mix, long before Garth Ennis. Baron also had long-remembered runs on The Flash and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron which will be the subject of a future Comics Suck! coming soon ...
WHAT ELSE WERE THE KIDS UP TO BACK THEN?
So, if the hepcats of the mid-80's were all about Nexus and The Dude, then what were they listening to? Only the greatest thrash metal album of the year ...
EXODUS-BONDED BY BLOOD
Most VH1 documentaries you'll watch on the subject of heavy metal cite 1986 as thee great year for metal's early days, but they're wrong. It's was a great year for music, but 1985 has it topped. Exodus isn't completely forgotten, but they're not one of the "big four" so they're not exactly well-remembered either. Their first three critically-acclaimed albums, 'Bonded by Blood' being the first, are classics of the subgenre and eventually landed them on a major label. In 1985 they were one of the pioneers of the bay area thrash metal scene, along with Testament and Metallica. Matter of fact, Metallica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett was a founding member of Exodus. Geoff Andrews, an early member left to form pioneering death metal band Possessed. Hammett's guitar tech Gary Holt eventually joined the fledgling outfit and he's been the linchpin of the band ever since.
The release of the album met with repeated delays after it was recorded in the summer of '84. It's been surmised that had the album been released immediately after it was recorded, it might be considered the equal of Metallica's 'Killl 'em All' in terms of impact and influence. But regardless of the album's potential legacy it stands as a terrific album and an excellent example of the subgenre. The title track and "A Lesson in Violence" approach the brutality of early Slayer and rival any contemporary recordings by the big four in terms of sheer excellence and there isn't a significant drop-off in quality on the rest of the album.
'Bonded by Blood' stands as one of the best, most consistent albums of the 1980's. Also out in April of '85 was Manilla Road's 'Open the Gates' and 'Feel the Fire', the debut album from New Jersey thrash legends, Overkill.
But the middle 80's wasn't just a boom time for heavy metal, it was also a watershed moment for horror films. By April '85, quality horror was being produced all across the world. Re-Animator is one of thee great horror films of the decade and is arguably the strongest of 1985, but Death Warmed Over (or alternately Death Warmed Up) featured the story of a mad scientist re-animating corpses and it was released as much as a year earlier than Re-Animator. But that's about the end of the similarities between the two pictures. Death Warmed Over doesn't feature nearly the same level of unforgettably characterization nor does it share inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, but it shares similar moods with Running Man, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and even Peter Jackson's Braindead. It's a bit all over the place in tone. I ain't saying it's the worst ever, but I can only recommend this film to 80's horror fanatics looking to dig deeper into the decade's proverbial barrel without having to scrape bottom. But that said, it's available for any and all to viddie below.
Death Warmed Over was directed by New Zealand born filmmaker David Blyth and starred Michael Hurst.
SWAMP THING #34 (DC Comics) By guest reviewer Tony Maim
"Rite of Spring"
By Alan Moore (w); Steve Bissette (p); Jon Totleben (i); Tatjana Wood (c (I
would never normally credit a colourist but throughout her run on this series,
her use of palettes really helped to create another level to the artwork, never
more so than on this issue.)); John Costanza (l) & Karen Berger (e)
“Rite Of Spring” was widely know at the
time as “the one where Swamp Thing has sex issue”.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
This is a psychedelic love story between two beings who want to have some sort
of communion between themselves but are fully aware of the difference of their
forms.
Abby Cable’s husband, Matt is in a coma
with no hope of recovery (this is due to being possessed by the spirit of her
insane uncle Anton Arcane.) She finds Swamp Thing deep in the Bayou and
confesses that she wants to move on with her life and reveals her deep feelings
for Swampy. He finally tells her that he has also been in love with her for
years. They kiss and although she likes the taste of lime, Swamp Thing reminds
her that she can never have a physical relationship – him being a muck monster
don’tcha know – Abby replies that she can live without that.
For a reply, Swamp Thing pulls a tuber from
his body and asks Abbey to eat it. As it takes effect, her mind is blown – as
is ours – as we take a trip into the “Green” and share Swamp Thing’s
perceptions of the world around him. Their thoughts start to intermingle,
blurring the lines between separate personalities and feelings. Abbey feels all
life and creation that exist at a base level and also how the interconnection
that Swamp Thing shares with nature is at once beautiful but brutal. At this
point, the prose is flowing like a storm filled river being carried along by
some of the most innovative artwork you are ever likely to see contained in a
comic page.
Abbey slowly comes out of her experience
and the story ends with a kiss. Be careful if you read this – you may never
look at a comic again without feeling that you have seen what can be done
within the printed page but somehow nothing quite measures up to Swamp Thing
34.
WHAT ELSE WERE THE KIDS UP TO BACK THEN?
Thanks Tony!
Well, after having their minds thoroughly blown by the greatest creative team in comics's greatest single issue, it was time for the youth of 1985 to take another heavy trip in the form of this brand-new album:
Arguably a step up from their legendary self-titled debut later known as 'Psalm 9', Chicago doom metal pioneers Trouble's sophomore album 'The Skull' found the band tighter, more confident and with a clearer sense of musical direction. This is the moment where Trouble truly helped to define what Doom Metal would be, more so than their first effort. Though this album is now exactly 30 years old, it's surprisingly NOT dated.
Arguably, Doom as a style of heavy metal is founded on the principle of living in the past. The early slow doom metal bands like Trouble, Pentagram, Candlemass, Witchfinder General and Saint Vitus emulated the mood, atmosphere and riff-based heaviness of Black Sabbath at a time when speed and thrash metal bands were citing the Brummy legends as an influence and some metal bands were moving the entire genre into extreme territory. So it's with some sense of irony that 'The Skull' sounds shockingly fresh today given its inspirational pedigree.
That freshness comes from ignoring popular trends. Riffs, melodies and low bottom heaviness combine for a classic, possibly even timeless sound. The unadorned nature of the music is what keeps it fresh. No moog overlays, or trendy styles of singing / playing, just heavy music that sounded good in any era. It's a formula that can't fail. It wasn't the first doom record, it wasn't even Trouble's first record but this is where the doom sound began to coalesce into something that new fans of the genre might recognize today.
Speaking of which, the band continues to this day, more or less. Actually, no less than two bands directly carry on the legacy from this album. Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin the dual guitarists from this album continue as Trouble with former Exhorder / Alabama Thunderpussy vocalist Kyle Thomas and new drummer Mark Lira. Together they put out the band's ninth album 'The Distortion Field' in 2013. Meanwhile, longtime Trouble vocalist Eric Wagner and drummer Jeff "Oly" Olson joined forces with longtime Trouble bassist Ron Holzner (though he wasn't with the band when they recorded 'The Skull') and newcomer guitarists Matt Goldsborough and Lothar Keller to release their incredible 'For Those Which Are Asleep' album in 2014. The name the band recorded under? The Skull.
Sonic Youth - 'Bad Moon Rising'
Another album released in March '85 was the first of a series of albums that also helped to shape an entire genre of music ... actually when you think about it Sonic Youth's 'Bad Moon Rising' album didn't just help define the burgeoning noise rock hurricane of which, they were the eye, one could also make hay claiming it as the first true grunge album. But perhaps that's a conversation for another time.
So there you go, after having undergone a double dose of "mind-blown" with Swamp Thing and Trouble, it was time for something else. Something quite the opposite of all this high-falutin art. It was time to take in the trash with Friday the 13th Part V. This movie holds a very special place in my heart. It was one of the very first movies I can remember watching with my uncle, along with April Fool's Day and Basket Case. That final scene with the spikes has stuck with me my whole life and while watching this film was the first time I can remember seeing boobs. My life has been one big pathological shame spiral ever since.
Friday the 13th Part IV promised to be the Final Chapter. Don't take my word for it, it's in the title. But less than a year later, the producers of the series were rolling in enough money that they felt it was time for A New Beginning. The story picks up where Final Chapter left off, fast-forwarded a few years into the future. Tommy Jarvis, the boy who killed the unkillable killer at the end of Part IV is older (played by John Shepherd, Corey Feldman played the younger version in the previous film) but traumatized by the events of that night. He is taken to Pineway Halfway House in the back of a padded wagon. He is severely withdrawn, bordering on catatonic and really into his masks, which he makes. As the story develops and thanks to conscientious editing, the audience is left to wonder whether or not he's taken up the mantle of Jason Voorhees, who as we know, died in the last film. From there the storytellers never once let plot get in the way of murder or boobs.
You can tell by some of the larger-than-life characterization and heart-string-plucking back stories of the kids at the halfway house that the filmmakers were going for a Stephen King feel with this one. Obviously, King is a generational talent, uniquely suited to blackly comic horror, but in 1985, how was anybody to know just how special he was or how inimitable? Ultimately, King's recipe produces cheesecake in the wrong hands and those hands were a-bakin' extra-time on this one. Still, Friday the 13th Part 5 is not without it's charms.
I doubt anybody fooled themselves into expecting high art, but when you go into this movie expecting farce, it ends up becoming quite enjoyable in its own right. A steady diet of cheesecake will impact the health but once-in-a-blue-moon samplings can remind us how delicious indulgence can be. Did somebody say robot mime dancing?
Po-faced slasher fanatics avoid this movie, it's every slasher cliche amplified with reverb, but that's just what makes it so delightful. The target audience was youngsters at the drive-in, but many of the young characters seem outdated for 1985 standards, take the two leather-jacket wearing greasers for example. There may be something timeless in the hot rods, leather and blue jeans look but the writing and performances are so rigidly "rebellious" that their mutually insulting dialogue comes across like pointless bickering between adolescents. And there ain't no doubt what's going to happen to them once Greaser #1 goes into the woods to take a dump and Greaser #2 is left holding the monkey-wrench at the broken down car.
"Ooh yeah!"
A New Beginning pandered to what the producers thought audiences wanted and to be fair it was commercially successful, and was better than some of the Nightmare on Elm Street films that were coming out at the same time. For slasher purists, this film is a turd and as terrifying moods go it's a faaaaar cry from the 1980 original that launched the franchise, but for those who can appreciate the funner aspects of the subgenre ... it's okay. It is well-lit and beautifully shot and it's got an ending so ridiculous you will question where horror ends and comedy begins.
This movie was directed by Danny Steinmann, written by Martin Kitrosser and David Cohen and also starred Melanie Kinnaman and young Shavar Ross.
MARVEL TEAM-UP #150 (Marvel Comics)
"Tis Better to Give!"
By Louise Simonson (w); Greg LaRocque (p); Mike Esposito (i); Janice Chiang (l); Bob Sharen (c) & Danny Fingeroth (e)
This is the tear-soaked final issue of what had been a staple at Marvel Comics for well over a decade. The Spider-Man featured team-up book where every month the editors would trot out another slumping or rising hero in an effort to boost sales company-wide. I never understood their appeal as a child, but I could see why Marvel Team-Up and it's The Thing featured companion, Marvel Two-In-One could inspire some of the nostalgia I see today. It being the final issue it feels like Marvel wanted to let the world know what it was potentially missing out on by teaming Spidey with the X-Men. Either that or it was one last ditch attempt at a re-coup. Were the X-Men popular in 1985? I don't know what it was like where you lived but I couldn't find an X-Men comic on shelves during the 80's and early 90's outside of comics specialty shops, they were sold out everywhere.
The story kicks off with Spidey/Peter Parker in another of his endless awkward situations of flirting with girls while trying to maintain his secret identity. The gaiety is eventually interrupted when Juggernaut drops in to town, from a plane, without a parachute, to retrieve a second gem of the Cyttorak (that thing what gives him his power) to give to his buddy Black Tom Cassidy. Black Tom then gains the same powers as Juggernaut (invulnerability, super-strength) but is unhappy with how the power changes him. The two brawl in the streets causing millions of dollars in property damage which was par for the course in 1980's Marvel Manhattan. Spidey's there to snap pictures and get beat on until he points his eyes toward the heavens and shouts "DEUS EX MACHINA!" and the X-Men show up to save the day. Okay, he doesn't actually shout that, but that's basically what happens. The series ends when Petey discovers he's sent the wrong photos to the Daily Bugle, sending the creep stalker pics he took of his attractive young roof-dwelling sunbathing neighbors. But it ends well with approval from his editor Robbie Robertson. If nothing else, it is kind of funny to see a dejected Spidey sulking away in the upper left hand info box on the cover.
This series had some highlights (the short Chris Claremont / John Byrne creative run for one thing), but was mostly for the dogs. Many of the stories simply fell flat, or seemed inconsequential, not the least of which was a Spider-Man team-up with the cast of Saturday Night Live. Mostly, the title was a showcase for emerging artists but was usually the home of the company's least inspired writing. This issue marked the end of an era, however. Marvel Comics has tried repeatedly to revive the team-up format in the ensuing 30 years with little success.
WHAT ELSE WERE THE KIDS UP TO BACK THEN?
After reading their translated copy of Marvel Team-Up #150, the cooler kids among the Italian youth of 1985 probably went out to the local record shop and snagged themselves a copy of this unheralded gem:
BLACK HOLE - LAND OF MYSTERY
It's only thanks to the good people at Shadow Kingdom Records that I am able to accurately cast my mind back to 1985 Italy and know what record the youth of that time would have devoured. This totally obscure album was re-issued by SKR on CD in late 2011, the original, 7-song 'Land of Mystery' album re-packaged with the band's fifth independently issued demo from later in 1985. You can purchase and download it at this location.
The album was recorded in May & June of 1985 but since nobody remembers the actual release date I'm using poetic license in this post about February 1985 and anyway, I couldn't find a better album from that month of that year, so here we are.
This highly atmospheric album is a doom metal classic. Near as anyone can figure, Black Hole was the first band to combine horror film soundtrack moods with heavy metal. The result is a stunning record full of synthesizer organ and heavy guitars. Robert Measles's vocals are sung in English but he has a thick Italian accent, reminding me of early Doomraiser albums.
If the title track "Land of Mystery" doesn't automatically transport you mentally to a dew shrouded graveyard, your ears are broken. Not since Black Sabbath's eponymous debut had record buyers fell into such a dark, heavy abyss. I talk a lot about horror music on this page, or at least I try to, this album is one of the transcendent examples of the form.
After 'Land of Mystery' was released by Bologna Rock Records, the band would split up. Black Hole also released three demos in 1985, but it's hard to tell which came first, this record or the demos because there are no release dates. Anyway, the band would reconvene and record a second full length record in 1988-89 but that album did not surface until Andromeda Relix Records released it on CD as 'Living Mask' in 2000 (it was also issued for the first time on vinyl just last year by Jolly Roger Records). By that time the band was ten years gone and their place in doom metal history as a shadowy relic was firmly entrenched.
But after thoroughly frightening themselves with the final issue of Marvel Team-Up and being only slightly less disturbed by Black Hole's album, I'm sure the coolest among Italian youth needed a break from all the darkness and so decided to go the local movie house to see the new Terry Gilliam film, Brazil.
It's a weird mash-up of re-imagining George Orwell's 1984 with Mad Max set in an office building imagery. A (hilarious) dream of flying turned bureaucratic nightmare, Brazil is one of the most singular visions in movie history, which cemented Gilliam's place in Hollywood as an a-list creative genius, but a z-list commercial failure. Brazil stars Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm. Watch the trailer below:
