1995: STARBURST MAGAZINE CELEBRATES 200 ISSUES (VISUAL IMAGINATION)

From April 1995: the late Leonard Nimoy graces the cover of STARBURST issue 200, published by Visual Imagination.

1981: STARBURST ANNUAL (Marvel UK)

From 1981: the first hardback STARBURST ANNUAL, published by Marvel/ Grandreams.

Unliked the second (and final) edition, this didn't riff on a single theme (the second book focused on classic monster movies just as the Great British Public, and press, were becoming obsessed with slasher movies and video nasties) but instead took a broader approach more typical of an average issue of the magazine itself. 

Some of the features were traditional, easy-to-assemble, mainstream crowd pleasers like photo features on "robots". The sort of lazy page filling that just wouldn't pass muster today.

The main cover image is from BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY, released in UK cinemas some two years earlier. The designer obviously thought that the spot was spectacular yet ambiguous enough (the two Hollywood stuntmen are kitted out as Draconian pilots having a bad day when their fighters start exploding as they launch) to make the grade. 

1979: THE BLACK HOLE PRODUCTION ART

From the pages of STARBURST magazine: Disney production art from THE BLACK HOLE.

1981: CINEMA MAGAZINE PART 1: WINTER SPECIAL (Marvel UK)

From late 1981: MARVEL UK's CINEMA WINTER SPECIAL.  

The Annex of Ideas launched this companion to STARBURST in the hopes that they could replicate the success of their SF magazine by porting across the formula to a film title with broader scope.  The editor was, once again, Alan McKenzie.

The strategy was sensible enough and also strengthened Marvel's magazine business but, in typical M-UK style, the production resources available didn't match the resources required and McKenzie soon found himself overstretched.  

As far as I can tell, this Winter Special predated the shortlived regular run.  Although it seems, judging by the text inside, that the decision had already been made to make this an ongoing series.  

The monthly incarnation didn't last a year and shuttered suddenly after the ninth issue.  The multi-part Spielberg retrospective which started in what became the final issue was wrapped-up in the pages of Starburst.  

Over the next few posts (inter-spaced with all the other usual STARLOGGED random goodies) I'll be recounting "the history of cinema".  It's not as ambitious as it sounds. 

1979: STARBURST Issue 10 (Marvel UK)

From June 1979: Tom baker (him again) adorns the cover of the tenth issue of MARVEL UK's STARBURST magazine.

1979: STARBURST Issue 9 (Marvel UK)

From May 1979: The 9th issue of MARVEL UK's STARBURST Magazine. 

1979: STARBURST MAGAZINE Issue 8 (Marvel UK)

From April (not March) 1979: the eighth issue of MARVEL UK's STARBURST.

It's funny to see THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK referred to as "Star Wars 2", although many of SB's contemporaries did likewise until Lucas revised the saga's number scheme.  

The dates seem to skip a month (issue 7 was dated February) because of the distribution problems that plagued the British Bullpen during January and February 1979.  Publication had to be suspended (just as the much-hyped Marvel Revolution was kicking off) throughout February to avoid copies of the weeklies and monthlies piling up at the printers and distribution centres.  

1979: STARBURST MAGAZINE Issue 7 (Marvel UK)

From February 1979: By Your Command: the seventh issue of MARVEL UK's STARBURST magazine and the first to feature a Battlestar cover… just ahead of the UK theatrical release of the pilot-cum-movie.

1979: STARBURST Issue 6 (Marvel UK)

From January 1979: STARBURST MAGAZINE issue 6... not the last time that BLAKE'S SEVEN would grace the cover of a MARVEL UK magazine... and more SUPERMAN too.  

MESSAGE FROM SPACE was, incidentally, a bonkers Japanese entry into the Star Age that put their, ahem, unique spin on the post-STAR WARS space combat genre.  The Toei release starred Vic Morrow (later to meet a grisly end on the set of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE) amongst a cast of Japanese actors (which certainly makes for a pleasing change to see deep space populated by someone other than Westerners) and obligatory robots and aliens.  

The plot is hard to decipher and it's understanding why critics sniffed and audiences stayed away.  But it is available on R1 DVD and, although I can't recommend it, I do recommend you check it out...

1978: STARBURST Issue 5 (Marvel UK)

From December 1978: Can it be... Superman on the cover of a Marvel mag?

Yup.  And not for the last time either.  The late Christopher Reeve graces the cover of MARVEL UK's STARBURST issue 5. 

1981: STARBURST MAGAZINE BACK ISSUES ADVERT (Marvel UK/ Dangerous Visions)

From 1981: Ever wondered what appeared in the early years of STARBURST MAGAZINE?  This advert for back issues (sold by the inappropriately-logo'd Dangerous Visions... latterly The Perfect Mailing Company), which appeared across the MARVEL UK line, should help you find out.

I wonder whatever happened to DV/ PMC?  I believe they also operated the British branch of the STAR WARS FAN CLUB under license (I seem to recall the Maldon, Essex mailing address was the same).  Whatever happened to their warehouse stock of Star Age goodies? 

1978: STARBURST Issue 2

From March 1978: STARBURST issue 2.

Continuing the SPACE CRUISER theme from yesterday (scroll back a couple of posts...), here's the same artwork re-purposed for the cover of the not-yet-a-Marvel-mag second issue of Britain's answer to STARLOG.  

You can find this month's issue (yep, after a hiatus, it's still going) in WH SMITH right now... although, some branches seem to insist on putting it behind the till (London's Oxford Street branch are particularly dopey on this front... they put the behind-the-counter shelves at floor height to further reduce the chances of anyone seeing them) on the spurious grounds of "people nick them".  I'm not sure why the chain has concluded some mags are infinitely more nickable than others but I don't work in loss prevention... or store design. 

1978: DARK THEY WERE AND GOLDEN EYED Shop Advert

From May 1978: an advert (from STARBURST) for DARK THEY WERE AND GOLDEN EYED, one of London's first specialist comics and science fiction stores.  

Named after a Ray Bradbury short story, the store traded throughout the 1970s and eventually closed in 1981. They initially traded from number 10 Berwick Street and then relocated to nearby St. Anne's Court. 

Comicdom returned to the court (a pedestrian footpath between two Soho streets) during the market boom when Top 10 Soho (owned by Jonathan Ross and Paul Gambaccini) opened between 1989 and 1995. 

1980: STARBURST MAGAZINE Issue 26 (MARVEL UK)

From 1980: Another random scan... this time issue 26 of MARVEL UK's STARBURST MAGAZINE.  

Starburst went through a frustrating phase of not dating issues anywhere obvious (possibly to accommodate any hiccups in the publishing schedule) so i can't be more specific than the year.  

The DOCTOR STRANGE TV Movie, starring Peter Hooten and SLEDGE HAMMER's Anne-Marie Martin (albeit billed as Eddie Benton), had aired on CBS in September 1978 (part of their brief flirtation with all things tights-and-capes) so the British Bullpen were a little behind-the-times.  This may have coincided with the British broadcast.. although I don't ever remember seeing it on British TV.  

The movie doubled (of course) as a pilot for a perspective TV show but, probably thanks to the abundance of similar product already on the schedules (CBS was already the home to WONDER WOMAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, SPIDER-MAN and the two CAPTAIN AMERICA tele-flicks), never progressed beyond this first outing.  

Director Philip DeGuere (latterly to also take credit for THE TWILIGHT ZONE and WHIZ KIDS (see here) amongst others) was, despite his best efforts, never going to be able to match the sheer outrageous spectacle of the Dikto comic books but, nevertheless, this is a watchable effort. 

There was a UK VHS, for the rental market, back in the Eighties but this has otherwise remained pretty much buried ever since.  Along with the SPIDER-MAN TV show and NIGHT MAN (the pseudo Marvel show airbrushed from the corporate history), it's one of the few Marvel screen outings that hasn't been allowed to resurface.  

There's also a link to today's JURASSIC PARK post... Anne-Marie Martin was married to novelist/ screen writer/ director Michael Crichton between 1987 and 2003. 

1979: MARVEL UK MONTHLIES House Ad

From 1979: A bevy of MARVEL UK monthlies, proudly plugged in this full-page House Ad. 

1979: MARVEL UK MONTHLIES HOUSE AD

From May 1979: A MARVEL UK House Ad for three of their blockbuster monthlies...STARBURST, RAMPAGE and THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. 

1979: MARVEL UK STARBURST/ STAR WARS WEEKLY House Ad

 

From January 1979: Four icons of the Star Age... STARBURST MAGAZINE, STAR WARS WEEKLY, BLAKE'S SEVEN and DARTH VADER.  All courtesy of Marvel UK.

What more could any Star Warrior want?  

1980: STARBURST MAGAZINE House Ad (Marvel UK)

From 1980: the frequently-seen MARVEL UK House Ad for STARBURST MAGAZINE... no doubt, the result of hours of painstaking work with a scalpel and and oodles of cow gum. 

1982: ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK POSTER MAGAZINE (Marvel UK)

MARVEL UK indulged in some STARBURST brand extension with this Poster Magazine spin-off for the John Carpenter film ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.  This House Ad appeared in 1982.  

1982: STARBURST/ CINEMA HOUSE AD (Marvel UK)

This is an October 1982 House Ad for MARVEL UK's two regular (although CINEMA proved short-lived) film mags.

Cinema was apparently abandoned because the microscopic Magazines team were overstretched and needed to drop a title.  Cinema, the lowest seller, was selected for the chop.

This was a boom period for Marvel magazines with STARBURST, CINEMA, DOCTOR WHO, BLAKE'S SEVEN and MONSTER MAGAZINE all in print.