Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** I'm not going to make you an offer you can't refuse. But I know a man who is. That man's the Godfather and, this week in 1973, he was feeling mighty proud of himself, as the movie named after him collected the Best Picture Oscar at the 45th Academy Awards. Others who were celebrating, that week, were women. That's because they were admitted into the London Stock Exchange for the first time. I can't help suspecting women had been allowed in before, in order to clean the ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Holy smokes! The internet's greatest feature has somehow managed to hit its senses-shattering 50th-anniversary issue! It seems like mere weeks since I launched it into space and those dread cosmic rays transformed it into the most hyper-powered feature on the internet! Truly this is the Steve Does Comics Age of letting the people speak. And speak you must. For, that's the only way in which the discussion can begin. By you - or s ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** We all know there's no technology more state-of-the-art and of-the-now than a 3D printer. Except it turns out there is because that particular device was invented a whopping 40 years ago this month, by someone called Chuck Hull, a man who sounds like the offshoot of a nightmare union between Chuck Norris and Rod Hull. But that wasn't the only technology of the future to hit us that month because it was also then that the compact disc first went on sale in the UK. Truly, we wer ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** We all know there's only one album to play if you want to watch the first half of Wizard of Oz with the sound turned down. And that album is Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. Sadly, for many decades, that wasn't possible, as the album didn't yet exist. However, this week in 1973, Judy Garland fans' suffering was finally brought to an end and that seminal album was released in the UK. The Dark Side of the Moon may have been highly soothing but rather more raucous fare ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Speak Your Brain. Can nothing stop it? Not a single thing. Such is the scale of its vastness. But what is its vastness to encapsulate, this time? That, I cannot know. Nor can any man - nor woman - until it happens. It could encapsulate arts, carts, cards, cars, marts, Mars, bars, darts, smarts, parts, films, flans, plans, books, bagels, cooks, nooks, crooks, ducks, drakes, pixies, rocks, socks, blocks, music, mucous, fai ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Things suddenly turned a whole lot friendlier on the Iberian Peninsula in February of 1985, thanks to the reopening of the border between Gibraltar and Spain which had been closed in 1969 by Franco. In fairness, it seems surprising, given his track record, that it took the general so long to get around to closing it in the first place. No doubt, there were plenty of people on hand to photograph the historic event and they could do so secure in the knowledge that every sing ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Come hither. Let us discover what some of Marvel's less high-profile comics were doing whilst bearing this month in 1983 as their cover date. It's issue #1 of a comic that will never produce a second issue, as Marvel gives us another chance to read Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner's classic tale of the clash between Dr Strange and the Silver Dagger. All of it packed into 76 pages and wrapped in what is, arguably, not Bernie Wrightson's greatest cover. For his second iss ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** Snow! Snow! Wherever I look, there's nothing but snow! Which is kind of worrying, as I'm looking at my living room. There's only one thing I can do. And that's to take refuge in the past, that magical land where the sun always shone and there was always something in a brand-new comic to make us feel warm inside. What's this? Captain America? Fighting Steve Rogers? In a restaurant? In front of his/their girlfriend? How can such a thing be possible? Because one of them's ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** There was no change at the summit of the UK singles chart, this week in 1973, with Slade's Cum On Feel the Noize still ruling the roost. And there was an equal lack of change on the album chart, as Elton John's Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player continued to reign supreme. Cum On Feel the Noize is, of course, a rip-roaring classic but these are the other tracks I approved of on that week's chart: Cindy Incidentally - the Faces Blockbuster - the Sweet W ..read more

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.  *** It's time for us to face up to the most important question of them all. If you walked into a cinema in March 1973, which of the following films would you opt to see? Godzilla vs Megalon, Lost Horizon, Godspell, The Vault of Horror or The Long Goodbye?  That's the choice of new releases you were faced with, that month. Personally, I'd go for The Vault of Horror because it has the word "Horror" in its title and Tom Baker's in it. And, as we all know, it's im ..read more