Comic Reader Résumé: February, 1985

I kind of went nuts buying comics at the first of the year, so maybe I had gotten some money over the holidays? That must have been spent by February of 1985.

My first major, memorable purchase was Uncanny X-Men #193. I'd never even heard of Thunderbird at that point, but it was easy enough to follow the story of his younger brother assuming the identity of a deceased loved one to take over NORAD and attempt to avenge the death. Picking up from Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, Shadowcat was in effect and Logan was his established badass self. The Hellions weren't that impressive, but this was a great looking, extra length anniversary issue with pathos and scheming enough to impress. I still wasn't a monthly follower, but I sure enjoyed the book each time I took the plunge.



Rocket Raccoon #1 was a pretty random book to chase with. I think I was taken by the Starlinesque cosmic weirdness of it all, and the juxtaposition of funny animals and the grim violence in Mike Mignola's art.



Sectaurs was a pretty awesome toy line, but it presented the same problem for me as the later Thundercats: I couldn't afford it on my end of the poverty line. Masters of the Universe kept costs down through constant recycling of molds and limited, inexpensive articulation. The Sectaurs were vastly superior in sculpt, construction and play value, but I only ever got Prince Dargon. There was apparently a cartoon, but I never saw it, and only one series of figures was produced. Even the comic was above average for licensed fare, as Marvel saw Mark Texeira's potential from the failed DC Power Lords adaptation and one-upped them with writer Bill Mantlo in hopes of producing the next G.I. Joe. Didn't happen, but I bought more than just the first issue, and liked what I got. It was basically the same knights versus demons stuff that was everywhere at the time, but this one emphasized insect-human hybrids who rode big puppet bugs.