2000 AD - February 1985.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon .  *** T hings 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 single shot they took would be in perfect focus, thanks to Minolta's release of the Maxxum 7000, the world's first autofocus single-lens reflex camera. This was not just good news for them but was, no doubt, a godsend for Peter Parker.  Meanwhile, our cinemas were being treated to the release of The Breakfast Club , that tale of young people doing something or other. I must confess that, despite its fame, I've never seen it. I also get it mixed up with St Elmo's Fire , another film I've never seen. Over on the UK singles chart, it was good news for ABBA. Or at least for two of them, as I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson spent the whole month at Number One. That song was, of course, written by Bjorn and Benny from the aforementioned Swedish supergroup, for the phenomenon that was the musical Chess . Things were, however, far more volatile on the British album chart, with each week in February seeing a different LP snatch the top spot. The first of them was Foreigner's Agent Provocateur . The second  was Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA . The third was The Smiths' Meat Is Murder and the fourth was Phil Collins' No Jacket Required . To be honest, the Springsteen LP is the only one I'd have any vague interest in hearing. But that brings us to whatever it was the galaxy's greatest comic was up to. It was mostly up to familiar things, delivering the latest installments of  Rogue Trooper , Judge Dredd , Nemesis the Warlock , Tharg's Future-Shocks , The Hell Trekkers and  The Stainless Steel Rat - although the last of those strips quickly departed to make way for a returning Ballad of Halo Jones .