Machine Man first appeared in the 1977 series 2001, a Space Odyssey before getting his own short-lived series in 1978 that lasted for 19 issues until it was canceled. It would be resurrected for volume 2 in the 80’s and Volume 3 in the 90’s. He’s the last surviving android unit of a military experiment, and predictably, the military is out to terminate him. He’s able to produce Inspector Gadget type augmentations to his physical body, but you know, in a serious manner. In this first issue he bugs out in a traffic jam and produces a skateboard in two halves from his feet that lock together, allowing him to escape.

I added a second skateboard contest program to the gallereis, the Hang Ten World Pro/Am Skateboard Championships. Still in the hamper, some 80’s goodness, Chicago Blowout (1986), Seltzer Seltzer V.P. Cup (1987, St Louis), Bluegrass Aggression Session (Louisville, 1988), and the NSA National Amateur Series (1988.)

So far this is only the second appearance of Woody Woodpecker on Skate and Annoy, but it’s a big one. It started how these things usually start, an innocent glance at an auction item or an old forgotten file saved on a hard drive. Instead of just a puzzle, this time we’ve got PVC figures, plastic fast food toys, alarm clocks, animation cells, skateboards, and a comic book.

Laugh Comics Volume 2, #6 was published in 1988. There’s no skateeboaridn on the cover, unless you count the teaser: “The mighty Archie Art Players star in the suspense thriller ‘Skateboard Scandal’.” And what is that scandal? Someone is sabotaging all the skateboards in Britain in a James Bond parody starring Archie as James Bland and Betty as Miss Henny Penny. Veronica is the Bond-girl (Bland Girl) Lord Cedric’s daughter Pamela. There’s also an ad for Archie posters (he’s on a skateboard in one of them) and an Olympic Sales Club ad where you can earn a Variflex skateboard.

I just added two Chicago based zines to the 80’s zine gallery, which I may have to rename because after scanning it I realized that Brian Sluggo’s 312 zine might actual be from 1990. The other is Chi-Town Shred #7, which marks the 4th issue of Chi-Town Shred that I’ve uploaded so far, with a couple more to come later.

I bought this comic when it originally came out in 1987, but I have no recollection of where I found it. I wasn’t frequenting comic book shops at the time, so it’s a bit of a mystery to me. Skate Slate #1 has a glossy color cover and 32 pages of black and white illustrations inside. There are 3 main stories and a couple random pages that include character profiles, and ad for a Slate Skate t-shirt, and a call to submit your artwork. It was part of (well the entirety of) the Hot Shot Comix imprint out of Lexington, KY. It appears to be the only title or issue ever produced.

I added adverts from Skate Action Magazine to the Vintage Skatemag Advert Gallery. Skate Action was a UK based magazine that first came out in late 1988 and ran for a couple years. In issue #13 the title on the cover was changed to “SK8 Action,” but the inside pages still said “Skate Action.” I have issue #1, #5 and #14 in my collection, thanks to Steve from Jersey (UK). My copy of #1 is missing the cover spread and another 4 page spread. These 3 issues all have 56 pages. The contents are mostly color but there is a substantial amount go black and white pages in there. It’s heavily focused on the UK scene. The issues I have a heavy Deathbox presence, the Deathbox that later morphed into Flip, not Tod Swank’s early 2000’s company. This brings the grand total of adverts in the gallery to over 1300!

I added Bodyslam #5 (1987) and the May/June 1988 issue of Focus to the 80’s Skate Zine Gallery. Bodyslam was published by our friend Mark Conahan. You can actually buy a perfect bound compendium of the original 5 Bodyslam issues. I’ve got one, so should you. These two zines offer completely different approaches. Bodyslam is photocopied pure personal expression, while Focus is printed and aspires to be a “real” magazine. There are 63 zines in the gallery now. I was panicking earlier this year because I thought I had lost my box of zines, but I just found them. These are from the collection of Will Heesp.

I added advertisements from the first two issues of Homeboy Magazine, (AKA Club Homeboy). Homeboy was first published towards the end of 1987 and lasted a grand total of 7 issues before morphing into Dirt magazine. It was oversized and had a glossy cover with mostly color newsprint inside. The photography and layout of the mag was pretty good right out of the gate, but it had one major flaw in the eyes of most skateboarders, it covered BMX as well as skateboarding. I only added the 32 skateboard related (or non-BMX) adverts in these two issues. Skateboarding graced the covers but the advertising skewed heavily towards BMX by about 4-1. Spike Jonze was on the editorial staff, as was Andy Jenkins and Mark “Lew” Lewman. A pretty decent magazine with a good vibe, but so much BMX… Check out Homeboy magazine ads in the Vintage Skate Mag ad gallery.

Jughead volume 2, number 37 was published in September of 1992. It features two stories with skateboarding in them, Love Connection, and the Things We Do For Love. There’s also a Sales Leadership Club advert in which you can earn a Nash Beach Bum skateboard.