STARBURST

   UK monthly nonfiction magazine about sf, fantasy and horror in the media (primarily films and tv). Small- BEDSHEET slick format. Founded Jan 1978, first published by Starburst Magazines, London, ed Dez Skinn, but soon taken over by MARVEL COMICS and ed Alan Mackenzie until \#77 (Jan 1985), then by Roger P. Birchall to \#79 and Cefn Ridout to \#87. With \#88 (Dec 1985) the magazine left Marvel and was taken over by Visual Imagination,with Stephen Payne the new ed.What must have been designed as little more than a fan magazine for kids became rather good, especially under Mackenzie's editorship, and it was for some time in the UK the only(fairly) reliable source for developments in fantastic films and tv. What probably saved S, in contrast to its US equivalent STARLOG, is that it never gave the impression of being in hock to the film studios. S had a collection of eccentric but well informed critics, some slavishly devoted to SPLATTER MOVIES; among the regular contributors were John BROSNAN, Tony Crawley and Alan Jones, and sf writers like Robert P. HOLDSTOCK, DavidLANGFORD and Ian WATSON made occasional appearances. During the year following the change of ownership from Marvel the magazine became blander and more juvenile. The magazine had reached \#167 in 1992.

   PN