Pizzazz #10 (July 1978)

Pizzazz was a magazine put out by Marvel between 1977 and 1979 aimed at teenagers. Focusing on movies, pop/rock stars and TV, the magazine only ran for 16 issues but is a fantastic time capsule of late 70s pop culture. Of course Star Wars would inevitably pop up on occasion and Pizzazz in fact ran two serialized comic strips separate to Marvel's regular Star Wars monthly comic book.

Yep, that's Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees on the cover, taking a stroll around the set of the utterly bizarre and largely derided musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978). This was the 10th Pizzazz which began the second Star Wars story entitled 'The Kingdom of Ice'. Frustratingly, this story was never completed as Pizzazz folded after issue #16. But anyway, here is the beginning of what looks to be a pretty good story...

The rest of the magazine has some great stuff and no teen-magazine is complete without an 'agony aunt' column. These are usually good for a few laughs (especially the really dated ones). These kids writing 30+ years ago don't seem to have any problems that would be out of the ordinary today, but it was one of the less than sensitive 'solutions' offered that really caught my eye. When one kid writes that her sister thinks she's fat, even when she isn't, 'Miss Pizzazz' suggests some reverse psychology; "Try telling her she is fat and should weigh herself." - Yeowch!

As always the ads are worth a look too. I can't say that 'Gee, your hair smells terrific!' has ever got me anything but a restraining order though...