Fifty years ago today - March 1975.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

The Past. No one knows where it resides but everyone knows where to find it.

Right here.

Holy shooting heck, we're about to get the shocking reveal of just who Mantis's dad is!

And he's one of the Avengers' naughtiest foes!

And the Celestial Madonna Saga still isn't over!

Red Sonja's back but there's no sign of her on the front cover.

That's because she isn't in the main tale. Instead, she has an adventure all of her own. One in which she's captured by someone called Vincentius before escaping and giving him the good killing he's asking for.

The issue's main story, however, is called The Rats Dance at Ravengard! and adapted from Gardner F Fox's Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse.

I've definitely read this tale but can't remember anything that happens in it.

The internet, however, informs me that Nomad fights Gamecock, Roscoe dies and Steve Rogers again becomes Captain America.

Seriously? There's a Marvel character called Gamecock?

The Crusher's back!

Wasn't he from Cuba or somewhere?

Or am I thinking of someone else?

Either way, it doesn't matter because this isn't the real Crusher.

Instead, this is a boxer from the gym where Daredevil's dad used to train. One who's somehow managed to acquire the powers of the original Crusher.

Is this the one with the imitation Shalla-Bal being used in some mad plot by Dr Doom to control the Silver Surfer?

And then it turns out she's actually the real Shalla-Bal?

But the Surfer never discovers that?

I must confess I'm struggling to remember exact details about it or of just how it is that Shalla-Bal manages to end up in Latveria.

Thunderbolt Ross manages to get his hands on his own equivalent of the Spider-Slayer.

Needless to say, such a wobbly-looking contraption proves to be no match for the Hulk.

But it does have a satellite dish. So, at least he'll be able to watch Sky News while he's inside it.

I am 100% certain I've never read this book. And I'm 100% certain I don't know what happens in it.

But I do note that it's tagged, "Fury in a Far-Off Land," which does make me wonder just how many Marvel stories have managed to use that tagline over the years?

And is it more or less than the number that have proudly declared, "Lo, There Shall Be an Ending!"?

How can you not love a cover like that?

Though I suppose the fact we all know Mysterio's a master of illusion does somewhat lessen its ability to stun the senses.

Let's face it, if it had been Aunt May who was removing her own head, that'd be a whole other matter.

But, of course, just as this month's Crusher isn't the real Crusher, this month's Mysterio isn't the bona fide deal either. In fact, he's an old friend of the allegedly deceased villain, who's merely adopted his act.

Nope. No idea what happens in this one.

It looks like bad news for Midgard, though.

Thus are Marvel's greatest heroes disposed of.

But what of that company's greatest rival?

For purposes of context, let us visit a random sampling of what DC comics was offering which bore the same cover date.

We're well and truly into the Mike Grell era and encountering a tale in which the Legion of Super-Heroes discover that foul futuristic fiend filled with felonies, fury and fighting finkdom Universo has escaped.

This brings them into contact with a Science Police officer called Dvron.

But will he help them apprehend Universo?

Or will he hinder them?

That's followed by Lightning Lad's Day of Dread in which the tale's titular character honours the first anniversary of his parents' death by visiting the place where they died.

But, there, he encounters his crime-loving brother Lightning Lord...

Do I detect a Nick Cardy tribute to the cover of Flash #123?

I suspect I do.

Inside, from what I can recall, the Superman Revenge Squad are out to kill our hero but he thwarts them by using the services of an actor who plays him in a TV show.

That's followed by a yarn titled Find Black Canary, Dead... or Alive!

From memory, I'm going to assume that's the one in which the heroine's been kidnapped and the Green Arrow has to rescue her.

Everyone knows I love a good horror comic. And I have no doubts at all this'll prove to be such a beast.

Having said that, I recall nothing of the tales in this one.

I do know we kick off with a chiller called Almost Human which is followed by a thriller called The Lottery.

And that's followed by nothing at all because it seems there are only two tales in this issue, rather than the usual three.

I've never read this one but the Grand Comics Database assures me the five spine-tinglers in it are called When You Were Alive!, The Girl in the Grave!, My Dolly Is the Devil!, Send Us Your Dreams and It!

All of them are 1950s reprints and a number of them are the handiwork of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Frank Robbins' stint on the strip continues but the cover's by Joe Kubert.

Within, we find The Night of the Falling Death! in which the hat-wearing hero must thwart a bout of smuggling at Niagara Falls.

But just how are the miscreants doing that smuggling?

And how does it involve a stuntwoman who likes to impress the crowds by going over the falls in a barrel?

And, because we have an insatiable appetite for the character, there's also a two-page history of the Shadow's appearances in various media.

Jim Aparo creates another memorable cover but it's Gerry Talaoc who illustrates the insides.

As far as I can remember, a man determined to revive his dead wife abducts the Phantom Stranger, in order to transfer his life force into that woman.

Needless to say, it all goes wrong for the man, and the Stranger lives to lecture us all another day.

That's followed by a Black Orchid tale called Operation Frame-Up! in which a villain uses a super-computer to plan his crimes.

Until the Orchid's access to X-rays, rubber masks and robots puts a stop to it.

March 1st, 1975 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

In Britain, we might have spent the early 1970s complaining about our comics being in black and white.

But in Australia, they had to put up with their TV shows being in black and white.

But that was all about to end.

Because this was the week in which that fair land's broadcasters finally switched to full colour.

Now, at last, viewers could see just what colour Skippy was.

Thinking about it, I think he was grey.

A bit of a waste of money switching to colour, really.

I am, of course, working on an assumption that Skippy was the only thing being broadcast on Australian TV in the 1970s. Which I'm sure must be true.

When it came to the UK singles chart, that was still being dominated by the stop-start magic of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel's Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).

While the summit of the parallel album chart was now claimed by none other than Status Quo, with their latest platter that mattered On the Level.

Maybe it's just me but I don't recall the Schemer ever managing to be this dynamic in the actual story.

For that matter, I don't remember him having death-gas either.

I do, though, remember him having death-beef with the Kingpin. And, as far as I'm aware, that death-beef continues in this very issue.

Meanwhile, Iron Man's up against the Freak, otherwise known as Happy Hogan. And the musclebound maniac's only gone and abducted Pepper Potts!

Can Tony Stark's Enervator - the device that created the Freak in the first place - possibly be the route to stopping him and curing Happy?

Meanwhile, out on the streets of New York, The Wrecker's succeeded in killing Thor.

And that can only lead to Hela putting in an appearance.

But, somehow, our hero manages to talk his way out of being dead. When my time comes, I'm definitely going to see if that works for me as well.

And there's more good news for the thunder god because, determined to stop the Wrecker, Sif and Balder come up with a great plan.

They'll reactivate the Destroyer.

What could possibly go wrong?

I do believe we get the ceiling-shattering conclusion to the Hulk's first visit to the home world of Jarella, when Psyklop breaks up their happy relationship - only to get on the wrong side of his own dark gods!

I do believe Daredevil's still blind, thanks to the antics of the Cobra and Mr Hyde and is going to have to make them think he's not blind at all, mostly by walking around on a tightrope while not being able to see.

And things are also looking bad for the Fantastic Four in their struggle with the now-cosmically-powered Dr Doom.

Or perhaps they're not.

Because Reed Richards has come up with just the device to stop him.

A robot bat!

What's that it says in that blurb on the left? "Fifty fingers of death!"? That's like the world's worst marketing for the signature product of Findus.

Inside, we find the first part of the only story I've ever read that contains the Sons of the Tiger, as they try to stop Fu Manchu getting up to some naughtiness or other at the United Nations building.

Following that, we encounter a classic Avengers adventure when the gang go back in time - via Dr Doom's time machine - in a bid to find out just what happened in the incident that killed or didn't kill Bucky.

And I think you can guess that means plenty of Zemo, rockets and giant robots.

I think it also means a mention of Marilyn Monroe, even though the story's set in the 1940s.

And, of course, Dr Strange and the Black Knight are in another realm and trying to survive the menace of Tiboro!

The Cowering Blonde of Gil Kane is back.

Inside the book, Dracula's still in A Town Called Death!

Elsewhere, Jack Russell's forced to try and kill a reclusive millionaire, thanks to the schemings of Luthor Kane who's holding Jack's sister hostage.

Next, we encounter a one-page article about the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

And Frankenstein's Monster's still in London, having to overcome the modern-day descendant of the scientist who created him.

Hold on a minute. Despite what it says on the cover, that's not the Lawgiver. The Lawgiver's an orangutan, and that ape's clearly a gorilla.

And, for that matter, those other gorillas have remarkably hairless arms and legs!

Whatever, within this mighty tome, the Lawgiver falls into a deadly river and, somehow, this leads to an encounter with a Davy Crockett style ape called Gunpowder Julius.

Following all that drama, there's a one-page article about Booth Colman who plays the TV version of Dr Zaius.

Then we find a nine-page spotlight on Arthur P Jacobs, principle producer of the Apes films.

As you may have noticed, this means the issue would appear to be devoid of any Tales of the Watcher.

But without his morality tales, how am I supposed to know how to live my life?

Speak Your Brain! Part 97.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Thanks to this being a shorter month than real months are, we're only going to be able to squeeze one Speak Your Brain into it.

Truly, there are times when human suffering knows no limits.

But what will it be about?

And what shall it contain?

That, I don't know because only you The Reader can decide. 

Therefore, hesitate ye not. Whatever it is you're desperate for other people to get off their chests, make sure to mention it in the comments section below.

And let us see just what unrolls before us...

February 1985 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Everybody loves a good old cockney knees-up.

Therefore, the world must have been delighted in February 1985 when the BBC finally launched a chuckle-packed answer to ITV's Coronation Street, with the debut of its South Eastern counterpart Eastenders.

Meanwhile, further north, around 4,000 striking coal miners returned to work, meaning that only just over half the nation's colliers were now still on strike.

Further afield, it was a month which saw the border between Gibraltar and Spain reopen for the first time since General Franco closed it in 1969.

And what of the charts? Just what were we singing while all that was going on?

We were singing I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson because that record spent the whole of February atop the UK singles chart. As we all know so well, that was written by the two blokes from ABBA along with Tim Rice from Andrew Lloyd Webber and was from that trio's musical Chess.

That was clearly a stable chart but the associated album listings were far more volatile, with no fewer than four LPs hitting the top spot in a month which only possessed four weeks. Those LPs were Foreigner's Agent Provocateur, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, The Smiths' Meat is Murder and Phil Collins' No Jacket Required.

It's fantastic news for lovers of space sagas, as the mag with all the latest sci-fi goss takes a look at the brand new movie Dune, with the help of its director David Lynch. 

This issue also serves up an interview in which Superman producer Ilya Salkind talks about his latest project Santa Claus.

Plus, there are insights into the making of The Last Starfighter and Arnie's current offering The Terminator.

It would appear, from the cover, that the normally, shy, quiet and introverted Colin Baker speaks out.

There's also a look back at the Tom Baker era serial Revenge of the Cybermen and an interview with Michael Bryant who directed it and several other stories in the 1970s.

There's an investigation into whether the show's unsuitable for children, and the final part of the magazine's latest comic strip; the one the world knows only as Polly the Glot.

Plus, for those who still miss her, there's a pin-up of dagger-wielding jungle queen Leela.

It looks like it's bad news for Britain's greatest hero when he's captured by Slaymaster and the Crazy Gang.

Meanwhile, the Daleks' worst enemy Abslom Daak  encounters a Massacre on Mazam.

And Night-Raven's up against the menace of Blind Justice.

Then, John Tomlinson and Jeff Anderson bring us Part 2 of The Paragon of Painthorpe Street before Steve Parkhouse and Jerry Paris complete the proceedings, with the Freefall Warriors in A Cat Out of Hell.

Marvel's adaptation of Conan the Destroyer continues unabated and I predict it'll feature much action from Grace Jones' character.

Apparently, there's also material in this issue that we'd associate with the tragically defunct Mighty World of Marvel but I don't have the slightest clue just what that material might be.

I do, however, wear a suspicion we'll also be treated to a profile of Conan creature Robert E Howard. Though, let's be honest, profiles of Robert E Howard are always a bit depressing.

February 22nd, 1975 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

We all know weekends are the best time to watch horror films. And so it was that, on Saturday, February 22nd, 1975, BBC Two's midnight movie was Hammer's The Reptile. That Cornwall-based tale of a young woman who keeps turning into a cold-blooded killer and slaughtering the locals. Will our protagonists be able to stop her before the movie's sets are needed for filming The Plague of the Zombies?

Too right they will.

And Michael Ripper will have his biggest ever role in a Hammer film!

When it came to music, there was a brand new Number One on the UK singles chart. That Number One was Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel's classic Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me), a track that knew the value of the well-timed pause.

Over on the associated album chart, no change was afoot, as Engelbert Humperdinck's Greatest Hits retained the top spot it had seized the week before.

It's a big week for lovers of martial arts action, when we kick off the saga in which Iron Fist, Shang-Chi and the Sons of the Tiger all get entangled in Fu Manchu's latest plan but are each unaware of the others' involvement.

And it's Iron Fist who gets the ball rolling, with his discovery of a Chinese diplomat stricken, mortally wounded, in a doorway.

Elsewhere, thanks to the aid of the Black Knight, the Avengers manage to defeat the New Masters of Evil and Ultron - although that tin-plated plot-hatcher manages to escape.

I can't help feeling that means he may well be back before too very long.

There's no rest, however, for the Black Knight. With the cheeky Asmodeus all set to unleash Ymir and Surtur upon the Earth, Doc Strange has no choice but to travel to England and recruit the help of Victoria Bentley.

And this, somehow, leads to him recruiting the help of Dane Whitman.

It's the best thing that's ever happened to the Hulk, as he finds himself reduced to microscopic size, by Psyklop and, as a result, meets a princess called Jarella and is instantly accepted by her race of green-skinned people.

They even manage to give him Bruce Banner's intellect!

Meanwhile, drama's piled upon drama, with Daredevil blinded by a potion Mr Hyde threw in his face. Just how will he be able to explain to Foggy and Karen just why Mike Murdock is suddenly blind?

Very easily, it turns out, because they're stupid.

The Fantastic Four have been defeated by Dr Doom, thanks to the villain having stolen the powers of the Silver Surfer. Can Reed Richards possibly concoct a comeback?

And will the Inhumans manage to escape the Great Refuge?

Dracula's hiding out in the town of Littlepool which I can only assume to be halfway between Liverpool and Littlehampton. But he's in a somewhat weakened state, having been pulled from the sea by fishermen.

Elsewhere, Jack Russell's still up against Joshua Kane who's out to have fun hunting a werewolf.

And, then, we uncover I Was Locked in a... Haunted House! an elderly short tale created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely.

Finally, Vincent Frankenstein tricks his ancestor's creation into travelling to London, with him, where he can trap the thing for purposes of experimentation.

I do believe this is the week we discover Brutus is working with Gestalt Commander Be-One who grants the gorilla permission to use as many mutant war machines as are needed to hunt down and kill the Lawgiver!

And that's not all, because we're also delivered Roy Thomas and Ross Andru's adaptation of Harry Bates' Farewell to the Master which we all know to have been the inspiration for The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Thrills are added to spills, as the Schemer goes missing with Mrs Kingpin. Just what can be his secret?

And what can Spider-Man do about it?

There's trouble brewing for Iron Man. His batteries running low, following his fight with the Black Knight, he has to be dragged to his factory by Pepper Potts. 

But, in a hospital, Happy Hogan's treated with Tony Stark's untested Enervator. A device that promptly turns him into The Freak and sends him on a destructive rampage!

Thor, meanwhile, is still at half-strength and getting knocked from pillar to post by the Norn-powered Wrecker.

Can Sif and Balder do anything to help him?

It looks like they'll find out when they travel to the land of the Norns.

Atlas/Seaboard February 1975.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Listen.

Can you hear it?

The sound of printing presses overheating?

Not half you can.

For this is the month in which Atlas/Seaboard ramps up another gear, as it publishes a mammoth thirteen titles. And that's the most it's yet managed to unleash in a single month.

The keen observer will have noted that, three months into its project, Atlas has still not got round to publishing a second issue of any of its books, meaning that everything it's produced, so far, has been a first issue. This means it now has twenty ongoing titles. This can only make us wonder how many books it intends to launch before its expansion is complete.

I'm starting to wonder if that's the venture's true strategy. To simply flood the market with first issues - as that's where the biggest sales are - and that any issues published after that are fairly incidental. That will, after all, be basically, the tactic Marvel Comics will use to corner the US market in the very early '90s.

What can I tell you about this book I've never read?

I can tell you it stars someone called Vicki Young who I'll assume to be a model.

And that it contains no fewer than nine tales. All of which, oddly, are 1960s reprints from Tower publishing's Tippy Teen.

One of the venture's more appreciated periodicals hits the scene and, inside, we'll discover the first appearance of Tiger-Man.

We also discover The Sting of Death! Kromag the Killer, The Films of Alistair MacLean and Lawrence of Arabia, take a look at the Ron Ely Doc Savage movie and read a yarn called Escape from Nine by 1. All packed into 68 action-packed pages no reader shall ever forget nor even want to forget.

Issue #1 of the company's very own supernatural anthology smashes us in the face with unbridled horror when we're served a triptych of tales that could make the hardest man's hair stand on end.

In the first of them, the devil enters a doll which is then found by a young girl. In the second, an attempt at a cure for baldness turns a harmless man into a werewolf. And, in the third, a man accepts a challenge to spend the night in a cemetery claimed to be the home of a vampire. What fate might befall him before dawn? And how does it involve a film crew?

Forget the Shadow. Forget the Avenger. Even forget Doc Savage and Conan the Barbarian. Because a whole new pulp hero bursts into life. One who wasn't even created in the age of the pulps!

Holding no connection to the Marvel villain of the same name, the Scorpion flings himself into a plot I can't quite remember. But I do remember that he's Moro Frost, 1930s Soldier of Fortune and has worn numerous identities over many decades.

I also remember he's the brainchild of Howard Chaykin which is probably the most famous thing about the character.

Yet another completely unique strip enters the fray, thanks to the arrival of Sgt Stryker's Death Squad.

I've never read this one but the internet informs me this issue entices us with two tales. One called Reborn in Battle and the other titled Bounty.

Frankly, I'm not expecting this to be massively different from certain other war comics published by certain other companies.

There's no substitute for hard-bitten crime drama and the good news is that's exactly what we're going to get. No substitute for hard-bitten crime drama.

Two stories of felon-thwarting await us when Lomax and Luke Malone hit the streets of the sin-filled city.

The first is basically Kojak with hair and the second is a down-at-heel gumshoe who doesn't know how to stay out of trouble. Nor how to avoid untrustworthy dames.

The Omega Man meets Planet of the Apes when a bunch of astronauts return to Earth, from a five-year mission.

Only to discover it's been taken over by vampires!

Now, those astronauts must battle to survive on a world where everyone wants to drink their blood!

But what's this? It seems to be a comic that's decided to mashup Adam Warlock and George Orwell's 1984.

It's the future and, for some reason, a scientist has been working on creating people who grow in large pods. As far as I can recall, that scientist is killed by the thought police but one of the pods is taken off to be studied by the authorities, whereupon its occupant emerges from his pod and gets an education on the society he's been born into.

Unfortunately, it turns out he's in the habit of turning into a killer tree that must drink lashings of fresh human blood, in order to slake its maniac appetite.

This one's written by Michael Fleisher.

That is a name we shall be hearing more than once tonight.

Digging into the corners of my memory, I suspect I'm correct in thinking this yarn's delivered by the combined talents of Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood and that it involves a wayward youth who, upon being shot by gangsters, drinks a super-serum his dad was working on, and then sets out to avenge his father's murder by those very same gangsters.

And now we get to meet Atlas' answer to the incredible Hulk, when the Brute makes his sensational debut.

In a plot seemingly lifted from the film Trog, a huge prehistoric apeman is discovered living in a cave and is quickly brought into captivity, for study.

Needless to say, it's not long before, thanks to a wrongdoer, the Brute's free of his cage and killing everyone he encounters before stowing away on the undercarriage of an aeroplane.

This one's also written by Michael Fleisher who gives us a hero who starts the issue by eating several innocent children. And the rest of the comic makes it clear our protagonist has started as he means to go on.

Strangely, having already launched the majesty of Ironjaw upon the world, Atlas decides to give us a second barbarian hero. Admittedly one of a far more tasteful variety.

In this issue, a decade after the murder of his parents, young Wulf sets out to mete vengeance upon Mordek Mal Moriak, the sorcerer who killed them.

Thinking about it, I think his mentor, a one-eyed juggler and expert swordsman, gets murdered in this issue. I'm going to assume it's his death which motivates our protagonist to get out there and on the trail of justice.

So determined are Atlas to make this comic resemble one of Marvel's cowboy books that Larry Lieber steps in to give us as Kirbyesque a cover as you could get without actually hiring Jack Kirby.

Inside, we find the brand new adventures of Kid Cody and The Comanche Kid.

Tragically, I can shed no further light upon the innards of this comic than that.

I do believe, however, that this book will run for just one issue before retreating to the great ranch in the sky.

It's what we've all been waiting for. Atlas Comics' very own answer to Spider-Man.

Granted, it isn't necessarily the right answer, as we get to meet Count Lycosa, a man who turns into a man-spider-monster-thing every night and eats anyone he encounters.

Yes, this is written by Michael Fleisher.

And, yes, Lycosa is supposed to be the hero of this book.

As for what happens in this sensational first issue, as far as I can recall, some thieves break into his castle and, so, he eats them.

It's not exactly, "With great power comes great responsibility."

It's more, "With great power comes great dining opportunities."