Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
Can it be the time, yet again, to find out what Marvel's big hitters were up to in comics which bore a cover date of exactly forty years ago?
Too right it can!
It's the team-up some said could - and should - never happen. The Mole Man combines his forces with the Thing and Human Torch to thwart Neal Adams' eccentric plan to heat up the Earth's core in order to make the world grow bigger.
But, to do that, they're going to have to get past Neal's deadly army of androids!
When Mr Hyde, yet again, decides to inflict revenge upon the Cobra for "betraying" him, it's up to Spider-Man to prevent the transmogrifying terror achieving his goal.
But just how easy can that be when the Black Cat's attempts to assist our hero only succeed in hampering him?
It's bad news for everyone when cut-price Tarzan clone Micah Synn's back in town and as charmless as ever.
However, the good news is he might not be around for long because his aristocratic family in England wants rid of its black sheep - and have even gone so far as to hire a daft hitman called Crossbow to eradicate him from their bloodline.
Most people would probably leave him to it. But not Daredevil. He has principles of the kind that people like me lack.
One day, while blundering around in his usual style, Conan decides to stop off at a mansion, looking to get out of the rain.
Sadly, its owner's as unreliable as everyone else the barbarian ever meets and tries to feed Conan to his monstrous, flesh-eating brother.
I would accuse this tale of being influenced by the Jim Starlin Hulk story that featured a people-eating brother but this one's written by Michael Fleisher whose work for Atlas Comics adequately revealed his love for all things cannibalistic.
Now that Thor no longer has access to his Don Blake persona, the thunder god gets SHIELD to fix him up with a brand new secret identity. That of Sigurd Jarlson who looks like Thor, sounds like Thor and even has a Scandinavian name. So, that's guaranteed to fool everyone, then.
Not that he manages to maintain a pretence of normalcy for long because, no sooner has he applied for a job on a construction site, than stroppy dragon Fafnir shows up, looking to plant one on him.
There can't be many people who were desperately hoping the Tumbler would make a comeback.
And he doesn't.
Because he's dead.
His brother, however, is after the insurance money and, once he adopts the Tumbler's mantle and teams up with Cap, the pair unearth a life insurance scam that's been ripping-off the nation's super-villains for years.
Who can the mystery, ringed wrongdoer on the cover be? Who!
Blow me down with a feather if it's not the Mandarin and, as so often in the past, he's out to avenge himself for his many defeats at the hands of Iron Man.
However, he's totally unaware that he's up against a brand new Shellhead who still hasn't fully got the hang of his armour yet.
As far as I can remember, Morgan le Fay's trying to enter our universe by possessing the comatose body of Spider-Woman.
Needless to say, the Avengers aren't going to let that happen.
And neither are Dr Strange and the Shroud.
With all that lot against her, you might think it's a hopeless cause for the sinister sorceress but she didn't get where she is today by not being an optimist.
Admittedly, where she is today is trapped in a barren dimension in the middle of nowhere. So, it just shows where positive thinking gets you.
And that's the Steve Does Comics Tip of the Week. Never be positive.
At least, not if the wedding's going to be held in a sewer.
It's all getting unsavoury beneath the streets of New York when Callisto and the Morlocks try to hold Kitty to her promise to marry Caliban.
As you'd expect, the mighty X-Men set out to put a stop to that kind of thing but, to their astonishment, Kitty insists on honouring her commitment.
It's a storyline you can't help feeling one should draw a veil over.
In more ways than one
With his spider-sense out of commission, and the victims of Hobgoblin's blackmail in no mood to help him, the web-slinger decides to use technological means to track down the villain.
But has Hobby discovered the truth about our hero's true identity, among Norman Osborn's documents?
Upon returning to the United States, following his trip to Mexico, Bruce Banner's rudely interrupted by someone trying to murder him.
After all these years of being the Hulk, you'd have thought he'd be used to it, by now. But, this time, it's different. The would-be killer's a man whose entire home town was destroyed by the Hulk.
Not only does Bruce try to get all charges against the man dropped, he also single-handedly rebuilds the town for him.
Isn't that lovely? How nice to finish the post with a happy ending.
You see, Michael Fleisher? It doesn't all have to be nastiness. 😀