Tuesday 12 February 2013

Forty years ago this month - February 1973.

A wise man once said, "February made me shiver."

It was Don McLean; not to be confused with Don Maclean, the old Crackerjack presenter who's not to be confused with Bernie Clifton the other old Crackerjack presenter, the one who used to tell us it was Friday while sat upon the back of a majestic ostrich.

But will February of 1973 prove to be a similarly tremulous experience for the faithful Marvellite?

Or, like Bernie Clifton's ostrich, will we instead be forced to bury our despairing heads in the sands of time?

Captain America and the Falcon #158

"You'll Kill Him! And if you do--!" says Cap but I've never read the tale and may thus never know to what he alludes.
Amazing Spider-Man #117, The Disruptor

The Disruptor displays his own special brand of bringing politics to the masses.
Avengers #108, Grim Reaper and the Space Phantom

It's the long-awaited return of the Space Phantom.

I say long-awaited but, unfortunately, when I first read this tale, as a youth, I got the Space Phantom mixed up with the Space Parasite, and was somewhat confused as to why he'd changed appearance so dramatically.
Conan the Barbarian #23, the Vulture

At last, the Vulture finally shows up!

As mentioned last month, his arrival was delayed by the trials and tribulations of the postal service but it's worth the wait, as poor old Vulchy suffers a fate that shall long live in the memory of all who read it.
Daredevil #96, the Man-Bull

That Man-Bull. He's nothing but trouble.
Incredible Hulk #160, Tiger Shark

It's another classic as the Hulk meets Tiger-Shark - who's always been one of my favourite villains - at Niagara Falls, which has always been one of my favourite gravity-driven water-dependent North American tourist phenomena.
Iron Man #55, the Destroyer

Hooray! Jim Starlin shows up on Iron Man.

Is this the one where Thanos makes his debut?
Fantastic Four #131, Quicksilver and Crystal

My razor-sharp senses tell me this might be the issue where Quicksilver and Crystal get married. I predict it'll never last.
Thor #208, Mercurio

Maybe there's something wrong with me but every time I see the name Mercurio, I think of Lurcio, Frankie Howerd's character in Up Pompeii. It does undermine his sense of menace somewhat.

Somehow though, I suspect Thor will be tittering ye not if Mercurio gets his Freezing Hand on him. In fact, I suspect he'll be shivering like Don McLean.

You see? You think I just throw all that stuff into my intros at random but it's all a carefully planned mechanism, like a cuckoo clock of verbality.
X-Men #80, the Juggernaut

Juggernaut's up to no good.

3 comments:

Simayl said...

The Iron Man issue is indeed the start of Starlin's cosmic epic. I wonder if he gets any credit in the upcoming Avengers movie?

Anonymous said...

Crystal and Quicksilver were married in Fantastic Four #150....this was the one where the Human Torch finds out there's been nookie going behind his back.

Steve W. said...

Thanks, Anon and Simayl.