Tuesday 4 November 2014

Forty years ago this month - November 1974.

With just a day to go before Guy Fawkes Night, we're now well and truly in November - the only month ever to have been named after DC Comics stalwart Irv Novick.

That's an exciting occasion for DC fans but what were our favourite Marvel heroes up to in this very month exactly forty years ago?

Here's where we find out.

Avengers #129, Kang

The Celestial Madonna Saga rumbles on, and on, and on - though I'm not sure when the Vision developed the ability to fire force blasts from his hands.

You can read my review of this issue, right here.
Conan the barbarian #44, Red Sonja

It's one of my fave Conan tales, as the Cimmerian sword swinger and Red Sonja find themselves in a tower of sibling naughtiness.

You can read my review of this very tale, right here.
Daredevil #115, Death-Stalker

It's one of my Daredevil faves, as the horny hero finds himself up against Death-Stalker,

You can read my review of this tale, right here.
Fantastic Four #152

I don't think I've ever read this issue but I suspect, from the cover, that our heroes are having trouble with Dr Doom.
Incredible Hulk #181, Wolverine

Hugh Jackman makes his senses-shattering debut.
Iron Man #71

But forget Wolverine. Iron Man's so tough that he can smash through paper.
Amazing Spider-Man #138, Mind-Worm

The Mindworm makes his debut.

I've always liked this tale.

No one else seems to.
Thor #229

I don't have a clue what happens in this one and the cover's furnishing me with no hints.
Captain America and the Falcon #179, Golden Archer

Didn't the Golden Archer turn out to be Hawkeye in disguise? Or am I just going mad?

10 comments:

Doug said...

This would be right in the wheelhouse of Doug's beginning phase of comics collecting. That, and a few of these images (notably the Thor cover) showed up on our school supplies!

Doug

david_b said...

This was soon to be the nadir of my initial collecting phase.

Moving around the country with my parents.., I had to abandon a few titles unfortunately.

And goodbye.. to the Swordsman.

Anonymous said...

It's Guy Fawkes Night and it's finally, finally, FINALLY stopped raining so hopefully those bonfires will actually light. I read that FF story in Marvel UK's Complete FF and it does indeed involve Dr. Doom (Steve, you seem to be clueless about this period of FF history so I assume you weren't reading Complete FF ?). Whether the Thor cover's "Night of Doom" has anything to do with the dastardly Latverian monarch I can't say.

Anonymous said...

I think in fact that FF story was to do with Thundra and Mahkizmo (sp?) rather than Doc Doom.

Steve W. said...

Thanks for all your comments, folks.

Colin, I think I only had one issue of The Complete Fantastic Four, the one where the Miracle Man first reappears.

Anonymous said...

If you say so, anon - but Doc Doom definitely appeared in one of these stories at this time. In my defence I read it in 1978 which is a long time ago :)

Anonymous said...

Compare this post with last weeks Marvel UK 40 years ago - in MWOM you could read the Galactus trilogy while the US FF gives us Rich Buckler's Kirby swipes. The main Marvel titles were at a low ebb at this point in the mid 70s - all the creative energy was in the newer stuff they were trying out.

Have you considered maybe including the occasional obscurity in this feature, Steve?For instance, a quick look online tells me that this month is the fortieth anniversary of Amazing Adventures 27 - Craig Russell's first Killraven...

-sean

Steve W. said...

Sean, I shall consider whether to do any of the more obscure stuff but I fear that deciding which ones to include and which ones to leave out may drive me mad.

Unknown said...

The Golden Archer in Capt America 179 was indeed Hawkeye who dressed as a villain to get Steve Rogers out of "retirement" - Thor had Hercules in the story (that's all I recall of that one) and as anon says Thundra and Mahkizmo was the villain in FF but the core of the story involved Reed using Dr Dooms time machine ( so Colin wasn't too far off)

Dougie said...

I liked the Mindworm too. He was a creepy little side-step during a very dark and paranoid era for Spidey. The nightmarish Conway Years were so far ahead of its time; as we saw this year, we never tire of the Night Gwen Stacy Died.

There are actually two comics I owned here (despite the long, long Marvel drought of '73-75 in my locale.) That was the first "Iron Nose" comic I read and the first time I "met" the Yellow Claw (Hee HEE!).
Also that was the one-and-only issue of the FF I read where Medusa was on the team. It's infamous because of Buckler's splash-page error where he drew a tiny hand at the end of Reed's leg. It's unlikely he swiped THAT from Kirby.