Tuesday 9 June 2015

Forty years ago today - June 1975.

In this month of forty years ago, the world saw the first ever underwater photographs of the Loch Ness Monster - and the release of the movie Jaws. Coincidence? Or a terrible warning of the dangers of ever going in any body of water larger than your bath?

I don't have a clue. Instead, I shall take retreat in the shallow waters of super-herodom and see what our favourite Marvel characters were up to while all this aquatic action was transpiring.

X-Men #93, Quicksilver

Is this the one that features the Avengers vs the X-Men on Magneto's island hideaway? If so, it proves that occasionally I do actually know what goes on in some of these comics.

Avengers #136, the Beast

Judging by the cover, I've a feeling this may be a reprint of that Beast solo tale where he goes a bit mad.

If it is, I assume there were deadline problems with the planned Avengers tale?

Conan the Barbarian #51, Unos

Unos the Man-Witch. Not to be confused with Unus the Untouchable.

Captain America and the Falcon #186, the Red Skull

The Red Skull still causing trouble for our heroes.

Daredevil #122, Blackwing

I have no idea what goes on in this one but it seems to feature a man riding around on a giant bat, which is a thing that has to be worth a look.

Fantastic four #159, the Inhumans

Who would have thought that, forty years after this comic was published, the Inhumans would be on TV, at war with SHIELD and led by that woman who used to be in Neighbours?

Incredible Hulk #188, the Gremlin

It's the debut of the world's only poetry-spouting triceratops.

Iron Man #75, the Black Lama

Not that I'm totally hopeless but I've only just noticed that it's the Black Lama and not the Black Llama. To be honest, I think I prefer the thought of a villain being called the Black Llama. It has a certain uniqueness to it.

Amazing Spider-Man #145, the Scorpion

The Scorpion makes his first appearance in the strip since the days of Steve Ditko. It does seem amazing that it took Marvel so long to bring him back.

Thor #236, the Absorbing Man

Meanwhile, the Absorbing Man makes his million and oneth appearance in the pages of Thor.

I don't think I've ever read this tale. I'm trying to guess what Thor turns him into in this issue in order to defeat him. He's already turned him into helium and into water in the past. What dread transformation can be next for Crusher Creel?

11 comments:

Aggy said...

Pretty sure the answer to the Absorbing Man question is paper or cardboard. Something about a fake hammer. Of course I might be thinking of another book entirely.

And finally we reach the end of the X-Men reprints. I hear next issue they are planning a complete new team of international characters... like THAT will sell...

Steve W. said...

I've already cancelled my subscription to the X-Men, knowing they're bound to mess it up.

Simon B said...

That Daredevil issue is yet another part of the seemingly-interminable DD / SHIELD / Hydra storyline by Tony Isabella and Bob Brown. What with the equally-tedious Super Villain War storyline in Iron Man and the reprint in The Avengers it doesn't look like a vintage month for Marvel. Saying that, I did buy a few of these back in the day and, by my calculations, must have spent the princely sum of 45p on Marvel comics that month...

Anonymous said...

That Wolverine character is too nasty and obnoxious to ever be popular. But I predict that Thunderbird will become a major superstar in the years to come.

Anonymous said...

You're right about Marvel messing up the X-Men, Steve - for some reason they appear to have cover dated that issue April, rather than June like the rest of that months comics. What were they thinking?

Got to agree with Cerebus660 that this doesn't look like a good month for Marvel. But thats down to the selection - they published really good stuff like Tomb of Dracula, Master of Kung Fu, Warlock and Dr. Strange this month too.
Mind you, I'm sure I've said that kind of thing here before....

-sean

Steve W. said...

Sean, my brain now hurts. The Grand Comics Database claims that that X-Men issue came out in June, even though it says April on the cover. What new and strange madness is this?

Anonymous said...

I never liked the Absorbing Man. I often wondered how it was if he absorbed the qualities of anything he touched, he wasn't perpetually the same consistency as his trousers - Al

Anonymous said...

Some might say the obvious explanation is that the the Grand Comics Database is fallible, Steve. But as that would mean even Stevedoescomics may occasionally be in error - surely not! - I investigated further (I know - sad, eh?).

The April cover date on X-Men 93 is consistent with the last appearance of the title in this very feature, with issue 91 in Dec. On the other hand, I just looked it up and issue 94 does indeed have an August cover date.
It would appear, then, that there is a missing June issue of X-Men! Or, at least, a June dated issue - maybe its actually the April issue that's missing?

Giant Size X-Men 1 sprang to mind as the missing issue, that maybe it was slotted into the regular schedule. But it has a May cover date. The plot thickens....

-sean

Steve W. said...

Al, you have to remember that the Absorbing Man wears incredibly strong trousers.

Sean, Thanks for the detective work. :)

Dougie said...

The only comics I had here were the X-Men issue ( a dull reprint, as I recall) and the FF. I would buy any comic featuring the Inhumans in those days but yet again, this was all about Roy Thomas's nostalgia kick, putting the FF back the way they were in 1970.

As for Conan, I have a soft spot for that rambling Gardner Fox adaptation but Man-Witch sounds like some silly Twitter meme for a very macho sandwich.

J.A. Morris said...

Re the Scorpion, he hadn't faced Spider-Man since the Ditko era, but he battled Captain America and Daredevil in between ASM appearances.