Wednesday 9 September 2015

Forty years ago today - September 1975.

Well, it's been an historic week for us all, with Wayne Rooney becoming Britain's longest ever serving monarch and Elizabeth the Second breaking Bobby Charlton's all-time England scoring record.

But what of this month of exactly forty years ago? Were similarly momentous events taking place in the comics on the shelves of our local newsagents?

Avengers #139, the Wirlwind

Too right they were. You can never get more momentous than the return of the Whirlwind, although some of us preferred him in his days as the Human Top.

How arrogant and frisky he was in those earlier days - and how strangely similar to a young Victor Von Doom; if the young Victor Von Doom had been in the habit of spinning round at every opportunity.

Conan the Barbarian #54

It's Conan versus Conan in the tale we no doubt never thought we'd live to see.

Captain America and the Falcon #189

I really don't know what's going on here.

Daredevil #125, Copperhead

It's a grave turn of events for our hero, as Copperhead causes Daredevil no end of trouble.

Fantastic Four # 162

They always say good things come in pairs but, by the looks of it, it turns out it's bad Things that come in pairs.

Incredible Hulk #191, the Shaper of Worlds

Half Skrull, half shopping trolley, the Shaper of Worlds is back - and it can only mean trouble for the criminally underrated Toad Men.

Iron Man #78

Will Tony Stark never learn to stay away from Vietnam? Has he never noticed that only bad things happen when he goes there?

Amazing Spider-Man #148, the Jackal and the Tarantula

It's the tale that shocked the world as, at last - in the most insane revelation in the history of literature - we finally get to find out who the Jackal really is.

Thor #239

I don't have a clue what happens in this issue but I do know that Star-Quake sounds like it should be the sequel to the legendary Caroline Munro/David Hasselhoff sci-fi epic Starcrash.

To be honest, if the story inside isn't as bad as Starcrash, I may be tempted to demand my ten pence back.

8 comments:

Dougie said...

IIRC that's the Cap story that reveals the Falcon is the Red Skull's sleeper agent.
That Conan story with the Shadow & the Scorpion is one of my favourites of that period.

Anonymous said...

"Vengeance cries the Copperhead?" Where's the alliteration? Shouldn't it be "Chaos cries the Copperhead?" or "Carnage cries the Copperhead?"
..."Crap! cries the Copperhead!"

As I recall, the Jackal just turned out to be some guy.
m.p.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that issue of Captain America has the Red Skull in it, but.... as I recall the "army of super-villains" was actually an illusion created by a villain who sort of looked like a black version of the Viper. Sorry can't remember the name (but if it helps, I do recall she wore very little except thigh boots - for some reason thats the detail that sticks in my mind!)

So....erm I'm not sure, the Red Skull might not actually be in the story after all. But either way the issue is total rubbish.
Easily ignored, if it wasn't for the thing about the Falcon's secret past as a criminal and all that; given that the other main African American Marvel superhero at the time was Luke Cage, a convict on the run, its at best unfortunate.

Luckily, Steve, Captain America was about to dramatically improve in a few issues with - hooray! - the Madbomb storyline...

Is that issue of the FF the one with the space hockey goalie?

-sean

Anonymous said...

That female villain's name was Nightshade, Sean (I'm embarrassed I know that) and at one point she had an army of werewolves at her command. Seriously.
AWWWOOOOO.
Yeah, I think the goalie shows up here or in the next issue. It might be a two-parter.
m.p.

Anonymous said...

Thats right, Nightshade. Or occasionally, as those of us who have just checked online know, Deadly Nightshade (yes, I too am embarrassed)

Apparently her power to create illusions, which she got from the Yellow Claw (gotta watch those wily orientals, eh?) had something to do with being irresistible to men as a result of werewolf pheromones.
Hey, we all know theres nothing sexier than a werewolf, right? AWWWOOOOO right back atchya mp....

But I still can't remember how the Red Skull and the cosmic cube fit in.

-sean

Vince and Siv said...

The first (i think) nightshade story in Cap 164 had fantastic Alan Lee Weiss art! Well worth tracking down.

Doug said...

Nine-year old me was wide-eyed at the magazine rack at our local drug store this month! I recall seeing each of these books on the shelf.

Avengers #139 features the best Hank Pym story of them all -- if it's second, it's only the runner-up to Avengers #28.

As always, thanks for the memories, Steve!

Doug

Steve W. said...

Thanks, Doug. And thanks to everyone for your comments.