Sunday 1 May 2016

May 1st, 1976 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

This being a bank holiday weekend, less than a day ago, I was in front of my TV, watching the Peter Cushing monster-fest At the Earth's Core. How I thrilled. How I gasped. How I wondered why Doug McClure was incapable of going anywhere without encountering supposedly extinct creatures.

But what was Marvel UK giving us in this week of the year in which that film was first released?

There's only one way to find out...

Marvel UK, the Avengers #137

Our heroes are still teaming up with the Squadron Supreme on an alternate Earth.

I'm not totally sure though why the Vision's telling his colleague things they already know.

Mighty World of Marvel #187, the X-Men

The X-Men swap places with the Fantastic Four in Marvel UK's flagship book.

Given that I loved the Fantastic Four and hated the Original X-Men, this was not seen by me as being a good thing.

Marvel UK, Planet of the Apes #90, the Lawgiver is shot with an arrow

Jason and Alexander are still having all kinds of problems.

Super Spider-Man with the Super-Heroes #168, the Hulk

It's all getting exciting for me. Only one week to go before Spider-Man's mag returns permanently to my local newsagent's.

I think the Thor tale in this issue may be the one where he swaps bodies with Loki.

Marvel UK, Dracula Lives #90

Vlad the Impaler meets Juno the Impaler.

What with recent events in Planet of the Apes and now in Dracula Lives, Marvel UK was giving us more evil brain shenanigans than we could have known what to do with.

Marvel UK, The Titans #28, Captain America vs the Swordsman and Power Man

Hooray! With this issue, The Titans returned permanently to my local newsagent's.

I do remember being very pleased with Gil Kane's art on the Captain America strip.

I believe the Captain Marvel tale was drawn by Jim Starlin.

I was enthralled by the FF's travails in Latveria.

All in all, what a magnificent issue it was.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If we've learned anything at all from comics and old science fiction movies, and I think we've learned a lot, it's that brains in glass cases are evil and have eerie powers.
M.P.

Steve W. said...

I don't understand why they're still allowed to sell them.

Dougie said...

Marv Wolfman clearly (hee) liked brains under glass since he brought back Ze Brain - et M'sieu Mallah in New Teen Titans.
Of course, yet another Titans I never got.

Anonymous said...

Steve, it's pretty much illegal to buy a human brain in most place here in America except for a few states like Nevada and Kentucky, where old laws are still on the books, allowing such practices as wife-selling, having sex with horses and snake handling.
However, a brisk underground black-market does exist for the buying and selling of evil, disembodied brains.
Fortunately, most people in my family tend to opt for cremation, but we've found through trial and error that it's important to specify that said cremation should only occur AFTER actual physical death and not before.
M.P.