Atlas/Seaboard February 1975.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Listen.

Can you hear it?

The sound of printing presses overheating?

Not half you can.

For this is the month in which Atlas/Seaboard ramps up another gear, as it publishes a mammoth thirteen titles. And that's the most it's yet managed to unleash in a single month.

The keen observer will have noted that, three months into its project, Atlas has still not got round to publishing a second issue of any of its books, meaning that everything it's produced, so far, has been a first issue. This means it now has twenty ongoing titles. This can only make us wonder how many books it intends to launch before its expansion is complete.

I'm starting to wonder if that's the venture's true strategy. To simply flood the market with first issues - as that's where the biggest sales are - and that any issues published after that are fairly incidental. That will, after all, be basically, the tactic Marvel Comics will use to corner the US market in the very early '90s.

What can I tell you about this book I've never read?

I can tell you it stars someone called Vicki Young who I'll assume to be a model.

And that it contains no fewer than nine tales. All of which, oddly, are 1960s reprints from Tower publishing's Tippy Teen.

One of the venture's more appreciated periodicals hits the scene and, inside, we'll discover the first appearance of Tiger-Man.

We also discover The Sting of Death! Kromag the Killer, The Films of Alistair MacLean and Lawrence of Arabia, take a look at the Ron Ely Doc Savage movie and read a yarn called Escape from Nine by 1. All packed into 68 action-packed pages no reader shall ever forget nor even want to forget.

Issue #1 of the company's very own supernatural anthology smashes us in the face with unbridled horror when we're served a triptych of tales that could make the hardest man's hair stand on end.

In the first of them, the devil enters a doll which is then found by a young girl. In the second, an attempt at a cure for baldness turns a harmless man into a werewolf. And, in the third, a man accepts a challenge to spend the night in a cemetery claimed to be the home of a vampire. What fate might befall him before dawn? And how does it involve a film crew?

Forget the Shadow. Forget the Avenger. Even forget Doc Savage and Conan the Barbarian. Because a whole new pulp hero bursts into life. One who wasn't even created in the age of the pulps!

Holding no connection to the Marvel villain of the same name, the Scorpion flings himself into a plot I can't quite remember. But I do remember that he's Moro Frost, 1930s Soldier of Fortune and has worn numerous identities over many decades.

I also remember he's the brainchild of Howard Chaykin which is probably the most famous thing about the character.

Yet another completely unique strip enters the fray, thanks to the arrival of Sgt Stryker's Death Squad.

I've never read this one but the internet informs me this issue entices us with two tales. One called Reborn in Battle and the other titled Bounty.

Frankly, I'm not expecting this to be massively different from certain other war comics published by certain other companies.

There's no substitute for hard-bitten crime drama and the good news is that's exactly what we're going to get. No substitute for hard-bitten crime drama.

Two stories of felon-thwarting await us when Lomax and Luke Malone hit the streets of the sin-filled city.

The first is basically Kojak with hair and the second is a down-at-heel gumshoe who doesn't know how to stay out of trouble. Nor how to avoid untrustworthy dames.

The Omega Man meets Planet of the Apes when a bunch of astronauts return to Earth, from a five-year mission.

Only to discover it's been taken over by vampires!

Now, those astronauts must battle to survive on a world where everyone wants to drink their blood!

But what's this? It seems to be a comic that's decided to mashup Adam Warlock and George Orwell's 1984.

It's the future and, for some reason, a scientist has been working on creating people who grow in large pods. As far as I can recall, that scientist is killed by the thought police but one of the pods is taken off to be studied by the authorities, whereupon its occupant emerges from his pod and gets an education on the society he's been born into.

Unfortunately, it turns out he's in the habit of turning into a killer tree that must drink lashings of fresh human blood, in order to slake its maniac appetite.

This one's written by Michael Fleisher.

That is a name we shall be hearing more than once tonight.

Digging into the corners of my memory, I suspect I'm correct in thinking this yarn's delivered by the combined talents of Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood and that it involves a wayward youth who, upon being shot by gangsters, drinks a super-serum his dad was working on, and then sets out to avenge his father's murder by those very same gangsters.

And now we get to meet Atlas' answer to the incredible Hulk, when the Brute makes his sensational debut.

In a plot seemingly lifted from the film Trog, a huge prehistoric apeman is discovered living in a cave and is quickly brought into captivity, for study.

Needless to say, it's not long before, thanks to a wrongdoer, the Brute's free of his cage and killing everyone he encounters before stowing away on the undercarriage of an aeroplane.

This one's also written by Michael Fleisher who gives us a hero who starts the issue by eating several innocent children. And the rest of the comic makes it clear our protagonist has started as he means to go on.

Strangely, having already launched the majesty of Ironjaw upon the world, Atlas decides to give us a second barbarian hero. Admittedly one of a far more tasteful variety.

In this issue, a decade after the murder of his parents, young Wulf sets out to mete vengeance upon Mordek Mal Moriak, the sorcerer who killed them.

Thinking about it, I think his mentor, a one-eyed juggler and expert swordsman, gets murdered in this issue. I'm going to assume it's his death which motivates our protagonist to get out there and on the trail of justice.

So determined are Atlas to make this comic resemble one of Marvel's cowboy books that Larry Lieber steps in to give us as Kirbyesque a cover as you could get without actually hiring Jack Kirby.

Inside, we find the brand new adventures of Kid Cody and The Comanche Kid.

Tragically, I can shed no further light upon the innards of this comic than that.

I do believe, however, that this book will run for just one issue before retreating to the great ranch in the sky.

It's what we've all been waiting for. Atlas Comics' very own answer to Spider-Man.

Granted, it isn't necessarily the right answer, as we get to meet Count Lycosa, a man who turns into a man-spider-monster-thing every night and eats anyone he encounters.

Yes, this is written by Michael Fleisher.

And, yes, Lycosa is supposed to be the hero of this book.

As for what happens in this sensational first issue, as far as I can recall, some thieves break into his castle and, so, he eats them.

It's not exactly, "With great power comes great responsibility."

It's more, "With great power comes great dining opportunities."

2000 AD - January 1987.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

There are those among us who insist their life is like a movie. 

But there those among us whose lives really are like movies.

That's because they're movies.

And, in the first month of 1987, a fair number of them were born.

Thus it is that, in that period, were we to enter a picture house displaying the very latest celluloid offerings, we may have encountered such treasures as The Color Purple, The Stepfather, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, Outrageous Fortune and Radio Days.

I shall posit that The Colour Purple is probably the most important of those films, although Outrageous Fortune is probably more fun and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold has the prettiest cast. I can say nothing of Radio Days, and I've only seen the first half-hour of The Stepfather, having lost interest in it during a relatively recent screening on TalkingPicturesTV's Caroline Munro's Cinema Club.

But what of music?

The month began with Jackie Wilson's Reet Petite at Number One on the UK singles chart. But that was soon displaced by Steve "Silk" Hurley's Jack Your Body. In the absence of any research whatsoever, I'm going to assume the latter to have been the first Chicago House track to top the UK Hit Parade. 

When it came to the corresponding album rankings, the month began - as months so often did - with Now That's What I Call Music! at Number One. This time, it was Volume 8 that was ruling the roost. However, nothing lasts forever. And, so, even that had to make way for Kate Bush's The Whole Story before she too had to give ground. This time, to Paul Simon's Graceland.

And what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

It was business as usual, as it presented us with all the familiar faves we'd grown accustomed to, over the centuries. Meaning Sláine, Bad Company, Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Strontium Dog and Tharg's Future-Shocks.

As far as I can ascertain, no new strips were to appear, this month.

I can only assume they were all being saved for a future occasion.

February 15th, 1975 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

This week in 1975 was a great one for all fans of creating a post-industrial landscape, as a woman called Margaret Thatcher defeated a man called Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party.

This made Thatcher Britain's first female leader of any political party. She would, of course, not be the last. Other famous female leaders of UK parties, since, have included Liz Truss, Theresa May and Kemi Badenoch.

Inside this epic issue, Jason and Alexander are sentenced to death, by evil mutants. In an arena of death, they join forces with the captured gorilla Warko when they must battle multiple mutated murderous monstrosities.

They're never going to get round to rescuing the Lawgiver, at this rate.

That's followed by a feature on Michael Wilson's re-write of Rod Serling's Planet of the Apes script, and his event-packed career that includes having been on the US communist blacklist.

Then, an ugly man spurned by polite society volunteers to undertake a one-way journey to the centre of the Earth. But, there, he discovers beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

It's yet another Tale of the Watcher. This time, by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Howard Purcell, reprinted from 1968's Silver Surfer #7 which recycled it from 1962's Amazing Adult Fantasy #12.

And, yes, it does sound remarkably like the origin of the Mole Man.

That's all a bit odd. This week's Hulk tale is the second part of his and the Avengers' contretemps with Psyklop but the cover shows him battling the inheritor.

I can only assume someone at Marvel UK thought the Inheritor looked sufficiently like Psyklop that no one reading the book would notice the disparity.

They clearly hadn't counted on my eagle eyes.

Then, it's the second part of the tale in which Daredevil dresses up as Thor in a bid to flush the Cobra and Mr Hyde out into the open.

And, of course, Dr Doom has totally defeated the Fantastic Four, thanks to him now possessing the Silver Surfer's powers.

As that cover makes clear, there's nothing but trouble going on for the Avengers. Not only have they been captured by the New Masters of Evil, they then discover the mastermind behind it all isn't even Jarvis.

It's a robot!

After that, we discover a Don Perlin drawn retelling of the origin of Iron Fist.

And, then, Dr Strange can't return to Earth, thanks to a spell placed by Asmodeus. So, to fool that spell, he changes his appearance, meaning it won't be able to recognise him.

And that's how the good doctor gets his notorious full-masked super-hero look.

Sadly, it's not enough to prevent Ymir and Surtur from being released upon the world.

I'm not sure that's the wisest hiding place for a criminal, what with the blatant danger of hypothermia.

Not to mention the police might start asking questions about why a snowman has a human face and an assault rifle.

Inside this comic, there's a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the Schemer.

And Peter Parker would like that $5,000.

And so he sets out to capture the villain.

However, the villain arrives at the Kingpin's mansion - and then vanishes, along with Mrs Kingpin!

Following that, Adam Austin makes his senses-shattering debut as the brand new penciller for Iron Man.

But what's this? How come none of us have ever heard of Adam Austin? And how come his drawing style looks suspiciously like that of Gene Colan?

Iron Man, meanwhile, goes to visit Happy Hogan in hospital but, as luck would have it, the hapless chauffeur gets kidnapped by the Black Knight. This can only lead to a battle between the armoured foes, in a genuine English castle in the United States.

And, finally, the under-powered Thor loses his fight with the Wrecker.

And that means he may well lose his life, as well!

What a fool I am. A mere seven days ago, I announced that last week's venture was one of the few issues of Dracula Lives I ever owned.

In retrospect, it turns out I didn't own that issue at all.

This was the issue I owned.

Inside, the good news is Frankenstein's Monster escapes a village mob and stakes Dracula right through the ever-loving heart.

The bad news is he also has to do the same to Carmen, thanks to Dracula having turned her into a vampire.

Next, Joshua Kane captures Jack Russell, because he wants the pleasure of hunting a Werewolf.

And, to make matters worse, Lissa finally unearth's Jack's secret.

And we finish off with a Steve Ditko oldie in which a man enters a castle, determined to prove it contains no ghosts - but is soon forced to flee in terror.

However, it turns out the castle does indeed not contain any ghosts. It is, though, inhabited by living suits of armour and animated stone gargoyles.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - February 1985.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

What thrilling delights were waiting to greet us when we entered a theatre of kinematographic entertainment in February 1985?

These thrilling delights:

The Breakfast Club, Witness and Turk 182.

I've seen the first two of those movies but not recently enough to know whether they were any good or not. However, I don't recall getting any great enjoyment out of them.

When it comes to the third film in that list, I'm fairly confident I've never encountered it.

I suspect this is the cover of the month, as Dr Doom - now with the power of Galactus - goes fist to fist with the Beyonder.

Can it it be? Is Doom set to be the unlikely saviour of the universe?

No. He isn't.

But he is going to triumph against his foe.

And, surely, that can only mean trouble for everyone.

It's issue #3 and the cover's by Tom Yeates.

Sadly, that's all I know.

You can't keep Cloak and Dagger out of other people's comics. From this fact, I can only conclude that someone high up at Marvel likes them.

And someone also seems to like Dragon Man, as he also turns up, this issue.

Beyond that, my knowledge of this one's contents is highly limited but I do know there seem to be plenty of robots in it.

Yet another Marvel Graphic Novel smashes its way into our lives.

And all I know of this one is it's by Bill Mantlo and Butch Guice and runs to 56 pages.

But forget graphic novels. A brand new mag is born and this one is an Elaine Lee/Mike Kaluta serial about something or other, with this first episode being titled Liar's Poker.

At last, we have a comic I can actually tell you something about.

In a packed issue, Cannonball and Mirage tell Professor X their news and Magneto apologises to Aleytys. Meanwhile, Wolfsbane and Sunspot seek assistance from Father Bowen, Wolfsbane rescues Colossus, and Magik tries using sorcery to restore Wolfsbane and Sunspot.

You know who else shows up?

Only Cloak and Dagger.

It's a shock for us all, as we encounter the last-ever issue of Marvel Team-Up. The book that looked like it would go on forever.

Barry Smith gives us a truly terrible cover before Louise Simonson and Greg LaRocque provide a tale in which Juggernaut gives Black Tom the Cyttorak Ruby for his birthday, leading to all sorts of bother.

Needless to say, it takes the intervention of Spidey and the X-Men for normal order to be restored.

Wolverine tries to cure Kitty of whatever it is that ails her and also discovers that James Hudson is dead and Storm has lost her powers.

From that cover, I'm  assuming our heroes are still in Japan.

Forty years ago today - February 1985.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Here I am again, looking forward to looking backwards.

There's not a huge amount of advancement on last month. The Norse gods, Bungalow Beta-Ray Bill and Earth's mightiest heroes are still fighting the demonic forces of Surtur on the streets of New York while Odin and Thor try to scrap with the fire giant in the streets of Asgard.

It's a format-busting issue, as a magazine manages to get shots of the She-Hulk sunbathing topless on the roof of the Baxter Building and she sets out to use her legal skills and knuckles to prevent publication.

For some reason, the publisher of that magazine bears a noticeable resemblance to Stan Lee. I'm not sure just what John Byrne is trying to tell us.

By some means I can't recall, Red Sonja's old foe Kulan Gath has managed to take control of modern-day Manhattan and turned it - and its heroes - into a very loose replica of the Hyborean Age. This forces old enemies to unite in a bid to put a stop to his reign of terror.

The recent trend towards Ditkoesque villains in this strip continues, as the Spot bamboozles and bewilders Spider-Man with his inter-dimensional powers.

In possibly more serious news, Spidey's alien costume has managed to flee the Baxter Building and is now loose in the city, trying to find him.

I'm struggling to remember much about the main plot in this one, other than the mindless Hulk manages to befriend another creature who keeps getting attacked by some other creatures.

However, I do recall that, on Earth, the U-Foes manage to escape captivity and, by dumb incompetence, send themselves to the exact spot in the multiverse where the Hulk is.

I suspect this can only lead to trouble for all involved.

Batroc ze Leapair seems to 'ave finally learned his, 'ow you say, lesson and, instead of fighting Captain America, himself, has hired a couple of bad hommes to do it pour him.

Frankly, they're just as useless as he is but there are two of them and, between them, they manage to temporarily inconvenience Cap and steal his shield.

A shield that I assume Batroc is looking to sell to someone or other.

It's the battle I never expected to see, as US government meddling with equipment discovered in an abandoned base that once belonged to Thanos manages to bring the Blood Brothers back to Earth and they prove more than a handful for the world's mightiest super-team.

Daredevil keeps being tormented by dreams about the Two-Gun Kid and, when he discovers an unscrupulous business tycoon wants to build something on Native American land, he starts to realise this is no coincidence and that he must complete a mission the Western hero began 100 years ago.

A notable change in cover style is delivered by Mike Kaluta.

But, inside, it's still John Buscema serving up the pencilling when Conan and Fafnir help a rapidly ageing countess reach the nest of a bird whose egg contains a yolk which can grant her another 1,000 years of life if she bathes in it.

In what's quite a shock to the reader, she doesn't turn out to be evil.

Can it be? Has the Hobgoblin succeeded where the original Goblin failed, and defeated Spider-Man?

It looks like he might do when he and the Rose kidnap Liz and MJ to force Harry to hand over his father's secret journals.

We all knew it had to happen at some point. Growing ever more concerned by Rhodey's erratic behaviour as Iron Man, Tony Stark's forced to do what he never wanted to do again - and put on a suit of armour.

But it's a lot more primitive than Rhodey's.

And visibly more retro.

Then again, Rhodey's generally useless at being Iron Man. So, the tech disparity probably won't matter.

February 8th, 1975 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Pilot lead singer David Paton may have been sick and tired of January hanging on him but that month was showing no signs of going away, thanks to the single of the same name still hogging the Number One spot on the UK singles chart.

There was change, however, atop the UK album listings, thanks to the rise to supremacy of Engelbert Humperdinck and His Greatest Hits.

They don't give singers names like that anymore.

January is indisputably a classic but it wasn't alone in making my approved list, that week, because other tracks I approved of on that Top 50 were:

The Bump - Kenny

Angie Baby - Helen Reddy

Streets of London - Ralph McTell

Stardust - David Essex

Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) - Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel

and

Shame, Shame, Shame - Shirley and Company.

If further investigation is required, that week's UK singles chart resides right here.

While its Long Playing counterpart dwells within.

Fresh from saving his girlfriend from an out-of-control truck, Spider-Man sets out to bring the man responsible - the sinister Schemer - to justice.

But just who is the Schemer?

And why does he hold such a grudge against the ever-affable Kingpin?

Elsewhere, no sooner has Iron Man thrilled the Free World by defeating Titanium Man than he has to deal with a new threat.

The Mad Thinker!

It's true. The over-predictive nincompoop has been hired by Countess Stephanie de la Spirosa who's out to discover Iron Man's true identity.

Can Shellhead defeat the bounder?

More to the point, can he defeat the bounder's great big android that has the power to mimic the abilities of his armour?

Finally, in Thor's strip, the Wrecker's blundering around, determined to misuse the power he's been accidentally granted by Karnilla.

It's an all-time classic, as the Hulk gets abducted by the mysterious Psyklop who snatches him in a bid to please his Lovecraftian masters.

However, the Avengers are hot on his tail and in no mood to mess about.

I do remember being very confused by this tale when I first read it, as I couldn't understand why Goliath was talking like the Thing, instead of like Henry Pym.

And then it's the never-to-be-forgotten tale in which Matt Murdock decides the best way to flush Mr Hyde and the Cobra out into the open is to dress up as the nonexistent Mike Murdock dressed up as Daredevil dressed up as Thor.

With strategic thinking on that level, how could anything possibly go wrong?

And, next, the Fantastic Four find themselves having to confront a Dr Doom blessed with the powers of the Silver Surfer. How can they possibly hope to defeat such power?

They can't.

And they don't.

For now.

I do detect the armchair-gripper in which Spidey and Iron Fist must battle a man who's living his life backwards and, therefore, rapidly growing younger with the passage of time.

In all honesty, that sounds like a problem that solves itself.

Regardless, coming mere weeks after Marvel UK published the, "Silvermane de-ages to death," storyline, the web-slinger must be feeling a profound sense of déjà vu.

Elsewhere, the Avengers have been captured by the mysterious Crimson Cowl and the New Masters of Evil.

But what's this?

At the very climax, they discover just who this mysterious Crimson Cowl is?

And that he's Jarvis the Butler?

Could this have been inspired by that Batman saga in which the dynamic duo discover their new arch-enemy the Outsider is none other than their own dear butler?

Dr Strange, meanwhile, is trapped in a strange dimension, by boss Son of Satannish Asmodeus who intends to inflict the giants Surtur and Ymir upon the planet Earth!

I remember redrawing this cover when I was a boy, having decided I could improve on it.

I don't recall if I succeeded.

I do recall being convinced that I had.

Inside a battle breaks out between Jason and Alexander, gorillas and mutants. But can it be the mutants have kidnapped the Lawgiver?

There's only one way for our two adventurers to find out.

And that's to head straight back into danger.

That's followed by a four-page article titled McDowall: The Man Behind the Mask.

Then, it's the big one. A reprint of The Terror of Tim Boo Ba as related by the Watcher.

I don't know about anyone else but nothing shouts the word, "terror," at me louder than the name Tim.

And the last adventure in this issue is a short one, The Day After the Day the Martians Came, in which it becomes apparent that, while the discovery of inhabitants of the red planet may make no difference to many people on our world, there are those who'll find it changes everything...

This is one of the few issues of Dracula Lives I ever owned.

And what a one to own.

Hypnotised children are still attacking our heroes, and Dracula's still using a device to raise an army of the undead.

That's followed by a one-page article about Bela Lugosi.

But, next, as that cover hints, it's the one we all came here for, as Frankenstein's Monster battles the king of vampires!

However, the creature's soon captured by local villagers who blame him for reviving the fiend.

We complete the issue with a man who discovers a race of beings that African natives base their wood carvings on. Needless to say, no one believes his unlikely tale.

Not even an expert on Africa who manages to convince him he's imagining things. 

But is that expert all he claims to be?

And is his face made of rubber?

And is it a mask?

I have noticed there is no Jack Russell in this issue. I am probably inconsolable.