June 9th, 1976 - 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. 

***

June 9th, 1976, was the end of the world.

Or it was if we believed BBC One.

After all, that was the evening the channel showed Part One of legendary children's drama serial The Changes in which mankind goes insane, destroys all machinery and plunges itself into a brand new Dark Age.

And not only that, on the same evening, the station showed an episode of The Survivors, that nightmare drama series in which a plague wipes out almost all mankind, plunging us into a brand new Dark Age.

With all that calamity, it looks like we'll just have to take refuge in the comforting arms of the pop charts.

And, that week, top spot on the UK Hit parade was seized by none other than the Wurzels with Combine Harvester, their parody of Melanie's Brand New Key.

On the accompanying LP chart, there was no sign of regime change, with the roost still being ruled by ABBA and their Greatest Hits.

With the best will in the world, I couldn't claim Combine Harvester is a timeless classic. However, there were tracks I did approve of on that chart, including:

Fernando - ABBA

Fool to Cry - the Rolling Stones

Arms of Mary - Sutherland Brothers and Quiver

Devil Woman - Cliff Richard

Show Me the Way - Peter Frampton

Jolene - Dolly Parton

Let's Stick Together - Bryan Ferry

S-S-S-Single Bed - Fox

Leader of The Pack {1976} - the Shangri-Las

and 

Could It be Magic? - Donna Summer.

Should one wish to further investigate the matter, that week's official UK singles chart can be found here.

While its parallel album rankings dwell within.

It's exciting times for my 1976 self because, after several months' absence, the Avengers' comic has reappeared in my life, thanks to a stall in Sheffield's indoor Sheaf Market.

But it's bad news for Conan and Red Sonja who find themselves locked in a tower with a pair of sex-starved sorcererous siblings.

In the Arctic Circle, Ronan the Accuser devolves Hank Pym into an apeman. One who's closing in, menacingly, on the unconscious Wasp.

And Shang-Chi and friends continue to be on the island of renowned assassin Mordillo, trying to find his deadly Solar Chute before he can use it on the world.

Ironically, as far as I can remember, that selfsame weapon proves to be the villain's downfall.

But, now, we reach the end of the Hulk's latest epic, as, having been crucified, Adam Warlock returns from the dead, gives his friends a speech about something or other and - as he tends to do - flies off into space, in search of adventure.

Back on Earth, Daredevil's, "Trapped by the Trio of Doom!"

I do believe that trio consists of Mr Hyde, the Cobra and someone else, although my recollection of who that someone else is remains vague.

Regardless, the aforementioned pair rob a museum. An act that's bound to attract the attention of the man without fear.

And, finally, the X-Men are still battling a Grotesk who's now blaming Professor X for the destruction of his underground civilisation.

Time-travelling scientist Derek Zane goes in search of Taylor and his team of missing astronauts, with the help of an ape that bears a remarkable resemblance to Robin Hood.

Ka-Zar continues to encounter a rough-around-the-edges captain who's out for revenge on the river-dwelling dinosaur that cost him an eye and an arm.

Or was it an eye and a leg? I'm struggling to recall.

When it comes to Captain Marvel, new heights of cosmicity are reached when Eon gives the Kree clobberer a potted history of Olympus and the Titans, in order to reveal the origin of Thanos.

Dracula may be dead but it doesn't look like he's going to be lying down for long, as our regular gang of vampire hunters decide they need to resurrect him to help tackle the evil Dr Sun.

And it's bad news for Richard Rory because, in the Man-Thing's strip, the Foolkiller's out to get him.

Presumably, for being a fool.

But a man who's nobody's fool is the Son of Satan. In his debut adventure, Daimon Hellstrom's now travelled to Hell, in a bid to rescue Johnny Blaze and Linda Littletrees from the clutches of Satan!

I have a feeling this is Ross Andru's first issue on Spider-Man, although so dominant is John Romita's inking that it's easy to not notice.

However, it's clear that we're about to be treated to Spidey's victory over the Man-Wolf.

Thor wraps up his first encounter with Dr Doom by telling a treacherous scientist's daughter that the man died a hero's death - even though he did no such thing.

Dr Strange has his work cut out when he discovers Nightmare is interfering with the dreams of Baron Mordo.

And then Eternity shows up in New York!

The Thing and Iron Man must deal with a Prester John sent mad by ownership of the Evil Eye that will later cause the Avengers and Defenders so much trouble.

And, in sensational solo action, Shellhead wraps up his battle with the Controller, by separating his foe from his power source, thanks to the use of a moving train and its uncoupling mechanism.

Marvel UK, there, seriously underestimating the number of super-heroes I can shake my fist at.

Why, I reckon, on a good day, I can shake my fist towards at least thirty-seven super-heroes. And there are nowhere near that many in this issue of The Titans.

However, there is The Thing having trouble with the Skrulls after they've abducted him to take part in their gladiatorial games.

And that leads him to a first encounter with the robot we call Torgo!

Nick Fury and SHIELD are still having trouble with the Overkill Horn.

Namor and Triton succeed in preventing Plantman's giant seaweed monster from destroying Buckingham Palace.

Captain America has his first-ever encounter with MODOK but it looks like our hero may not even have to defeat him, because AIM's own scientists are planning the villain's demise.

And the Ghost Rider must save Roxanne Simpson, before her own father can sacrifice her to the Devil!

Forty years ago today - June 1986.

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

***

Can our collective sanity survive whatever it is Marvel's finest can throw at us, this month?

There's only one way to find out.

Our hero causes nothing but trouble when the clanking clod agrees to put a satellite in orbit.

Only for it to turn out to be the property of AIM who promptly use it to start blasting places to oblivion, using its great big death-ray.

The cover tale's a strange one from Charles Vess. One that's so strange I can't remember much of what it's about but I do believe the wall-crawler must rescue a child from criminals, on a snowy day, while there's some sort of stuff going on with an imaginary Wendigo.

Or maybe it's not imaginary.

Or maybe it is.

However, that's the second of this issue's adventures. I suspect the first one sees Spidey decide to threaten the Kingpin over his destructive interference in the life of Matt Murdock. 

After months of build-up, the unstoppable Imhotep - Ravager of Worlds - finally shows up.

And Conan beats him up, like he beats everybody up.

Drama flows unbounded when Ben Urich writes an exposé of the Kingpin, only for his wife to almost die because of it.

Elsewhere, the star of the comic must tackle one of the Kingpin's goons who's taken to committing crimes while dressed as the man without fear.

It's all slam-bang action when the Avengers battle Kang's lackeys - including suicidal Dire Wraiths - as one Kang plots to destroy all the other Kangs.

The Blue Streak is back with a new costume and equipment. But that doesn't save him from getting offed by the mysterious vigilante Scourge.

For the eighty-five billionth issue running, Doc Samson's battling the mindless Hulk wherever the mindless Hulk might go.

However, Bruce and Betty leave for their honeymoon, with Bruce being misled into thinking everything's all quiet on the Hulk front.

For once, when things keep going wrong for Spider-Man, he doesn't blame the old Parker luck.

Instead, he drops in on Dr Strange who tells him he's suffering from repeated contact with the Black Cat's jinx powers.

So, Strange removes the jinx from Spider-Man - but that eliminates the Black Cat's powers just when she needs them most.

It's an odd turn of events, as the X-Men, busy minding their own business, are attacked by the so-called Freedom Force who are out to arrest them for something or other.

Fortunately, the police come to their rescue and send the bad guys packing.

A front cover homage to Action Comics #1 tells us we're in the past.

But are we going to stay there?

After all, the FF and Nick Fury find themselves repeatedly oscillating between the 1930s and the present.

And Fury takes the opportunity to fly to Germany, in a bid to kill Hitler!

Well, that's a swizz. Last month, Balder was killed by Kurse.

And, this month, it turns out the victim wasn't Balder at all.

It was Malekith!

Disguised as him!

So, Thor sets off to find the real Balder. A quest that leads him to a floating castle and a trio of damsels in distress.

But are those damsels as innocent as they seem?

And just what have they done with Balder?

The Marvel Lucky Bag - June 1976.

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

***

June 1976 saw no shortage of movie releases for us to treasure - and even to watch.

Amongst the most high-profile of them were: Breaking Point, Ode to Billy Joe, The Cars That Ate Paris, Silent Movie, The Food of the Gods, The Big Bus, Logan's Run, Murder by Death, Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, The Omen and The Outlaw Josey Wales.

It was also a month that saw the re-release of A Clockwork Orange, meaning that, now, at last, a whole new audience could discover just what all the fuss was about. 

Of the above-mentioned films, I shall nominate The Big Bus as the Steve Does Comics Movie of the Month, despite not having seen it in at least forty years.

The cover declares this book be a big blazing battle ish and I believe it, even though I don't have a clue what happens in it. 

Well, that's not quite true. I do know Red Wolf shows up. But I only know that because it says so on the big blazing battle cover.

I also know that someone called Madame Menace appears.

I am going to assume she's a bad guy and that she's not related to Madame MacEvil.

But what's this?

"Don't dare peek at our shocking final page!"?

What on Earth could it possibly contain?

And, if I did peek at it, would I ever recover my senses again?

It's that one we all love and cherish, as the Guardians find themselves on an alien world that's evolved to be just like Earth - or, at least, New York City.

And then turns out to be a lunatic asylum.

Oh the bitter satire.

As far as I'm aware, all that unpleasantness with the Magus and Thanos is over, leaving our hero free to blunder into a whole load of other unpleasantness.

One that features the villain we can only know as the Star-Thief!

I must confess I'd totally forgotten Weird Wonder Tales existed but here it is, back again and, seemingly, riding on the Jaws bandwagon when a woman offers a diver $10,000 to kill a shark but he, instead, uncovers a smuggling ring!

Following that, a mysterious package is delivered to the office of the heroine we know as Venus, and she and the delivery man are nearly driven mad by the evil force contained within it!

Finally, an artist finds an alien pencil that makes real whatever he draws. But his selfish use of it soon leads to his loss of it.

All of these tales are, as you may have guessed, reprints and sourced from the 1950s and 1960s.

History is made.

And so is the future.

Jack Kirby brings us his mammoth-sized adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's 2001, via the medium of an 84-page Treasury Edition.

And, not only do we get that, we're also treated to David Anthony Kraft's retrospective upon the film itself.

It's all the dinosaur action we could ever need when the Thing visits the Savage Land, seeking out the source of volcanic eruptions that threaten to destroy the whole world!

This can only lead he and Ka-Zar to the villain called Volcanus!

It's the one we've all been waiting for, when, at last, we're told the origin of Old Skull and of how he first got to meet Killraven!

The cover informs me that I demanded to see Moon Knight in non-stop solo action for the first time.

I must confess I don't remember demanding it but I'm sure Marvel wouldn't lie to me.

Therefore, I shall look forward to it appearing in my local newsagents - and then I can read of how he tries to prevent the Conquer-Lord from assassinating the mayor!

Last month, he got to meet Killraven.

And, this month, thanks to his random time-travelling, Spider-Man gets to meet Deathlok.

June 5th, 1976 - 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. 

***

Will mankind never learn to live in peace?

You know what? It just might.

After all, peace finally prevailed, this week in 1976, when the United Kingdom and Iceland ended the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters, in exchange for defined fishing rights.

And what of the charts? It was a case of some change but No Charge, as J J Barrie (not to be confused with J M Barrie) seized the top of the UK Hit Parade from ABBA, thanks to his tune of that title.

However, the sensational Swedes were still unstoppable atop the corresponding album chart, as their Greatest Hits LP continued to dominate.

Television encountered something memorable, on June the 5th, when BBC One broadcast Steven Spielberg's TV horror movie Something Evil.

I can't help feeling that's quite a vague title. Personally, if I was confronting evil, I'd want a bit more info about the nature of it.

Regardless, the tale involved a family moving to a lonely farmhouse and, before you knew it, there were malevolent spirits everywhere.

That would be enough to put any man into a spin.

But you know what else was getting us in a spin?

That's right.

The Spider-Man Web Spinner. For that was the item being heavily touted on the front covers of this week's UK Marvel books.

And my razor-sharp senses tell me it was no lesser object than a frisbee!

Frisbees? Truly, summer was well and truly here.

Excitement abounds when Red Sonja again brings her bikini to the pages of Conan, thanks to an adventure called The Tower of Blood in which a brother and sister pair of sorcerers have lusty designs on the duo.

Following that, unless I miss my guess, this issue launches the story in which our heroes must battle the Sentry in the Antarctic, as Ronan sets out to devolve us all to the status of amoebae.

And Shang-Chi and friends continue to be on the island of Mordillo the assassin - with Leiko trapped inside a giant hour-glass!

From that cover, I get the feeling Adam Warlock's about to make a sensational comeback.

Elsewhere, Daredevil's busy invading Crime-Wave's illegal gambling ship. But the villain's already in the process of trying to blackmail Debbie Harris into betraying Foggy Nelson.

The X-Men remain in conflict with Grotesk who's out for revenge against the human race.

And, in a separate tale, we get to see Cyclops and Professor X in action before the formation of the X-Men, when they encounter a hard-fisted villain called Jack O'Diamonds.

Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe deliver a sequel to Kingdom on an Island on the Planet of the Apes. A fact which I have no doubt means we're about to get lots of action involving knights in armour. Not to mention, it seems, from that cover, quarterstaff action

And Ka-Zar's about to get a dose of the Moby Dicks when he encounters a man determined to inflict vengeance upon a river-dwelling dinosaur that cost him an eye and an arm.

But what's this?

Captain Marvel?

Returning to the comic that first introduced him to the British public before he departed for the pages of The Titans?

Indeed he is. For whatever reason, his strip's been moved back to this mag and does so in style, as Drax the Destroyer takes on Thanos, and Mar-Vell heads towards getting himself a brand new set of abilities.

Again.

And we complete the issue with the 1955 Jay Scott Pike short Which Wish, Dish? in which a woman's wish to be a queen is granted.

Only for that queen to turn out to be Marie Antoinette!

Hold on a minute.

That cover's screaming at me that this book is about to get a million times better!

But, first, with Dracula dead, the military descend upon the city of Boston, in an attempt to stop Dr Sun but, instead, they find themselves under his mental control!

And then it's the moment we've all been waiting for, as the Son of Satan replaces Ghost Rider in this book!

And with what style he does so, as Herb Trimpe gives us a tale packed with white-knuckled melodrama, as Daimon Hellstrom sets off in search of his father and the captive Johnny Blaze.

And it's not just the Son of Satan who's making his debut, this week. So is the Foolkiller, thanks to his arrival in the Man-Thing's strip, and an encounter with the motorbike gang that's been causing trouble of late.

You have to hand it to John Jameson. There aren't many werewolves could pull off bright yellow but, somehow, he can.

And it all happens when a piece of moon rock he brought back to Earth inflicts a terrible fate upon him whenever the moon is full.

Meanwhile, Thor's got problems in Latveria. He's turned back to Don Blake and can't get to his hammer because Dr Doom's surrounded it with a forcefield!

I do believe Dr Strange and Clea manage to defeat both Umar and Dormammu, with aid from Mother Earth.

And Iron Man has his work cut out for him. Not only is the Controller too powerful for him to stop but, now, the villain has only gone and loaded his Absorbatron onto a train that's headed for New York City!

Meanwhile, the Thing and the Golem must join forces to stop the devious plans of a man called Kaballa.

I think we know what Jack Kirby was watching on TV when he drew this latest FF adventure which sees the Thing abducted by Skrulls who've created a planet modelled on the activities of Chicago gangsters. 

I suppose we should be glad he wasn't watching Spock's Brain. A remote-controlled Reed Richards, with Sue Storm trying to do a brain transplant on him, doesn't bear thinking about.

Following that, Captain America's invading the lair of AIM, in a bid to rescue Sharon Carter from their clutches.

But has he counted on the presence of their mysterious leader, a being called MODOK?

The Sub-Mariner must fight a giant coral monster created by Plantman when the villain tries to trash London.

Johnny Blaze discovers Roxanne Simpson's gone missing - but doesn't yet know she's in the hands of Satan's disciples.

And Nick Fury's worried that a thing called the Overkill Horn might find its way into the hands of the bad guys.

Call me overly-negative but I'm going to assume that that's exactly what will happen.

Fifty years ago today - June 1976.

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

***

I'm going to see if I can launch straight into this, without an intro.

But, hold on. That was an intro.

And so is this.

And so is this.

What's up with me? I can't stop introducing things!!!

Unless my senses betray me, the Avengers have found themselves in a strange and alternate dimension. One which needs saving from a threat involving the Sub-Mariner's old enemy the Serpent Crown.

But who on Earth is the man in the yellow, doing the talking? I assume he's the Squadron Supreme's version of Hawkman but I have no recollection of him.

Also, where's their version of Hawkgirl?

Conan having a tangle with the man whose name he shall inherit.

A man who bears strong resemblance to both Tarzan and Ka-Zar.

But, before he can do that, he, Amra and Bêlit are going to have to defeat an army of underground goblins!

As far as I can make out, Cap and the Falc endeavour to track down the creator of the Madbombs.

But to add complexity to it all, our hero's developing a romantic attachment to the villain's seriously ill daughter.

I detect human drama incoming.

Not to mention a good dose of self-sacrifice by at least one of the characters.

I like that lettering at the bottom of the cover. It reminds me of those multi-coloured Polo mint things I've mentioned before but can never remember the name of, even though people keep telling me their name.

But I do suspect that one of the Torpedoes on that cover is, in fact, the Chameleon who DD and the real Torpedo are both out to get.

Hooray! It's the debut of Gorr! Which means our next encounter with the High Evolutionary can't be far away!

But, first, the Fantastic Four are going to have to burst into action when the glowing golden gorilla lands on our world, in a ship from Counter-Earth, and proceeds to go on the rampage and grow to huge size.

It's time for a celebration, as the Hulk's mag hits its 200th issue!

And I'm going to guess it's the one in which a dramatically shrunk-down Hulk's implanted into Glenn Talbot's brain. Inside of which, he fights imaginary versions of his old enemies.

I'm no doctor but I can't help feeling that can't be good for Talbot's brain.

The Blizzard is in this one.

That is all I know.

And that it's brought to us by the power-packed pairing of Bill Mantlo and George Tuska.

Spider-Man has problems with a Dr Octopus keen on revitalising his romance with Aunt May!

But that might be the least of Webhead's woes because I also believe this is the one in which Hammerhead returns as a ghost!

Not that the criminal's current state will matter much. I bet that Spider-Man still keeps trying to punch him in the head instead of the stomach.

I possess no knowledge of what happens in this one but I'm going to suggest the cover implies it may have a bit of a Jack and the Beanstalk vibe to it.

I must confess I was always on the side of the giant in that fairy tale, even though he kept saying he wanted to eat Englishmen.

Regardless, it would seem this issue introduces us to Brodag, Holvar and Cosak.

Not that I have a clue who they are.

We've got Sentinels! We've got outer space! And we've got Dave Cockrum! How could anyone not love the X-Men in this period?

It seems Stephen Lang may not. After all, the gang must assault his orbiting space station, in a bid to rescue their colleagues from he and his allies.

Those allies being the original X-Men!

Phantom Stranger #41. A Time For Endings.

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

***

 Phantom Stranger Quote of the Day:

"Men call me the Phantom Stranger and say that I have seen the beginning of this World. Perhaps they are right... ...for each man's world begins with his memory, and ends at the furthest borders of his dreams!"

Everyone knows how much I love the Phantom Stranger. His capacity for strangening phantomly, when I was a child, set him apart from all other heroes and bestowed upon him a wisdom at which the rest of us can only marvel.

But, oddly, it seems not everyone loved him as much as I did.

And so it was that, after just 41 issues, his comic came to an end.

But, having never read it before, what do I make of that end?

And will the presence of Deadman affect my perception of it?

It all begins when, during a presumably typical day at the Sanders School for the Blind, two of its teachers Cassandra Craft and Adam Shapiro go to the assistance of fellow blind person Nathan Seine - only for him to capture Cassandra and knock out Shapiro.

For this is no ordinary blind man. This is no less than the villain from Phantom Stranger #35. The one who tried to revive his dead wife by draining the protagonist's lifeforce into her.

Needless to say, that bid failed and, now, Seine's out for revenge against the titfer-topped tormentor of tyrants, terrors and troublemakers. And he's going to get it by sacrificing Cassandra to his masters the Nether Gods.

But it turns out they don't want her. They want the Phantom Stranger.

Taking advantage of the fact that she's still alive, Cassandra sends a psychic message to the Stranger who's stood around, arguing with Deadman. The Stranger knows that saving Cassandra's bacon is more important even than arguing with a ghost and instantly teleports off to save her.

But the Nether Gods have granted Seine the power to kill our hero and it looks like it's all up for the plucky man of mystery, until, as a last resort, he summons Deadman who takes one look at the situation and possesses the unconscious Shapiro.

Not that that does him much good because Seine promptly kills Shapiro.

But that's all our the Stranger needs. Now he can channel, into Seine, Deadman's pain at the knowledge that he caused Shapiro's death. And that pain robs the villain of his powers before he's taken away by the Nether Gods who don't take kindly to failure.

But not everyone on Team Good Guy is happy either because Deadman's angry about the death of Shapiro and his own part in it.

Not that he can do anything about it because, clearly tired of the conversation, the Stranger teleports away to wherever it is he teleports away to whenever he teleports away.

And that's how the Phantom Stranger's series ends. Not with a bang but with a disappearing act.

It would be nice to say it's a great finale to a great series but the truth is it all feels very rushed, with the story and its characters possessing no time to breathe.

It's nice to see Cassandra Craft and Nathan Seine return from previous issues but I'm not so sure it's nice to see Deadman again. A man who's always seemed, to me, to be a one-note character in the few appearances I've experienced. Not to mention that his constant complaining quickly starts to feel like a contractual obligation, rather than forming organically.

Fred Carrillo's art does its job and sporadically carries echoes of both Gerry Talaoc and Alex Niño but it's mostly routine in comparison to the work of those two. While Paul Levitz's dialogue feels clumsy and ineffectual.

But if little in the story itself satisfies me, at least the issue does boast that mean, moody and magnificent Jim Aparo cover to remind us of the strip's glory days.

But have I fallen into a trap? Is it possible that it was always the covers alone that had lent the book the air of it being a title experiencing its glory days?