August 13th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 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 1980 wasn't an exciting one. In fact, the most thrilling thing that happened was the opening of the Tyne and Wear Metro system, which I'm sure left the people of that area awestruck but wasn't quite such a big event for those of us who lived too far away to be able to use it.

I shall, therefore, leap straight into my look at what thrills Marvel UK was serving up in that period.

And the first thing that strikes me is it was only serving up three-quarters of the thrills it had previously been doing.

That's because Doctor Who Weekly had bitten the dust.

But fear not. It wasn't because the Daleks had somehow managed to exterminate it. It was because it had now been upgraded to a full-blown monthly magazine.

Unless I miss my ever-loving guess, the Incredible Hulk is about to find himself facing the power of It! The Living Colossus, thanks to a bitter sandwich board man called Aloysius Vault.

And, judging by that cover, we're also getting the story in which Spider-Man discovers the Black Cat has a shrine devoted to him. So, nothing weird going on there, then.

I would not presume to guess what this week's She-Hulk, Fantastic Four and Spider-Woman tales are about.

The adaptation of the series' second movie continues at its own leisurely pace.

And it would appear we get our first glimpse of Boba Fett, a character who made no impression at all on me when I first saw the film, to such a degree that, before I finally gained access to the internet, I didn't even know he was a big thing.

We get a one-off story called The Destiny of the Dinosaurs.

I'm unclear what their destiny is but I suspect it won't be good news for some poor soul.

We get more from Gullivar Jones, as our hero and Chak the pterodactyl man do their best to survive while on their way to rescuing the necessary princess.

Finally, we get a Lee/Heck Tale of the Watcher in which a boy finds a teleport device that sends him to a parallel world where he meets alternate reality versions of his own family.

Nick Fury and his men are sat in a London pub, waiting for their only English member Pinky to show up.

But little do they know he's been captured by German spies!

Needless to say, Pinky's doing everything he can to escape, in order to ensure his colleagues don't fall victim to the same spies.

That is where my knowledge of this week's contents begins and ends.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1980.

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

***

Have you ever felt some jobs in your life are just too big to accomplish?

Then feel sorry for the crew of The Deepquest because in this month, exactly 40 years ago, they were set the task of lifting an ocean liner from the very bed of the sea!

That's right. It was the month in which Raise the Titanic, the film that all but sank the British film industry, was released...

...and then did about as well as the boat that had inspired it.

Famously, this was the movie of which producer Lew Grade once lamented, "It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic."

But it wasn't the only film released that month because August 1980 also saw the unleashing of The Final Countdown and, Steve Does Comics' favourite, Xanadu.

Oddity of the month - assuming you don't think Xanadu deserved that title - was a film called I Go Pogo which was, it seems, based on a cartoon strip I've never heard of. The internet tells me the strip ran from 1948 to 1975 and its main character was an opossum. It seems it won awards, so, it is clear I've missed out on a valuable piece of culture.

Hold on to your hats because the Shogun Warriors tangle with the Fantastic Four!

Just how large a scale this fight is, I couldn't say but, given the size of at least one of the participants, I would assume the scale's quite large.

As well as that, the Grand Comics Database informs me that Genji Odashu, in Combatra, leads the way to Ilongo Savage's Oceanography Research Centre.

And, you know what? Not one word of that plot summary meant a thing to me.

Because you The Reader demanded it, the book's been cancelled!

Which is disappointing, seeing how successful the original comic was.

I can only put it down to the magazine format, rather than the allure or lack of it of the good count himself.

Still, at least Marvel get to bill it as the, "Special Last Issue!" which, I'm sure, convinced people to rush out and buy it in a fever of excitement.

As so often, Dracula's tale is drawn by Gene Colan although, this time, Dave Simons gets to be inker and Jim Shooter gets to do the writing.

We also get a back-up tale called Violets for a Vampire, drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Hooray! At last, Dr Doom gets to be a hero!

Although, I'm sure the people of Latveria have always viewed him as a hero. After all, as we were regularly told by them in our days of yore, Latveria has been a prosperous land since Doom became ruler.

Apparently, in this tale, he doesn't have the accident which turned him evil.

I would assume, judging by the cover, that he also has a triumphant battle with Mephisto.

We get issue #1 of a summer special starring Marvel's two most TV-friendly characters.

I wish I could give huge amounts of detail about what happens in this one but I really don't have a clue.

I do know that, once again, Jim Shooter's the writer.

It doesn't seem to be much of a summer special, as it only has 20 pages, making it something that sounds suspiciously like a regular comic.

Spider-Woman's being controlled by the Enforcer - and only Spider-Man can stop her!

I've no doubt he does just that and the pair of them then team-up to thwart whatever the Enforcer's terrible plan is.

Apparently, Ernie Chan shows up as a guest character in this issue.

Ernie Chan also happens to have done the breakdowns for it.

I suspect these two facts are related.

At last, after all these years, we get to see Wonder Man in solo action.

It would appear our hero's up against the Maggia in this tale - and that Madame Masque is also mixed up in it.

It's the meeting we've all been crying out for, as Spider-Man teams up with Howard the Duck.

Every single element of this comic, from the writing, all the way through to the lettering, was done by Alan Kupperberg. I don't think I've ever read a Marvel comic in which every role in the creative process was filled by one person.

The villain of the tale is Status Quo.

I am assuming that's not the band of the same name.

The Spectacular Spider-Man gets its second-ever annual, and it's all-new thrills, as Spidey finds himself up against the Rapier.

I'm not sure how a man with a sword is going to cause too many problems for Spider-Man but, then again, Silvermane and the Maggia are also involved, so Webhead may have more of a fight on his hands than is immediately apparent.

It seems this tale was originally produced as part of a Coca-Cola promotion that fell through.

Exactly what that Coca-Cola promotion involved, I could not say.

I can say that, at first glance, the Rapier looks more like a Daredevil villain than a Spider-Man one.

Forty years ago today - August 1980.

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

***

With Britain hit by a heatwave, there's only one thing for it.

And that's to take refuge in the coolest books Marvel Comics had to offer, way back in 1980.

Red Ronin's gone on the rampage and Ms Marvel's still pregnant.

These two facts are unrelated.

But can our heroes bring down a robot designed to stop Godzilla himself?

And will Carol Danvers ever be able to work out who the father of her child is?

When Conan's current sidekick gets injured, the barbarian has to call on the help of a local witch but, when it turns out a demon's after her son, Conan can't resist returning the favour, by thwarting that vile denizen of another world.

SHIELD and Cap are baffled as to the origins of the Baron Struckerbot they were trying to interrogate last issue.

But we're not baffled, because we know it was Machinesmith wot dun it.

And now he's decided to set Dragon Man on the star-spangled superman.

Could our hero finally be out of his depth?

At the North Pole, the Fantastic Four battle to prevent a group of hostile aliens destroying the planet!

Except it turns out they're not hostile. They're just trying to get their spaceship working, so they can leave, and are totally oblivious to the risk they're posing to the locals.

It all ends happily when the FF help them launch their spaceship, thanks to Reed Richards having more scientific know-how than they do.

How, exactly, does Reed Richards have more scientific know-how than aliens from outer space?

The Silver Surfer's still mithering about not being able to get through Galactus' space barrier and comes to the totally rational conclusion that all he has to do is turn himself gamma-powered, so he'll get stronger and be able to smash through it.

So, of course, he ropes in Bruce Banner to help him do the deed.

Needless to say, it's a terrible idea, the Surfer goes on the rampage and then has to return to Earth to save Bruce's life, after the scientist falls off the back of his surfboard.

And it could all have been avoided if the Surfer had anything that resembles foresight.

Here's an oddity. Mesmero's gone straight and now has a gig as a stage hypnotist.

On the lookout for a box office boost, he hires Spider-Man as his stage assistant but, when the show gets terrible reviews, the malevolent mesmerist can't resist setting out to kill the critics.

And, of course, Spidey sets out to stop him.

The Vulture's still out to take over the gangs of New York but, thanks to the webbed wonder, it all goes wrong and his nephew gets killed, causing the villain to seek revenge upon his killer.

Siegfried is told he has to tackle the dragon Fafnir, in order to learn the meaning of fear, the one trait he lacks that all great warriors must possess.

There's also a magic ring involved but I struggle to recall in what way.

Hooray! The X-Men finally stop the rampage of the Dark Phoenix and restore Jean Grey to normal!

Not so hooray; her planet-destroying antics have attracted the attention of three galactic empires who want her dead.

If I remember right, a saboteur has struck at an oil rig, requiring the attention of both Tony Stark and Iron Man.

Meanwhile, a friend of Tony Stark's girlfriend has now been beaten close to death.

What can it all mean - and how are these events interconnected?

Frankly, I don't have a clue but I'm sure we're going to find out.

August 6th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

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

***

Who takes it all?

The winner takes it all.

And I know that because ABBA told me so.

They told me so, this week in 1980, when the Swedish supergroup hit the pinnacle of the UK singles chart, with the song of that title.

It brought to an end a period of two years in which, despite a zillion near-misses, they'd failed to hit Number One, and gave them the eighth of their nine British chart-toppers.

But, on the country's LP listings, far noisier fare held sway, as AC/DC's Back in Black knocked Deepest Purple off the Number One spot. It is strange how Heavy Metal never gets any mention in TV retrospectives of the British music scene in this era, even though it sold in massive quantities.

Jarella's back and it would appear to be causing no end of consternation to the Avengers.

The original X-Men find themselves up against the Living Monolith - who's so much more dangerous than The Dead Monolith - thanks to the pencil of Neal Adams.

And, in the Champions, we get to meet the man who created the Black Widow.

I have a feeling that he dies not too long after we meet him.

My knowledge of this week's issue's somewhat incomplete but I do know the Fourth Doctor's still up against the menace that is Dragon's Claw.

There's also an article about The Green Death, the Third Doctor serial which made us discover the true horror of giant maggots.

We get more of the Daleks' adventures as they attempt to conquer the universe.

We get a Silver-Age Marvel twist-in-the-tale reprint of the kind we've grown used to, but I don't know which one.

We get the, no doubt, enlightening feature Fantastic Facts.

Just how fantastic those facts are, I could not say.

And we finish with Business as Usual, a strip in which a man called Max Fischer is trying to flee the Autons. And it appears that, when they've done with him, they'll have their sights set on Earth!

Meteor Man is back - and grown too big for even the new Giant-Man to stop!

The Micronauts find themselves in a story which guest-stars the Fantastic Four.

Dracula's in a strop and wants his vampire powers back, necessitating a return to Transylvania where he finds himself besieged, not only by his human enemies but also his former undead lackeys.

Is this the end for the quarrelsome count?

Elsewhere, Ghost Rider finds himself in a punch-up with Satan - and comes to realise the lord of Hell may not actually own his soul, after all.

Here's a book worth having. Not only do we get the tale in which a bitter scientist body-swaps with Ben Grimm but then learns the error of his ways but we also get the Fantastic Four's first-ever encounter with the Black Panther. 

And then we get the one-off tale in which, way back in prehistory, the Kree's Sentry goes for a walk, to check-up on our planet's progress and teaches us the true origin of the Inhumans.

My info on this one's limited but I do know Conan finds himself and a friend trapped on a big rock, under siege from a group of Arabs.

Judging by the cover, this leads to him being menaced by a giant in a cave. He really does have to be the unluckiest man alive.

Then again, Red Sonja's not that much luckier, because, in her strip, she's got to sort out a bear god.

The only thing I know about this book's contents is they feature Spider-Man and Hawkeye in a tale written by Len Wein and drawn by Sal Buscema.

Obviously, robots are involved.

The cover told me that.

I know nothing of this issue but the cover asks me, "Can an English ghost in a German's body turn the tide of the war?" and that has to be a good enough reason to buy any book.

Luke's getting training from Yoda, while Darth has a Zoom meeting with the emperor.

Meanwhile, Han and the gang find themselves in a strange cave...

Gullivar Jones is hanging around with Chak the pterodactyl man, and learning a thing or two about the history of Mars.

Elsewhere, in Monsters of the Cosmos, mankind must face the threat of Gargantus.

And, in Tales of the Watcher, a thief steals a robot and uses its awesome power, to rob banks, before holing up in a cave and ordering it let no one pass through its entrance.

It's only later that he discovers that that means it won't let him leave it!

For me, this book's contents are a mystery wrapped inside a riddle placed inside an enigma but it all looks very hedonistic.

Bruce Banner's attempts to rid himself of the Hulk, via psychological means, succeed only in unleashing an insane Hulk upon the world.

Luke Cage finds himself up against the deadly servants of a mystery villain.

I have a suspicion that villain is Dr Doom but I could be wrong about that.

And the X-Men must tangle with the Guardian of the Crystal in what, I think, is John Byrne's first issue on the strip.

I do remember that Starburst seemed to have a strange fascination with Caroline Munro. I can't imagine why.

And so it is that she makes the cover, not for the first or last time in her career.

Even more sexily, we get an article about Stingray!

And, of course, there's more Star Wars related goodness because where would Starburst be without it?

The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1970.

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

***

August 1970 was a quiet month in the world of cinema but it did see the release of a Japanese film entitled Space Amoeba. I refuse to believe there's a single person alive who wouldn't want to see a film called Space Amoeba.

Amazingly, it featured giant monsters running rampant upon the planet Earth. Who would ever have expected such a thing from a Japanese movie?

Anyway, it all sounds mind-bogglingly dramatic but, over in the UK, the singles chart was proving to be anything but that, as Elvis Presley's The Wonder of You managed to spend the entire month at Number One, seeing-off challenges from the likes of Lola and Tears of a Clown.

Things were a little bit livelier on the LP chart, as August kicked off with the seemingly inevitable Bridge over Troubled Water at Number One before it was displaced by the Moody Blues' A Question of Balance featuring the smash-hit single Question.

We get the launch of a brave new comic, as the Inhumans and Black Widow each land a brand new series of their own.

I'm pretty sure the Inhumans tale is the Jack Kirby authored one in which the Himalayan hide-and-seekers are tricked, by Maximus, into thinking the Fantastic Four have launched a missile attack upon their kingdom.

I've read the Black Widow story but have no memory of what happens in it, other than that it's drawn by John Buscema, so, at least we know it's bound to look good.

And we get the launch another new comic, as Ka-Zar and Dr Doom are granted their own strips.

In the first tale, Kraven, tired of being beaten-up by Spider-Man, decides to have a change, by getting himself beaten-up by Ka-Zar.

It's another tale drawn by Jack Kirby. He may have been about to leave the company but you'd never have known it from the amount of material he was getting published by them.

In the second tale, Doom, for reasons I can't remember, decides to make a copy of himself, which, inevitably, turns against him. Possibly, he wants to transplant his brain into it, so he'll look pretty again.

Meanwhile, the people of Latveria are revolting...

Apart from the thrill of seeing Doom in action, the main attraction of this tale is, of course, that it's beautifully drawn by Wally Wood.

It's another first-issue spectacular, as Iron Man finally gets an annual of his very own. It does seem surprising that it took him this long to manage it.

As far as I can make out, it's made up entirely of reprints.

First, we get Shellhead's original encounter with the Titanium Man. A battle which leaves Happy Hogan close to death.

Then we get the story which alternates between Gene Colan and Jack Kirby on pencils, as Warlord Krang's attempts to impress Lady Dorma lead to a battle between Iron Man and Subby.

Despite what the cover may imply, at no point does Iron Man have to tackle Titanium Man and the Sub-Mariner at the same time.

And we get the launch of yet another new comic!

But this is an odd one. Not only has Ka-Zar landed his own strip in Amazing Adventures, this month, but he also gets his own book, on top of that.

What lay behind Marvel's sudden burst of enthusiasm for the character, I have no idea.

The book's opener is a reprint of the jungle lord's first Silver Age appearance, in the pages of X-Men #10. 

We then get a short Hercules story. Exactly what happens in it, I cannot say but the Avengers and Ares are, somehow, involved.

And we finish off with the Gene Colan drawn Daredevil tale in which Ka-Zar's back in England and has been framed for murder, by the Plunderer.

Good gravy! Now even the Outlaw Kid has his own comic!

Not that I have a clue who the Outlaw Kid is but it means Marvel now has six Western titles in its ranks, suggesting the genre must be a strong seller for the company, even though we all associate this era, for it, with super-heroes.

Regardless, this issue seems to be made up entirely of reprints from 1950s books.

Eco-Warrior Prince Namor decides to join a protest to protect Central Park from destruction at the hands of a hard-hearted tycoon.

Inevitably, it's not long before the ruler of Atlantis finds himself having to tackle that tycoon's latest instrument of environmental destruction, the giant digger known as Brutivac.

Fortunately, the tycoon's son's on hand to make the ruthless businessman see the error of his ways, in a manner we've seen about a million times before in Marvel comics from this era.

Strike a light, it's the launch of yet another new book!

And it's yet more cowboy capers, as a whole bunch of six-shooting heroes get a run-out, some in brand new tales and some in reprints from the 1960s.

Fifty years ago this month - August 1970.

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

***

If there's one thing we won't be doing this year, it's going to festivals.

However, there were no such concerns in 1970, and so it was that this month of that year saw the Isle of Wight Festival attract 600,000 people to East Afton Farm. Wikipedia tells me it was the largest festival of all time but it's Wikipedia, so I can't guarantee it's true.

What I can guarantee is the artists present included Jimi Hendrix, the Who, the Doors, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull.

One man who wasn't present was England national football team captain Bobby Moore. He was in Colombia, under arrest, accused of stealing a bracelet during World Cup preparations.

Happily, he was soon cleared of the charges which were claimed, by some, to be a blatant attempt to sabotage the England team's chances.

The Lethal Legion, otherwise known as, "That bunch of losers who can't get anywhere on their own," unveil their plot to destroy the world's mightest super-team.

To be honest, I can't recall what the plot is but I'm sure it'll be infinitely diabolical.

Is this the story in which the Grim Reaper first discovers the Vision is his, "Brother?"

Cap visits small-town America and instantly finds himself up against the Hell's Angels.

Except Marvel can't bring itself to call them that and, instead, they're referred to as Satan's Angels which I'm sure will keep the Hell's Angels' lawyers happy.

Do the Hell's Angels have lawyers? That doesn't seem a very Hell's Angels thing to have.

My memories of this one are a little vague but I do believe Stilt-Man gatecrashes some sort of TV show that Daredevil and Karen Page are appearing on, and the Stunt-Master's mixed up in it all, somehow.

The Mafia decides to invade the Baxter Building, put the Fantastic Four in crates and sling them in the river.

Except, of course, the same Marvel legal titan who gave us, "Satan's Angels," also gives us, "The Maggia."

I do believe this is Jack Kirby's last full FF tale.

Bruce Banner decides to recruit an old science friend to help him escape his Gamma Ray curse.

Needless to say, it all goes wrong and, instead, our hero finds himself being chased around the country by the Hulk, after the experiment manages to split them into two separate beings.

The Controller's back, in a tale I've no recollection of whatsoever.

But I have always liked the villain. He has a nasty streak that appeals to me.

Peter Parker gets the flu and the resulting fever prompts him to turn up at Gwen's 18th birthday party and tell the guests that he's Spider-Man.

Fortunately, once he's regained his senses, he has the initiative to get Hobie Brown to appear, dressed as Spider-Man, to convince everyone Peter can't really be the web-slinger.

This subterfuge seems to fool everyone present but is Captain Stacey really taken in...?

Neal Adams draws his first-ever Thor cover but the innards are still the work of Jack Kirby, as Loki body-swaps with his nemesis.

I say he body-swaps but, as far as I can remember, in this segment, it's just depicted as a face-swap.

However, in the later, Neal Adams drawn installments of this tale, it seems to be a full body-swap.

But I do have to say that's not the greatest cover Neal has ever done.

July 30th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

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

***

This very afternoon, in 1980, a veritable clash of the titans reached the starting line, as Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett launched themselves into the first round of the Moscow Olympics' 1500 metres contest. The whole nation waited with bated breath to discover which of these record-pummelling giants of putting one foot in front of the other would prove himself supreme.

Obviously, the nation would have to wait a bit longer because this was just the first round.

It may not have been clear which of that pair ruled the middle-distance roost but it was certain who ruled the vinyl roost.

And that was Deep Purple whose best-of compilation Deepest Purple now sat atop the UK album chart.

Meanwhile, Odyssey's Use it up and Wear it Out retained the prime spot on the UK singles chart, that it had claimed the week before.

We get more of the Fourth Doctor strip Dragon's Claw.

And we get yet more of the Daleks vs the Monstrons.

We also experience a Lee/Lieber/Heck masterpiece in which a scientist uses the time machine he's invented to go back to Ancient Egypt and discover where a pharaoh's treasure's buried - only to find himself entombed with the treasure!

Quite why a man who can invent a time machine needs to worry about making money is beyond me. Surely, a man of his genius is capable of making a fortune from his inventions?

And we finish with a two-part Alan Moore tale called Business as Usual.

Spidey's up against a thing called Meteor Madness.

I'm guessing this is the one where he teams up with the new Giant-Man, AKA Black Goliath, to thwart the return of Meteor Man. I couldn't say that for certain, though.

I can say for certain that the Hulk's up against the might of Jack Frost.

To be honest, the cover blurb, "Hulk fights the ice statues," doesn't exactly set my pulse racing. I mean, they're made of ice. They have to be the weakest opponents he's ever come up against.

Feel more concern for the She-Hulk, however. She's up against a violent robot that people keep mistaking for her.

Spider-Woman, meanwhile, is now in America and on the trail of Brother Grimm.

And, in The Defenders, Bruce Banner has to perform an emergency medical procedure on Subby, Nighthawk and Hellcat.

I think this may be the one in which that Russian bloke turns himself and the Red Guardian into god-like beings.

Nick Fury's trying to do a rescue mission in France - but is hindered by a medic who's determined to retrieve his dropped medical kit, no matter the risk.

That is all I know of this issue's contents but it would seem we also get the start of a colour strip called I Was Adolf's Double.

Of that strip, I know nothing.

And I know almost as nothing about this week's Empire Strikes Back Weekly.

Obviously, I know the adaptation of the movie continues at its own leisurely pace but the events of the back-up strips are unknown to me.

I would assume Gullivar Jones is still on Mars and the Watcher's still telling us tales designed to keep our minds ethical and our actions responsible.