June 23rd & 26th, 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. 

***

We're all wallowing in the highs and lows of the World Cup, right now, as our favourite countries battle it out to become champions of the globe.

But, this week in 1976, it was the European Championship that was on our minds. And its final was won by Czechoslovakia who beat West Germany 5–3 on penalties after the game ended 2–2.

This, of course, means the final was contested by two nations that no longer exist. Has that happened before or since in a major championship?

I cannot say.

Things were clearly looking up for those two countries but, in the land we know as Canada, the entire population was looking up, as the planet's tallest free-standing man-made structure, Toronto's CN Tower, opened its doors to the public.

Rising almost as high as that was the good old-fashioned British thermometer.

And that's because June 26th saw the UK heatwave hit 95 °F (35 °C).

Hot stuff indeed.

But what about other hot stuff?

The red hot hits on the red hot singles chart?

That week saw the Wurzels lose their Number One spot to the Real Thing and their latest platter You to Me Are Everything.

My main memory of the Real Thing is that their lead singer seemed to win Crufts every year and, thus, made a, presumably, goodly sum of money from advertising dog food.

Over on the accompanying album chart, there was no change, with ABBA's Greatest Hits retaining the pole position it had held for several weeks now.

Judging by that cover, Quicksilver's awesome tactic of defeating giant robots by bouncing off them and then landing on his backside proves somewhat futile, as the early stages of the Kree/Skrull War rumble on.

He should try that tactic he used against the Sentinels. The one that involved him running face-first into a wall and nearly killing himself in the process.

Granted, it wasn't the most repeatable of tactics but it did actually work.

And he found a wife because of it.

Someone else who might be on his way to finding a wife is the Vision who, while held captive by Ronan the Accuser, confesses his love to the Scarlet Witch!

When it comes to Conan, he and Red Sonja continue to be trapped in a tower with a brother and sister pair of sorcerers who want to have their wicked way with them.

However, the dashing duo do finally escape and the Sonj bashes our hero over the back of the head, with a rock, before riding off on a horse.

Shang-Chi, meanwhile, encounters a bunch of characters who are half-human and half-animal and being kept in cages, for reasons that elude me.

As we can see, the Thing's still fighting Torgo.

But he might not have to for much longer, as the rest of the Fantastic Four are on their way to liberate him from the clutches of gangster-inspired skrulls.

I can only hope they know the rules of fizzbin.

The Ghost Rider must contend with the menace of Snake Dance but it may all end badly for him because Sam Silvercloud's only gone and sabotaged his motorbike!

And there's bad news for Nick Fury. He's been captured by Hydra who want to use the Overkill Horn to detonate all the world's nuclear weapons!

Beneath the waves, Prince Namor must battle Attuma again. 

But, this time, the villain's wearing electrically-charged armour!

Bearing in mind that he's under water, I'm not sure that's a good idea.

On dry land, Steve Rogers has quit his role as Captain America and revealed his true identity to the whole wide world.

Needless to say, this is a terrible idea and it's not long before people are trying to replace him, kill him or lure him out of retirement.

It's the, "Long-awaited merger of Marvel's mightiest mags!" declares the cover.

But awaited by whom? I can't remember ever awaiting it.

In fact, it seems hard to believe that anyone was demanding a merger of Dracula Lives and Planet of the Apes. I can only assume I'm out of touch with the younger generation.

But what do we get in this new, improved comic?

We find Jason and Alexander still on the Planet of the Apes and encountering a thing called The Traveling Progress Show.

The Man-Thing's still having to put up with the antics of the Foolkiller - raising the obvious question of whether there's ever been a more annoying villain than that madman.

Dracula takes part in A Halloween Holocaust!! having been revived by his enemies to take on the menace of Dr Sun.

And Ka-Zar takes part in a yarn titled Terror of the Waves! which I think may be a tale of vengeance of the kind the Savage Land seemed to specialise in.

That's a better-drawn cover than we're used to from Mighty World of Marvel. Apparently, it's by Keith Pollard, which may well explain it.

I'm sure we all know Bruce Banner's sheltering in a remote mining town but things head south quickly when he discovers that local hero the Missing Link is becoming ever more radioactive and could explode at any inconvenient moment!

I suspect the Daredevil tale may contain Nighthawk's second Marvel UK appearance when the man without fear is quickly upstaged by the Batman-a-likes crime-thwarting antics.

But is the new hero in town the man he makes himself out to be?

Or is he only in it for the money?

The X-Men, meanwhile, attend Professor X's funeral and are surprised when Quicksilver shows up.

Here's a strange thing.

For some reason, while all other Marvel UK mags for this week have a cover date of June 23rd, Spidey's book boasts one for the 26th.

But things are about to get even stranger in Spider-Town when Mary Jane witnesses a murder and our hero comes up against a man pretending to be the Vulture.

I seem to recall that, not long after this tale, we get an impostor show up, pretending to be Mysterio.

And then Harry Osborn becomes a fake Green Goblin.

We can only conclude that writer Gerry Conway had a thing for ersatz super-villains.

Elsewhere, Iron Man's still fighting the Night Phantom.

And, then, we can only gasp as Power Man and the Thing encounter a scientist who must confess that I Created Braggadoom! The Mountain That Walked Like A Man!

Thor's still out to reach the bottom of the mystery over just who Infinity is and how he can have so much power.

And poor old Dr Strange must confront alternate versions of himself at the Dance of the Red Death.

Speak Your Brain! Part 127. Your Mount Rushmore of heroes!

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

A wise man once said, "Silence is golden."

Admittedly, he wasn't being silent when he said it.

Such is the nightmare hypocrisy of mankind.

But there is a place in which silence is most definitely not golden.

And that is Speak Your Brain. The only feature on the internet [citation needed] in which you The Reader get to decide the topic of the day.

Bearing that in mind, make full use of that awesome responsibility and be sure to use the comments section below to register the subject matter of which you wish to speak.

2000 AD - May 1988.

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

***

Politics will always be with us.

And it sometimes seems like some politicians will be too. For instance, May 1988 saw François Mitterrand, having already spent seven years as President of France, manage to get himself re-elected for another seven!

But some things were coming to an end. One of them being that, after more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army began its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In other matters Soviet, the Moscow Summit involving Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev saw the finalisation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which made us slightly less likely to be annihilated.

And cinema? That magical place in whose bosom we can always escape the vicissitudes of reality? 

Unleashed upon the silver screen, that May, were such never-to-be-forgotten dramas as Dead Heat, Friday the 13th Part VII, Maniac Cop, Not of This Earth, Aria, Willow, Crocodile Dundee II, Rambo III and Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

How many of those have I seen? I think I've seen Maniac Cop, Willow and Crocodile Dundee II. I wish I could claim that any of them are timeless classics but I'm not totally convinced they are. I shall, therefore, have to go for Crocodile Dundee II as the Steve Does Comics Film of the Month.

And the galaxy's greatest comic?

It continued to provide us with The Journal of Luke Kirby, Judge Dredd, A.B.C. Warriors, Rogue Trooper and Strontium Dog.

However, some change was present, thanks to Prog 576's Return of Bad Company.

June 16th, 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. 

***

Come! Let us fling ourselves into the thing they call Yesteryear!

"Barbarism beyond belief!" claims the cover, clearly underestimating just how much barbarism I can believe in.

But this is the last issue I ever owned of Marvel UK's Avengers - and not too far off being the last issue ever published, as Conan and the Sonj find themselves prisoners of a pair of pervy sorcerers who live in a tower and can't wait to get their oats. All depicted by John Buscema and the Crusty Bunkers.

In a far colder clime, the Avengers find themselves confronting a Ronan the Accuser who's not only turned Hank Pym into a caveman but also managed to brainwash Goliath into helping the Kree Sentry battle the team.

And it seems Shang-Chi is caught up in The Night of the Ninjas!

This is it. The arrival of a tale mankind shall never forget!

Or at least it'll never forget the title because it's the debut of the yarn known as The Magick-Man's Last Gasp Purple Light Show.

And that means the return of Jason and Alexander. Not to mention Brutus.

Meanwhile, in the present, Ka-Zar's up to something or other. Possibly in his Conanesque phase.

And I do believe this is the issue in which Captain Marvel acquires his Cosmic Awareness, whatever that is.

But, hold on. If he has it, does that mean Rick Jones has it too?

Can it be?

Can Dracula have finally met his Waterloo?

Yes, it can.

But it's not the incorrigible Dr Sun to blame.

It's that far greater menace the world knows as "Circulation Decline." Which is ironic, as Dracula, presumably, doesn't even have any circulation.

Anyway, this is it. The last issue of Marvel UK's Dracula Lives. Next week, it shall survive only as a lodger in the company's Planet of the Apes mag.

However, there is one last hurrah for the lord of the vampires before he makes that manoeuvre, as Quincy Harker and friends resurrect him to defeat the aforementioned evil brain.

And, then, the Foolkiller thrills us all by revealing his origin, before deciding, rather foolishly, to take on the Man-Thing.

But here's a nightmare for us all. While Drac and Manny may be making the move to Planet of the Apes, the Son of Satan's making no such transfer.

And that's bad news because, this week, we receive the first part of his second adventure. The one in which we discover his origin and see just how he stole Satan's trident. But the book's cancellation means we shall never get to see the second part of that tale. Infernal curses indeed.

It's good news for all lovers of Antipodean antagonism when the kicking, clobbering, cobbering Kangaroo returns to use his awesome power of jumping about a bit, against Spider-Man.

You've got to hand it to him. He may be useless but he's an optimist.

Although I seem to remember his optimism not saving him from being incinerated at the end of this tale.

Then, we encounter The World Beyond! An episode which, I believe, sees the launch of an epic drama in which the mysterious Infinity gets to menace the universe. So great is his power that Odin himself sets off to tackle the fiend.

But will he ever return?

Following that, I do believe the Thing and Iron Man conclude their battle with an out-of-control Prester John.

But poor old Dr Strange. He doesn't have to worry about Infinity but he does have to worry about Eternity!

It's true. The galaxy-packed galoot appears above New York City and announces the end of the world!

And Iron Man has a new foe to survive when he confronts the might of the Night Phantom!

Hooray! The Missing Link is back!

A monster I've always had a soft spot for. Mostly because he's easy to draw.

Anyway, back on Earth, following his recent adventure on Counter-Earth, Bruce Banner finds himself befriended by a small mining town but soon discovers that one of its inhabitants is very large and pink...

When it comes to the X-Men, shock follows shock, as we're treated to The Death of Professor X. A man who's died more times than I've had hot dinners.

And that's at least five times.

It all happens when Grotesk decides to activate his earthquake generator.

That's followed by Part Two of the tale in which Cyclops and Professor X must tackle the Living Diamond. An event that leads to Scott agreeing to join the newly formed X-Men.

Elsewhere, Daredevil must tackle Mr Hyde, the Cobra and Jester in an abandoned theme park.

Hooray! Torgo makes his debut!

But that may not be good news for the Thing who must fight him to the death, to please the Skrulls.

But what's this? The other members of the Fantastic Four have found a Skrull spaceship and are on their way to rescue their orange colleague?

Back on Earth, the Ghost Rider's fighting Crash Simpson, in a bid to save Roxanne Simpson's life. 

Below the sea, the people of Atlantis have to endure another attack by Attuma, as they seek a new place to live.

Jim Steranko arrives on Nick Fury's strip, as the tussle for control of the Overkill Horn continues.

And the reader will, no doubt, be shocked, as, following a date with Sharon Carter, Captain America makes the bold decision to retire from crime-fighting!

Speak Your Brain! Part 126. The life and works of George Perez.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Hark!

What is that sound?

Why, I do believe it's the sound of flags, cheering and booing.

It can only mean the World Cup of football is well and truly upon us.

But even more upon us is the return of a feature of such world class that it's practically been declared an event of protected national importance!

It's the no-holds-barred return of the feature in which you The Reader get to decide what is to be the day's topic of debate.

That topic may be that very World Cup itself or it could be something so unrelated to it that the human mind itself will have to bend itself back upon itself to achieve the necessary directional change. 

That is entirely up to you.

Therefore, feel free to get in there while the iron is hot and launch that topic. And we shall see just what is unleashed upon us all.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - June 1986.

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

***

I often profess ignorance of most of the movies I mention in my posts but, June 1986 was replete with films of which even I've heard.

It was, when all's said and done, a month that unfurled such cinematic delights as Invaders from Mars, My Little Pony, SpaceCamp, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Belizaire the Cajun, The Manhattan Project, Mona Lisa, Legal Eagles, The Karate Kid Part II, Labyrinth and Ruthless People.

The problem is I don't remember liking any of them. Therefore, it's a struggle to nominate my Steve Does Comics Film of the Month but, if pressed, I shall go for Ruthless People.

The Enchantress turns up in the book dedicated to Marvel's least likely married couple but, not having read this one, I cannot say what she's up to.

I'm going to assume, though, that she will try and make the Vision do her bidding, as that is her usual modus operandi when dealing with men.

But will her powers work on an android?

And, also, will the Executioner show up in his usual huff?

The star-spangled superstar lands himself his eighth annual.

But can he manage to survive it, seeing as he must endure an encounter with Wolverine?

It would appear that someone called the Overrider gains control of a robot created, by the American government, to eliminate super-soldiers.

Given their back-stories, this does sound like the sort of thing that both Captain America and Wolverine would take an interest in.

And the New Mutants too have an annual of their very own.

In this one, a legend is born when Mojo kidnaps Betsy Braddock. A circumstance that leads to her gaining new eyes and the name Psylocke!

In other news, the New Mutants meet Captain Britain, while someone called Cypher merges with Warlock.

That's the robot Warlock. Not Adam Warlock.

Not to be outdone by Cap and the New Mutants, the one and only Spider-Man gets another annual and I have no idea what happens in it, other than that it's forty pages long, is called Ace II and is the brainchild of Peter David and Mark Beachum.

But forget about annuals. Who needs those when a brand new comic hits our lives and features a brand new heroine in the form of Dakota North?

With a name and a front cover like that, I was assuming she'd be a Howard Chaykin creation but it seems she's brought to us - in a tale called Design for Dying - by Martha Thomases and Tony Salmons

All I know beyond that is she is, allegedly, based on Emma Peel and that her comic will survive for just five issues.

Moonshadow hits its eighth issue, with a cover by Jon J Muth and interiors by Jon J Muth.

Not to mention it possessing a J M DeMatteis script titled Candles.

Of course, if he'd had any class, he'd have called it Four Candles.

Regardless, do I know what it involves?

No, I don't.

And let us end with the Avengers' 15th annual. One in which the eastern and western teams take each other on in a baseball game!

Unfortunately for them - but, possibly fortunately for anyone who doesn't like baseball - they're attacked by Freedom Force who intend to arrest them - just as they've also attempted to arrest the X-Men, this month.

Freedom Force are victorious and take their captives to a place called the Vault where they're to be tried for treason, thanks to the testimony of one of their own former members!

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!