Forty years ago today - June 1973.

It's certainly exciting times for all flag-wavers, with it being the 60th anniversary of the Queen first getting herself crowned.

But Steve Does Comics cares little for that. It's more concerned with what the kings and queens of Marvel Comics were up to forty years ago.

Hooray! The Lion-God shows up.

Forget the likes of Thor. If I was going to be a god, the Lion-God would be the one.

Then again, judging by the way Mantis defeats him in a later story, he does seem particularly dim.

I've never read this story and therefore don't have a clue what happens. I'm going to guess there might be a sorcerer, some treasure and some magic. There's probably a wench in need of rescuing. The word, "Crom!" may be uttered at some point and Conan may be out to steal something.

What would a Marvel hero be without regularly doubting his sanity?

DD hits the big ton.

Looking at the cover, I don't have a clue what's going on in this one.

Still, it's got Medusa and it's got the Dragon Man, so it clearly has something going for it.

Hooray! It's Captain Omen and his undersea kingdom!

How well I recall this tale from The Mighty World of Marvel Annual 1975 - and its splatterific ending.

Iron Man finds himself in a grave situation.

Who can it be?

Who can it be who's going to die?

My money's on Randy Robertson.

It did always seem unlikely, when I first read this tale as a kid, that the whole of Asgard, including Odin, could be captured by a bunch of ants with ray guns.

For that matter, ants with ray guns never really felt like they belonged in the same universe as Asgard.

Hooray! My favourite subterranean's back.