Fifty years ago this month - July 1964.

Well, smack me in the face with a halibut. What a few days it's been.

There's been thrills and spills in the World Cup.

There's been the musical majesty of Glastonbury.

And there's been whatever it is that's been happening at Wimbledon.

But all of it pales into insignificance when compared to the following post.

Because it's time to find out what our favourite Marvel heroes were up to exactly fifty years ago.

The Avengers are up to their necks, is what they're up to, as the original Masters of Evil make their senses-shattering debut.

I do notice there doesn't seem to be anyone for the Wasp and Rick Jones to fight. Presumably, they have to spend the issue just hanging around trying to look dynamic. Much like how, whenever I played football as a child, no one would ever pass the ball to me and so I took to standing there immobile, in a dramatic pose, for ninety minutes, as though I was going to do something spectacular, even though the whole world knew I wasn't.

I discovered there and then that you can achieve a surprising amount in life just by looking like you're going to do something.

It's the FF vs the X-Men, as the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master are back to cause more mayhem.

I always had a soft spot for the Mad Thinker's android, although I could never work out how he could see where he was going or what he actually did inbetween appearances in comics.

Perhaps he just used to hang around with Dragon Man, who I always saw as being a kindred spirit to him.

Thor's still having far more trouble with the Cobra and Mr Hyde than he should be doing.

The Green Goblin makes his debut.

While - still roaming the world in search of a comic he can star in - the jade juggernaut makes his return.

"Dr Doom does not appear in this story!" There's a sales pitch if ever I saw one, as the Human Torch battles three former FF foes that everyone probably hoped would remain former foes.

Iron Man's still up against the Mandarin.

Is this the one where Iron Man manages to whip out a slide-rule and work out the precise angle of attack of a Mandarin karate blow - while the blow's actually being delivered?

Just how slow are the Mandarin's karate blows, that you have time to mess about with a slide-rule while you're waiting for them to arrive? Wouldn't it have been quicker for Iron Man to simply step out of the way? Or maybe he could just have whipped out his mobile phone and texted for advice on how to deal with the blow.

More to the point, is this the one where Mandy reveals he got his deadly rings from the spaceship of a dead space dragon? I did always feel disappointed by that explanation, as it portrayed him as someone who got lucky rather than being a criminal genius.

Giant-Man's up against Spidey.

Frankly, I don't fancy his chances.

The Sub-Mariner joins the evil mutants. Presumably, the fact they call themselves, "Evil," doesn't suggest to him that this might not be the best idea he's ever had.

More to the point, given his normal state of randyness, will Subby be able to get through the story without trying to run off with either Marvel Girl, the Scarlet Witch or both of them?