Forty Years ago today - July 1974.

Zut alors, mes amis! What an exciting day it's been here in my native Sheffield, with the Tour de France arriving in town. Local alpacas were painted with pink spots, the Arts Tower was recoloured bright yellow and the normally humble Jenkin Road was suddenly talked about as though the stuff of legends.

But were things equally exciting for our favourite Marvel heroes exactly forty years ago this month?

Were they riding on a wave of Triumph?

Did they go behind, only to manage a late Raleigh?

Were they caught in an endless cycle of violence?

Or were they just feeling a little tyred?

Only a journey on my Mysterious Bicyclette of Time can tell us.

The Avengers take a break from the Celestial Madonna Saga, in order to come up against Thanos.

You do wonder if Conan ever wishes he could just have a nice quiet day for once.

Cap is still having conspiratorial problems.

Shanna the She-Devil takes the Black Widow's slot on the masthead. Does this mean there were plans for her to take that place permanently? If so, it seems the idea was quickly dropped, as Natasha was back the very next issue.

I am slightly baffled as to why the Silver Samurai thinks the sky is his element. Since when is dangling from a ladder with one hand and and both feet occupied  hanging on for dear life a good thing for a swordsman?

The Frightful Four are back - and out to cause trouble, with the aid of Thundra.

Is that a Rich Buckler cover I detect?

The Hulk gets caught up in the Warlock saga.

After umpteen years, it finally occurs to someone at Marvel to give Spidey a foe called the Tarantula.

Not that I'm slow on the uptake but it'd never struck me before now just how much the cover to Spectacular Spider-Man #1 owed to this image.

Firelord shows up.

And we all know what that means...