Wednesday 5 August 2015

Fifty years ago today - August 1965.

Hold on to your sink plungers, sci-fi fans, because in this month of 1965, Peter Cushing's Dr Who and the Daleks movie was released to a rapt nation. Has there ever been a more important event in the history of mankind?

No there hasn't.

Never before or since had Roy Castle, lava lamps and unfamiliar jazz music been used to such terrifying effect.

But what were our favourite Marvel heroes up to in the face of such competition?

There's only one way to find out.

Avengers #19, Swordsman

The Swordsman makes his flat-of-the-blade swinging debut.

Poor old Swordsie. If only he'd known how completely and totally wrong for him everything was going to go for him from this moment on.

Daredevil #9, Wally Wood

Matt Murdock decides to get eye surgery and gets more than he bargained for.

Fantastic Four #41

I'm trying to recall if this is the first time the Thing's turned against the FF since that early Dr Doom tale where he decided he was Blackbeard and wanted to devote his life to being a pirate.

Journey Into Mystery # 119, Thor vs the Destroyer

Thor's still having trouble with the Destroyer.

I think this might be the first ever time we got to see Odin in his jim-jams.

Amazing Spider-Man #27, the Green Goblin

I do think this tale deserves the award for having the worst title ever for a Spider-Man story.

Strange Tales #135, Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD

After years of clinging on by a thread, the Human Torch and the Thing finally lose their slot in Strange Tales, as that dastardly Nick Fury grabs it for himself.

It has always seemed to me that SHIELD and Dr Strange were very ill-matched bedfellows to have in one comic.

Tales of Suspense #68, Iron Man and Captain America

I suspect Captain America may still be up against the Red Skull and his tank-disintegrating ray.

I suspect the Iron Man tale is the one where he comes up against a bunch of invading Moon men just as his ne'er-do-well cousin is trying to fake an invasion by Moon men. Oh the bitter irony.

Tales To Astonish #70, Hulk and Sub-Mariner

Clearly something was in the air at Marvel Towers this month. Just as the Torch and Thing are banished from Strange Tales, Hank Pym is dumped from Tales to Astonish and replaced by the Sub-Mariner.

Something that strikes me is that both this tale and the SHIELD tale from this month were reprinted in issue #1 of Marvel UK's Titans mag.

Coincidence?

Or all part of a strange plan beyond our comprehension?

7 comments:

Comicsfan said...

I couldn't be more in agreement with you on that Goblin title!

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why the movie version of Doctor Who was so different from the TV version - the Doctor is now a doddery human inventor...WTF ??? Why change something that had been so successful on TV ???

Steve W. said...

It's nice to know I'm not alone, Comicsfan.

Colin, I've always assumed they had half an eye on the American market and felt it simplified things for a new audience if the film just said he was an eccentric inventor. Admittedly, I could be wrong and they could have had a totally different reason for doing it.

Joe S. Walker said...

Roy Castle and jazz music? Sure you're not thinking of Dr Terror's House Of Horrors, which was also made by Amicus in 1965?

Steve W. said...

I'm definitely thinking of the Doctor Who movie, Joe. Clearly Roy's jazz tentacles could envelope anything he touched.

Joe S. Walker said...

In Dr Terror's House Of Horrors he played a jazz trumpeter who steals the music of voodoo. One of my favourite films, and it's coming to blu-ray soon!

B Smith said...

"the movie version of Doctor Who was so different from the TV version - the Doctor is now a doddery human inventor..."

At the time this movie came out, that's about what he was on the TV, albeit slightly more mysterious - the whole thing about him being a Time Lord etc didn't come about till some years later (at the end of The War Games story IIRC).