My Googling tells me that this was the most interesting thing that happened anywhere in the world on that day, backing up my theory that 1975 was the most unexciting year in human history.
Still, perhaps it doesn't matter. Perhaps we didn't need real world excitement. Perhaps our favourite comic company was about to give us all the excitement we could possibly handle.
I'm getting the feeling that this week's Inhumans tale may pivot around Black Bolt using the devastating power of his voice.
So, that's basically the same as every Inhumans tale I've ever read..
I do believe we're about to get the introduction of naughty old Arkon and his trans-dimensional lightning bolts of mischief.
I do believe this is the first issue of Dracula Lives not to feature Dracula on the cover.
To be honest, I don't know who those other people on the cover are but I assume the bandage-wearer to be the Living Mummy who looks like he might not be living for very much longer.
They're still escaping from the Planet of the Apes.
Marvellous as that all was; being an Erich Von Däniken fan, I did prefer the Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars story which backed up all my theories about the origins of the human race.
I may have since amended my theories about the origins of the human race.
That's the kind of scientist I am.
One who believes everything he reads.
Spider-Man's still messing about in the Hidden Land.
Meanwhile, Iron Man's still discovering that you should never let Happy Hogan go anywhere near a hospital.
The Super-Heroes is still trundling along inoffensively.
I may never have had this issue but I did have a copy of its rather fabby Hulk tale in the 1975 Marvel Annual, so my sense of deprivation is not as great as it might have been.
Even though the Planet of the Apes cover was, again, the least exiting that week, I do like that they had a wide screen plasma tv years before they were available in the shops. Better still they had the dvd of the original film. I didn't buy that Avengers but it was a great cover. I take it they caught Quicksilver and he did stop the world from blowing up? I recall the Inhumans story saw Black Bolt lose his memory and so he was as surprised as the rest of us when he whispered a word and blew up a ship. Perhaps Quicksilver was running to warn him not to visit a Karaoke bar.
ReplyDeleteDW
Erich von Daniken was wrong?!?
ReplyDeleteSo what is your current theory on the origin of the human race then, Steve?
(And, btw, I am impressed you have an umlaut on your keyboard - very cosmopolitan)
Also, I believe its been scientifically proven that 1954 was actually the most boring year of the twentieth century...
-sean
DW, as far as I can remember, they did catch Quicksilver. As far as I can remember, he wasn't really needed to save the world.
ReplyDeleteSean, I read a theory a bit back that we're actually descended from pigs and not apes. That's my kind of theory, one that makes no sense at all.
SteveDoesScience!
ReplyDeleteSteve, I recall reading somewhere about cannibalism that people taste a bit like pork, so maybe theres something to that.
Although it still leaves the question of where pigs come from.
-sean
Sean, my parents were married on New Year's Day 1954 (and then waited for 12 years to have a baby - me) so 1954 is quite important as far as I'm concerned. I think that issue of Dracula Lives was the last one to be called...er, Dracula Lives. From the following week it was called Dracula Lives featuring The Legion of Monsters...
ReplyDeleteThat was the last DL issue I ever read before it merged with POTA. I don't know why it turned up in my weekly order so randomly. It was also the first issue I'd read for nearly a year.
ReplyDeleteThe Werewolf story featured a disfigured sword-and-sandal actor called Atlas with a typical Marvel-horror visage; we're talking Orb- or Mad Jakk- level.
The Mummy villains are the Elementals, who turned up later in the early part of Claremont's Ms. Marvel run. One of their number, Zephyr, is a kind of proto-Storm. IIRC, The Asp, a kind of mercenary-thief, seems to be gay but it's a bit unclear.
It can't be long before Panther's Rage starts in POTA.
The Avengers story is the introduction of Arkon, who's a kind of Conan-figure blended with the Weaponers of Qward.
I have ordered myself another copy of that Marvel annual (Capt. Omen) from ebay.
I remember the Vengeance of She as the Saturday night High Adventure movie. It's rubbish. But the preceding film was shown a week or two later and it's very entertaining (although awfully racist by modern lights
Dougie, I loved Panther's Rage. I think I may have a copy of the first part somewhere. I may see if I can locate it and review it at some point.
ReplyDeleteJI'm looking forward to when SMCW goes into Titans format. I,m petty sure the next spider slayer is still in portrait form but that the Gibbon will be in landscape, so I can narrow it down to a small window.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can' t remember what extra strips I was rewarded with to go with Iron Man and Thor. Was it Doctor Strange? The Invaders? Thing team ups? I'm struggling here.
Keep up the good work Steve - these are great nostalgia joggers.
Thanks, Dangermash.
ReplyDeleteI think the Thing and Dr Strange were the extra strips but I couldn't guarantee it.
Angola and Mozambique gained independence from Portugal, Saigon fell to the NVA, and Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to head Great Britain's Conservative Party.
ReplyDeleteNASA launched Viking I. Bic introduced their first disposable razor.
Saturday Night Live debuted on NBC-TV.
Paul McCartney's band Wings was in its second line-up, whatever that means. Stevie Nicks and her then-boyfriend, whatsisname, joined Fleetwood Mac. Previously, the most successful Fleetwood Mac album sold 250,000 copies. Their first album with Stevie sold over five million. Maybe sheer coincidence.
Movies that year included Jaws, Godfather 2, and The Return of the Pink Panther. Peter Sellers went back to playing Inspector Clouseau after he had several box office bombs and badly needed a hit.
My favorite movie that year was The Wind & the Lion. It was so good, even Candace Bergen could not ruin it for me.
Just to add to the music references made by TC ( Top Cat? ) above, 1975 also brought us Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen, Horses by Patti Smith, Blood On The Tracks by Dylan, Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin and Young Americans by Bowie - '70s classics! Queen were at Number One for a seeming eternity with Bohemian Rhapsody and, to top it all, Typically Tropical's Barbados gave us Brits a taste of paradise - even if it was made by two dodgy blokes from Willesden...
ReplyDeleteDrat, I should have checked before I opened my big mouth (big keyboard ?) - The Legion of Monsters bit is added to the title of Dracula Lives in 3 weeks time, not next week (absolutely nothing changed in the comic anyway apart from the title). But I think Panther's Rage starts in the next issue of POTA. I read the whole of Panther's Rage in a Marvel Essentials tpb in 2012 - I'd forgotten how striking some of the splash pages were. Don't forget that 1975 also saw two #1 hits for the Bay City Rollers, plus Status Quo's only #1 and the classic #1 "If" from Telly Savalas :)
ReplyDeleteAnd 1975 also had the referendum on Britain's membership of the Common Market - very topical. The very first episode of Hancock's Half Hour was broadcast on the radio in 1954 so for that reason alone 1954 can't be the most boring year of the 20th Century :)
ReplyDeleteAngelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Winslett were all born in 1975.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, The Vengeance of She was basically a remake disguised as a sequel.