January 24th, 1976 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Holy Heliospheres, Batman! It's been an exciting week for all lovers of infamous planets, with the claim that somebody or other's finally discovered the mysterious Planet X that's long been rumoured to orbit the outer fringes of our solar system. This is good news for all fans of Kurrgo, who know him to be ruler of that dread globe.

But what of the heroes of our favourite mags in this week of 1976?

Were they feeling spaced out?

Or were they simply out of this world?

The Lethal Legion might be doing their best to get all the attention but I'm more intrigued by the claim that Dr Strange is meeting the greatest star of all.

Just who could this mystery person be?

Please tell me it's Elvis Presley. The thought of Dr Strange teaming up with Elvis Presley to fight the Chthonic Forces gives me far more pleasure than it every rightly should.

It's that one where Flash's Vietnam experiences come back to haunt him, and Dr Strange somehow gets dragged into it all.

And where Dr Strange is, can Elvis be far behind?

It's a dramatic cover.

But a more militarily-minded man than me might point out that that gorilla's pointing his gun above his intended victim's head, therefore making him yet another of those terrible aimers who seem to exclusively inhabit Planet of the Apes covers.

I'm starting to wonder if there was some sort of rule that they weren't allowed to show someone pointing a gun at someone on a cover and they therefore had to contrive ways to avoid it while still trying to create a sense of impending doom.

Hooray! The Bi-Beast makes his Hulk debut! And what a fab cover that is.

I missed this issue but was fortunately already familiar with him thanks to the book The Horrific World of Monsters which I got one Christmas in the early 1970s.

You can read my thoughts on that mighty tome by clicking on this very link.

Captain Marvel's still making his transformation into the New Captain Marvel.

If you ever had any doubts that Dracula's a cad and a bounder, now you have your proof.

I suspect this may be the first appearance of Thanos in a Marvel UK comic.

Come to think of it, he seems to be holding the Cosmic Cube. Does that mean it's also the first Marvel UK appearance of that object as well?

The Cosmic Cube was always a baffling thing to me. I only found out where it came from a few years ago when I finally got to read the Captain America tale in which it made its debut.

Come to think if it, Modok was a mystery to me too and I only got to find out where he came from at the same time.