May 15th, 1976 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

It was an exciting evening for us all last night, with the UK sweeping to victory in this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Admittedly, the UK in question was Ukraine but I like to think the only reason for that was because the people of Europe got confused by the similarity in names and didn't vote for the entry they intended to.

Of course, we never had that problem way back in 1976, when Eastern and Western Europe had the sense to not be on speaking terms and the Brotherhood of Man could therefore sing their way to triumph with stunning ease.

But what else was going on in this week of that year? Were the heroes of UK Marvel hitting the high notes?

Or were they just sinking horrifically down the scoreboard of life, like poor old Joe and Jake?

There are a remarkable number of Avengers covers from this era that show our heroes staring into things, at action that's going on elsewhere.

For that matter, they often seem to be looking into the past, mostly at Conan, or into the future, at robots. All I can say is it's about time they stole Dr Doom's time machine, so they can actually interfere in all these events.

Having said that, the Avengers are being strangely pessimistic here, bearing in mind that the Panther's clearly winning his fight - not losing it, as they seem to think he is.

Interesting to see that this is a special bombastic action issue. This leads me to announce that this post is a special bombastic action post.

And also an ordeal.

Holy bombastic bombasms! It's the issue where Gwen Stacy snuffs it!

Happily, I missed this tale at the time and only got to read the death of Gwen Stacy several decades later, when my mind was strong enough to take it.

I like to think I'm not giving away any spoilers by saying that Gwen Stacy dies. To be honest, I don't know what the statute of limitations is for spoilers.

 What a rather lovely cover.

I do believe the Hulk is still on Counter-Earth and still fighting the minions of the Man-Beast.

Interesting to see that this is a special all-action issue. Now I'm starting to wonder if I made the right decision in making this a special bombastic action post, when I could have made it a special all-action post.

The FF are still trying to escape Latveria.

How did Latveria do in Eurovision last night? I don't recall Graham Norton saying. I hope the BBC aren't censoring their coverage. I hear that Dr Doom's power ballad about the unpleasantness of blowing your face off in forbidden experiments was quite spectacular.

This can't be a good sign for Dracula. When you're reduced to secondary-feature status on the front of your own comic, it could be taken by some as a warning that that comic's days are numbered.

I do like the depiction of Satan on the cover. It's thoroughly in line with how he was drawn in his first appearance in the Son of Satan. As that tale was my first introduction to Marvel's take on the character, this fact gives me great pleasure.