How wrong they were - because, on this day in 1976, BBC One was showing Carry On Jack and the Wurzels were reigning supreme at Number Three on the singles chart, with I Am A Cider Drinker.
But what of our favourite comics company?
Could they possibly match such high-faluting offerings?
And would they even try?
John Romita's short run on the Fantastic Four reaches its dramatic conclusion.
But, looking at these covers over the months, and reading the blurbs at the top of them, has made me realise just how frequent it was for Captain America to come up against the Red Skull in this era.
At times, he must have just sat there, on the end of his bed, head in hands, wondering, "When will I get someone else to fight? When?"
Hooray! The Kree/Skrull War makes its way to the Great Refuge and, I believe, we're given the reason why Maximus went mad.
Needless to say, my sympathy was all with Maximus.
This was mostly because he was wearing a flamboyant shirt at the time but also because, being evil beyond words, as I am, I can spot a kindred spirit from a hundred miles away.
It does strike me that, for a man who was sworn to never speak, Black Bolt seemed to do a remarkable amount of vocalising. In fact, it was virtually a miracle if he managed to get through five pages without letting rip.
I assume the cover relates to the comic's reprinting of the original Planet of the Apes adaptation.
Oddly, I have no memory at all of the mag having committed such a heinous act, even though, at the time, it must have felt like a bit of a swizz to be given it once again.
I can only assume that Marvel UK was running out of Planet of the Apes material once more.
Clearly, they should have shown some sense and redrawn Skull the Slayer stories as Apeslayer tales. Did these people have no idea as to how to put a comic together?
Oh dear. Loki's seized control of Asgard for the millionth time. You'd have thought that, by now, everyone in that place would be on the look-out for him.
But what's the promised second Spider-Man feature? Is it a Marvel Team-Up tale?
If so, is it the one that features Spidey and the Human Torch battling Morbius?
This is when Marvel TeamUp started being reprinted in SSMatSH. In the US, Spidey and the Torch teamed up in MTU issues 1, 2 and 3. Issue 1 (vs Sandman) had been reprinted in one of those huge "holiday grab bag" issues - I'm sure you know what I mean. My guess is that this issue of SSMatSH features MTU #2, Spidey & Torch vs Frightful Four but that MTU #3 (Spidey & Torch vs Morbius) will follow afterwards. MTU 4 (Spidey & XMen vs Morbius) has already been reprinted, when SSMatSH first went into landscape format. I had a moan in your comments page about all the flashbacks in that tale to the MTU#3 story that hadn't,t been published in the UK.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I probably said a couple of weeks ago, I think another new strip was introduced at the same time as MTU. I think it may be Invaders, giving us Spidey, Thor, Iron Man, Invaders, MTU and Thing? Can't wait for the next comic merger and a certain team to move into this comic.
Loki keeps taking over Asgard because Odin keeps taking naps all the time!
ReplyDeleteYes, the fabled "Odin-sleep" may not be interrupted, even if Mangog is trying to yank out the Odinsword and destroy the universe.
Odin likes to take a good long snooze from time to time, and what man dare say him nay?
M.P.
The POTA cover wasn't anything to do with the reprinted film adaptation - it refers to part 3 of a story reprinted from POTA #85-86 so both apes stories were reprints, now that was definitely a swizz. But I didn't mind the film adaptation being reprinted as I'd missed POTA #1-4 and #8. Captain America was soon to meet the Red Skull yet again when Cap guest-starred in Captain Britain #16-27 - in a tedious story that seemed to drag on longer than World War II itself, the one where Skully tries to create the 4th Reich and kidnaps the Prime Minister, yawn. Am I the only one who prefers "I Am A Cider Drinker" to "Combine Harvester" ? OK, just me then :D
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Romita FFs although it was sad that Crystal departed. You had to feel sorry for Johnny Storm. He meets the girl of his dreams only to be separated by an impenetrable negative zone. She finally breaks, they're reunited, only to find out that she's allergic to the whole world. He decides to leave his family to live in her home land only to find she's shacked up with Quicksilver.
ReplyDeleteDW
Colin and Dangermash, thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteDW, I can't help feeling the Torch would have been better off if he'd had the sense to stick with Dorrie Evans.
MP, you do wonder why the Asgardians didn't just bump off Odin in his sleep and replace him with someone less annoying.