January 12th, 1977 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

On this day in 1977, BBC Two was spoiling us all by showing  the legendary ratings smash Trade Union Studies at peak viewing time.

Elsewhere, BBC One was showing that episode of The Goodies where they decide to make millions from selling string.

But it has to be said that even this was overshadowed by one event - because, as Colin Jones has pointed out to me, on the 10th of this month, ITV showed the first episode of Children of the Stones and, suddenly, even Trade Union Studies seemed dull and mundane in comparison.

I re-watched Children of the Stones, on YouTube, a couple of years ago and it still has a certain appeal even when you're grown up and it's no longer 1977. Needless to say, it gets the Steve Does Comics thumbs-up, along with its spiritual brothers Escape Into Night and Timeslip. 

But what of Marvel UK? Could it rise to meet such a challenge head-on?

Children of the Stones may have got its power from Avebury but Captain Britain got his powers from Stonehenge. That raises the obvious question; "Which is best? Stonehenge or Avebury?" Don't forget to vote in our exclusive poll at the top of this page.

Meanwhile, that's a very Ross Andruesque villain, even though the cover's not drawn by him.

But how exactly did Captain Britain's parents die? I can't remember ever reading anything that touched upon the subject.

Of course, this has now led me to try and think of super-heroes who have two living parents. Needless to say, I'm struggling to come up with any names.

Is this first issue of Sal Buscema's lengthy run on the Hulk? I have a strong feeling it might be.

I seem to recall the Locust having a somewhat over-inflated opinion of his prowess and not exactly being a major challenge for the Hulk.

I could be wrong but I have a suspicion this cover is for the Longest Hundred Yards tale that, only weeks earlier, had appeared in that year's Spider-Man Annual. The irony being that the scene depicted on this cover was excised from that annual in order to make the story fit the available page count.

I seem to recall the advertised cut-out model being a rooftop backdrop upon which we could add cut-outs of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. I remember getting great pleasure from assembling it at the time - and also from shooting the Green Goblin off of those rooftops, with my Dinky Toys UFO Interceptor. All of this raises the obvious question; "Why has there never been a Spider-Man/UFO crossover? Why?"

Battle and Beneath both rumble along.

But the exciting news is that we get the backdrop to our Apes cut-out, which, in this case, depicts the Statue of Liberty lying around on the beach.

But what of Captain Britain and Mighty World of Marvel? If Super Spider-Man and Planet of the Apes published cut-outs this week, does that mean those two other mags did likewise?

And, if so, what did those cut-outs depict?