The most forgettable comics I have ever owned - Part 20: The Human Fly #7.

One of the seminal activities of my youth was watching The World of Sport every Saturday, which, when it wasn't giving us clinically obese men, in overly tight trunks, falling over on top of  each other in Preston Guild Hall, in the name of wrestling, would often give us sporting events from around the globe.

Thus would we get such sights as hawk-flying from the Middle East, elephant polo from India, alpaca shearing from South America and a whole plethora of other events unlikely to ever be staged in our own back yards.

From America, we'd get the esteemed sports of  tree felling, fence painting  and suicidal recklessness. The suicidal recklessness usually involved men in outlandish clothing leaping over things.

Obviously, the most famous of these daredevils was Evel Knievel who mostly made it onto British television by nearly killing himself on what seemed like a regular basis.

But there was another man who strived to make a crust from dangerous stunts - and that man was the Human Fly.

To say the Human Fly was a man of mystery would be an understatement. I can only recall him ever appearing once on British TV and that was when he was standing on top of an airborne Jumbo Jet in order to prove a point whose purpose not altogether unevaded me.

Who was the Human Fly?

What was his true identity?

If World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies was to be believed, that was the greatest secret on the planet. One that could only be revealed if he was ever defeated in combat. Obviously, by that, I mean if the Human Fly was defeated in combat, not if Dickie Davies was defeated in combat. I happen to have faith that no man could defeat Dickie Davies in combat.

But. Oh. No. Hold on. I'm thinking of the wrong man. The being-defeated-in-combat thing was about Kendo Nagasaki, the enigmatic, master-of-the-martial-arts, wrestler from the Far East who, upon being unmasked, turned out to be a man called Peter from Stoke-on-Trent.

Nonetheless, the Human Fly's secret identity was seemingly just as guarded.

Given that we were allowed to know nothing about him, and that he seemed to have no powers other than standing on top of things, he seemed a strange candidate to get his own comic but, with the abandon that distinguished Marvel in the 1970s, he did indeed get his own mag. And, Reader, I had one issue of that book.

I think it was the one pictured at the start of this post but I'm not sure. So memorable was his mag that I can't even be sure which issue it was that I had. However, that bear looks familiar, so I'm guessing it's this one.

Sadly, I can find no panels from any issue of his comic online, apart from one of him lounging around playing a guitar - in full costume - so I can reveal nothing about his adventures or how Marvel managed to make a hero of him.

Sadly, and possibly predictably, the anthropomorphic insectoid's comic only lasted nineteen issues before being swatted flat by poor sales, which suggests the public at large failed to take to the strip. But, at least before he went, he had the honour of teaming up with Ghost Rider in one adventure.

Bafflingly, he doesn't seem to have ever teamed up with Spider-Man, despite the obviousness of such a move. Perhaps the fact that the webbed wall-crawler already had an enemy of that name who was famous for appearing in Hostess ads was deemed to be too potentially confusing for readers?

It does strike me that, in being cynical about his book, I'm being somewhat unfair to the man. For all I know, he may well be the greatest stunt man who ever lived and also a thoroughly marvellous human being. I just wish I could recall his comic well enough to pass judgement.

The most forgettable comics I have ever owned - Part 19: Werewolf by Night #28.

As all regular readers know, the only reason for this blog to exist is so I can declare that I don't remember things.

And that can only mean that it's time to once more plunge into the Vale of Forgetfulness and revive the feature that tries to elevate ignorance into an art form.

It does strike me that, when I was young, I must have really really really loved Werewolf by Night, as I seem to have had zillions and zillions of issues of the thing.

This is odd, as my recollection of that time is that I didn't particularly like it. The werewolf seemed to be neither use nor ornament and seemed to have pitiful fighting skills for a lycanthrope.

Then again, I didn't particularly like Superman and I had great piles of comics featuring him as well. Undoubtedly the past is a strange and mysterious place.

Did I like the issue to the left of this very post?

I don't have a clue, as I don't recall anything about it. In fact, as with all the comics I've covered in this feature over the years, if I hadn't once accidentally blundered across the cover on the internet, I'd have been blissfully unaware that the issue had ever existed, let alone passed through my hands.

Who was Doctor Glitternight and what was he about? Beats me. I do know he sounds like someone who couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to be in a Pub Rock band or a Glam Rock outfit and, so, ended up sounding like someone unnecessarily fond of Prog. For that matter, was Doctor Glitternight his real name and, if so, just where did he get his doctorate?

According to the internet, he was some sort of ancient being from another dimension, who practised necromancy and turned Jack Russell's sister into a blue werewolf demon thing. I do vaguely recall the blue werewolf demon thing - and far preferred her to the werewolf who was supposed to be the star of the comic - but all memory of her mystical creator still eludes me.

Anyway, what really matters about him is that he enabled Gil Kane to produce a truly striking cover. Only a lunatic would be fail to be impressed by the work Kane put into drawing all those bat things and by the elegance of the picture's composition. It's also nice to see the blonde from the covers of all those Conan mags putting in a guest appearance. She really was the hardest working woman in comics.

As part of my in-depth research for this post, I've done a Google search for images from this issue - in the hope that they'd jog my memory - and haven't found a single panel from it, which suggests that I'm not the only one who's forgotten its existence.

I can only assume it must be down to whatever magical powers it is that Doctor Glitternight possesses that so little trace can be found off him in the murky realm that mortal men call the World Wide Web. Truly his abilities are awesome.

July 27th, 1977 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

In this week of 1977, Donna Summer was at Number One on the UK singles chart, with I Feel Love. I don't really have any great comment to make about this fact but, given the record's significance in the fields of both Disco and Synth-Pop, it seems like the sort of fact whose existence should be acknowledged.

But there are other things that should also be acknowledged.

Things with fists and tight clothing.

Those things are super-heroes.

And here's where we prove it.

Al Milgrom gives us a noticeably Steve Ditkoesque cover, as the Light-Master makes his dazzling debut.

I don't know too much about the Light-Master. In fact, I know nothing but I'd like to think he's related to the View-Master.

Granted, he probably isn't, as the View-Master was an inanimate object for watching slides in 3D and the Light-Master would appear not to be. Still, one can always dream.

Apparently, Captain Britain is this week fighting, "The Monster From The Murk." I have no idea at all what that means, as I don't recall him ever fighting any such beast. I mostly remember him fighting giant vampire bats in this stage of his career but that could simply be me misremembering his later adventures.

The FF are still battling the Mole Man, in a story that seems determined to outlast the Hundred Years War.

Elsewhere, the Defenders and Avengers are still fighting each other via the medium of Thor and the Hulk. I believe this is the issue in which the two teams finally realise they need to unite against a common foe.

Crypto-Man is still causing trouble for our hero, and Dracula is still doing things with Satanists.

I believe this may be the issue in which Jarella pops her clogs. I must confess that I don't remember being as moved by the death of Jarella as I was by the death of Gwen Stacy.

I genuinely believe it was because Gwen Stacy wore an Alice band. Somehow, death seems more tragic if you're wearing an Alice band.

Speaking of untimely demises, just five more weeks to go before this comic becomes as deceased as Jarella. I have no doubt that Nick will indeed be furious.

Flo Steinberg RIP, plus the SDCC Thor, JLA and Inhumans trailers (Potential Spoilers)

Fabulous Flo Steinberg by Lopaka42
[CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

It's a strange thing how you can find yourself feeling attached to someone you know almost nothing about but, thanks to that mysterious phenomenon, it was oddly saddening to learn, a couple of days ago, of the death of Fabulous Flo Steinberg, Marvel Comics' legendary Corresponding Secretary of the 1960s.

It was Flo who answered fan mail, dealt with enthusiasts who visited the office in the hopes of seeing where the magic was created and acted as intermediary between Stan Lee and the company's various freelancers.

Not only that but, in 1975, she became a key figure in the rise of indie comics when she published the infamously ribald mag Big Apple Comix, using the services of such industry titans as Neal Adams, Al Williamson and Wally Wood.

For  a woman so closely associated with the heyday of Marvel, she was there for a surprisingly short amount of time, from 1963 to 1968 but she clearly made her mark, becoming a household name for all readers of that company's output.

In the 1990s, she returned to Marvel, as a proofreader and continued to do such work up until her death.

It probably says it all that her demise made The Daily Express, The Mail and The Daily Mirror, and it's hard to think of any other comics company secretary who could manage such a feat.

Her other great claim to fame was, of course, acting as link woman on the Voices of Marvel Comics record from the 1960s and if you've never heard it or her magnificently Bostonian tones, you can find that very recording by clicking on this very link here.

*

In lighter news, a few days ago, it was the San Diego Comics Convention, an event that, if it works hard at it, looks fair set to rival the Sheffield Comics Convention one day.

And that can mean only one thing.

That a whole bunch of trailers were released for display at that very get-together.

Obviously, all sane people only care that a trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas special was unleashed. However, even I've grasped that, this being a comics blog, I should probably concentrate instead on the Marvel and DC trailers that were debuted.

The big ones were the latest trailers for Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League.

Of the two, you can't get round it, Thor:Ragnarok looks like a way better movie. In fact, the trailer contains just about everything you could ever want from a Thor movie - including a total lack of Odin - and the closing moment has to be surely the awesomest shot ever included in a super-hero flick.

Not only that but it turns out that Hela's antlers move.

This is the second Thor trailer now where my main concern has been with Hela's antlers. I can only conclude that I should only ever watch films about reindeers.

I must also confess that, every time we see Hela spin round, I start wanting her to start singing the old Wonder Woman TV theme tune. I'm the sort of man who knows how to wreck any film.

Regardless of all that, my incredible magic powers tell me this film will probably be a walloping great big hit.

In contrast, I have to say the Justice League film looks about as much fun as filling in your tax return but I am intrigued to find out why it seems to feature a member of the Borg in it.

Granted, I do suspect he's not really a member of the Borg and that the film doesn't involve a crossover with the new Star Trek show that's on its way. I also suspect that if I were any kind of comics blogger, I'd know full well who he is, but I don't. The truth is I am a kind of comics blogger. A useless kind.

We've also had the release of a new Inhumans trailer and I have to say I'm still not feeling it. In this one, we get to see Medusa's hair moving, which is an improvement on the previous trailer but, otherwise, the project's still leaving me cold. I also feel that putting Rag 'n' Bone Man on the soundtrack is such an obvious (and an already clichéd) thing to do that it merely has the effect of exacerbating the gnawing sense of a lack of inspiration about the project.

But those are just my opinions and may well be wrong. The trailers are below and you can share your thoughts on them if you so wish, or not share them if you do so not wish. As always, there is no pressure upon you to do either.

Avengers #158. Wonder Man vs the Vision.

If there's anything we all like to see, it's super-heroes fighting each other.

In fact, it sometimes makes you wonder why comics companies have ever bothered to invent super-villains when they could just give us good guys trying to bash each other's heads in each month.

And so it is that, in The Avengers #158, we finally get to see the Vision vs Wonder Man, which, bearing in mind that the Vision has Wonder Man's brain patterns (whatever they are), means it's Marvel inter-hero antagonism taken to its logical conclusion, as we effectively have a super-hero fighting himself. No doubt, next month, we'll be treated to twenty pages of Captain America punching himself in the face.

The reason why it happens is the Vision's decided that Wonder Man has his eye on the Scarlet Witch and he's now in one of his, "I'm not human. What can an android know of love? I'd better fly into a tempestuous rage about my lack of emotions," moods.

Sadly, despite making the cover, the fight only lasts a few pages before the Avengers get an SOS and set off to deal with Graviton who's still new to his powers and has seized control of the research facility where he works. Consequently, he's now having fun pushing the staff around and making the place float around like a balloon.

I do have to say I like the cut of Graviton's jib. He has the air of an early Silver Age Marvel villain about him, which means you could have imagined him turning up in a formative issue of Spider-Man or The Fantastic Four.

Inevitably, despite their vast numerical advantage, the Avengers soon fall victim to the fiend, mostly because none of them has the smarts to think of sneaking up on him from behind.

I wish I could claim to have strong feelings about this issue but I don't. It's a solid tale written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Sal Buscema, with lots of conflict and drama. Personally, I could have done with the Vision vs Wonder Man action taking up the whole issue, with Graviton being tackled in the next one but at least we can't accuse the mag of skimping on action.

While I'm here, I do feel I should say a word about inker Pablo Marcos. I'm generally not a fan of his work as either a penciller or an inker but his style goes well with Buscema's pencils. For me, Buscema always benefited from having an embellisher who was exactly that, willing to add extra detail to his generally sparse pencils, and Marcos was just such an inker.

"But hold on a moment, you blathersome blundersquid!" I hear you cry. "Never mind all that cobblers about inkers and pencillers and writers and gravity and stuff! What about what we came here for? Who won the fight between the Vision and Wonder Man?"

Well, obviously, no one did. It being a 1970s Marvel mag, it's a draw, with both parties basically running out of steam before being interrupted by Iron Man who tells them off for causing needless damage to the mansion.

Reading comics back in those days, it could be so incredibly frustrating.

July 20th, 1977 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

As I write this deathless prose, I'm watching an episode of Star Trek in which Lieutenant Uhura is singing.

Faced with such terror, I have no recourse but to flee into the past. In fact, I'm going to flee so far into the past that I'm going to run face-first into 1977 and the wondrous comics that reside within that epoch.

But what will those comics contain? What?

It would seem, from my in-depth research, that this issue reprints part of the Defenders tale in which Thor battles the Hulk, in pursuit of the Evil Eye. I remember being very frustrated that, as always, their battle proves inconclusive.

But, from inconclusive to non-concluding. The Fantastic Four are still tangling with the Mole Man, Kala and Tyrannus, in a story that seems to have been dragging on since the beginning of the universe. It's odd that I have no memory of it feeling so interminable at the time.

Is the Manipulator that man who wanted to take over an African country with the aid of the Queen and the Royal Navy? What a bounder.

Dracula's getting stuck into his nuptials. I'm assuming the lucky woman is Domini.

As for the Hulk, I get the feeling this is the story in which Jarella meets her maker.

Didn't Thor fight the Crypto-Man straight after discovering the origin of Galactus, towards the end of Jack Kirby's run? I believe Kirby's plan was for Thor and Galactus to team up to fight the robot but Stan Lee nixed that and Thor had to tackle him alone.

Quite why Galactus would have wanted to fight Crypto-Man and why he would have needed Thor's help to do it, I have no idea.

Just six more issues to go before Marvel UK's newest mag finds that, for it, the war is over.

2000 AD - June 1979.

Today has been a pivotal moment in the history of humanity, with the announcement of a female Doctor Who.

Obviously, this has caused some consternation amongst the ranks of those who can't believe a woman can master the inherently male skill set of walking up and down corridors, holding a screwdriver and recklessly endangering everyone around them.

To me, it seemed a logical development after fifty three years of the part being played by men. It's a bit hard to claim the magic of the the show is that it keeps changing, if it doesn't really change any more than it has to.

Now all they have to do is make new showrunner Chris Chibnall regenerate into someone whose every Doctor Who and Torchwood script hasn't left me wanting to tear my brain out and bash it against the wall, in soul-destroyed torment, and they'll have it sorted.

But, if July 2017 is a pivotal moment in history, it's nothing compared to June of 1979, which gave us not one but two equally ground shaking moments.

The first was that McDonalds introduced the Happy Meal.

And the second was that Bryan Allen flew the pedal-driven Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel, which, if I remember correctly, was the first time a human-powered machine had flown across that stretch of water. What a grand new era of aviation it ushered in and, within ten years, we were all flying around in our own personal leg-powered planes.

Hold on a minute. We weren't doing that.

And we still aren't doing it.

Whatever happened to pedal-powered planes and how come I never heard of the concept ever again? Those things could fly across the Channel. Surely that was enough to make them catch on? Think of the saving in air fares and jumbo jet petrol.

While we contemplate that dread thought, it's probably best to look at what the galaxy's greatest comic was up to in that month of that year.

It seems there were interesting developments afoot.

For a start, in Prog 116, we get to meet Judge Dredd's niece Vienna. I must confess I have no memory at all of her but I assume she was named after Rigsby's cat in Rising Damp, as it was too early for her to be named after the Ultravox song. If she was Dredd's niece, does that mean she was Rico's daughter?

Prog 119 sees the start of Disaster 1990, a prequel to Invasion which also stars Bill Savage. But this means that Bill Savage had to live through a disaster and an invasion? He wasn't exactly what you'd call lucky, was he?

That issue, we also get the first appearance of the ABC Warriors, although weren't the ABC Warriors just the Ro-Busters by another name?

Finally, in Prog 119, we get a tribute to the latest James Bond flick Moonraker. I must confess that Moonraker was the first Bond movie I can recall not liking, as it was far too jokey for my tastes and I didn't like that Jaws was a good guy and was having a romance with his own personal Harley Quinn. With that film, I felt the makers were dismantling all the epic awesomeness of The Spy Who Loved Me (surely the greatest movie ever made), right before my eyes. I can't even remember the theme tune. That's how bad it was.

July 13th, 1977 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

All I can say is that this is a very exciting day for me.

Why?

Because, as of this week in 1977, the demise of Captain Britain's mag meant Marvel UK were only publishing three titles a week, meaning I now have to do less writing than I previously had to in order to complete these posts.

Granted, some might argue that this meant Marvel UK was dicing with death at this point in its history and that that was therefore a bad thing but I am, of course, determinedly reprehensible and therefore only care about myself.

So, let's see what they had to offer us in this thrilling new era of laziness.

It's the team-up we've all been dreaming of, as Captain Britain's strip joins the pages of Super Spider-Man.

I have to confess it wasn't what I'd dreamed of. I was thoroughly fed up of Captain Britain by this point, with his talk of jubilees, empires and commonwealths, and his silly flying stick and his foes with monocles. To be honest, I really couldn't wait for him to go away.

I mean, if he'd been called Captain Sheffield, it would have been different. All his talk of subsidised bus fares, underpasses, dual carriageways, roundabouts, pigeons, ferrets, malfunctioning fountains, Rotherham's status as an independent town, the M1 and Synth-Pop would have been endlessly fascinating to me.

I don't recall too much about this issue but I was a big Hulk fan and I loved Marvel's Dracula strip and I was a big admirer of Daredevil's underpowered but lively antics, so have no doubt at all that I enjoyed this comic very much.

Was Captain Marvel still in the book in this period?

If so, that would have made me love it even more.

The great news for me is that there are just seven more weeks of Fury to go, which'll soon make my life on this blog even easier.

The bad news is it means there are only eight more weeks to go before Fury and his commandos join the pages of Mighty World of Marvel.

Captain Britain in Super Spider-Man? The Howling Commandos in Mighty World of Marvel? Was there to be no end to my torment in this era?

Forty years ago today - July 1977.

As I type these words, it's the present.

And that can only mean one thing.

It's not the past.

But there was a time when the past was the present and the present was the future.

That time was forty years ago.

Granted, it was also any time at all in the entire history of the universe.

However, acknowledging that wouldn't give me an excuse to look at what Marvel Comics was up to forty years ago. So, it's best I draw a veil over that fact and plough on with my plunge into nostalgia.

My memory of this story is that Ant-Man gives the Avengers' butts a good kicking with his awesome ant powers.

Whether that's what really happens, I couldn't guarantee, although I do remember him giving Iron Man serious problems by sending ants inside his armour.

Is Jocasta involved in this story? Is Ultron involved? I have a feeling they might be but I could be talking rubbish.

I'm not sure what happens in this one but Arnim Zola seems to be involved.

You can't help feeling Cap must be fed up of Nazis by now. Thirty two years after the war ended, and they still won't go away.

I remember liking this one. I do believe that nice man's kidnapped Agatha Harkness and that it all leads our heroes to Salem and civic witchcraftery beyond mortal comprehension.

It's another one that I remember!

I also recall the Quintronic Man being a terrible idea for a means to tackle the Hulk, as it never made any sense to have five different people controlling one robot. I also remember them as not being the highest quality individuals anyway.

Iron Man hits the Big One Hundred.

Apparently, the Mandarin is present for this story but I don't know just what he gets up to.

I do detect a Jim Starlin cover though.

I really don't have a clue what's going on in this one either. It vaguely reminds me of that story where our heroes find themselves on an enormous planet full of giants with a vacuum cleaner that Hoovers up planets. However, I know it's not that one, as we've already done it.

Conan's nothing if not an iconoclast.

I'm sure he'd tell us that himself if it didn't have more than two syllables.

I don't think I've ever read this one.

I'm not totally sure what happens inside but I am certain that's a Paul Gulacy cover.

I believe Morbius may be possessed by the Empathoid who makes him do bad things.

Admittedly, I'm not convinced Morbius needs to be possessed in order for him to do bad things.

Thinking about it, I believe that's the only Paul Gulacy artwork I've ever seen that doesn't involve Shang-Chi.

Dr Faustus is doing the, "Convince Spider-Man he's going mad," routine that's normally left to Mysterio.

I did always like Faustus. I like a villain with brains, even if he doesn't have the brains to realise that a man of his talents doesn't need to commit crimes to make a fortune.

July 6th, 1977 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

It's time to restring our rackets and stock up on Pimm's because, in this week of 1977, Virginia Wade won Wimbledon. What an unlikely thing it was for a British tennis player to win that competition and how certain we were that we'd never see a Brit emulate that feat ever again for as long as we lived.

But what of the stars of our favourite mags that week? Were they having a late rally? Were they giving their foes a backhand smash? Or was it simply game, set and match for the heroes of Marvel UK?

Virginia Wade winning Wimbledon, and now Captain Britain sharing a cover with the Queen in her Silver Jubilee year? Could this week possibly get any more British?

Capturing the zeitgeist as it did, it's no wonder the comic was a massive success and destined to last for many decades to come and...

...Wait? What's that? This is his last ever issue and, from next week onwards, he'll have to settle for being a half-hearted back-up strip in Spider-Man's mag before being scrapped completely? Did this nation have no appreciation for all he did for us?

I recognise that man with the horns and I recognise that man without the face. The trouble is I'm struggling to recall just why I recall them and just what it was they did that made them so recollectable to me.

I'm taking it, from the cover, that we've reached the period in which Drac gets mixed up with a Satanic cult and gets himself a wife, a love-life and a son. You never saw Christopher Lee getting up to that kind of thing.

The cover rings a bell but the story doesn't.

But we have just one more week to go before the word, "Titans," no longer adorns the front of Marvel UK's second-longest running comic.

Speaking of disappearing titles, there's just eight more issues left before Fury suffers the same fate as Captain Britain's mag.

But, hold on. Does this mean that, soon, Marvel UK will be down to just two mags a week? How come I never noticed at the time just how close to extinction the once magnificent enterprise was venturing?

The Inhumans TV trailer.

If there's anything the world needs more of right now it's adaptations of comic books. Why, there are barely any films or TV shows being made nowadays that are based on the adventures of people from Super-Hero Land.

And so it is that, to fill this massive gap in the market, this September, ABC and Marvel are going to be giving us their TV version of The Inhumans.

As we all know, Marvel have been keen to make the Inhumans a thing for some time now, in an attempt to make them fit the hole created by the rights to the X-Men belonging to Fox. For the last couple of seasons, they've shoe-horned the concept into the Agents of SHIELD show, which is obviously a great idea, as so many people watch Agents of SHIELD.

This in mind, can the new show possibly replicate the success of Fox's X-Franchise?



I have to say that looks very very dull, with nothing at all in it that would make me want to watch it.

An obvious failing is that it presents us with nothing that even vaguely resembles characterisation from its cast. Only one character - who I assume is Maximus the Mad - even gets anything to say, while everyone else just sort of stands around.

This is possibly not a surprise. Admittedly, I don't know what the Inhumans are like in their comic book form these days but, back when I used to read their adventures, they basically had no personalities at all and were just a bunch of super-powers on legs. In fairness, the trailer gives the impression that that policy's been adhered to. I also have to say that, while I'm no expert on acting, the bloke playing Maximus doesn't strike me as being the greatest thespian that money can buy.

I've also seen criticism of the CGI and it doesn't exactly look epic but, let's face it, no one with any sense watches a drama for the CGI, so I don't care about that.

On the plus side, Crystal has the black, bandy, circle thing going on with her hair.

On the negative side, Medusa's hair seems to have no life in it whatsoever.

Come to think of it, do we even get to see any of the Inhumans, apart from Black Bolt and Lockjaw, use their powers?

So, having seen the trailer, I do fear the worst.

But who knows? Perhaps, in a groundbreaking move, they've brilliantly left out the good bits in order to surprise us all when it's finally broadcast. Only time and the Terrigen Mists will tell...

Fifty years ago this month - July 1967.

In this month of 1967, colour TV arrived in Britain with BBC Two's broadcasting of that year's Wimbledon. I have a feeling David Attenborough may have been responsible for that, in his role as Channel Controller.

Needless to say, I saw that move for the gimmick it was and still insist to this day on watching all television in black and white and listening to all music in mono.

Sadly, Marvel UK had yet to be invented at that time and so, if I'd been reading super-hero comics back then, I'd have had no choice but to read them in colour. Where will this rampant march of out-of-control technology ever end?

It's that classic issue in which Matt Murdock wears his dark glasses under his Daredevil mask under a Thor mask. Where on Earth do these people get their masks from?

Come to think of it, wasn't he also pretending to be Mike Murdock while he was doing it? It's madness! total madness!

It's one of my faves, as the FF go full-on Däniken and the Kree Sentry makes his island-shattering debut.

I love this story and, as I've said on here before, I do always feel it should have been in Origins of Marvel Comics as the second FF tale, instead of the Thing vs Surfer story they actually used.

It's yet another classic, as Spidey throws his costume in the bin and retires forever from fighting crime.

I believe the Kingpin makes his debut in this story as well. How could anyone not love Spider-Man in this era?

I don't know what's going on but I know this is the second ever appearance of the Living Tribunal, him having made his debut in the previous issue.

I never really understood why he had a body. He would have been much better as just a floating head.

It's the battle we all wanted to see, as Thor tackles the Super-Skrull.

I'm struggling to recall how the fight turned out, or even why they were fighting but I suspect it didn't end happily for Skrully.

Hooray! It's the return of Tyrannus, the Marvel villain who I feel most closely resembles me.

I'm not totally sure who the big metal man is.

Whoever he is, he's no Mogol.

Now I'm depressed by remembering the fate of Mogol.

Poor old Mogol. Will we ever see his like again?

It's my favourite Marie Severin drawn Hulk tale as Hulkie gets his bottom spanked by the cosmic complainer.

I remember Marvel UK waiting until well into the Herb Trimpe era before finally letting us see this tale. Bearing in mind its awesomeness, it's always baffled me that they took so long to publish it.

I would assume it was because they were waiting until we'd been introduced to the character in their Fantastic Four reprints, but such logic didn't prevent them reprinting the Hulk's first meeting with the Inhumans long before those characters made their debut in the FF's strip.

Didn't the monstrous Crusher have something to do with Fidel Castro? Wasn't he a wrestler who weighed too much for his own good?

Then again, perhaps he was a scientist who weighed too much for his own good.

Or perhaps there were two Crushers and one was a wrestler and one was a scientist?

Diablo's still causing trouble for our heroes and still using technology that it makes no sense for Diablo to be using.

Aw, who cares? We get to see Hercules fighting Dragon Man and that's what we really pay our money for.