April 26th, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Well, this is all a bit depressing. I can't think of anything at all interesting to talk about as an introduction to this week's post.

I could report that it's just recently dawned on me that the plot of the first ever Dalek story in Doctor Who was based on George Pal's adaptation of HG Wells' The Time Machine, with its tale of the Eloi and the Morlocks, but that's hardly relevant.

I could also report that, on this evening in 1978, BBC One was showing a film called Earth II, which would appear to have been a pilot for a TV series that never got made. From what I can make out, it seems to have involved an international space station being built, in order to function as a brand new country in orbit around the Earth. Beyond that, I can shed no light, as, amazingly for a sci-fi movie that was on a major channel in my childhood, I'm fairly sure I never saw it.

But you know what I did see?

The output of Marvel UK that week.

And that's why I'm going to take a fresh look at what they were up to.

It's taken us twelve long weeks but we've finally got here, the soul-shattering climax of the year's most sensational movie.

And how fitting, given events that have so far transpired in the tale, that it should climax with the inevitable sword fight between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

Wait. Hold on a minute. Are they sure they're adapting the right film?

Anyway, I grant you that the cover image might not be a literal representation of the action contained within but it does predict the events of the sequel, and it probably deserves some sort of award for that.

I'm assuming that means we're only one week away from the introduction of that space rabbit whose name I've already forgotten, despite only having talked about him around two weeks ago.

Hooray! Starhawk makes his dynamic debut as he battles to help the Guardians of the Galaxy defeat the Badoon.

To be honest, despite his intriguing gender-swapping ways, I can't say I ever found him that riveting a character. He was far too much of a closed book for that and I also used to get him mixed up with Star-Lord.

But perhaps I'm not the only one. Perhaps this explains how Star-Lord ended up being a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Perhaps Marvel writers always got them mixed up too.

Then again, this tale also features Nighthawk. If Star-Lord, Starhawk, and Nighthawk were all in the same tale, I don't think I'd stand a chance of remembering who was who.

Now I'm confused. We're well into a run of stories I've never read, so, I'm taking it, from his costume, that the Crusader is some sort of tribute to the earlier Marvel character Marvel Boy who, I believe, was in the habit of defeating criminals by throwing atom bombs at them.

Then again, I always assumed, from his costume, that Adam Warlock's initial post-Kirby stint on Counter-Earth was a partial tribute to Marvel Boy as well.

Anyway, given the seeming tribute to a pre-Silver Age Marvel character, I'm going to assume this tale was written by Revivin' Roy Thomas.

If I remember rightly, and I may not, I suspect this Robinson Crusoe style character is actually some sort of scientist who's lost his memory after a traumatic incident involving Captain Barracuda and his machine for turning men into monkeys.

I have no doubt the Hulk befriends him, after an initial misunderstanding.

Spider-Man and Razorback are still having trouble with Man-Beast-related cult activities.

Sadly, that is all the information I can impart, as details about this issue are nigh impossible to come by on the internet.