The Marvel Lucky Bag - April 1978.

Just two nights ago, I took a look at what Marvel's big hitters were up to in the books that had an April 1978 cover date. But, as we all know, Marvel didn't get to be the behemoths that they are by only publishing popular comics. They also brought out more low-profile, less-celebrated or just plain quirkier fare. And, as I do every month, it's time for me to look at a small selection of that other output.

A hero like no other hits the Marvel universe, as Devil Dinosaur and his own personal Rick Jones, Moon-Boy, begin their rampage around prehistory, in a tale that any paleontologist would, no doubt, be horrified by.

It's a strange thing. I've never read a single issue of Devil Dinosaur and yet I am oddly aware of him and his origin.

Up until now, I was unaware that the In-Betweener had ever appeared outside of stories that featured Adam Warlock. Knowing what little I do of him, I do find it hard to believe Dr Strange could take him on in a fight.

Seeing the blurb on the cover has just made me realise that, at this time, the Marvel universe possessed at least four different versions of Atlantis; the one in The Sub-Mariner, the one in Kull, the one in The Eternals and the one in The Man From Atlantis. What kind of water-logged madness was this?

Jack Kirby had clearly gone into creative overdrive. Not only do we get the launch of Devil Dinosaur this month, we also get the unveiling of a brand new comic for Machine Man.

I think I can remember this being reprinted in the pages of Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly, although, beyond Tom Sutton drawing it, I recall nothing at all of the strip itself. I am assuming it held strong hints of the works of Gene Roddenberry but I could be totally wrong in that suspicion.

Star-Lord was another space-roaming strip that found its way into the pages of Star Wars Weekly.

I recall slightly more of it than I do of Seeker 3000 but, in truth, not a lot more. I remember John Byrne drawing it and I remember Carmine Infantino drawing it. I remember our hero having a living spaceship.

Anyway, it's a Jim Starlin cover, so that seems like a good enough reason to feature it.

It's issue #50 of Power Man and he celebrates the milestone by losing full control of his own comic and having to share it, from now on, with Iron Fist.

On the positive side for him, I am led to believe that, in this tale, he's finally been exonerated of the alleged crimes that forced him to cunningly disguise his true identity by changing his name from Lucas to Luke. It's no wonder the law-enforcement agencies had struggled to see though a brilliant ruse like that one.

I do believe that, in this issue, the Hulk finds himself up against a Krylorian who, for some reason, has disguised himself as Iron Man. This accidentally leads to the involvement of the real Iron Man, Thor, the Wasp and Ant-Man, giving us a meeting of the original Avengers before they officially met in Avengers #1.

Not content with giving us brand new mags for Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur, Marvel also gives us the adventures of Spider-Woman.

I remember her stories being reprinted in one of Marvel UK's mags but, other than a scene in which she was crying at a graveside, I recall nothing at all of her activities. Was she literally supposed to be a spider who'd been turned into a woman, or is my imagination just running away with me?