May 31st, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

What were you doing on this night of exactly forty years ago?

If you had any sense, you were probably outside, enjoying the Spring sunshine.

I wasn't. I was watching as BBC One looked forward to the 1978 World Cup which would be kicking off, the very next day, in Argentina.

Needless to say, I had every confidence in England's chances of winning the tournament, even though they hadn't qualified. Likewise, Wales and Northern Ireland had also failed to qualify. Scotland had qualified but it was obvious they weren't going to win it, because they'd made loads of records saying they were going to win it, which is a sure-fire guarantee that you're not going to win it.

But, if those of us in these sceptred isles didn't have a lot to look forward to on the football pitch, we could at least console ourselves in the deeds of the printed page. For, through that medium, we could enter a realm in which our heroes were virtually guaranteed to always triumph.

Almost inevitably, I've no idea what's going on in the main tale.

Happily, I do know what's happening in the all-important back-up strips. Star-Lord is still having his debut adventure, in the days when he could get though a crisis without the benefit of a mix-tape. Elsewhere, the Watcher's still telling us the tale of why his people never interfere in the affairs of other worlds, apart from whenever they feel like it.

I must confess this staggers me. I'm pretty sure it means the tale's now been running for three issues. Bearing in mind that it's only about ten pages long, Marvel UK must have been reprinting it in insanely short chunks.

There aren't many comics that take their inspiration from Spock's Brain but The Defenders are clearly not fussy where they get their adventures from. And so it is that the saga of Nighthawk's stolen cerebrum rumbles on.

I do like to think we get the spectacle of Dr Strange controlling Nighthawk's body with a remote-control device but I suspect that even the Defenders wouldn't stoop so low.

Come to think of it, Dr Strange is a surgeon. Does that mean we get a scene in which he has to get out his scalpel, dust off the old skills and re-install Nighthawk's brain while protesting that he's out of practise and that, "Once I could have performed this operation with ease! Why do my hands shake so violently now?" like he did every time he had to do surgery?

What I do know is that, this issue, our heroes rescue the brain from the Headmen, only for it to fall into the hands of Nebulon. Nighthawk's brain doesn't have a lot of luck, does it?

I can say nothing of the contents of this week's issue, other than that I can't help feeling Stingray's being a trifle optimistic in thinking he can take on the Hulk.

Speaking of watery foes.

This is a strange case. Although I often have trouble remembering what happens in individual issues, I do usually recognise the covers. However, in this instance, the cover rings no bells for me at all.

From what I can gather, Spidey and Subby team up to take on Tiger Shark, Dr Dorcas and the Aquanaoids in a tale taken from the pages of Marvel Team-Up. Could the inclusion of Marvel Team-Up material be a sign of just how short of Spider-Man stories Marvel UK were getting as the UK mags caught up with the American ones?

Thinking about it, I don't know why I bothered asking that question. I think the answer to it's fairly obvious.

I know little of this tale, other than that the Puppet Master is involved. I would, therefore, surmise that he's the reason Luke has turned against the FF.

Or, as Luke himself would put it, "You know it, baby!"