Forty years ago today - June 1978.

YouTube's currently offering me videos that prove beyond all doubt that various men in garden sheds have invented perpetual motion machines. That can only mean it's time for me to take flight from such First Law of Thermodynamics thwarting madness and leap once more from the Cliff of Contemporaneousness, into the Ocean of Once-Upon-A-Long-Ago and find out what our favourite Marvel heroes were up to back in the days when the only perpetual motion machine we needed was a nodding duck with a felt beak, drinking coloured liquid from a beaker. Tell kids nowadays that nodding ducks and lava lamps were the only forms of entertainment we had back in the 1970s and they don't believe you.

Hooray! Hawkeye is back!

Other than that, I can say nothing of this tale, apart from the fact that its villain would appear to be someone called Tyrak, of whom I have never heard.

Regardless, it's nice to see suitably shocked floating heads on the cover.

Not for the first time in his life, Conan finds himself up against a giant spider-thing. I have no doubt that, by the end of the tale, it'll be flat on its back, with a sword in its intestines.

In other news, I'm informed that, in this issue, Conan wipes out an ancient race.

Isn't that a bit irresponsible of him?

Apparently, Sue Storm's involved in sensational solo action. Admittedly, it seems to be solo action that involves the Sub-Mariner, so you could argue that it's not technically solo action at all.

But it's interesting to see that our heroes are up against the Rampaging Retrievers. Presumably, the Larcenous Labradors were too busy to appear.

We don't just get the return of Hawkeye this month. We also get what looks to be the return of the Murder Module.

Bearing in mind that the Hulk took about three seconds to destroy it the last time the Leader tried to use it, you do wonder why the villain's bothering to make a second attempt with it.

But am I right in believing that the Hulk the Leader's up against, this time round, is just a robot, controlled by Bruce Banner?

I really don't have a clue what's going on on that cover. But, then, I don't have a clue what's going on inside the comic either.

I do know that the Knights of Wundagore are in it but that the High Evolutionary isn't, except in flashback. The Rigellians are also in it. Madame Masque is in it. Jasper Sitwell is in it. Jack of Hearts and the Crimson Dynamo are in it. How Marvel managed to cram all of that into twenty pages, and how it all fits together, is beyond me.

It's time to tremble with fear, as the Enforcers return. And, this time, they're being employed by the Lightmaster, who's even deadlier than the Viewmaster.

Given their previous track record, I really don't see why anyone would hire the Enforcers to tackle Spider-Man. You might as well hire Jerry Lewis.

It's the fight that had to happen! Captain America vs Abraham Lincoln!

I must admit that's the limit of my knowledge when it comes to this tale. Is the Falcon still in the strip? He's credited in the title but he doesn't seem to make the covers anymore.

This issue, we get the build-up to the return of Magneto, as the X-Men get captured by a man who, I think, turns out to be Mesmero.

Why he doesn't turn out to be Mastermind, I couldn't say but the tale does at least see the return of the Beast to the pages of the world's greatest mutant-based publication.

This month's issue doesn't exactly sound riveting. It would appear that Thor stands around telling some kids about an adventure he once had with Loki in regards to a meeting with the Master of Utgardthall. I don't think they'll be turning that one into a movie, somehow.

I do believe this issue retells Spidey's origin and has him recount great chunks of his career.

Is this the one where, at the end of it, a cemetery worker steals Uncle Ben's microscope? It was clearly meant to be a heart-warming climax but, as a responsible blog owner, with a duty to the society that reveres me, I really can't approve of stealing the microscopes of deceased uncles.