The Marvel Lucky Bag - February 1969.

One of my earliest memories of school was of us being made to do gymnastics to the somewhat soporific sound of Fleetwood Mac's Albatross.

But there was a good reason why it was in our gym teacher's thoughts, as it kicked off February of 1969 at Number One on the UK singles chart.

It was then succeeded by the Move's Blackberry Way and then (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice by Amen Corner.

Obviously, I'm well familiar with the Move, thanks to the presence of Roy Wood, later of ELO, Wizzard and Christmas fame but I must confess my knowledge of Amen Corner comes almost entirely from their strange guest slot in the horror movie Scream and Scream Again, which featured a gang of rubber murderers on the loose.

The final British Number One of that month was Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) by Peter Sarstedt, a song surely invented for buskers to sing, even though I've never heard a busker singing it.

On the album charts, things were dominated by three LPs; The White Album, The Best of the Seekers, and Diana Ross and the Supremes Join the Temptations. All of which claimed the top spot at some point that month.

I must confess to having been previously unaware of the collaboration between the Supremes and the Temptations. Thanks to this blog, I learn something new every day.

And you know what else I've learnt?

I've learnt what some of the less high-profile Marvel mags that bore that month's name were up to.

Granted, I've not learnt that much because I haven't the slightest clue what happens in this one.

Apparently, it features someone called The Organisation, which is a very generic name. I assume they're bad guys but what their aims are, I couldn't say.

That bounder Asmodeus has taken on the form of Dr Strange, in order to fool the Ancient One for, no doubt, nefarious purposes.

As a result, the real doctor suddenly decides to start dressing like a super-hero.

Somehow, this all leads to Ymir and Surtur being unleashed upon the world and a crossover with this month's Avengers issue, as discussed mere days ago.

The Hate-Monger's back!

And he's still Hitler!

Or at least he's another Hitler. It seems there were a lot of them about, back then.

Adolf's out to launch a nuclear attack on every nation on Earth.

He also has a collection of the still-active brains of all his former advisers.

The tale also seems to feature dinosaurs.

I don't have a clue what's going on.

It's a classic cover for  a tale in which Loki tricks the Silver Surfer into going to Asgard and battling Thor.

I've still never read this tale. I shall have to do so at some point.

This cover's credited to John Buscema but you can tell brother Sal had a sizable input too because Thor has very big wings on his hat, very big boot flaps on his knees, and the back of his cape rises high above his shoulders, all of which were Sal hallmarks when drawing Thor, rather than those of John.

I do believe this tale gives us the origins of both the Serpent Crown and the kingdom of Lemuria.

Whether it gives us the origin of Captain Barracuda as well, I couldn't say.

For that matter, is that him on the cover? If so, I have to say he doesn't look like he did in that Hulk story he turned up in. In that, he was a normal-looking man with a beard and an eye patch.