March 7th, 1979 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

In this week of 1979, the sounds of jubilant rejoicing could be heard all throughout Britain as, the length and breadth of this country, came the sound of Marvel UK's comics hitting people's front doormats.

It's true. After weeks of industrial chaos, everything was back to normal for our favourite comics company.

Or was it?

For, among those comics, one was missing.

And that was Star Wars Weekly. Having continued production right through the thick of the problems, the moment those problems were sorted out, the comic promptly disappeared.

Still, if we were feeling bereft, perhaps we shouldn't have been. After all, there was a new arrival this week, with the launch of a brand new title.

What could it be?

And how would it change our lives?

And here it is! Marvel UK's brand new mag!

Like the rest of the Marvel Revolution's weekly output, it was blessed with a highly imaginative (and search engine unfriendly) title, being called Hulk Comic.

But, the green Goliath aside, what was inside it?

The Black Knight, SHIELD, Night-Raven and Ant-Man were inside it.

But something strange was afoot. Aside from Ant-Man, those strips didn't look like they should do.

In fact, they seemed strangely British.

And that was no accident because Dez Skinn had hired some of Britain's finest comic book talent to create brand new tales for those characters. Suddenly, after years of thrilling to the work of Jack Kirby, John Buscema and John Romita, we were thrilling to the work of David Lloyd, Steve Parkhouse and Dave Gibbons.

While it was admirable that Skinn was willing to give work to British creators - and there was no doubt about their talent - the truth is the Hulk Comic was a very strange concoction indeed. American heroes written and drawn British-style had that Uncanny Valley feeling to it. It was sort of Marvel but not quite Marvel. It also didn't help that the Hulk who featured in these tales owed far more to the TV incarnation of him than he did to the original comic version.

But hold on a minute. What's this? The Hulk now has his own weekly title and yet he's still in Marvel Comic?

As far as I an remember, the overlap only lasted for one week and then the green menace was replaced by another green menace, in the form of Godzilla.

I do believe that, in this issue, Jade Jaws is still battling the Thing. I hope it wraps that tale up or it looks like we're never going to find out how it ends.

Something else I might never know is what else happens in this issue, as I don't have a clue.

Hooray! It's the return of, "Britain's Number One Sword and Sorcery Magazine!"

Admittedly, it's probably Britain's only sword and sorcery magazine, so it's not that much of a boast.

As for the contents, the cover implies the lead tale is Alex Niño's redoubtable People of the Dark but there's nothing in the sidebar that suggests it is.

I do know that, elsewhere, Red Sonja befriends a unicorn in a Frank Thorne drawn tale.

I don't have a clue what Solomon Kane's up to, other than that he's still in Africa.

It's the early 1960s and the Hulk meets the Avengers before they become the Avengers.

Meanwhile, various other people are in the process of becoming the X-Men, as a whole new bunch of recruits are in the midst of their first adventure together, which I recall as mostly being made up of them bickering among themselves.

That somewhat anomalous early Ross Andru Spidey tale looks to still be ongoing.

Other than that, I can say nothing of this comic's contents.

Now here's a strange thing.

Some people might notice that I covered this issue last month.

That's because, I've since discovered this is actually the issue for March 1979, not February, even though it's the issue after January's and it's supposed to be a monthly title.

What madness is Marvel UK trying to inflict upon me?