The Marvel Lucky Bag - March 1979.

As I type these words, there is a heavy scent of failure in the air - and not just because Parliament is trying to sort out Brexit yet again.

Forty years ago, Marvel Comics seemed to be going through a crisis of its own. The company had produced 44 books which bore the cover date of February 1979 but, the following month, it published just 39 books. Three months after that, it produced a mere 30 books. At this rate of decline, it was going to have to move back into that tiny back office Stan Lee was sharing with just Flo Steinberg and Sol Brodsky in the early 1960s.

But what of my randomish collection of lower profile Marvel mags which bore the cover date of March of that year? Were they among those sentenced to die?

The current Captain Marvel may be cleaning up at the box office right now but it was a different story four decades ago, with Marvel's original holder of that title having just one more issue to go before cancellation.

I have very little idea what happens in this tale but I believe that Mentor's computer's turned evil and only the Captain and an eclectic gathering of Titans and Eternals are available to do anything about it.

It's the clash that had to happen, as Godzilla meets the Fantastic Four.

Admittedly, it didn't really have to happen. In fact, I would have bet good money on it not happening ever. Somehow, the two franchises don't feel like they should exist in the same world.

But it turns out they do and it means we get to see blue-eyed Benjy get to have a punch-up with Japan's greatest menace.

Sadly, even bringing in Marvel's Number One family fails to produce a sales boost sufficient to prevent the rampaging reptile being cancelled just four issues after this.

"Is this the end of the death-defying daredevil?" asks the cover blurb?

Yes it is. The Human Fly helps the dwellers of a reservation see off a bunch of bad guys but he can't stave off the curse of poor circulation and this is, thus, his final issue.

Good grief! I've finally found a comic that isn't staring death in the face!

If I remember rightly, Kulan Gath is up to no good in a museum and it all leads to Mary Jane turning into Red Sonja - presumably because they both have red hair - which is one of the best ideas ever in the history of comics.

Hooray! Marvel gives us its adaptation of the pilot episode of everyone's favourite Star Wars rip-off.

Granted, it's already given us it before. In fact, I think this is the third Marvel comic to feature that adaptation, so far. The company clearly has high hopes Battlestar will do for its fortunes what Star Wars did a couple of years earlier.

I suspect such optimism will prove to be misplaced.

This is a very odd story story, in which the Sphinx steals a spaceship and, after recruiting Nova, the Comet, Crime-Buster, Powerhouse and Doctor Sun, sets off in search of death, or something.

The only problem is Diamondhead has stowed away on board and is looking for a scrap.

Given how many people there are available to fight him, if I were Diamondhead, I'd keep a low profile instead.

Those who like to sit by guillotines, doing their knitting, while awaiting the fall of the blade, will be interested to know this is the second-to-last issue of the book.