Forty years ago today - April 1979.

When I was a young, I saw a TV show which may or may not have been called Extraordinary.

In it, the presenter claimed there's a tribe - possibly in Indonesia - who believe we're all travelling backwards in time, on the grounds that, when you walk forward, you can see where you're going but can't see where you've been. Therefore, as we can see the past, it must be ahead of us and, as we can't see the future, it must be behind us.

Logic like this can turn your whole mindset on its head.

Sadly, as I've never been able to find any reference to this tribe anywhere on the internet, I've always suspected the show made it all up.

But if it is true, that can only mean one thing; that it's time for me to walk, face-first, into the past and find out what Marvel's greatest heroes will be up to in the books which will be cover-dated this month of forty years ago.

It's a weird one, as Wanda and Pietro's minds get kidnapped and put inside a pair of marionettes, by a man who claims to be their father.

Needless to say, it's not long before the rest of the Avengers are on hand to get confused by it all.

It's Conan, Bêlit and a big, friendly lion against a whole jungle's worth of deadly animals controlled by the inevitable sorcerer of bad intent.

Needless to say, it's not long before those animals are making a snack of that sorcerer.

It's all hands to the pumps, as Cap tries to stop a race war erupting in New York.

And, for once, it's not being orchestrated by the Red Skull!

Or the Hate-Monger!

Or the Sons of the Serpent!

Three of the FF are in a galaxy far, far away, battling an army of Skrulls who're out to conquer some planet or other.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Human Torch has returned to college and is blundering straight into the Machiavellian machinations of The Monocle.

I do believe this tale ties in with the later issues of Nova.

It would appear that The Corporation get a fake Machine Man to kidnap one of the Hulk's friends.

I'm assuming this'll lead to a confrontation between Hulkie and the real Machine Man.

After the inevitable fight, Iron Man and Subby team up to take on a fake army that's out to steal a bucketload of vibranium from an island populated by just one man.

Surely the most promising cover blurb of all time, as we're assured we're about to get the last ever Spider-Slayer.

Professor Smythe is dying, thanks to the vast quantities of radiation his spider-slayers have been emitting over the years, and decides to kill JJJ for it.

Needless to say, Spidey's out to put a stop to that, even though Jameson's currently publicly accusing him of killing his son John.

Carrion's up to no good.

Then again, when isn't he?

Then again, if you're Carrion, there's not a lot you can do apart from be up to no good. Looking like that, it's not like he can go to the cinema, or do the grocery shopping.

Beyond that, I can say little, as my recall of this tale is limited, even though I have a strong memory of the cover.

It would appear Thor has to battle someone called Tempus, in order to get to Immortus' castle and get his hammer back.

Which leaves me more confused than ever. I could never keep track of whether Immortus was a good guy or a bad guy. I'm not sure Marvel could either.

The X-Men have to take on Alpha Flight, after a storm forces them to make an emergency landing in Canada.

Shouldn't Storm be able to stop there being a storm? Isn't that the kind of thing she's there for?