For instance, it was a happy time for someone called Margaret Thatcher whose Conservative Party won the General Election by 43 seats, making her the UK's first female Prime Minister.
It was also good news for a man called John Major who was elected to Parliament for the first time, as a 36-year-old MP for Huntingdon.
It wasn't such good news for the Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe who lost his seat in the election - and then followed that up, four days later, by being put on trial for attempted murder.
If you're going to have a bad week in politics, that's the way to do it.
Having a somewhat better week than that, in sport, were Liverpool Football Club who, on this day in 1979, won the League title, for the 12th time.
I'm assuming Luke Skywalker's still up against the pulse-pounding terror of the Tax Collector.
I assume the Micronauts are still having trouble in the United States.
I know for a fact that Adam Warlock's still working with Thanos in their mutual quest to stop the Magus, and that this week's instalment is introduced by Captain Marvel giving us a potted history of Thanos and his Cosmic Cube activities.
For me, Mar-Vell is a little too cheerful whilst recounting this tale.
The Hulk's about to have a punch-up with a bear.
Ant-Man encounters Egghead, for the first time. The villain has a cunning scheme to befriend the ants and turn them against our hero.
What a bounder.
And what a fool.
Does he not know that Ant-Man's little insect friends would never betray him?
Ikaris is faring somewhat worse than Ant-Man. He's in the process of being captured by the Deviants.
Night Raven's still making a meal of dealing with the assassin who's out to get him.
Captain Britain and the Black Knight are still not getting very far in their battle against darkness. I do believe that this week's exciting episode involves them hijacking a milk float.
Seriously.
I don't have a clue what Nick Fury's up to but I'm sure I wouldn't like it even if I did, because I never do.
Here's where I fling myself into Terra Incognito because, other than being able to surmise that Godzilla's battling a red dragon, I don't have a clue what happens in this issue.
But talk of Godzilla battling dragons does make me wonder who'd win a fight between Godzilla and Fin Fang Foom.
It also makes me realise Godzilla's not wearing underpants, like Marvel's giant monsters traditionally did. Did he have no class at all?
And my ignorance of this one is even more total. I don't even know what Spidey's up to in this one.
I can't help feeling this week's feature has fizzled out horribly.
I like to reassure myself that this is a good thing, as my lack of competence prevents people being dangerously in awe of me.
"For me, Mar-Vell is a little too cheerful whilst recounting this tale."
ReplyDeleteSomeone told him the box office results for Endgame...
Easy for Mar-vell to be cheerful - he didn't have to put up with Margaret Thatcher.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, it was an effective contrast to the cosmic angst usually going on in Warlock that I thought worked well Steve - a better way of filling in the background than a standard boring info dump.
Mar-Vell was a bit of an annoying space-hippie though, I'll give you that.
-sean
Somebody had to explain to the reader who Thanos was, if they didn't already know, just like Spinxor (snort) the alien had to explain who Adam Warlock was when he showed up again in Strange Tales.
ReplyDeleteI mean, if your gonna have a "host" of sorts or a master of ceremonies it oughtta be a space guy for this sort of thing. It would look weird if it was the Crypt Keeper or the Grave Digger or Baron Weirwulf setting it up.
I always liked those horror hosts, though! My favorite was Winnie the Witch. If anybody was going to describe my well-deserved, horrible and ironic demise, I would like it to be her.
M.P.
I'm still worried about Marvy's jauntiness. I would have thought he'd be a bit more concerned about the fact that the deadliest being in the universe is still alive.
ReplyDeleteThinking about it, how come it was only ever the bad guys who tried to get their hands on the Cosmic Cube? How come the good guys never did? Just think of all the good you could do if you had it. You wouldn't even have to get out of bed to capture super-villains.
ReplyDeleteWould the good guys still be the good guys if they got the Cosmic Cube, Steve, what with power corrupting and all that?
ReplyDeleteI'm more puzzled by why the likes of Thanos would even bother trying to get hold of the Cosmic Cube. Wasn't it made by Modok? If AIM scientists could do it back then - when they didn't even have digital! - surely powerful beings from more advanced worlds could just make their own?
Come to think of it, why weren't there more cosmic cubes?
-sean
Sean-
ReplyDeleteMaybe the formula for the Cosmic Cube was as guarded as the Colonel Sanders' secret 11 herbs & spices for his Kentucky Fried Chicken (which I suspect 7 of those are just salt).
Then there's the "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" clause. Even worse, a true-blue hero WOULD use the the Cube to create Paradise/Utopia. No stories then! Then there wouldn't be ANY conflict in comics.
It may even affect the Archie-verse! Betty & Veronica have no trouble sharring, or even threesomes!! (Hmmm). Jughead gets unlimited hamburgers!!!
It's mind-boggling!
Steve-
I hope that the Mar-Vell narrative you mentioned didn't mean you folks missed the Mar-Vell vs Super Skrull battle during the Thanos/Cosmic Cube storyline.
It was always a treat to have Super Skrull as a villain in any book. He, and Super Adaptoid (whom I believe had a sliver of cosmic cube in him) were a couple of my favorite villains.
Dammit, it's called a tesseract now!!!
ReplyDeleteJust kidding, Sean. Another interesting point is that it's been established that every planet's civilization, provided they survive long enough, eventually develop their own cube. Furthermore, that cube eventually becomes sentient, or self-aware. Kinda like Skynet. It happened to the Skrulls' cube which became the Shaper of Worlds, and our own cube, which became...I forget. Some weird lookin' dude. They have their own agendas and don't take orders anymore.
I might even posit, there may be limits to what you can actually do with even a pre-sentient cube, which might rebel if pushed too far. I think that might have been established somewhere (I could be mistaken). Neither Thanos or the Red Skull really did very much when they had the cube, except go on ego trips. I reckon you gotta be careful handling those things.
And to think my college physics teacher gave me a "D"! If only he could see how smart I got.
M.P.
MP, you're right about the "cubes".
ReplyDeleteI think "ours" became "Cubric" or some such thing.
The Shaper of Worlds. Still remember the story where the Shaper turned a world into Nazi Germany and the Hulk fought a "Captain Axis".
To be honest, I remember him only in that story, and the Batman/Hulk crossover.
Steve, I'm now re-watching, after about 7 years, Forbidden Planet.
ReplyDeleteI firmally believe now that Gene Roddenberry and/or William Shatner skiffed Lesley Nielson's performance as
a prototype for Captain Kirk.
Never was that analytical about that film before, but it definitely is the template for Star Trek.
I'm sure there's been numerous articles published on this theory. I plead just wonder of the entire production, and always viewed it previously through the eyes of fun & nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteExcept in the case of Ann Francis. Lol.
KD, don't worry. Marvel UK had already given us the whole of the Captain Marvel/Thanos/Cosmic Cube epic. If I remember right, it started off in The Titans and was then moved to Mighty World of Marvel.
ReplyDeleteAnd Star Trek was definitely heavily influenced by Forbidden Planet.
Absolutely agree with the connection between FP and Trek.
ReplyDeleteThe first series of Trek, which is my favourite of the entire franchise, has a number of instances of extinct or super-advanced civilizations, like FP's Krell. It's a deserted, funereal galaxy, unlike the interstellar United Nations of later Trek. Maybe that's why I can't bear DS9 and all that Quark's Place Star Wars cantina nonsense.
On a different topic, I wish the Eternals pages had been reprinted in a similar way to Kirby's late sixties strips, circa Marvel UK 1975. Instead they were cramped and compressed.
I have doubles of all the original Kirby Eternals issues. Maybe the projected forthcoming movie may bump up their value.
ReplyDeleteWhen Eternals first was supposed to be separate from the Marvel universe, I was intrigued, but after the cosmic-powered Hulk issues (which are a fun read) I saw the writing on the wall.
As far as I can recollect, the first introduction of the Eternals into the regular universe was in a Thor annual. I may be wrong. I do know at least two Eternals became Avengers, Gilgamesh & Sersei.
The probability of that happening in phase 4 of the MCU seems pretty high. As said before, just about anyone can be an Avenger nowadays.
Except my poor ol' buddy, Rick Jones! LOL!
Not sure if you folks in the UK have been exposed to the adult-oriented cartoon Rick & Morty. It's pretty big over here. Season 4 had a episode spoofing the Avengers, with a team called the Vindicaters. It's a raging howl!
Morty, who is an emotionally crippled child, really has his "Rick Jones" going on.
Steve, oh my brother, there's a team member called "A Million Ants"!
ReplyDeleteYou really need to check it out.
Sorry, that Vindicaters episode was Season 3. Guess I was subconsciously wishful thinking, as I can't get enough of Rick & Morty.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of Rick and Morty. I shall see if I can catch an episode or two.
ReplyDeleteOh my brother, it's a steam-roller of a comedy. A Back To The Future parody, where the professor is an alcoholic, sarcastic,anarchist mad scientist who goes on time/dimensional/space adventures with his partially retarded grandson.
DeleteM.P., thanks for filling me in on the Cosm... uh, Tesseract. Still not sure why advanced alien beings couldn't make something a dodgy geezer with a massive head could in the 60s - or only make one - but its nice to know that someone else is obviously getting out even less than me.
ReplyDeleteKd, "Cubric"? Isn't the correct spelling Kubrick? I did not know the cosmic cube became a director....
(Some of his films were shown on tv here recently, and I finally saw Barry Lyndon. It was alright, but as with most of his work I find it disappointing there isn't a Jack Kirby adaptation).
-sean
I think maybe it was "Kubert"...
ReplyDeleteOh, wataminnit. That was a video game. Weird little guy jumpin' around...
It was something like that, anyway. It's not worth looking up.
And yes, the Cosmic-Powered Hulk. A robot who went berserk when exposed to Krackling Kirby Kosmic energy. His showdown with Ikaris...now, that was a fight. One of the most brutal Kirby battles I've seen. I liked that series.
M.P.
That robot Hulk story went on a bit though; as a done-in-one crossover - well, sort of crossover - it would have been great, but three issues...? It derailed the on-going storyline, and the Eternals was cancelled soon after anyway.
ReplyDeleteCurious to see what the film will be like. I suppose it'll be the same as the rest of the Marvel flicks - fx and daddy issues - but it'll be cool to finally see a solo "created by Jack Kirby" credit on one of 'em.
-sean
"Film"...?
ReplyDeleteWhy was I not informed?!?! &@*%!!!
M.P.
Thoughtless of Marvel studios not to let you know M.P.
ReplyDeleteHave Warner/DC told you about the New Gods film in the works? (Not that we should expect too much after Steppenwolf in the JLA film, but hopefully they've at least learned something since then...)
-sean
Again, I was not informed.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I haven't checked my E-mail account for about ten years.
Lord knows what vital information I may have missed.
M.P.
My robot overlords have released me!
ReplyDeleteIs there going to be a Sunday blog?!
Welcome back, Charlie. There will indeed be posting activity on this site today.
ReplyDeleteHey! It's great to be back! (Doggone robots!!!)
ReplyDeleteQuick question... now that I am free my wifey and I are going to see Avengers End Game. To prepare we rewatched the last Avengers.
1) DO we have to know who Ms. Marvel is, i.e., see her movie, in order to understand the latest Avengers flick?
2) Can anyone tell us why, for the last Avengers, it starts with Hulk, Thor, and ? on a spacecraft with Thanos? We had no recollection of why they were on the ship at the start of the movie?
Thanks. We aren't going for maybe 4-5 hours so if anyone can provide a quick reply I'll add you to my Xmas Card List for 2019!!!
Charlie, its a Marvel film - you could understand Endgame even if you hadn't seen any other Avengers flicks.
ReplyDeleteStill, don't you want to see Captain Marvel anyway, for the variation on the green costume?
-sean
PS Thor and the Hulk were in space at the end of Thor; Ragnarok.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, you should be able to understand Endgame if you missed Captain Gender Studies.
ReplyDeleteWhich is surprising, given the epilog of Infinity War.
It does help if you saw Ant Man & the Wasp. Which is ironic, since that movie was (AFAIR) not even hinted at in IW.