Two men who have been to the moon are Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who, in July 1969, landed on that dusty globe and introduced its inhabitants to the game of golf.
Despite this, the moon has still never won a major golf tournament.
Back on Earth, that month, Prince Charles was made Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Caernarfon Castle.
The town of Swansea was granted city status.
Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones drowned in his swimming pool. Clearly undeterred by the bad news, mere days later, the band performed in Hyde Park, before an estimated crowd of 250,000 people.
BBC Two first broadcast Pot Black, that month, the mini-tournament which did so much to fuel the massive increase in snooker's popularity in Britain.
But it wasn't all good news on the sports front because football demonstrated its power to bring nations together... ...by starting a war. After Honduras lost a game to El Salvador, rioting broke out in Honduras, aimed at Salvadoran migrant workers, which prompted El Salvador to invade. Fortunately, the war didn't last long and, within days, everyone was friends again.
Meanwhile, as decimalisation drew ever closer, the old halfpenny ceased to be legal tender in the UK.
Barry Smith leaps aboard, as the Avengers discover there's a traitor in their midst.
Yes, it's true. The Vision has turned against them! But why?
Because Ultron's back. That's why. And this time, he's indestructible.
I do feel Smith's pencils in this story are done few favours by Syd Shores' inking but the penciller's flair for layouts and story-telling is already apparent and signs of greater sophistication are already starting to show through when it comes to his drawing style.
Gasp! The Red Skull's got his hands on the Cosmic Cube again - and he's going to use it to kill Captain America on the spot!
Only kidding. Of course he isn't. Instead, he's going to toy with his foe for an interminable length of time, giving the star-spangled hero every possible chance to defeat him.
Is this the one where the Skull and Cap swap bodies?
From the cover, I'm assuming this is the moment Mike Murdock gets his just deserts.
The trouble is, I can't remember Mr Fear being involved.
I do, though, remember a factory blowing up and polishing off the non-existent sibling for good.
It'd be nice to say he'll be missed but I suspect there'll be celebrations wherever comics are read.
That's a very trippy cover for a very strange tale.
It's the one in which Sue picks a house to raise her and Reed's son in and, inevitably, chooses the worst possible house in existence, as it's filled with death traps and is part of the Mole Man's plan to send everyone in the world blind.
If I remember right, the Leader's got his hands on America's nuclear missiles and is planning to use them.
Only the Hulk can stop him
But can the Hulk get past the Leader's giant, rubber humanoid?
I've got a feeling this one involves the Mad Ghost recruiting the services of the Unicorn before that villain realises he's been conned and teams up with Iron Man to defeat the non-corporeal commie.
Spidey has to prevent Silvermane killing Curt Connors, as the ageing mobster tries to gain himself a bit of immortality.
Adam Warlock makes his second appearance, still under the moniker of, "Him," and tries to make off with Sif.
Needless to say, that doesn't go down well with Thor.
I've never read this one but, from the cover, I'm assuming it involves Havok getting his costume and becoming an official super-doer.
From what I read in other comics, as a child, Havok has considerable trouble controlling his powers in this tale and is an unwitting menace to mankind.
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20 comments:
Yes Steve - Cap and the Red Skull switch bodies at the end of the issue.
No Steve - it's not the death of Mike Murdock. Matt Murdock takes his own death for some reason.
Kind of Steve - unicorn teams up with Iron Man next month against the Red/Mad Ghost.
Also this month we see Harry Osborn's "Fu Manchu Face Fuzz" (his words, not mine) for the first time in ASM #74.
And, if there's a general theme, this seems to be a month for last page cliffhangers. ASM ends with a splash page of the new young Silvermane. I can't see what's in the other issues but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that FF, Avengers and Cap also finished with splashes.
*** Matt Murdock fakes, not takes.
Anyone know why Marvel made the Cosmic Cube powerful such that they had to keep putting in the hands of ninnys?
Charlie be thinking that Marvel comic producers must have had some idea that Superman was problematic to write stories, being so powerful, that they would have given the Cube the equivalent of Kryptonite as opposed to dimwits taking possession?
OR, perhaps the Cube does have its Krptonite and Charlie don't know it?
(Sidebar question: Do you UK Gents vote this month for May's replacement or is that an internal party vote, not general public?)
It's an internal vote. Our PM is the leader of the ruling party in Parliament. That (in theory at least) is the Tory's. Then they can go on holiday. Then it's the party annual conferences. Then if there's time they might do something on Brexit.
Its an internal party thing Charlie - only a self-selected group of right-wing loonies have a say.
The Red Skull seems particularly useless because its not his first attempt to defeat Cap using the Cosmic Cube - https://stevedoescomics.blogspot.com/2016/07/MarvelComicsAugust1966.html
To have basically omnipotent powers and fail to kill Cap once may be regarded as a misfortune but twice looks incompetence of Boris Johnsonian proportions.
-sean
PS Given Theresa May's performance so far, I'll believe she's really going when she's actually gone Charlie. The day before she "resigned" she even said she'd stay on as PM til her successor had the confidence of the Commons.
-sean
IIUC, Mike Murdock's death had been faked in Daredevi #41. Then Matt faked his own death in #55. The ruse was to thwart Starr Saxon, who had found out DD's secret identity and was threatening to reveal it publicly. Or something like that.
In #55, DD unmasked Mr. Fear and it turned out to be Saxon, who had assumed the identity after murdering the original Mr. Fear, Zoltan Drago.
Brian Jones joined the 27 club when he drowned in his swimming pool. Apparently, he had been drinking heavily and popping pills, and was too impaired to save himself.
Another tragic victim of substance abuse.
Although, technically, it was the water that killed him.
TC and Dangermash, Thanks for the Matt/Mike Murdock death info. I knew I should have looked at that gravestone more closely.
Sean, I do suspect the Cosmic Cube has a special quality that means whoever owns it loses an ever-increasing number of IQ points, the longer they hold it.
After Sif was abducted, Balder, who was there, was probably thinking "I'm sure glad that Him guy likes girls and not guys. That could have been a very embarrassing situation for me."
I think the Cube is maybe pre-sentient, and can only be used at a certain level. That's the only explanation that makes sense. And we do know they eventually do become fully sentient, as was the case with the Shaper of Worlds and, uh, whatsisname. Kubert.
Something like that.
Maybe if you push a cube too far it gets mad at you. You don't want that, buddy!
On another note, that Hulk cover up there is awesome. I wouldn't mind having that one on a wall.
Cool beans!
M.P. (that's my handle because Baron von Funkenstein is hard to type)
Last Saturday BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary about Charles's accession to Prince of Wales on July 1st 1969. At the time they tried to pretend that the ceremony dated back to the Middle Ages when, in fact, it was invented in 1911.
Never mind the moon landing, there's an even more important 50th anniversary approaching - on Saturday, July 12th 1969 Star Trek was shown on BBC 1 for the first time.
Yes, I read about Star Trek's 50th BBC anniversary, on Twitter, last night. The timing was a remarkable coincidence. Assuming it was just coincidence.
That's a bit of genius from Marvel... Let's make anyone who holds the cube become stupider!
Steve - is there any way you can give us a syllabus of your future posts! That way, maybe, Charlie would have time to dig out the long boxes and reread some of these in advance so he could make succinct and valuable commentary? (Far more useful that Baron von Fullfernutter's! LOL!)
B.t.w. did they ever self Fluffernutter in the UK? (Basically corn syrup and some marshmallow concoction you can spread on sandwiches?
Did anyone else originally think that the Avengers cover was about protecting Wasp from Goliath?
Charlie did. It appeared that the others had rally around her, to protect her from Goliath / Yellow Jacket / Giant Man / Ant Man / whatever was floating through his head.
Wait... Is this Goliath actually Hawkeye?
Charlie needs to get his testosterone count checked. He feels foggy headed and is not as sharp as usual.
I always thought fluffernutter had something to do with German porno movies. Ya learn somethin' new every day!
M.P.
MP - you must have been hit by the Mandarin's left pinky ring which is the "mento intensifier" and become confused.
Fluffernutter is spread on bread and generally eaten with peanut butter.
That and some Hawaii Punch chased by a Moon Pie for Lunch... would launch kids into orbit faster than an upper cut from the Hulk!
Just put straight peanut butter on your bread like a normal person, Charlie.
M.P.
I can confidently say I have never heard of Fluffernutter. By the sound of it, I'm glad I've never encountered it.
Charlie, I can say that tonight's post will feature the Micronauts #7, Warriors of the Shadow Realm #2, Marvel Preview #19, Tarzan #26, What If #15, Spidey Super Stories #41, Godzilla #24 and Marvel Spotlight (1979) #1.
I'm not sure if it's a good idea to give advance warning of these things. People might feel it takes the surprise out of things.
However, if everyone says it's what they want, I'll do it and, if they say it's not what they want, I won't do it.
I agree. That Avengers cover does make it look like Goliath is the villain of the piece.
And it is indeed Clint Barton, not Hank Pym.
Can't say I feel in any need of advance info about future posts Steve, and suspect no good will come of it. Before you realize it, I bet Charlie will be expecting YOU to know what you're going on about.
-sean
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