July 4th, 1979 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Have you ever wanted to be able to walk down the street, listening to your favourite music, instead of the rumbling of traffic and the chatter of pedestrians?

If so, you need to leap into your time machine and head straight on back to 1979 because, in this week of that year, the Sony Walkman went on sale for the very first time and never again would your favourite artists have to endure the inner torment of you abandoning them because you had to leave the house.

But why would you want to leave the house? You had all sorts of Marvel UK goodness to stay indoors for.

Beyond the fact the Watcher and Warlock are in it, I've no idea at all what occurs in this week's issue.

I do assume the Micronauts are also present, though I know not if they've made any progress in their battle against the Man-Thing.

Hulkie's still on an island run by a madman who thinks he's the new High Evolutionary.

Ant-Man's been prematurely aged by a pensioner who's still mad about having lost his job.

Night-Raven's about to have a punch-up with a tiger.

The Eternals and Deviants are still trying to work out what to do about the Celestials.

They'd better hurry up. They've only got fifty years in which to formulate a plan.

In the Watcher's latest What If? tale, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner and Professor X are startled to find Galactus landing on their roof and find themselves having to devise a plan, fast, if they're to save humanity.

Can't they just wait for the Watcher to give them an Ultimate Nullifier whilst claiming he's not allowed to interfere? It worked the last time round.

Also, Nick Fury's up against the Yellow Claw who's been turned into a computer.

I know Godzilla's tackling Red Ronin but that's all I can assert about this issue.

I do note, though, that the blurb claims this comic contains just five stories, compared to the usual six. Could it be the mag's moving toward a more sensible page-count for each strip?

I've always been intrigued by that cover and what's going on with the maskless Darth Vader.

As for the features advertised in the cover's left sidebar, have I seen The Humanoid? Is it that film with Richard Kiel in it? Or am I thinking of a totally different thing?

No back-up strips this month, as Conan has a great big, long adventure in the desert, including a stop-off to fight a giant lobster that's got its sights on the obligatory damsel in distress.

I vaguely recall the main tale in this issue but remember little of its details.

I think there may be a young boy in it and a circus.

If there's a young boy and a circus, I can only assume there must also be a cruel ring master who's in the habit of being unpleasant to that boy.

If there is, I've no doubt the Hulk'll soon put a stop to his activities.

The X-Men are still trying to prevent Count Nefaria taking control of NORAD.

And, apparently, Dr Strange is suffering a reduction in his powers, following his fight with Stygyro.

I do feel that, over the years, I've mentioned Stygyro far more times than he really merits.

All I know of this issue is the FF discover the Sub-Mariner's made off with Sue, when a projection of him appears in the Baxter Building and tells them so.

Can the rest of the Fantastic Five possibly hope to stop him, even with Spider-Man in their ranks?

Hold on! Wait! What? This isn't one of our familiar mags!

And it's true. It's not.

That's because, in a fit of daring, the Dez Skinn Revolution decided to launch four summer specials in 1979 and, you know what? I actually had this one.

Not that that means I can say anything much about its contents. Sadly, I remember all but nothing of them.

I've a feeling Thundra and the Impossible Man may be in it and that the Hulk and Thing swap bodies, at one point

Marvel UK's answer to Mad and Crazy hits the newsagents, with a one-off summer special that proves successful enough for the book to return as a monthly mag, later.

I know nothing of this, other than that, unlike Frantic, it wasn't successful enough to spawn its own monthly mag.

I must confess, from that cover, it doesn't look the most promising thing ever.

I didn't have this one but am confident it centres around the Spidey/Punisher/Moses Magnum tale which also featured in Marvel UK's 1977 Spider-Man Annual.

This book also includes a reprint of Spider-Man's origin and a Steve Ditko drawn look at the hero's powers and abilities.

As if that wasn't enough, we also get a text feature about the TV show which wasn't exactly setting the ratings alight at the time.