August 1st, 1979 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

This night in 1979 saw one of the oddest sporting clashes of all time, as BBC Two broadcast a football match between West Bromwich Albion and the People's Republic of China. As West Bromwich has a population of 78,000 and China is home to 1.4 billion people, this seems a somewhat unlikely fixture.

Admittedly, the game was in 1979 and the respective populations would have been different back then but I suspect that, even in 1979, West Bromwich didn't have a population the size of China's.

Anyway, West Bromwich Albion won 4-0. It's David and Goliath all over again.

But the big news is that, that morning, BBC One was broadcasting The Flashing Blade, a show I have spectacularly fond memories of, despite not being able to remember a thing about it. It's strange how you can love a show whose contents have totally faded from your consciousness.

I do recall there were Iberians in it and horses but that's about the limit of my recollection. Apparently, in today's episode, the Spanish commander holds the Duke responsible for Recci's escape.

I don't know what any of it means but it sounds like the Duke's in trouble.

Speaking of trouble, it looks like we're back in that cantina and it's no friendlier than it was the first time we entered it.

I wonder if the band have learnt a new song yet, or if they're still playing the same tune over and over again.

Elsewhere this issue, the Guardians of the Galaxy are up against that big space frog that eats planets at a voracious rate.

Warlock finds himself in a tale that introduces us to Constable Trueheart.

I say that but I don't have a clue who Constable Trueheart is.

This week's tale of the Watcher informs us of a world whose nearest neighbour is a prison planet - a prison planet which turns out to be Earth!

The Hulk's still fighting Diablo the smoke Monster but, no sooner has he sorted him out than he has to deal with Taboo the mud monster.

The Black Knight's gone into some magical kingdom or other to try and bring Captain Britain back from the dead.

Ant-Man and the Wasp complete their first mission together, thanks to getting ants to do all the work for them. I'm pleased to report that neither character comes across as being particularly sane in this tale.

Meanwhile, the Reject's still on the rampage in the Deviants' underwater city.

In the pages of What If?, cured of being the Hulk, Rick Jones teams up with Captain America, then stumbles across those pesky nega-bands that can only mean nothing but trouble.

And I do believe Nick Fury's still tripping on hallucinogens.

Here it is, the start of a brand new era for Marvel UK, as we get the birth of the catchily titled Spectacular Spider-Man Weekly and Marvel Comic. Not only is it a new title but it gives us a walloping nine strips. It's madness! Madness!

In the main strip, Carrion's on the rampage in the ESU library and out to kill Peter Parker, having already clobbered Hector Ayala.

And Reed Richards is on the rampage in Latveria. His powers restored, thanks to Dr Doom launching him into space, Reed launches a one-man attack on that villain's kingdom.

I know little of this issue but have no doubt Conan, Red Sonja and Solomon Kane are all up to the sort of thing they're always up to.

I'm pretty sure Jewels of Gwahlur is a Robert E Howard tale and that I've read it. I struggle, however, to recall anything about it.

I know the Red Sonja tales have now reached the Frank Thorne era.

I remember this one!

Or at least I remember the X-Men tale. It's that one where the demonic Kierrok's unleashed when Cyclops blows the lid off an obelisk, in a fit of temper over Thunderbird dying.

I do believe this is the tale in which we first learn that Storm has claustrophobia.

I also think it's the tale that introduces us to the X-Men's new housekeeper Moira Mac Taggert, and her machine gun.

As for Dr Strange, I don't have a clue who Xander the Merciless is. I have Googled him. He seems to look a bit like Omega the Unknown.

Britain's greatest sci-fi mag looks at probably my least favourite Bond movie - Moonraker. A film so bad that I can't even remember its theme tune.

We also get a look at The Spaceman and King Arthur, which was released in some territories as Unidentified Flying Oddball. I can't help feeling they were right to dump that title.