If so, you'd have felt you were well within your element in September 1969.
It might not have seemed that way at the start of the month, with In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans ruling the roost on the UK singles chart but that piece of catchy apocalyptica was quickly dislodged by the equally catchy apocalyptica of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising.
Admittedly, I don't think the song's actually about werewolves but, somehow, it always feels like it should be.
Over on the LP chart, Jethro Tull's Stand Up began the month on top but was promptly replaced by Blind Faith's Blind Faith. Sadly, for the Faithsters, their triumph was to be short-lived, as they were soon dethroned by the brand new Beatles album Abbey Road which was destined to spend 17 of the next 18 weeks in the top spot.
It's a disaster for Charlie, as Captain Marvel gets his red and blue uniform in a tale that can only be called a confused mess which often doesn't even have the right speech balloons coming from the right characters' mouths.
It all involves a plot by Ronan or the Intelligence Supreme or some other bloke or all of them or none of them to do something or other. Exactly what, I don't recall. Not that it made sense back in the days when I could recall it.
Needless to say, Marvy finds himself up against a giant robot in this issue because he always seemed to find himself up against a giant robot in his early tales.
Dr Strange battles Nightmare in an attempt to rescue Eternity from him - and recruits the help of Juggernaut, along the way.
Juggernaut vs Nightmare doesn't seem like an obvious conflict. Did Nightmare even have a physical presence?
Apparently, everyone at SHIELD's decided Nick Fury's a traitor. Can he prove his innocence?
I'm betting he can.
Still determined to capture the Surfer's gleaming soul, Mephisto turns the Flying Dutchman into a cyborg and sets him loose on the streets of New York.
This was the point at which the comic switched from being a double length bi-monthly to a normal length monthly title, as evidenced by this issue's instalment halting, randomly, halfway through the action, due to a 40 page story being converted into two 20 page stories.
Aliens try to kidnap Namor, for reasons I'm not familiar with, while, back in Atlantis, a treacherous plotter seeks to get his hands on the throne.
It's the launch of a brand new book, as Marvel's equivalent of all those DC horror anthologies hits the spinner racks.
Famously, the first tale of this issue's drawn by Jim Steranko. Notoriously, the second is credited to Johnny Craig but is clearly 95% drawn by John Romita.
It's more Romita action, as Marvel gives us a whole new romance comic.
Queue various weepy tales of girls who all look like either Mary Jane Watson or Gwen Stacy, and a whole pile of valuable life lessons about the preeminent value of soppiness above all other human activity.
Must have been a hot summer, with Galactus and Juggernaut both going bare legged on this month's covers.
ReplyDeleteIt must've been a time where my isolationist parents had the freezer and cupboards packed with provisions, as I didn't get a single issue that you featured, Steve.
ReplyDeleteJuggernaught vs. Strange seems like that would've been a good read, and Nightmare was always my favorite Strange villain. Stephen's mask-period was usually entertaining.
I'm not a werewolf, but I've played one on televi.... Oops, on Halloween. When the kids would walk up my long, heavily wooded drive-way, in a complete quality werewolf costume I'd chase them down the hill.
I stopped doing that when a little girl dressed as a princess fell down on our gravel road and skinned her knee. I tore my mask off and carried her down to her dad's car. He was cool about it, and laughed it off. That was the mid-70's, and I guess folks weren't sue-happy back then.
Of course my werewolf leanings were also enunciated from time to time after slugging down a couple bottles of MD 20/20 (a cheap wine, also called Mad-Dog). At least that's what my buddies & girlfriends said. I seldom remembered.
The Mar-Vell catalyst will not be fired-up by me, else Charlie will demand that I go spelunking, get some bracelets, and start a minor folk-singing carreer.
When the Beatles' Abbey Road album was first released it initially got quite a few mild to negative reviews.
ReplyDeleteAhhh yes... Charlie enters into mourning for the next several days. Not only is Mar-vell changing colors but the last issue's cover was drawn by D*n H*ck. You can barely tell it's him as the characters don't quite look like stretched out plastic putty. But talk about "adding insult to injury!"
ReplyDeleteSteve - Charlie requests that if you are going to feature Marvel Love and Horror Stories that we also see the entire gamut: a little Millie the Model, Sgt. Fury or Combat Kelly.
KD - most likely your headache will go away for good should you strap on some bracelets found whilst spelunking! Go get 'em Tiger!
Dangerman! Isn't there a recent (50 years ago) Xmen cover with some dud in shorts as well? He's got like a Minotaur head or something? It might even be mostly all one color?
The only time I experienced the Ghost was during the Avengers' "Celestial Madonna" storyline. If I recall correctly, as a member of Kang's Legion of the Unliving (?) The Ghost did some nasty damage to the Vision, but got vaporized in the process.
ReplyDeleteUK Dudes - Charlie's been grooving to XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel." Charlie is not sure why but he heard the song on some 80s internet station for the first time a few weeks ago and just fell in love with the drum beat.
ReplyDeleteSO Charlie was looking up the song and learned that, though it charted 17 in the UK, no one really knows b/c the charting system was botched up for a while in the UK. Charlie wants to know if any of you UK dudes think the song was higher than 17? Now we are talking relatively recently the song came out: 1979. So only 40 years ago!
So Bo Jo lost one today? Is that good / bad / same BS just stretched out til January?
ReplyDeleteCharlie,
ReplyDeleteNumber 17 sounds about right. It certainly entered public consciousness without saturating the airways. I mostly recall a couple of unfortunate kids at school, named Nigel, having this yelled at them in a borderline bullying manner. Kids, eh.
DW
Making Plans for Nigel is remembered well enough that it seems like it should have been a bigger hit Charlie, but maybe thats just the effect of its cultural afterlife. Which might be coming to an end as apparently birth registration in the UK shows no-one calls their kids Nigel any more.
ReplyDeleteIts the Adolph effect I guess (that name went seriously out of fashion with the Germans about seventy-five or so years ago).
Boris Johnson lost his majority Charlie, which is good to see (for obvious reasons).
In theory, that should mean an election but under the new rules fixed-term 2/3 of MPs have to vote for one and many won't until after the brexit deadline. So as things stand, the UK is still out of the EU end of October.
Curious to see what happens...
-sean
-sean
Seems theres an echo...
ReplyDeleteDon't know how I signed off twice there. Duh.
Btw, that was "Erik the Red" in shorts - and a generally rather camp costume designed by Steranko - on that X-Men cover Charlie.
-sean
Charlie/Sean - you're probably thinking of X-Men 52. Strange outfit.
ReplyDeleteKD - yes, The Flying Dutchman's Ghost was in that first Legion Of The Unlving, which I came across in the U.K. Spider-Man magazine in the 70s. It was 20+ years later when I discovered him in the second Silver Surfer Marvel Masterwork and realised that was where he'd come from. The same for Wonder Man in the first Avengers Masterwork a couple of years before. I already knew of Zemo, the original Torch and Frankenstein's monster. No idea who Midnight was until five minutes ago when I googled him and found he appeared in Shang Chi strips.
The Legion of the Unliving was my favorite part of the Celestial Madonna story arc. Always happy to see the original Torch, and it'd had been awhile since Wonder Man was in action. As a monster-kid I was juiced about the appearance of Frankenstein's Monster.
ReplyDeleteThe goofiest aftermath of that storyline was Mantis marrying that plant/energy Swordsman apparition. I can't remember if it was just a copy of him, or did it actually contain some sort of "essence" of the Swordsman.
Does anyone remember?
I believe the tree had been planted on the Swordsman's grave and had, therefore, absorbed his spiritual essence.
ReplyDeleteDangermash, that Shang-Chi/Midnight story's great. I wrote a a review of it here:
ReplyDeletehttps://stevedoescomics.blogspot.com/2014/10/special-marvel-edition-16-shang-chi.html .
Charlie, 17 sounds about right. XTC weren't a band who tended to have huge big hits. They habitually ended up somewhere in the middle of the Top 40.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard about that chart mess-up before. I do know that, one week in the mid 1970s, Manuel and the Music of the Mountains hit Number One but then, within hours, were demoted to the Number 4 slot when it was discovered there'd been a miscount.
KD, and not just Abbey Road. On Sgt Pepper's 20th anniversary, I remember reading some of the terrible reviews that album got when it first came out.
ReplyDeleteAnother batch of Marvels with no speech balloons on the covers, and much better for it.Some great covers, particularly Silver Surfer and Dr.Strange.
ReplyDeleteJust realised that Steranko drew a rejected cover for Tower of Shadows. Very tame cover that was published which would hardly have struck fear into Adams and Wrightson over at DC. Always though the House of Mystery/Secrets had amazing covers and most times average stories! Steranko may have fared better at DC in the early experimental 70s after his Marvel period ended with a series of covers in 1972/73 which I thought were average for him compared to what had gone before.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think Steranko had pretty much done what he set out to by this point, and he had enough style to quit at his peak. Thats what made him more than just another artist (no matter how good) and its a big part of his appeal...
ReplyDelete-sean
Steranko was an original to the world of comic books. Barry Smith seemed to try and imitate him at times, as well as others (not sure who offhand). But he was an original and sometimes its best to leave the party while you are still having a great time, so to speak. He surely left a mark on us old enough; I doubt younger readers know who he is or have much interest.
ReplyDeleteSteve, Sean - thanks for the replies.
And it appears you guys had yet another interesting day in government, though I'll be dog-goned if I can figure out all the "what ifs" swirling around, LOL.
Well Charlie Smith imitated Kirby early on too, but he found his own distinctive approach before long.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about younger readers, but younger artists certainly know who Steranko was - is - if the amount of cover "homages" to SHIELD #4 that keep appearing are anything to go by.
And don't you worry about Boris Johnson. Cometh the hour, cometh the man - Mike Pence is here today to help him out!
-sean