January 16th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Beware the Death Mist!

I know I am. That's why I won't go near it.

But Flash Gordon's made of sterner stuff. That's why he has his own movie serial and I don't.

You guessed it. On this night in 1980, BBC Two was again showing Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe and, this episode, if its title's to be believed, he was indeed up against that murderous miasma.

Despite its fearsome-sounding name, I suspect he still somehow came through it unscathed.

With total inevitability, that episode was followed, immediately, by an episode of Pride and Prejudice.

Flash Gordon and Pride and Prejudice, two franchises that will forever be associated with each other in people's minds.

Over on the UK singles chart, after ten weeks on the hit parade, the Pretenders' Brass in Pocket suddenly leapt to Number One, knocking Pink Floyd off the top spot and providing that decade with its first new Number One.

Unless, of course, you take the view that the 1980s began in 1981.

Whether you do or don't, it was a week of perfect triumph for the Pretenders because their self-titled album simultaneously smashed straight in at the very top of the UK album chart.

I have a copy of that album.

And I've just realised I've never actually played it.

My knowledge of what happens on that Pretenders album may be almost zero, but my knowledge of what happens in this issue is even less.

I gather that Luke Skywalker gets to splash around in some water with a homicidal knife-wielder.

I do know, though, that this is the book's 99th issue and it has to be congratulated because not many Marvel UK mags ever reached the century mark.

In fact, off the top of my head, Mighty World of Marvel, Spider-Man Comics Weekly, The Avengers and Planet of the Apes are the only others I can think of that managed it.

It is, though, questionable whether Deathlok will live to see that 100th issue, as he spends this week's offering being being chased around by a tank.

Scorpio turns up at Kyle Richmond's country retreat, in search of its owner, only to find the Defenders are there.

Cue the obligatory scrap but what can the astrologically obsessed villain want with Kyle?

Elsewhere, in his own strip, the Hulk's still in El Dorado and meeting the mysterious trio known as They.

You do wonder what kind of people would refer to themselves as, "They," rather than, "Us."

The Black Knight's in a mystical realm, his quest for King Arthur leading him into the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon.

Elsewhere, a villain whose name totally escapes me has cured Ant-Man's problem of being permanently stuck at insect size.

But there's a catch. He's going to kill the Wasp unless Ant-Man helps him break into the Avengers Mansion.

And Loki's still in the process of trying to trick the Silver Surfer into fighting Thor.

Hooray! The Ogrons make the front cover!

I've always assumed the Ogrons were the show's attempt to jump on the Planet of the Apes bandwagon but that doesn't mean that I didn't love them and that they shouldn't bring them back.

I do recognise that cover shot of the Doctor from Day of the Daleks in which he attempts to flee the Ogrons on a motor tricycle so slow that, even at walking pace, the actors playing the Ogrons are having difficulty avoiding catching up with it.

Anyway, my knowledge of this issue's contents is sparse but I do know that in City of the Damned, the Doctor's having trouble with a tank.

And he doesn't even have a motor tricycle to flee on!

But, first Deathlok and now the Doctor. I think it's about time they banned people from having tanks.

By the looks of it, Spidey's about to come up against the Iguana, product of yet another of Curt Connors' ill-advised lab experiments. Will the man never learn his lesson?

I think we all know the answer to that one.