February 6th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

This week in 1980 was an uneventful one, when it comes to the sort of matters that concern this site. I shall, therefore, fling myself straight into the Time Vortex to see what our favourite Marvel UK publications were up to.

Hooray! Meteor is here!

Granted, that might not be the most exciting news in the world but it does at least manage to provide us with the main feature in this month's book.

Not that it matters, because all anyone with any sense really cares about is that we get a photo of the Liberator from Blake's 7.

It's interesting to see that this month's mag features an article about Project UFO, a show whose name I've heard repeatedly over the years but about which I still remain totally ignorant.

I know nothing of this month's main story but find it unlikely the CIA will be able to hold onto the Hulk for very long.

Things don't look quite so good for the X-Men who find themselves prisoners of Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut.

Fortunately, there are Leprechauns on hand to save them.

And I haven't a clue what the Dr Strange tale involves.

It's yet another thrilling photo cover, as Luke and Leia stand around, looking at each other.

Inside, our heroes are still being tried for trespass, by some people with wings, and we get a four-page text article about Carrie Fisher.

Elsewhere, Deathlok finds out that someone called Mike has married his wife, while he wasn't looking.

In this week's Tale of the Watcher, a tyrant invades another planet, only to discover the people on it are under the control of a vegetable - a vegetable which now takes him over as well!

Hold on. Wait. What? There's a new strip starts this week and it's called Timeslip?

Did Dez think a man of my quality would fail to notice they've stolen the title of a legendary children's TV show of the 1970s?

What next? Children of the Stones?

Anyway, it seems the story involves K-9 disassembling and the Doctor getting younger.

Now that the Invisible Man's out of the way, the comic switches to giving us an adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

But perhaps most importantly of all, we get the start of a whole new story starring Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer, which I'm assuming his first ever appearance.

Will we ever get to see him show up in the TV show proper?

Well, probably not, as I'm sure it would have happened by now, if we were.

I've no memory of the main story but I'm assuming those are the Scarlet Witch's hands, as I can't think of who else they might belong to. I do gather, though, that Count Nefaria's mixed up in it all.

Inside, Jarvis is still being interviewed about life with the Avengers, while the Original X-Men are up against Mesmero, with a little help from Jim Steranko.

But, of course, the big news this month is that we get the origin of the Champions. Surely no man could demand more of a comic.

My knowledge of this book's contents is virtually zero but I do know we get a full-page Joe Jusko pin-up of Red Sonja sitting on top of a dead dinosaur, and also a pin-up of Conan by Tony DeZuniga.

This week's cover would appear to contain a pair of blunders, managing to get not only the date wrong but also the story. I do believe the issue actually features the return of the Mind-Worm, when Spidey gets dragged into the villain's dreams.

It's not just the arm from the living flame that's getting more Hulk than it can handle, as, with three Hulk tales in one issue, we are too.

First of all, there's a tale in which he and Spider-Man team up to deal with a Russian military officer who's out to  destroy the United States, with a big bomb.

We also get the Hulk fighting Tyrannus in the Andes.

And, as if that wasn't enough, we get the Hulk not doing an awful lot, as Moon Knight sets about rescuing Jack Norriss from the clutches of Scorpio.

Ant-Man meanwhile captures a teleporting villain by turning his teleporter against him, the Black Knight's up against a giant troll, and the Silver Surfer tries to get a job, in order to fund the construction of a device which might enable him to break through Galactus' space barrier.

But doesn't the Surfer have the power to make things just appear from thin air, thanks to his Power Cosmic? Can't he just make the money appear?

Then again, can't he just make the device appear?