March 5th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Other than Robert Mugabe taking over leadership of Zimbabwe, this week in 1980 was not an eventful one.

I shall, therefore, plough straight ahead with my look at what Marvel UK was up to at that very time.

The FF are still preparing for their first-ever fight with the Hulk.

What they don't know is that Rick Jones has been kidnapped by a commie!

The Black Knight's still defending a castle from someone or other.

The Beast's fallen-in with Unus, the Blob and Mastermind and they've all decided to run away to the circus.

In his main strip, the Hulk's in Canada again - and heading for a showdown with Sasquatch.

And, finally, the Defenders are still trying to rescue Jack Norriss from Scorpio.

You have to say, they're taking their time over it. And to think I thought the Avengers made a meal of their fights with the Sons of the Serpent.

I can announce that Spidey's up against Doctor Octopus.

I can also announce nothing else, as the contents of this comic are a baffling enigma to me.

Then again, so are the contents of the Spidey story.

Leia's still telling Luke the tale of how she gained her impressive fighting prowess.

We also get a short interview with Peter Cushing.

Elsewhere, Star-Lord's back and we also get a tale about a group of scientists who decide to fire a man, with an unhappy life, into space, on the grounds that he's got less to lose than happy people do.

What's this? Saturn 3 and The Black Hole? In the same issue!

Is there no limit to the treats this magazine is determined to give us?

I have vague memories of the Hulk tale. I think Bruce Banner finds himself in a sinister secret research facility in the desert and, thanks to that, it's not long before the Hulk finds himself up against a robot that's basically a giant puppet.

The X-Men are captured by Black Tom and the Juggernaut.

But fear not! Help is at hand - because the leprechauns are on the case!

I've no idea what the Dr Strange tale involves.

Having survived the attack of the Lethal Legion, the Avengers now have to face their boss Count Nefaria.

The original X-Men are up against Magneto.

We get a text feature about Marvel's Golden Age heroes.

And the Champions take on Pluto.

If they hurt him, Mickey Mouse'll be furious.

As if the Doctor unknowingly having a bomb in his stomach, in The Star Beast, isn't bad enough, now it turns out K-9's having an identity crisis and thinks he's a cat.

We get more from the text adaptation of The Chase.

The cover misspells, "Mechonoids." Then again, it's an easy mistake to make.

We get more of Marvel's adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

We get a pin-up of a mummy from Pyramids of Mars.

And we get a new picture strip called Twilight of the Silurians.

I don't know what the Conan tale involves - and, to be honest, I'm not totally sure what's going on on that cover - but I do know that included inside is a Red Sonja tale drawn by Frank Thorne.

Good grief! Is there no stopping Dez? Not content with all the other books Marvel UK now has, he's only gone and launched another one!

And, this time, it's filled with hilarity, as Frantic makes its, no doubt, side-splitting debut.

This means Marvel UK now has nine publications to its name.

But, no. It doesn't. It has TEN because this week sees the launch of Marvel Superhero Fun and Games. However, I can't find a decent copy of the cover for that, anywhere online.

However, I probably won't be including that one in future editions of this post, as it's just a puzzle book and there's probably not much to say about it.