April 30th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Today's post is sponsored by Charlie Horse 47, via the magick of Patreon.

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You know what I've always loved?

Blank incomprehension about the lyrics of a song.

And that means I was in Heaven in this week of exactly forty years ago.

That's because it was the week in which Dexy's Midnight Runners sprinted to the top of the UK singles chart, with Geno, their tribute to legendary Soul singer Geno Washington.

Granted, when I say, "Legendary," I must confess my knowledge of his career comes entirely from that song.

And, having said that, "Knowledge," may also be an overstatement, as, beyond his name, I've gleaned no understanding of his career from it, due to not being able to understand any of the words.

Despite my blank incomprehension, though, I was a major fan of the record and was very pleased to see it at Number One.

Not so exciting for me was what was happening on the LP chart where the nightmare Rock-Classical fusion band Sky had snatched the top spot with their album Sky 2.

Sky were, of course, made up of such musicians as the John Williams who wasn't the John Williams who wrote the Star Wars theme, the bloke who wrote Clive Dunn's Grandad, and a bloke called Tristan.

I must confess I've never heard the album but, from my experience of their singles, I've no doubt it was a very civilised affair.

Captain Marvel shows up to prevent the Hulk killing Glenn Talbot and ends up helping him to get to Jarella's world by, somehow, shrinking him to the size of an iota.

Other than that, I can say little of this issue but I do see the sensational She-Hulk's due to make her presence felt in the book, even though it has mere weeks to live.

I do believe the monster that was trying to kill our heroes last week is still on the loose and in as bad a mood now as it was then.

And it's even worse than that - because someone called Lopaki is out to take Luke and Leia prisoner!

Elsewhere in space, it's a shock to our systems as Man-Wolf suddenly has a presence in the comic.

He would appear to be in a tale from his spell as sword-wielding galactic adventurer.

In truth, I've no memory of him ever having been in the book, or of ever having read his outer space adventures, which is odd, as I've always been partial to Man-Wolf and would have thought such a thing would have stuck in my mind.

Regardless, I'm assuming he's been brought in to replace Monark Starstalker.

I, therefore, assume Deathlok and Tales of the Watcher are still present, though I couldn't say so for certain.

The Doctor's still up against the Dogs of Doom.

We get a look at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop and are granted the chance to win a sound-effects record.

Marvel's adaptation of First Men in the Moon continues. It seems to have been going on for years. I could have walked to the moon in less time than it's taken them to fly there.

We get a text story called The Sands of Time.

And we get more of the Abslom Daak tale Star Tigers.

Dogs of War? Star Tigers? It's like you can't move, for deadly animals, once you travel out into the cosmos.

That's why I'm staying at home and spending my time reading this week's Spectacular Spider-Man Weekly.

Spidey's still teamed with the Punisher in that tale whose events I have little memory of and whose villain I don't recall.

I believe that, at Spidey's insistence, the Punisher only uses, "Mercy bullets," in this tale.

Do such things exist?

I'm suspecting not.

I'm suspecting they're just a comic book thing.