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

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

This very afternoon, in 1980, a veritable clash of the titans reached the starting line, as Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett launched themselves into the first round of the Moscow Olympics' 1500 metres contest. The whole nation waited with bated breath to discover which of these record-pummelling giants of putting one foot in front of the other would prove himself supreme.

Obviously, the nation would have to wait a bit longer because this was just the first round.

It may not have been clear which of that pair ruled the middle-distance roost but it was certain who ruled the vinyl roost.

And that was Deep Purple whose best-of compilation Deepest Purple now sat atop the UK album chart.

Meanwhile, Odyssey's Use it up and Wear it Out retained the prime spot on the UK singles chart, that it had claimed the week before.

We get more of the Fourth Doctor strip Dragon's Claw.

And we get yet more of the Daleks vs the Monstrons.

We also experience a Lee/Lieber/Heck masterpiece in which a scientist uses the time machine he's invented to go back to Ancient Egypt and discover where a pharaoh's treasure's buried - only to find himself entombed with the treasure!

Quite why a man who can invent a time machine needs to worry about making money is beyond me. Surely, a man of his genius is capable of making a fortune from his inventions?

And we finish with a two-part Alan Moore tale called Business as Usual.

Spidey's up against a thing called Meteor Madness.

I'm guessing this is the one where he teams up with the new Giant-Man, AKA Black Goliath, to thwart the return of Meteor Man. I couldn't say that for certain, though.

I can say for certain that the Hulk's up against the might of Jack Frost.

To be honest, the cover blurb, "Hulk fights the ice statues," doesn't exactly set my pulse racing. I mean, they're made of ice. They have to be the weakest opponents he's ever come up against.

Feel more concern for the She-Hulk, however. She's up against a violent robot that people keep mistaking for her.

Spider-Woman, meanwhile, is now in America and on the trail of Brother Grimm.

And, in The Defenders, Bruce Banner has to perform an emergency medical procedure on Subby, Nighthawk and Hellcat.

I think this may be the one in which that Russian bloke turns himself and the Red Guardian into god-like beings.

Nick Fury's trying to do a rescue mission in France - but is hindered by a medic who's determined to retrieve his dropped medical kit, no matter the risk.

That is all I know of this issue's contents but it would seem we also get the start of a colour strip called I Was Adolf's Double.

Of that strip, I know nothing.

And I know almost as nothing about this week's Empire Strikes Back Weekly.

Obviously, I know the adaptation of the movie continues at its own leisurely pace but the events of the back-up strips are unknown to me.

I would assume Gullivar Jones is still on Mars and the Watcher's still telling us tales designed to keep our minds ethical and our actions responsible.

Manhunter: Cobras of the Deep - Detective Comics #440.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

Thanks to the wonders of DC Comics' 100-page publications, we lovers of 1970s derring-do were treated to the exploits of the New Manhunter.

Which was all well and good - except most of us had never even heard of the old Manhunter.

Fortunately, Detective Comics #440 put that right, as it gave us the wartime Simon and Kirby classic Cobras of the Deep in which big-game hunter, turned battler of Nazism, Paul Kirk strikes yet another blow to Hitler's ambitions to create a Reich that will last a thousand years, by making sure it only lasts for twelve.

Determined to win the war, a German submarine captain concocts a plan to rid the Axis powers forever of the threat from their deadly nemesis Manhunter.

His plan is simple, invite our hero to a place and then blow him up by shooting the mountain of dynamite he's inadvertently standing on.

Unfortunately, the Nazi ne'er-do-well hasn't taken into account Kirk's ability to leap out of the way when things explode and, so, within mere panels, he's out to hunt-down his would-be assassins.

Donning a diving helmet they've left behind, he soon follows their trail to the bottom of the sea, where he's captured, before sabotaging their sub and bringing its crew to justice.

In truth, at nine pages, it's not a long tale. No longer, in fact, than an adventure from the new Manhunter. But it rolls along quickly and efficiently and still has a little time to take in the scenery. I especially like Kirk's one-panel meeting with a huge but passive octopus.

We get no real sense of who Paul Kirk is or what he's about, as he gets just three panels before changing into costume.

It's basically a typical piece of wartime comic book propaganda with incompetent Nazis who talk funny and a brave American dealing justice to them, thanks to his greater ingenuity and refusal to give up.

I was struck, however, by the tendency of the Nazi sailors to wear their uniforms while walking around on American soil and committing their clandestine acts. Frankly, from that, I'm not convinced they're the sharpest knives in Hitler's drawer.

Overall, it's a painless enough read but there's nothing at all in it that would have given anyone reason to think such a standard-issue adventurer had the potential to be revived as one of the most intriguing characters in comics.

STOP PRESS! 

Because Charlie47 demanded it, here's the panel which shows Manhunter's deathless encounter with an octopus.

July 23rd, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

There's no bigger fan of running around in pointless circles than me.

And that's why I was so excited, this week, in 1980.

That's because it was the week in which the Moscow Olympics got underway.

It was a controversial event, with several countries, including the United States, pulling out in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Despite pressure from the similarly-minded UK government, British athletes went ahead and took part, picking up 5 gold medals, 7 silver and 9 bronze.

But it wasn't all celebration for the people of Britain, as UK unemployment hit a 44-year high of almost 1.9 million people.

Over on the Pop charts, Odyssey suddenly ruled the roost, thanks to their single Use it up and Wear it Out.

And, on the album chart, Queen held firm at Number One with their platter that mattered The Game.

The Fourth Doctor's still involved in the intrigue of the Dragon's Claw.

In the Daleks' strip, a strange craft has landed on Skaro.

In a Lee/Heck masterpiece, a businessman bullies a scientist into giving him a device that can grant humans the longevity of a redwood tree.

I think we can all guess what happens next.

And we finish off with a two-part Alan Moore tale in which a spy investigates a company called Galaxy Plastics.

Given the name of that company, I'll make a guess that Autons are involved, though I confess that it is just a guess.

My information on this one is almost infinitely sketchy but I do know Lightmaster's abducted the Dazzler and got her hooked up to his deadly machine.

And only Spider-Man can save her!

Nick Fury and his men are parachuting in to save some commandos trapped in a French farmhouse.

Needless to say, this causes panic amongst the watching Germans.

In the present day, it seems the American military is out to get ROM.

In Shang-Chi's strip, there's some intrigue about the location of a stolen statuette called The Golden Dragon.

The Rawhide Kid's under attack by a posse of townspeople and is low on bullets.

Wulf the Briton's still laying siege to Cartamandua's fortress.

Kull and his apemen allies are battling a tentacular horror.

And Machine Man's hunting down the villain known as Kublai Khan, thanks to said criminal having given him a headache.

I know little of this week's issue, other than that Marvel's adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back continues - seemingly, with the Millennium Falcon's flight into an asteroid field.

I am assuming we get another tale of the Watcher, and that Gullivar Jones' adventures on Mars are also still ongoing.

2000 AD - June 1982.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

You know, many times, over the years, people have asked me if I have any regrets in life.

And the one thing I always tell them is, "Yes. You see, I've been to paradise but I've never been to Leeds."

And I'm not the only one because neither had American singer Charlene and, in June 1982, her lament on the matter led her to have one of that month's three UK Number Ones.

That spell kicked off with Adam Ant's Goody Two Shoes in top spot before it was removed by the aforementioned Charlene. But Charlene herself was soon extracted from that position by the power and majesty of Captain Sensible's cover of Happy Talk.

But, wait. What's this Google is telling me? There was no mention of Leeds in that song and Charlene's complaint was actually, "I've been to paradise but I've never been to me."?

Well, I've never been to her, either, and you don't hear me complaining.

And I doubt she's as exciting as Leeds.

And there were no complaints from Madness either because their Absolute Madness entered June by ruling the British album chart. However, Roxy Music's Avalon soon reclaimed the pinnacle from it, before quickly losing it to ABC's The Lexicon of Love.

It was clearly a busy month on the music charts but it was also a jam-packed time at the cinema, for that month saw the release of a whole host of memorable movies.

Most famously, we got ET: The Extra-Terrestrial which soon became the biggest box-office smash of the decade.

But that wasn't all. Hollywood also gave us, Tron, Rambo: First Blood, 48 Hrs and Tootsie.

And sport was clearly determined not to be left behind because that month saw the start of the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

On more serious matters,  it was the month in which the Argentine forces in the Falklands' capital Stanley surrendered to the British military.

As if all that wasn't enough excitement, the galaxy's greatest comic was still around and giving us the adventures of Robo-Hunter, Rogue Trooper, The Mean Arena, Tharg's Future Shocks, Judge Dredd and Ace Trucking Co.

Dredd was still fighting the Apocalypse War where it seems he got to teach the Russians a lesson or two in law-enforcement.

Robo-Hunter, meanwhile, was involved in a thing called The Filby Case. Whether this was named in honour of the supporting character in the first movie adaptation of The Time Machine, I could not say.

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

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

This week in 1980 was an exciting one for lovers of chimpanzees, for it was then that ex Bedtime for Bonzo star Ronald Reagan was nominated to be U.S. president, at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit.

Ronnie may have been going down like a proverbial house on fire over there but, in London, something was literally going down like a house on fire.

And that was Alexandra Palace which went up in flames in spectacular style. First, Crystal Palace. Now, Alexandra Palace. It's enough to put you off living in palaces.

Which is the only reason I've never lived in one.

Speaking of things royal, on the UK album chart, that week, Queen grabbed the top spot with their LP The Game.

However, on the singles chart, there was no change at the summit, with ELO and Olivia Newton-John clinging to the crown they'd first snatched a week earlier.

I don't know if there are any palaces in this comic but I do know we get Part 2 of the new strip Dragon's Claw.

We also get a text retelling of The Celestial Toymaker.

There's a Steve Ditko tale entitled I Took a Long Journey into Fear in which a mad scientist murders a colleague, in order to get the equipment he needs for his time machine.

Needless to say, it doesn't end well for him.

Elsewhere, we get more adventures of the Daleks, this time involving the Monstrons.

And we finish off with a two-page tale featuring Autons and toy soldiers.

Frankly, I don't have a clue who the Monstrons are.

But, with a name like that, they can only be trouble.

Spidey has his work cut out for him when the Lightmaster takes possession of the Dazzler.

Meanwhile, Spider-Woman finds herself up against the menacing peril of Brother Grimm who starts the tale by watching a panto. 

In a Steve Ditko drawn tale, the Hulk finds himself in Jack Frost's subterranean lair, along with the retired villain's collection of ice sculptures.

Above ground, She-Hulk's accused of killing her own alter-ego!

And, in The Defenders, Valkyrie has to battle the ever-annoying menace of Lunatik after he kills a couple of drug dealers, in front of her.

All I know about this week's issue is our gang - minus Luke - are in the process of fleeing Hoth, pursued by the forces of evil.

I would assume Gullivar Jones is still gallivanting around on Mars, that we're getting more of the strip known as Monsters of the Cosmos and that there's another tale of the Watcher, put there to help us learn the difference between right and wrong.

I'm not sure which strip that striking cover represents but I do know that, inside, Wulf and his men are laying siege to the fortress of Cartamandua - and it's not going well for our Brythonic battlers.

In the present day, a man calling himself Kublai Khan wants to transfer his mind into Machine Man's body.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - July 1980.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

If I were to say the words, "Don't call me Shirley," you'd know exactly what I was referring to.

That's right. I'd be referencing the alarming tendency for people to mix me up with James Bond theme singing legend Dame Shirley Bassey.

But there'd be something else.

And that's the movie Airplane.

And how apt, because this month sees the fortieth anniversary of the release of the movie that transformed Leslie Nielsen, from the man who played criminal henchmen, into a comedy legend. 

But it wasn't the only memorable film out that month because July 1980 also saw releases for Alligator, Caddyshack and Dressed to Kill.

I could be wrong but, famous though they are, I do believe I've never seen any of that trio.

I do, however, suspect Alligator is the one from which I'd gain most pleasure.

I don't have a clue what's going on on that cover by John Pound but it seems that, inside, the feathery fighter returns to his homeworld where it turns out he's viewed as a messiah. I can only put this down to his victory over the Circus of Crime.

We also get his origin.

Whether Howard's origin and his being viewed as a messiah are connected, I could not say.

Here it is - as mentioned by Sean in this site's comments section, just the other day - Marvel's adaptation of the musical that shook the world.

But how does the story stand up, without the music to support it?

I dread to think.

Hold on a minute, it's another comic based on something we were discussing in the comments section the other day! Has 1980 Marvel been reading my blog again?

This time, it's the adventures of Merlin, courtesy of Doug Moench and John Buscema. I don't know what happens in it - although I suspect King Arthur may be involved - but I do know the main story's 55 pages long.

I'm also not sure just what Merlin's up to on that cover but I suspect it's not something they teach you in Wizard School.

Hooray! They've got the whole Harpy/Modok/Bi-Beast storyline and given it its own Treasury Edition. At last, we can relive Betty Ross's descent into madness.

It would appear Iron Man travels to Los Angeles to investigate the death of a Tony Stark employee - only to discover She-Hulk is Prime Suspect Number One.

I've not one scrap of doubt this'll lead to a punch-up between them before they unite to tackle the real killer.

I know nothing of this book, other than that it's drawn by Dave Cockrum and written by Marv Wolfman. However, that is a very appealing cover.

It's another one whose contents I know nothing of and have picked purely for the cover which, in this case, is, I believe, by Frank Miller.

It seems Johnny Blaze loses his stunt-cycle title to Flagg Fargo. Will he ever get over the ignominy of it all?

And will he be able to convince the world that Fargo cheated?

Aw, who cares? Just look at that cover by Bob Budiansky. If that doesn't make you buy this comic, what would?

Forty years ago today - July 1980.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

It would appear that today is Flying Ant Day.

I have seen no flying ants.

I can only assume they're absent from my life because Ant-Man has summoned them all for some deadly mission he's undertaking.

He has! He has summoned them for a deadly mission!

And that mission is escaping from a lift.

It's true. The world's mightiest super-team find themselves spending a chunk of this issue trying to get out of their own lift when it breaks down.

Now I'm starting to see how all those 2nd-string villains manage to give them such problems.

Meanwhile, giant robot Red Ronin's about to go on the rampage and Ms Marvel suddenly discovers she's pregnant!

What can it all be leading to?

What?

Having escaped the place, Conan returns to the city of short people, to overthrow their king and have his revenge.

But, when he gets there, no sooner does he triumph than he discovers some of his allies may not be as reliable as he might have hoped...

Daredevil has to fight Doctor Octopus, for reasons I can't recall and, as you'd expect, it isn't easy, even though the deadly Doctor's currently missing an appendage...

We get a recap of the Fantastic Four's origin, and then it's off to the North Pole or the South Pole where our heroes discover mysterious aliens are building a machine for purposes unknown.

Thinking about it, on their way there, they encounter that Canadian character from Alpha Flight, the one who can fly and has a maple leaf on his costume.

From this, I shall conclude it's the North Pole the FF are visiting.

For reasons I'm not totally sure of, the Hulk finds himself in a series of caves inhabited by Iron Man's old foe Jack Frost who's given up on crime, humanity, the surface world and, basically, life itself, to dwell alone amongst his ice sculptures.

Needless to say, it's not long before the Hulk's smashing the place to pieces and costing poor old Jack his life.

What a strangely sad tale.

Now I'm worried about what's become of Iron Man's other early foes, like Mister Doll, the Red Barbarian and the hypnotic robo-Neanderthal.

Remember Jonas Harrow?

Peter Parker doesn't because, to my knowledge, he's never met him, even though that mad scientist was to blame for creating such menaces as Hammerhead, the Kangaroo and Will o' the Wisp.

Now he's back and using the magic ray he's invented to make everyone aggressive.

Can our hero get to the bottom of it in time?

And, if he does, can he put a stop to it?

As the title implies, there's a multiple murderer on the loose.

And he's killing New York's crime bosses, in an attempt to take control of the New York Mob.

Who can this mystery villain be?

I can tell you.

It's the Vulture.

And it looks like he might succeed.

I've a feeling this may be the issue in which we first discover the Vulture's real name.

Now things get serious.

It's ancient times and, because a Valkyrie who seems to be the Defenders' Valkyrie has helped some bloke win a fight against some other bloke, Odin strips her of her Valkyrie powers, to teach her a lesson.

The bounder.

It's the big one. Dark Phoenix is well and truly on the loose - and even the comic's logo isn't safe! 

Now who can stop her?

The X-Men can.

And, if they can't, the Shi'ar, Kree and Skrull Empires will.

SHIELD has Baron Strucker in custody but it's not long before he's stolen Nick Fury's flying car and is trying to kill our heroes with it.

But then it all gets odd.

No sooner is his rampage thwarted than he explodes and it turns out he was just a robot lookalike and his captors had never noticed.

Iron Man finds himself up against the Endotherm whose power of freezing everything he encounters seems suspiciously like that of the aforementioned Jack Frost.

As far as I can recall, the Endotherm is an English security man, at one of Stark's factories, who decides to cause mayhem when he fears he's going to get the push for being no good at his job.

July 9th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

What's that? A place where nobody dared to go?

The love that we came to know?

It can only be that magical place mankind knows as Xanadu.

Surely, Kublai Khan never suspected, when he established his summer capital in Inner Mongolia, that, 700 years later, it'd be a Disco sensation.

But it was!

And, in this week in 1980, Olivia Newton-John and ELO proved it, as their record of that very name reached the top of the British hit parade, giving the band their first and last UK chart-topper.

I'll happily declare that, for me, it's a song whose appeal has only been enhanced by the passing years, and still makes me wonder if I should condescend to try watching the movie it came from.

It's bad news in the Baxter Building where the Wizard, Electro, Sandman and Trapster are in the process of sneaking up on Reed Richards, without warning.

What hope is there for our stretchy super-doer?

Spider-Man. That's what hope.

And what hope for the other stars of this week's comic?

Beats me. I don't even know what threats they're facing.

We get the start of a, no doubt, thrilling new series called Dragon's Claw featuring monks.

After that, there's a three-page feature on spaceships that have appeared in the show.

There's also a single-page article about Doctor Who actors who've appeared in Star Wars.

The only one I can think of, off the top of my head, is Michael Sheard who turned up in a zillion episodes, as about a zillion different characters, and who ended up being strangled to death by the power of Darth Vader's brain.

We get a Lee/Ditko tale reprinted from Strange Tales #90, in which an ageless scientist remains on Earth - after everyone else has left - in order to repopulate it, with a woman. 

The mind-boggling twist is that their names are Adam and Eve!

And we finish off with more from the Daleks' strip.

Don't ask me what happens in it but it's written by David Whitaker, which practically makes it canon, as far as I'm concerned.

Deep in the heart of Germany, Rocky Stone and Bull McGiveney are taking on the German army while waiting for support to arrive.

I'm assuming the support is Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos, as it's their strip.

Unfortunately, they're not in time to prevent Bull getting hit by a bullet. Is it curtains for the man?

And just how rocky are things going to get for Rocky?

2,000 weeks into Marvel's adaptation of the movie, and Luke's still on Hoth, still fighting those robot camels.

Elsewhere, an exciting new strip makes its Gil Kanetastic debut.

And that's Gullivar Jones: Warrior of Mars.

But, hold on a minute, he was in Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes comic, years ago. What a swizz.

But it is weird how I've no recollection of him ever having been in this comic.

Meanwhile, under the book's Monsters of the Cosmos banner, we get Part One of a thing called Clete which is reprinted from Unkown Worlds of Science Fiction #1.

And we finish off with I Come From the Shadow World, a Lee/Ditko offering in which a malevolent silhouette arrives on Earth, out to do some spying in preparation for invasion.

He is, of course, destroyed by someone turning the lights on.

But is he a member of the race of shadow creatures which once turned up in a Herb Trimpe drawn Hulk tale?

The keen-eyed reader will have noticed a certain absence.

It's true. Poor old Man-Wolf has lost his place in the book.

Will he ever get it back?

Only time will tell.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - July 1970.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.

***

The very definition of the word, "frustration," is having been a member of the band Free in July 1970.

That's because their track All Right Now spent the entire month stuck at Number Two on the UK singles chart; behind Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime and then Elvis Presley's The Wonder of You. It does seem strange to see Elvis at Number One in 1970 but I suppose it's a reminder of his enduring appeal.

But he's not the only one with that trait because, just a couple of weeks ago, in 2020, Bob Dylan was top of the UK album chart and, wouldn't you know it, exactly 50 years ago, he managed the self-same feat, thanks to his LP Self-Portrait.

However, he was soon robbed of that pinnacle by Simon and Garfunkel whose Bridge Over Troubled Water quickly reclaimed the Number One slot he'd so rudely taken from them.

Speaking of rude, the evil Commander Kraken captures Lady Dorma and Diane Arliss and tries to use them as leverage to force Subby to join his band of not-so-merry pirates.

You do have to feel sorry for Diane Arliss. She seems to blunder from one watery crisis to another, which is quite an achievement for a land-living gal.

A spy has a great idea.

He decides to use shrinking pills, so he can spy on people more easily.

With a grim inevitability, he loses those pills and ends up permanently stuck at that size. I think I can guess which film Stan was watching before he wrote that one.

We also get a story called The Ghost Beast. Of it, I know little but do know it was written and pencilled by Wally Wood.

There's also a Tom Sutton helmed tale whose details I'm mostly ignorant of.

And we finish with a venture called The Scream From Beyond which has the privilege of being introduced to us by an, "Onscreen," Gene Colan.

As if Marvel wasn't giving us enough horror this month, we get the launch of yet another monster anthology.

In it, we get I Am The Brute That Walks. A weakling scientist develops a growth serum, so his girlfriend will like him better.

With another grim inevitability, the serum turns him into a giant monster.

I've no news on whether his girlfriend now likes him better.

Meanwhile, Kragoo shows us an alien, with the power to possess the bodies of others, visit Earth, on a mission of conquest.

Unfortunately, the space dolt takes possession of a statue and discovers he now can't move.

Finally, Fear in the Night tells of a human and a robot who crash-land on an alien world inhabited by a monster. Now, one of them must make the ultimate sacrifice.

Not having read the tale, I'm going to guess the tale's robot is the one who chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice, proving that he is the most human of us all.

We may be getting the debut issue of Where Creatures Roam, this month, but its near-namesake hits its fourth issue.

In Behind My Doors Waits... Medusa! A store owner has a statue he claims is a burglar, turned to stone by the dreaded Gorgon.

Is he telling the truth?

And just what lies behind that locked door of his?

In I Met the Thing on Midnight Island, a sailor finds a note written by a castaway but, when he gets there, finds only a monster. 

Finally, at the tale's conclusion, he discovers the monster was, in fact, the castaway.

In I Was Trapped in Nightmare Valley, evil trees plan to conquer the world but are destroyed by an erupting volcano.

And, in The Monster in My Cellar, a fiction writer inadvertently wills a deadly fiend into existence.

I'm pretty sure this one was reprinted in Star Wars Weekly, at some point.

I haven't read it but I'm convinced we're in for another 20 pages of sobbing, and learning valuable lessons, as love once more preys upon the sanity of attractive young women.

We don't get just a new monster mag, this month. We also get a new humorous one.

Admittedly, I'm assuming it's humorous, based purely on the cover. For all I know, it could contain a descent into madness from which Lovecraft himself would recoil.

Regardless, I must confess I've never heard of this comic before. I can say, however, that the stories within are reprinted from a book originally published in 1949.