The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1970.

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August 1970 was a quiet month in the world of cinema but it did see the release of a Japanese film entitled Space Amoeba. I refuse to believe there's a single person alive who wouldn't want to see a film called Space Amoeba.

Amazingly, it featured giant monsters running rampant upon the planet Earth. Who would ever have expected such a thing from a Japanese movie?

Anyway, it all sounds mind-bogglingly dramatic but, over in the UK, the singles chart was proving to be anything but that, as Elvis Presley's The Wonder of You managed to spend the entire month at Number One, seeing-off challenges from the likes of Lola and Tears of a Clown.

Things were a little bit livelier on the LP chart, as August kicked off with the seemingly inevitable Bridge over Troubled Water at Number One before it was displaced by the Moody Blues' A Question of Balance featuring the smash-hit single Question.

We get the launch of a brave new comic, as the Inhumans and Black Widow each land a brand new series of their own.

I'm pretty sure the Inhumans tale is the Jack Kirby authored one in which the Himalayan hide-and-seekers are tricked, by Maximus, into thinking the Fantastic Four have launched a missile attack upon their kingdom.

I've read the Black Widow story but have no memory of what happens in it, other than that it's drawn by John Buscema, so, at least we know it's bound to look good.

And we get the launch another new comic, as Ka-Zar and Dr Doom are granted their own strips.

In the first tale, Kraven, tired of being beaten-up by Spider-Man, decides to have a change, by getting himself beaten-up by Ka-Zar.

It's another tale drawn by Jack Kirby. He may have been about to leave the company but you'd never have known it from the amount of material he was getting published by them.

In the second tale, Doom, for reasons I can't remember, decides to make a copy of himself, which, inevitably, turns against him. Possibly, he wants to transplant his brain into it, so he'll look pretty again.

Meanwhile, the people of Latveria are revolting...

Apart from the thrill of seeing Doom in action, the main attraction of this tale is, of course, that it's beautifully drawn by Wally Wood.

It's another first-issue spectacular, as Iron Man finally gets an annual of his very own. It does seem surprising that it took him this long to manage it.

As far as I can make out, it's made up entirely of reprints.

First, we get Shellhead's original encounter with the Titanium Man. A battle which leaves Happy Hogan close to death.

Then we get the story which alternates between Gene Colan and Jack Kirby on pencils, as Warlord Krang's attempts to impress Lady Dorma lead to a battle between Iron Man and Subby.

Despite what the cover may imply, at no point does Iron Man have to tackle Titanium Man and the Sub-Mariner at the same time.

And we get the launch of yet another new comic!

But this is an odd one. Not only has Ka-Zar landed his own strip in Amazing Adventures, this month, but he also gets his own book, on top of that.

What lay behind Marvel's sudden burst of enthusiasm for the character, I have no idea.

The book's opener is a reprint of the jungle lord's first Silver Age appearance, in the pages of X-Men #10. 

We then get a short Hercules story. Exactly what happens in it, I cannot say but the Avengers and Ares are, somehow, involved.

And we finish off with the Gene Colan drawn Daredevil tale in which Ka-Zar's back in England and has been framed for murder, by the Plunderer.

Good gravy! Now even the Outlaw Kid has his own comic!

Not that I have a clue who the Outlaw Kid is but it means Marvel now has six Western titles in its ranks, suggesting the genre must be a strong seller for the company, even though we all associate this era, for it, with super-heroes.

Regardless, this issue seems to be made up entirely of reprints from 1950s books.

Eco-Warrior Prince Namor decides to join a protest to protect Central Park from destruction at the hands of a hard-hearted tycoon.

Inevitably, it's not long before the ruler of Atlantis finds himself having to tackle that tycoon's latest instrument of environmental destruction, the giant digger known as Brutivac.

Fortunately, the tycoon's son's on hand to make the ruthless businessman see the error of his ways, in a manner we've seen about a million times before in Marvel comics from this era.

Strike a light, it's the launch of yet another new book!

And it's yet more cowboy capers, as a whole bunch of six-shooting heroes get a run-out, some in brand new tales and some in reprints from the 1960s.