The Marvel Lucky Bag - November 1970.

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

***

Dodecahedron.

There's only one reason I know that word.

And that's because it features in the book The Phantom Tollbooth.

But my first introduction to that tale wasn't via the book. It was via the film based on the book.

And that film came out this month in 1970.

However, it wasn't the only cinematic treat that escaped, there and then, because that November also saw the unleashing of Hammer's The Scars of Dracula.

That masterpiece, of course, starred the unlikely duo of singing TV cop Dennis Waterman and children's TV show presenter Jenny Hanley. Somehow, that oddness of casting makes it seem all the more memorable.

Second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton was also in it. Clearly, the film was the gift that kept giving.

I recall that, in it, Drac meets his fate by the same method the werewolf does in the Neal Adams drawn Batman story Moon of the Wolf. Coincidence? Who can know?

When it came to the UK singles chart, November kicked-off with Matthews' Southern Comfort's Woodstock at Number One. However, that was then displaced by Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile, while the month ended with the top spot being held by Dave Edmund's I Hear Your Knocking.

Over on the British album chart, Led Zeppelin III initially held the high ground before being knocked down a peg or two by Bob Dylan's New Morning. But even his Bobness ultimately had to make way, as November ended with Andy Williams' Greatest Hits achieving chart supremacy. 

The Inhumans find themselves up against the power of the Mandarin in what I can't imagine being anything other than a one-sided smackdown, bearing in mind they outnumber him heavily and he's never won a fight against anyone.

The Black Widow's up to something as well, and I don't know what but it seems to involve a man with a bag over his head.

Hooray! We get the launch of yet another Marvel monster mag!

And how better to do so than by giving us the exploits of a fiend who even has a name that's almost, "Monster?"

In the issue's second tale, an alien comes to Earth, to check out whether to invade it. In the end, he decides not to bother and, instead, settles down with a nice Earth girl.

Finally, a criminal discovers a genie and intends to use its powers for his own benefit.

I must confess I habitually ignore Sgt Fury's book in this feature but I feel I have to include this issue purely because of that cover.

However, I'm sensing, "The All-American," will turn out to be more trouble than he's worth.

Attuma captures Namor, Triton and Sting-Ray and orders them to fight each other or he'll put the kibosh on Diane Arliss.

Happily, Subby concocts a cunning plan which involves the trio swimming round and round and round in circles.

Issue #3 of Where Creatures Roam gives us the tale of Thorg who older readers will remember as Thorr, a villain bearing a noticeable resemblance to the mighty Thor's first foes the Stone Men from Saturn.

In our other tales, we get a man who declares himself to have been the victim of a sorcerer, a man who demands to be saved from the Mole Men and, finally, a man who declares that he lives again.

Hooray! Groot's on the loose!

Sadly, there's no sign of any of the other Guardians of the Galaxy and, in this tale, his attempts to abduct an entire town are thwarted by the unleashing of termites.

That's followed by the tale of a scientist, with a time machine, who's unable to distinguish between the past and future, a skill you'd have thought a prerequisite for anyone building a time machine.

Then we have the tale of a sculptor who falls in love with one of his creations and has himself turned into wood.

And, finally, none of a pilot's passengers believe him when he says they've just had a near-miss with a flying saucer.

But what he doesn't know is that one of those passengers is a Martian!