December 3rd, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

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Strange things were afoot in 1909.

Amongst them was that a group of people staged a play in Egypt, in an attempt to lift a curse that had, allegedly, been placed upon the pharaoh Akenhaten in 1354 BC. I only know this because, on this night in 1980, BBC One broadcast a documentary about the attempt.

Whether the bid to lift the curse succeeded, I cannot say and that is why I've resisted all temptation to try and locate his tomb, even though it's already been located.

It's clear we're being treated to the origin of Captain America. Surely, the least-told story in comic book history.

But that's all that's clear, as I've no knowledge of what else occurs within this month's publication.

However, from that corner box, I'm assuming Thor's also appearing.

And it's another one whose contents are a bigger mystery than a Toyah Wilcox hit. All I can say with any kind of certainty is the stars of Battlestar Galactica would appear to be up against a monster.

If that's the bad news, the good news is this issue's a hundred pages long and doubles-up as a winter special.

It's virtually doubtless this issue contains the tale where the Hulk's blasted into space, returns with no will of his own, becomes a puppet of Rick Jones, learns to leap and has to tackle the awe-inspiring might of the Circus of Crime before they set their sights on victory over their true nemesis Howard the Duck.

And it's another hundred-page special, as a group of occultists takes an interest in the Man-Thing for reasons that are not altogether clear to me.

In another Man-Thing tale, some kind of plague of madness is sweeping the globe - and I assume the swampy protagonist will, somehow, be the key to ending it.

Conan tackles the peril of the grim grey god, goes up the tower of the elephant and enters the clutches of Zukala's daughter. All in one issue. It's never a quiet moment for the world's most heroic criminal.

Cheeky Dr Doom's stolen the Silver Surfer's powers and is now in the process of trying to take over the world with them.

And only the Fantastic Four can stop him.

Or can they?

What's more, it's another hundred-pager.

And yet more hundred-page madness, as Peter Parker and Flash Thompson agree to settle their differences, in the boxing ring.

However, that's the least of their worries, as a killer robot, with the smarts to guess Spider-Man's true identity, is let loose in their high school.

Unless I miss my guess, this is the tale in which our hero disposes of his glasses for good.

Also, we get the story in which Spider-Man decides to gatecrash Dorrie Evans' birthday party and finds himself coming to blows with the Human Torch.

More tear-stained love trauma for a hapless bunch of young women in need of learning a valuable life lesson.

The X-Men find themselves up against Magneto again - and then find themselves being quickly defeated by him.

It is noticeable that the phrase, "X-Men," is now larger on the cover than the word, "Rampage."

It would appear we're about to receive Marvel's take on The Shining.

We're treated to yet more of the Punisher's origin, which, judging by that cover, may be a little violent.

Night Raven's up against the Phantom of Walpole Towers.

Dominic Fortune has to thwart a plot to cause an earthquake in California.

And Moon Knight must defeat a plan to steal an ancient Egyptian artefact.

The Fourth Doctor encounters a bunch of people who've ditched their televisions because they prefer to spend their time dreaming.

There's only one problem. A number of the dreamers have started dying!

Elsewhere, we get a retelling of the show's 10th anniversary story The Three Doctors.

And, because that event was a long time ago, there's also an eight-page pullout celebrating the show's 17th anniversary.

As if that wasn't enough, we're also treated to a text version of the 1960s Ice Warriors adventure The Seeds of Death.

And that's all before we finish off with Deathstar, a tale about the creation of time travel.

It's another bad day at the office, as the Avengers find themselves captured by the Collector.

Meanwhile, the X-Men take the injured Havok to be treated by a doctor.

The only hitch is the Doctor's Karl Lykos who promptly drains off a chunk of Havok's life force and turns into Sauron the pterodactyl man!

I hate it when doctors do that.

In the Champions' strip, the Black Widow has to take on Darkstar, which sounds like it should be a fairly one-sided fight.

What's this?

Flash Gordon, Joanna Lumley and Paul Darrow?

What more could one demand of a magazine?

It would appear that Lando Calrissian meets his boyhood idol who lets him down greatly by having turned into a pacifist.

Killraven finally manages to bump off his old nemesis The Keeper but finds he gains no pleasure from it.

We get a two-page report about the 1980 Marvel Comics Film and Fantasy Convention.

And we get more from Marvel's adaptation of the original Star Wars movie, in which Luke, Han, Chewie and Obi-Wan make a hasty getaway from Tatooine.

Conan's still blundering his way through the Hour of the Dragon.

I have to say that's a very long hour. He's been at it for months now.

Elsewhere, it would appear Red Sonja's in mortal combat with Conan, though I'm not sure what the tale is.

Could it be the Frank Thorne drawn epic from Marvel Feature #7 in which the pair clash over an attempt to acquire a page from the Book of Skelos?

Spider-Man and Iron Fist are still trying to stop the man who's living his life backwards.

Meanwhile, the Watcher continues to ask what would have happened if the world knew Daredevil is blind.

Franklin Richards is still being possessed by Agatha Harkness' son.

Ms Marvel's in the process of fleeing Modok's lair.

The Torpedo's out to discover who the mystery person is behind the Rocketeers gang.

And Morbius has been captured by a bunch of cat-people.

Belladonna's trapped Spidey and the new Prowler in an inescapable room she's about to fill with gas.

And the Hulk's on Jarella's world, living the life of a barbarian. I suspect this may be a Tales of the Watcher story.

Odd John's captured Arcturus and is about to skewer him on a pin.

But he'll be doing nothing of the sort if Marionette has her way.

Meanwhile, Odd John's killer-insects are on the loose - and nothing can stop them.

But Ant-Man's going to have a good try.

In a totally different strip, a barbaric world sees a woman called Shandra blundering around with her yetis and having flashbacks to when she lived in more hi-tech surroundings.

Elsewhere, Adam Warlock emerges from his cocoon to thwart the Man-Beast's attempt to kill the High Evolutionary.

And Star-Lord rescues a man from some people with wings.

A gang of cavemen attacks Devil Dinosaur and Moonboy.

And then, just to make things worse, an aggressive iguanodon shows up!

Elsewhere, some bloke or other tells Merlin and Arthur the story of how he once fought a fire-breathing dragon.

But can this tall-tale-telling stranger be trusted?

Clea's gone missing and Dr Strange hires himself a new assistant before setting out to discover where his girlfriend's got to.

Conan's now chief of the Bamulas but they're about to come up against a bunch of vampires.

And, in this week's Tales of Asgard, the youthful Thor tries to single-handedly fend off an attack on his homeland. An attempt for which he gets rewarded with a big hammer.

It looks like Kull's about to tackle the monster from Night of the Demon. I have no doubt the king shall prevail.

And ROM gatecrashes a phoney Dire Wraith funeral.