Fifty years ago this month - February 1971.

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

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Who mourns for Adonais? Forget that. Who mourns for Tommy Steele? For, February 1971 was a terrible month for the toothsome tune dispenser.

It was the moment at which his movie Half a Sixpence, merely four years old, no longer made any sense.

That's because it was the month in which the UK and Ireland switched to decimal currency, leading to howls of protest from pensioners, across both realms, that they couldn't understand a new monetary system which required the ability to divide by ten rather than twelve.

Speaking personally, I've never got over it and still insist on buying all my goods by the groatload.

And, up in space, things were just as fancy and modern, thanks to it being the month in which Apollo 14 landed on the moon.

Also flying high was Evel Knievel who managed to set a world record by jumping over 19 cars in Ontario, California.

Flying noticeably lower was legendary icon of Britishness Rolls Royce which went bankrupt and was promptly nationalised.

Stone-Face makes his dynamic debut, as Cap and the Falcon decide to take him down for whatever it is he's been up to.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure just what it is he has been up to.

Probably trying to start a race war and take over Harlem. That's my guess.

"He's back! More dangerous than ever!" declares the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #93 but the genius of Stan Lee and John Romita is that, once inside the mag, they make no attempt to convince us the Prowler's at all dangerous.

The tooled-up window cleaner's merely an annoyance, slowing Spidey down as he tries to reach Gwen before she leaves the country.

So outclassed is the Prowler that, in the end, Spider-Man doesn't get to her in time purely because he must rush his opponent to hospital after almost accidentally killing him.

After escaping the world of Arkon, a group of Avengers find themselves in an alternate world where they have to help the Squadron Supreme defeat an evil child genius with a huge head.

The early days of Barry Smith's Conan continue as he confronts the Grim Grey God.

It's intriguing see, "grey," being spelt British style but I must confess to recalling nothing of the story itself.

I must have read this in the Mighty World of Marvel but, if I did, I don't remember when.

Nor do I recall anything that happens in it.

Sadly, John Romita's stint on the strip's now ended.

Happily, John Buscema's has started!

This is a good thing, as I always dug the way he drew the Thing's pebbles.

But, forget pebbles. It's Ben's marbles Reed needs to worry about, as it's quickly becoming clear his attempt to cure the Thing has turned the man evil.

Again.

Upon Bruce Banner's return to New York, the Hulk must overcome both Xeron and the space beast Klaatu, a monster as big as the Empire State Building!

Not only that but the Abomination's back!

This one's not ringing any bells for me.

But, clearly, the Spymaster's involved.

Hold onto your hats, Asgardophiles, because Thor finds himself facing an evil version of Odin.

It has to be said, given the trouble Odin causes at the best of times, I'm not sure an evil version of him's any bigger a threat to the universe than the normal one is.

The X-Men invade the Sentinels' underground lair and promptly get themselves captured.

This leads the Sentinels' leader Master Mold to decide it's time for his giant robots to conquer the world!

"Well, that was all lovely for Marvel," I hear you cry, "but what was DC up to?"

Because you the Reader demanded it, here's a quick look at some of the more intriguing stuff the company was unleashing at the same time.

That's a dramatic cover by Neal Adams.

Sadly, I can't say whether the interior's as dramatic but I do know Batman's up against the Asylum of the Futurians.

Although, to be frank, I don't have a clue who the Futurians are or why they need an asylum.

And it's another dramatic Adams cover, as Robin appears to have met his maker.

Not only that but the interior art's by Nefarious Neal as well.

I suspect that, this time out, the caped crusader's up against a haunted house - and he doesn't even have the Scooby-Doo Gang to help him!

Also inside, Batgirl tangles with a phantom bullfighter.

I don't know if the comic's any good but that's one magnificent cover for a title I've never heard of.

It would appear to be the handiwork of Tony DeZuniga who also inked the lead story, a Ric Estrada pencilled tale of a woman who gives up her feminist beliefs, to aid the career development of her boyfriend.

I have no doubt at all that she'll live to regret such reckless foolishness.