The Marvel Lucky Bag - February 1971.

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

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February 1971 wasn't what could be called a classic month for movies but it did see the release of two films of note, in Carry On Henry and Countess Dracula. The first of which I remember seeing at the Classic Cinema in Fitzalan Square. The second of which I remember seeing on television in my living room.

Indisputably, both films told vitally interesting stories but, on the UK album chart, there was only one story in town.

And that was All Things Must Pass by George Harrison which hogged the Number One slot for the whole of February and confounded all who'd expected Lennon or McCartney to be the first out of the commercial blocks, post-Beatles.

Not only that but George was dominating the British singles chart as well, thanks to My Sweet Lord which held the top spot for the first three-quarters of the month until being deposed, at the death, by Mungo Jerry's Baby Jump.

I must confess, despite the latter track having been a chart-topper by a well-remembered band, I've no recollection of ever having heard it in my entire life.

But what of Marvel and its less-popular comics that proudly bore the name of that month upon their covers?

I can only assume something must have been going wrong because, this time out, the company only published two-thirds the number of books it had the previous month. What lay behind this curious thinning of the pack?

I couldn't say but I will say that, of its reduced output of secondary titles, the below are the ones which seem, to me, the most attention-worthy.

The Petrified Man's now adopted the title of, "Garokk the Sun God," as his priestess Zaladane continues to cause chaos in the Savage Land.

Seemingly in a mood for a holiday after seeing-off the recent attempt to overthrow him, Dr Doom goes for a trip to the Riviera, unaware the Red Skull's about to take advantage of his absence and seize control of Latveria.

We travel back to 1965 when Foggy Nelson decides to run for District Attorney, gets himself a love interest and finds himself ensnared in the schemes of the Organizer and his lackeys the Ani-Men.

But whom can the Organizer be?

Whom?

It's almost an early Defenders outing, as the Hulk, Namor and Surfer team up to prevent a South American dictator from doing something or other that'd damage the environment.

In the process, they also help overthrow him and introduce democracy to his land.

Hooray!

Needless to say, before they manage that, all three of them come to blows until they finally agree to fight on the same side.

Stan Lee did like to give monsters names that sounded like, "Gorilla." And here's another one, as Gorgilla goes on the rampage.

I do believe he may, at one point, defend our heroes from a dinosaur, so perhaps he's not as bad as he looks.

In our second tale, an archaeologist plans to rob an Egyptian tomb but ends up, instead, trapped within it. A fate that, thanks to comics, I know befalls all who seek to rob Egyptian tombs.

Meanwhile, in our final tale, Kraggoom the gaseous alien seeks to possess an astronaut, so it can invade the Earth!