The Marvel Lucky Bag - July 1971.

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

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It's time to do whatever it is you do while watching Shaft, because, this month, fifty years ago, that very film came out and things would never be the same again.

Obviously, as a man of culture, I'm more excited by the fact it was also the month in which the Japanese classics Gamera vs Zigra and Godzilla vs the Smog Monster were released.

In a tragedy worthy of Sophocles himself, I've never seen the former of those monster movies but, happily, I am, at least, fully familiar with the latter which Channel 4 once showed in a season dedicated to the worst films of all time. 

Worst films of all time? Do these people have no taste?

Speaking of having no taste, over on the UK singles chart, the first half of the month was hogged by Middle of the Road's classic Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep before Bubblegum gave way to Glam when T. Rex's Get it On elevated itself to the top spot. Bubblegum vs Glam? Truly, the 1970s had arrived.

When it came to the album chart, things were looking distinctly static, as Bridge Over Troubled Water spent the whole of July at Number One - a position it had already held on several previous occasions.

Yeah, burn, Black Bolt, burn!

The Inhumans get more relevant than ever, as their leader hits the streets of Los Angeles or San Francisco or somewhere like that.

Has he lost his memory, at this point, or does that come later on?

Or did it happen earlier?

I can shed no light upon what happens in the Black Widow's story.

I do feel it's highly impertinent of me to criticise Neal Adams but he really hasn't done a good job of drawing the Black Widow there. She looks way too stretched out and her head doesn't seem to be properly attached to her body.

Stan Lee works his trusty magic, as yet another monster with a name that sounds like, "gorilla," threatens humanity. 

The hero of this tale faces a major headache when the authorities won't believe his claims that aliens are about to invade our planet.

Fortunately, he manages to foil the plot and the failed invaders are, therefore, murdered by their bosses.

In our second tale, Igor decides to complete Frankenstein's legendary experiment, after the not-so-good doctor has a heart attack.

Sadly, for Igor, things don't go well.

Now we're in trouble - because humanity's threatened by Glop!

Glop would appear to be a statue brought to life when covered by strange alien paint.

Fortunately, a handy artist destroys him, thanks to being in possession of a bottle of turps.

In the second tale, scientists experiment on a monkey to give it higher intelligence.

But here's the twist. The fact that their patient is a monkey is only revealed at the story's denouement.

I like to think there aren't many monkeys out there that can bandy around words like, "denouement." And that's why my place will never be taken by a monkey.

Although an orangutan might fancy its chances.

In the book's third, and final, tale, a baseball player's mitt is populated by tiny people who're forced to flee it when they see a baseball heading their way.

I'm assuming they think the ball is another planet and it's only at the climax that we discover they're on a baseball player's mitt.

Gigantus turns up, looking to invade the surface world, on behalf of Atlantis. Fortunately, an advertising executive chases him off with a huge mannequin.

Next, we get the tale of an evil king who was once turned into a frog. He awakes from his ages-long slumber, only to discover everyone in the modern world looks weird and, so, goes back to sleep, having not liked what he's just seen, not realising it's Halloween and everyone was merely in costume.

Next, a man hires a drifter to fix his car. When the man won't pay, the drifter climbs into the automobile and flies it off into outer space, what with him being an alien.

On a future Earth, fed up of having to work an hour a week on a farm, a man flees to a planet that's filled with easy-to-access vegetation.

Only to discover the vegetation's too hostile to be eaten and the locals have to work eight hours a day to feed themselves.

We get yet more tales of tear-drenched romance.

I've posted this one purely because that's a lovely cover that the Grand Comics Database credits to John Romita but really doesn't look at all like Romita's handiwork.

Having decided to desert Atlantis, Subby promptly sets up base in an abandoned jail in New York.

However, the local politicians and military are having none of it and declare war upon the avenging son.

Needless to say, Subby's perfectly happy to fight back.