Forty years ago today - September 1981.

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

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Many are the times a man must let bygones be bygones and put the past behind him.

But, right now, I'm going to put the past in front of me.

In fact, I'm putting it slap-bang in front of everyone.

A mystery - and a fight - breaks out when a zillion-and-one Marvel heroes are summoned to the Avengers Mansion to try out for the team but no one seems to know who sent for them all.

Then it turns out it's Moondragon who's to blame, as she's decided to interfere in who should and shouldn't be in the gang.

Anyway, somehow, at the end of it all, the Vision, Scarlet Witch and Jocasta have left the team and, in their place, Tigra's joined, even though none of the Avengers have a clue who she is.

Strangely, at no point does Tigra point out to them that their previous member Hellcat "borrowed" her old costume.

It's a double-length epic, as Iron Man and Dr Doom find themselves trapped in medieval England and entangled in the courtly machinations of King Arthur and his acquaintances.

Needless to say, it's barely five minutes before Shellhead's teamed up with Arthur, and Doomy's allied himself with Morgan Le Fey.

That conflict over, the armour-clad clobberers then have to join forces, in order to get themselves back to the present.

Our favourite wallcrawler's put through the ringer by Marvel's newest villain who I have no doubt is destined to go on to be one of Marvel's greats, on a par with the Boomerang.

Greg Salinger also puts in his first appearance.

I know! Greg Salinger! Who'd have thought it?

I now have to Google to find out who Greg Salinger is.

I have now checked. It would appear he becomes the 2nd Foolkiller.

For reasons I struggle to recall, the mighty mutants go back to Magneto's abandoned headquarters beneath the Antarctic - only to bump into what's left of Garokk the Petrified Man.

And it would be true to say he's not pleased with them.

Meanwhile, on an island in the middle of nowhere, Cyclops bumps into Magneto himself!

Cap visits Hollywood to get involved in a movie that's being made about him but no sooner does he arrive than Nomad shows up and starts trying to steal his glory.

Who can this mystery man be?

And what does he have to do with a giant homicidal version of Cap?

This is a peculiar one, as the FF find themselves confronting a man whose every wish comes true.

When I say, "confronting," I'm not sure if they ever actually meet him.

When a young boy, wrongly shot by the police, is brought in to be treated at the clinic where Don Blake helps out, Thor has to step in to prevent a full-blown race riot from breaking out.

However, thanks to our hero neglecting his doctoring activities, in order to concentrate on his Thor activities, the boy dies, which doesn't do Don's reputation a lot of good.

Admittedly, it doesn't do the boy's life a lot of good, either.

From what I remember, the Kingpin's secretly ordered a ninja-packed hit on the lives of the Gladiator and Matt Murdock, meaning Elektra has to step in and help the pair out.

My memories of this one are a bit muddled but I think Conan promises to get a jewel for an ageing witch, in order to free her people and it all leads to a fight with a giant worm.

What's this? Moon Knight's turned to crime and agreed to kill Spider-Man, on behalf of the mob?

Well, no, he hasn't. It's all a ruse cooked up by Spidey and Knighty to help the latter infiltrate the criminal underworld and bring down its leadership.

The almost identically-powered Avalance and Landslide decide to have a scrap - and the Hulk, Rick Jones and Betty Ross get caught up in the middle of it.

As does the airport where it's all happening.

Just how is anyone going to get out this alive?