September 16th 1981 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

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

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Are you waiting for your mail to arrive?

If so, you'll know just how vital a good postman is.

And that means you'll be awed to know that, on this very day in 1981, a new kind of hero was born.

That hero was Postman Pat.

For, it was there and then that his show first aired on BBC One and a delivery legend was born, leading to forty years of argument about whether his theme song includes the words, "black and white cat," or, "black and white cap."

Reader, I have the definitive answer but refuse to reveal it.

What I can do is expose what happened in his very first adventure.

It was this:

Postman Pat and Jess call in at Mrs Goggins' post office to collect the items to be delivered in Greendale. But his round quickly becomes a search for Katy Pottage's missing doll.

Tense stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

Over on the UK singles chart, things were probably no less tense. It was bad news, after all, for Soft Cell, as their track Tainted Love was deposed by Adam Ant, thanks to his recording Prince Charming.

That chart had the kind of people on it you'd expect to be on an early 1980s UK chart. But, rather intriguingly, it also included a trio of once-faded early 1970s Glam gods who'd helped sire such phenomena as Adam Ant in the first place.

That's right, Marc Bolan, Slade and Alvin Stardust were all in the Top 100 - with Stardust even managing to be in the Top 10, thanks to Pretend.

Was this coincidence?

Had the New Romantic movement spawned a wave of nostalgia for the days of Glam that had propelled those stars back into the public consciousness?

I've no idea.

Over on the British album chart, Meat Loaf was still ruling the roost, thanks to his LP Dead Ringer.

Spider-Man teams up with the She-Hulk, thanks to the biros of Tom DeFalco & Jim Shooter, and the pencil of Herb Trimpe.

This is the limit of my knowledge of this issue's contents.

And I know barely more about this one.

Clearly, Daredevil's up against the bludgeoning powerhouse that is Brother Brimstone which suggests to me that he's still on the trail of Karen Page and is still in Hollywood.

After all, as far as I can recall, Brother Brimstone is, in fact, a heavily disguised lowly technician working on the TV show Karen's currently starring in, in her capacity as an actress.

And he's a small man in a big exo-skeleton.

Of the Panther's activities, this week, I can say little.

However, Marvel UK's still playing on the idea that this is a comic for all lovers of moodiness.

Doc Ock makes a rare appearance against someone who's not Spider-Man.

And that suggests this is the tale in which Cap goes in search of a youth who's run off with a biker gang, only to have the tentacled terror gatecrash the meeting.

Happily, the bikers quickly recognise Cap's an OK cat, for a square, and help him see off the villain.

The Dazzler, meanwhile, is starring in a tale called Hell... Hell is for Harry. I can make no claims to know just who Harry is.

And Iron Man's battling the Titanium Man.

I'm sure Thor's fighting someone too but I can shed no light upon their identity.