Fifty years ago today - October 1971.

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

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Here's a turn-up for the books. Often, when I do these posts, I struggle to unearth anything interesting that was happening within the time frame being covered.

However, October 1971 was so jam-packed with incident, I'm having to leave things out!

Among that month's events were the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida, Pink Floyd recording the film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, and the foundation of  Greenpeace, in Vancouver.

On top of that, the UK's House of Commons voted, 356–244, to join the European Economic Community, while the country also became the sixth nation to successfully launch a satellite into orbit, thanks to its Black Arrow rocket blasting-off from Woomera, Australia.

How appropriate, then, that, exactly 50 years later, space visionary Boris Johnson has promised to launch space rockets from the coastal extremities of Britain and make the country go, "Galactic," although, at the moment, it seems to be going more ballistic.

On a far more sombre note, it was also the month in which a bomb exploded at the top of London's Post Office Tower, thanks to the Angry Brigade.

I do wonder if that incident was the inspiration for that Iron Fist tale in which Radion blows up the upper floors of the same building?

That's a question which brings me to the world of Marvel comics and what they were up to while all this real-world drama was unfolding.

In truth, some of them weren't doing anything.

That's because there was a shock in store for comic fans when they went to their local stores, on the hunt for books with an October cover date.

Whisper it quietly - and with dread - but several of our favourite Marvel titles had failed to appear. Thor, The Avengers and Daredevil were the culprits and I can only assume it was down to Marvel switching its titles to a greater page count, meaning some creators couldn't meet the deadline.

There are those who hate the six-armed Spider-Man storyline. There are those who love it.

Me? I'm in the, "love it," camp. As far as I'm concerned, a man can never have too many arms - especially if he's coming up against the first-ever appearance of Morbius the living vampire.

Throw in an appearance by the loathsome Lizard, a stunning framistat, and a great Gil Kane cover and what more could you demand of a comic?

Our heroes are still battling the Grey Gargoyle in a tale that seems to have been running for years.

Fortunately, this issue sees the do-gooders triumph, at last, over the rocky rapscallion, although, unless this is the one in which he ends up being launched into space, I'm not sure just how they do it.

Cities crumble when Conan takes on a real-life Bull God!

Is this the story that ends with Conan's friend being hanged? If it is, you've got to hand it to Roy and Barry. That's potent stuff for a 1970s comic book.

The Over-Mind's still causing nothing but trouble wherever he goes.

But can it be? Has Mr Fantastic turned against his teammates?

I suppose it makes a nice change from the Thing turning against them.

Dr Doom has a great plan. He's going to capture the Hulk and strap a nuclear weapon to him, so Latveria can destroy a neighbouring state.

I can't see this one ending well for the tin-plated tyrant.

I've no idea what happens in this one but it looks like another forgettable foe for the armoured Avenger.

The X-Men must tackle the might of Dominus!

I assume he's called that because he likes to dominate people, not because he likes to play dominoes.

I really don't have a clue what happens in this one either. I take it the villain makes such an impact that they never invite him back?

That's what we're getting from the reduced ranks of Marvel but what of DC? Are they taking the chance to strike back?

Not half they are.

In fact, they have a whole bunch of brand new titles that bear an October cover date.

And, appropriately for the month of Halloween, there's a fair bit of the supernaturals going on.

The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love gets its debut issue with a striking cover by George Ziel who's not an artist I know much about.

We might expect the book to contain three or four tales, in accordance with DC's horror/mystery norm. However, the book contains just one, The Mystery of the Missing Bride, brought to us by Dorothy Woolfolk, Ethan C. Mordden and Tony DeZuniga .

Laura Chandler visits Langfrey House, for the funeral of a friend then accepts an offer to live there, so she can investigate how that friend died.

However, she may meet her own demise before she can uncover the truth!

And Weird War Tales also makes its spine-tingling debut!

Which is good news, as it's the only war comic I've ever liked.

Multiple tales assault our sanity, from the likes of Joe Kubert, Robert Kanigher, Russ Heath, Bob Haney, Ed Heron and Irv Novick.

But all that really matters to me is it has a skeleton on the cover - and that's enough to make me buy any comic.

From monsters to gangsters, as In the Days of the Mob #1 shoots its way onto our spinner racks.

It's wall-to-wall Jack Kirby as, over the course of 60 pages, the man who actually lived through that era brings us more gangster action than we can shake a Tommy gun at.

And we also get a pull-out poster, to boot!

But In the Days of the Mob's not the only new book in that format, because we also get the arrival of Spirit World #1.

It's wall-to-wall Kirby again. This time, giving us 60 pages of supernatural escapades. Does the man never sleep?

Kirby might sleep, after all, but I'm not sure the rest of us will, because DC are giving us the launch of yet another horror title.

This time, it's Ghosts, the book that's trebly terrifying because, as the cover boasts, all the stories in it are true!

And those true tales are made up related to us by Leo Dorfman, Jim Aparo, Sam Glanzman, John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Tony DeZuniga who give us enough horror to ruin any reader's evening.