October 14th 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. 

***

Halloween is fast approaching. That magical night on which Americans excitedly await the arrival of trick or treaters, with whole boxes full of candy, and Britons excitedly hide behind their settees, with the lights out, and pretend to not be in.

How appropriate, then, that, this evening in 1981, BBC One was showing Carry On Screaming, the Carry On series' tongue-in-cheek homage to that other great British cinema institution Hammer Horror.

How we thrilled as Oddbod generated a twin from his severed finger, and Harry H Corbett turned into a werewolf detective.

Over on the UK singles chart, the nation had a brand new Number One when Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin's It's My Party hit the top spot.

The Dave Stewart in question did, of course, have no connection to the one who was in the Eurythmics shortly after.

The Police, meanwhile, retained their dominance of the British album chart, thanks to Ghost in The Machine.

But Ghost? In the run-up to Halloween?

How eerily appropriate.

Wait!

What's this?

A summer special?

About werewolves?

For just 45 pence?

Who could say no to such a thing?

It all depends on what your tolerance for Werewolf by Night is, as this book gives us 48 pages of that character and his misadventures.

We get a reprint of Marvel Spotlight #4 in which Jack Russell travels to an island, in search of the Darkhold, and Werewolf by Night #1 in which he escapes that island, with the Darkhold.

If that's not enough for us, there's also a tale from 1953's Journey into Unknown Worlds #22, which goes by the name of Two Frightened People! That, of course, doesn't feature the character. 

I assume it does, though, feature a werewolf but, being unfamiliar with the tale, I cannot guarantee it.

I do have to say, however, that October seems a strange time to release a summer special.

Especially bearing in mind that the winter annuals must already be appearing in a shop near you.

Marvel UK clearly has a lot of confidence in its Classics Comics pocket book because, unlike its other mags in the digest format, this one comes out twice a month. 

And so it is that, mere days after the title's War of the Worlds adaptation hit Britain's spinner racks, Frankenstein is placed before our hungry gazes.

Information about the contents of this one is thin on the ground but I suspect the Hulk's still under the spell of the Corruptor, and the Western-themed gang of heroes called the Rangers are out to do something about it, while Spider-Man's tussle with the Beetle and the Gibbon is, doubtless, also ongoing.

More importantly, this is the book's last-ever issue, and the numbering that began with (I think) Spider-Man Comics Weekly, way back in 1973, finally comes to a halt.

Goodbye, issue #449. How we'll miss you.

A comic that's a mere youth in comparison is showing no signs of meeting its maker, as Iron Man tackles the icy menace of the Endotherm who doesn't seem to be the same villain as Jack Frost, even though he appears to have exactly the same powers and is also an Iron Man villain.

Sadly, the activities of Captain America, Thor and the Dazzler are unknown to me.

Unless I miss my ever-loving guess, this is the one in which Daredevil and the Black Panther must unite in response to the threat to a boy's life that's been caused by the dreaded Thunderbolts.