Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Various were the things of interest which lurked within our cinemas in November 1971.
For instance, if we handed over our money, we could watch the likes of I, Monster, Fiddler on the Roof or even Black Beauty.
Oddity of the month had to be Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? which, Wikipedia informs me, is a Red Buttons movie concerning the murder of a prostitute. Dismayed by police indifference, a local resident decides to conduct his own investigation.
However, the big film news for some of us is the month saw the release of Steven Spielberg's Duel, a drama that so impressed TV bosses they gave it a cinematic release and it later had the honour of forming the backbone of an entire episode of The Incredible Hulk.
Who can forget Dennis Weaver's epic battle with a homicidal juggernaut?
I can't.
And I haven't.
Over on the UK singles chart, while all that was going on, an equally historic event was transpiring, as Slade scored the first of their six Number Ones, thanks to the violin-heavy foot-stomper the world knows as Coz I Luv You.
I must confess that if there's one single in all existence I'd choose to be stranded on a desert island with it'd be Coz I Luv You with its mixture of the menacing and the naive, and a mood that somehow feels like a thing from before the dawn of history but also like the heralding of an imminent new age.
So mighty was that single that it held the Number One slot for the whole month. Things were far more volatile on the British album chart, however, with three different LPs claiming the top spot, that November.
First up was Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story, followed by Top of The Pops Volume 20, and, finally, Four Symbols by Led Zeppelin, an album of which I cannot claim to have ever heard.
I have, at least, heard of all the comics below.
The scientist responsible certainly hopes not, for he plans to swap his brain with that of a great ape so he can use its strength to conduct a crime spree.
In our second tale, a man survives a meeting with Medusa, thanks to being blind.
Next, an ageing space pilot's mocked for his slow ship but, when an alien armada approaches our world, he's the only one not moving too fast to see it.
After that one, a married couple receive a free TV from Plutonian invaders out to hypnotise us all. Happily, the plot's foiled when a grumpy landlord removes the aerial.
Next, Martians visit Earth to find out whether humans are a threat to them. They question a man and discover he's devoid of greed, hatred and deceit. Thus, the aliens leave, a happy bunch - completely unaware they've been talking to a psychiatric patient.
But wait. What's this? We finish the issue with the return of the fiend who started it all, as Gorilla-Man makes his senses-shattering comeback?
Then again, I could be remembering totally wrongly.
Or does he?
It seems that, despite looking identical to him and also having a lupine sidekick, this is not the Red Wolf who'd previously turned up in the Avengers' comic.
This one reprints issues #29 and #30 of his regular mag, in which Baron Strucker's out to destroy the town of Cherbeaux.
Fury fights Strucker to a stalemate and the Nazi agrees to spare the town but then, because he's evil, goes on to destroy it, regardless.
In it, the team defeat Colosso in a training exercise but Scott's jealous of Warren's relationship with Jean, while Professor X frets over his inability to walk.
And, as if that wasn't enough to worry about, Count Nefaria then captures our heroes and places a crystalline dome over Washington!
And that's, "What's mmmMillie the Model up to?"
Well, she's having her tenth annual. Take that, Nick Fury.
And she's doing it via a whole string of reprints from the 1960s.
So popular is mmmMillie that she actually has two annuals out at the same time!
Is there no stopping the wwwoman?
As well as It Happened at Woodstock! we get Jilted! With a Boy's Arms Around Me! I Stand in Sally's Shadow! and A Teen-Ager Can Also Hate! from the likes of Gary Friedrich, Gray Morrow, Stan Lee, Don Heck, Al Hartley, Jack Kirby and Suzan.
I suspect Suzan may be Stan Lee but cannot officially confirm it.
Yes, this comic's priced at eight pence and not the usual one shilling. Truly, the Marvel Age of Decimalisation has arrived.
This isn't an annual but it does feature a massive 52 pages, meaning it takes a whole heap of story-telling to fill it.
And it gets that heap.
Subby's searching for his father but stumbles across a ship dumping radioactive waste near a lighthouse. With a tip-off from the lighthouse keeper, the avenging son shows up in Boston seeking out Stephen Tuval of the Black Sea People's royal family. Tuval then ambushes some flower children Namor's befriended, and drains them of their youth, before Subby puts a stop to his antics.
Meanwhile, Llyra's decided to ally herself with Tiger Shark.
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25 comments:
Has anyone else wondered what would have happened if Millie the Model had discovered the Cube Cosmic?
I'm actually wondering what would have happened if Steve had ever listened to Led Zep IV.
Is anyone else getting the vibe that Millie the model hit her opponent in the Cahonas with the tennis ball the way he is drawn on the cover?
Dave's Cover of the Month- its My Love. Nice cover, more intriguing than the generic X-Men one for me.
Great to see two of my all time favourite albums getting a mention: Led Zeppelin's Four Symbols and Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart. People these days don't realise what a genius the young Rod was, before he went a bit funny.
I reckon if that Sub-Mariner comic had pre-decimal pricing it would have come in at 1/6 Steve. Weren’t the first of the decimalised standard comics priced at 5p?
The standard-sized Marvels were officially 6p, Darren. But I do remember getting ones that had a circular 5p price stamp on them, presumably put there by the distributors.
Dave, my cover of the month has to be Fear. There's no way I'm going to be able to resist buying a comic that features a scientist turning into a gorilla on the front of it.
Charlie, who can know what evil lurks in the heart of Millie the model?
Dangermash, I've now discovered that Zeppelin LP is the one that contains Stairway to Heaven. From this, I'm now assuming it's a famous album.
Yes, it's their most famous and best album Steve. As well as Stairway, you might recognise Rock And Roll.
Wow, some fun stuff on the stands! I'm with you, Steve- gotta love that "Fear" cover. Makes you wonder if the editorial staff had been reading a few Silver Age DC books- hardly a month went by without an ape on some cover or other.
"Fiddler on the Roof" was one of the first non-Disney movies I ever saw. Really liked it as a 10 year old, and still do now. Topol was incredible ( and a treat to see in "For Your Eyes Only" some years later).
And yes, Millie sure ruled the Marvel roost. Of course, if memory serves, teen humor was really big then, with "Archie" the top seller stateside (is that right Charlie?).
As others have already mentioned ‘Four Symbols’ is sometimes also called ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ and also ‘ZOSO’ because that’s kinda/sorta what the four oblique sigils seem to spell out if you look at them a certain way. I like the album a lot, but for anyone who isn’t already a Zep fan, listening to it isn’t likely to change their minds. ‘Stairway’ has to be right up there with ‘Hotel California’ in the pantheon of ‘Over-played Rock Classics That People Are So Damn Tired of Hearing’ (but I still enjoy it).
Steve, I’ve never heard of that Slade song (they weren’t nearly that popular in the U.S.) but your capsule description sounds great. Will have to YouTube it.
I agree with Dave about that MY LOVE cover. The actual story itself is pretty wild too. The SEQUENTIAL CRUSH blog has a good article about it, which is how the issue and story came to my attention. I think scans of the entire thing are on-line, if anyone wants to check it out. Drawn by Gray Morrow at his ‘realistic’ best, and I think he may have colored it too; it’s really cool and unusual. The story by Mike ‘Star Reach’ Friedrich is surprisingly conservative. For all that Marvel paid lip-service to being ‘hip’ and progressive, they always seemed to pull back to a somewhat ‘Status Quo’ position, more often than not.
b.t.
b.t.
Red:
Topol was indeed great in FYEO, as one those classic Bond archetypes, the Lovable Rascally Rogue (like Kerim Bey and Valentine Zukovsy). Also fabulous in FLASH GORDON .
b.t.
Red - you called it. But to be clear, the last year one can find comic sales for seems to be 1969.
For that year the top 15 sellers were DC and Archie with Spidey at #7 and the FF at #12.
Archie was #1 though!!!
https://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales/postaldata/1969.html
Charlie loved Fiddler on the Roof and checked out the DVD from his local library over xmas. Still find it incredibly entertaining and the music superlative!
On the subject of the UK albums chart, I've been reading Wikipedia's list of all the UK #1 albums since 1956. The #1 album on the day I was born was 'The Sound Of Music' film soundtrack which spent SEVENTY WEEKS at #1 between 1965 and 1968. But the 'South Pacific' soundtrack (which my mother bought) spent a whopping 115 weeks at #1 between 1958 and 1961.
You've managed to get though over half a century of life without hearing Stairway To Heaven, Steve? Good for you.
b.t., I'm pretty sure that story from My Love #14 was written by Gary Friedrich, which would explain why its so clueless, right from the first panel - "it was the summer of '68..."
Er, no it wasn't (I expect Mike Friedrich was at least hip enough to the happening scene to have known when the Woodstock festival actually took place).
Gray Morrow's artwork on the story is outstanding though.
The rest of the comic was made up of older reprints which would have been unremarkable even the first time round a decade or so earlier.
The only one I can even vaguely recall is 'With A Boys Arms Around Me", in which our heroine isn't interested in the fellas, and on the rare occasions she's persuaded to go on a date finds being touched up by them repulsive.
Fortunately for young lady readers of the era trying to come to terms with their sexual orientation, they had Stan Lee around as a guide, to let them know they just needed to meet the right guy. When that happened, they'd love it when he groped them and tried to get his leg over.
-sean
I just read My Love #14 online and frankly it was a let down. The most interesting thing was the full inside front cover advert, from Las Salle Extension University, for 'beginning your career in computer programming'. I quote:
"Programmers are to be found in many types of business - in manufacturing, banks, department stores, communications, transportation, utilities. Trainees begin at good pay, and with the right background and experience can rise to fill supervisory positions at upper-level salaries."
I was about to mock the type of coding likely used in 1971 before a bit of research suggests it would have been Pascal. The same language I was taught in 1987 (as part of an Accounting degree)!
I'm now admiring how progressive this would have been at the time. I'm guessing the overlap in the Venn diagram of programmers and comic-book readers is pretty big. Although the romance titles may have been a stretch, or were they decades ahead with gender equality.
DW
B.t.w I agree that Gray Morrow's art on the lead story is fantastic.
DW
DW :
Sorry you were disappointed by MY LOVE 14 — but hey, at least you got to read it for free, then, eh? ;) I found the Woodstock story fascinating in its somewhat lame attempt to thread the needle, seeming to embrace the Counter-Culture but ultimately coming down firmly on the side of conventional ‘traditional’ values. At least Freidrich doesn’t totally demonize the Groovy Long-hair Dude the story’s heroine spends the night with. The boyfriend gets to punch the guy right in the face without condemnation (signaling that the author is on his side) but Hippie Dude is let off relatively easy by his ‘Whoa, sorry pretty lady, I didn’t realize you thought a quick far-out roll in the hay meant a lifetime commitment — my bad’. And then the Heroine realizes what a silly fool she’s been, Boyfriend forgives her, they ride off into the sunset where marriage and babies and 9-to-5 jobs and mortgages await them and all is right with the world.
Vintage Romance comics nearly always seemed to preach Old-fashioned Values to their almost exclusively Female audience, even into the early 70s. DC ‘s Romance comics of the period are often surprisingly a bit more forward-thinking than Marvel’s. At the very least, they were more willing to explore the ideas of Equality and Female Empowerment without always punishing their heroines for daring to think outside their little pre-fab boxes.
Glad you at least liked the art. Gray Morrow is another one of those artists that people either dig or really, really DON’T. His almost photo-real figures and faces can sometimes feel stiff and/or lifeless, but I like his stuff in general, and this is an example of him at pretty much the top of his game.
And Sean: yep, Gary, not Mike. I often get the two Friedrichs mixed-up, even though their writing styles aren’t really similar at all. And I still tend to think of Mike F as more of a Counter-culture guy than Gary — but in fact, he grew up in the Mid-West, lived in the Groovy Early 70s San Francisco Bay Area for only a short time, and didn’t care for it.
b.t.
Well b.t., there was no shortage of people who knew what time it was back then who weren't particularly enamoured with the San Francisco think. Although I don't think I've actually read many comics by Mike Friedrich other than the very early Mar-Vell/Thanos stuff he did with Jim Starlin (but it still seems reasonable to assume he'd do a better job than Gary F, who was not one of the better writers back then imo).
No-one here into Red Wolf then?
Thats the western version in Marvel Spotlight, right? I only ever read #8 of his own series, but by then he'd been updated, "Set In The Holocaust Of Today!" as the cover logo put it.
Native Americans, feminism, outlaw bikers... it had all the ingredients for a terrible Marvel comic, and did not disappoint. It may well be the worst thing Marvel put out in the 70s. Which, considering the competition, is some achievement.
Red Wolf probably has kitsh value today though, not least because in 2021 he does look a bit like a nut who could have been protesting the steal in Washington at the start of the year...
-sean
*...the San Francisco thing.
(Sorry about the typo. Duh)
-sean
Sean, I've heard Stairway to Heaven. I just didn't know what album it was on (or particularly feel motivated to find out).
Dangermash, tragically, I don't recognise Rock and Roll. Before the days of the internet, I think I'd only ever heard two Led Zeppelin songs. Thanks to the internet, I've now heard four.
Bt, thanks for the explanation about the album title. It did seem a strange one.
Colin, and the weird thing is that, despite spending 115 weeks at Number One, South Pacific isn't even one of the 60 biggest-selling albums of all time in the UK. And The Sound of Music only just scrapes onto the list at 53.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom
Red, I fear I'm living proof of DC Comics' belief that fans will buy anything with a gorilla on the front of it.
So you are familiar with Stairway To Heaven, Steve. It did seem unlikely you could have completely avoided it for so long, but never mind.
Fortunately I haven't heard Rock & Roll... but I think the track they did with Sandy Denny is on Led Zep IV so sadly I probably do know more than the one tune from the album too ):
-sean
I only know Led Zep IV as Led Zep IV. But did it have a different name in the the UK as Led Zep "4 Symbols ."
The songs that got the most play here, besides StH, were Black Dog, Rock n Roll, When the Levee Breaks, and Misty Mountain Hop in equal parts basically.
To this day I remember how viscerally upset my mom was when I brought the album home and played Black Dog on our record player in the living room. (I think it was even a stereo record player, lol.)
Oh boy...
b.t.
Being fair, My Love #14 wasn't written for me and, without skimming through an online copy, I would never considered obtaining a copy. Whatever royalties Marvel missed out on, I'll take as a karmic debt.
It's the banal formula of the message that I found boring. These romance titles (from the few I've seen) had some really nice art but nothing remotely approaching an interesting take on the genre. Early 70s comics were hardly a yardstick of excellence but at least interesting ideas occasionally slipped through.
DW
DW:
Agreed completely about Romance Comics in general. The words ‘banal’ and ‘formula’ and ‘message’ are entirely appropo. I enjoy the stories somewhat ‘ironically’, as I have a fairly high tolerance for kitsch. And as a hardcore ‘Art Snob’, when it’s John Romita or John Buscema or Gray Morrow or Alex Toth or Gene Colan or Jim Steranko (just the once) cutting loose on Melodramatic tales of Groovy females, I eat it up with a spoon.
Sean : ‘San Francisco think’ is just as appropriate as ‘thing’ in this context — I didn’t even think it was a typo! :) I always thought Mike F’s writing had a bit of a ‘With it’ vibe. Also, as publisher of Star Reach, I long associated him with head shops and pot smoke and other trippy things….
b.t.
Sean- Sandy Denny was in my opinion one of, if not THE, best singer the UK has ever produced. Absolute tragedy that she died so young and through such a senseless accident.
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