The Marvel Lucky Bag - May 1973.

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

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Tension was the only thing that was going to greet you when you entered your local cinema in May 1973. That's because it was the month which saw the release of The Day of the Jackal and Terror in the Wax Museum. I've heard much of the former movie but have never seen it and have never previously even heard of the latter movie.

It's the end of an era. Subby creator Bill Everett was taken ill after finishing just four pages of this issue and died during the month in which it was published. In his absence, the rest of the book was finished by Win Mortimer and Jim Mooney.

As for the story itself, I've a suspicion the villainous Dr Hydro's kidnapping people and turning them into amphibians, the fiend!

It's a momentous moment, as we see the debut of that sad rip-off of Apeslayer, the man the world knows as Killraven!

Can the Zardoz-loving battler possibly hope to end the Martian invasion of his planet? And can he find himself a better tailor, in the process?

In an issue - partially drawn by Neal Adams before he discovered he had other things to do - Killraven wreaks his revenge upon the man he knows as the Keeper but soon discovers it's a hollow victory.

Judo Jim continues to weave his magic, as everyone's favourite Kree captain confronts the power of The Thing.

I don't recall too much else about this one but I suspect Iron Man's old foe the Controller's mixed up in it and working for Thanos.

A brand new mag hits the shelves, as Dracula goes black and white!

I have to say that's not the best cover I've ever seen from Boris Vallejo. The smaller figures are not exactly dynamic, and sticking a realistic human head on a giant bat probably isn't the best idea he's ever had.

Still, inside, we find tales that bear spine-tingling titles like A Poison of the Blood, Suffer Not a Witch..., and, Marvel's tribute to the Cranberries, Zombie!

There's also what appears to be a photo feature called What Can You Say About a Five-Hundred-Year-Old Vampire Who Refuses to Die?

There's also a tale called Fright! and one called To Walk Again in Daylight!

I would argue that's an awful lot for your money but, for a first issue, it contains a surprising amount of reprinted 1950s material.

It's the one we've all been waiting for when Luke Cage travels to Latveria to collect the $200 he's owed by Dr Doom.

Apparently, this issue features an appearance by Medusalith Amaquelin Boltagon. So, there's a thing...

Kull's up against yet more werewolf shenanigans!

Not only that, he's stranded on an unknown island and must confront The Cult of the Leopard and the island's vicious ruler, Dom Vinsala.

I can't imagine the villain in a Conan story ever being called something like Dom Vinsala.

It's the issue that's impossible to say no to, as Where Monsters Dwell is taken over by the legend that is Fin Fang Friends Of Ol' Marvel.

In it, a Taiwanese historian's scorned by his father for refusing to join the army. So, he decides to work smart and not hard and awakens the famous dragon. He then uses it to wreck a foreign invasion before returning it to its mystical slumber.

But hold on! That's not all we get! We also get a pair of tales titled Haunted! and The Clutching Hands!

A trilogy of terror awaits us with issue #1 of Worlds Unknown.

Those tales are:

The Day after the Day the Martians Came,

Nightmare at Noon,

and

He That Hath Wings.

I remember two of those tales turning up in Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes comic.

Nightmare at Noon, however, rings no bells for me.

Tragedy smashes the world of the American comic book in the face, as Night Nurse hits its last issue, after just four appearances.

And it does so by unleashing The Secret of Sea-Cliff Manor!

In it, our misfortune-dogged heroine takes a job caring for the wheelchair-bound Derek. Much peril unrolls before we discover Derek can walk - and is involved in drug smuggling!

I still live for the day that Night Nurse teams up with Lady Cop for an adventure.