Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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It seems there was no stopping Donny Osmond, this week in 1973, as he retained the UK Number One spot he'd claimed the week before, thanks to his resolutely unthreatening single Young Love.
Equally unstoppable but, doubtless, more potent was Rod Stewart who that week, claimed the pinnacle of the British album chart, with his latest platter that mattered, the album the world knew only as Sing It Again, Rod.
To be honest, that's not an LP I could claim to have ever heard of but it was clearly making its mark at the time.
Once more, despite the cover's boast that the comic stars the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers are granted the lead strip in Marvel UK's flagship.
It seems the team feel responsible for whatever peril the Hulk may pose since he left their ranks and, so, they go in search of him.
But, when they find him, it causes the Hulkster to join forces with the equally anti-social Sub-Mariner, and a punch-up can only be mere moments away.
In the back-up strip, the Fantastic Four are still battling the Mole Man after his subterfuge led them to inadvertently seek out his island, in an attempt to escape their annoyed neighbours.
But we've got far bigger problems than even the FF have. The disastrous news is it looks like this is our last chance to win that one year's pocket money of which we've all been dreaming!
The vulcanised villain swears he's going to be smarter when committing his future crimes but that doesn't prevent our hero from quickly putting an end to his schemes.
And it's a rare case of joined-up thinking by Marvel UK's editorial staff, as our Thor tale ties directly in with the events of this week's Mighty World of Marvel. The thunder god bores a bunch of kids to death by telling them all about the fight between him and the Hulk that's briefly alluded to in that very mag. This is in response to their question about which of the pair is strongest.
As far as I can recall, we never get an actual answer to that question.
Which suggests to me that it's the Hulk because, if it was Thor, there'd be no reason for him to be coy about it.
But here comes a Steve Does Comics public service announcement. I should give a quick plug to Mark A Wilson's The Power of the BeeSting site which also covers what each Marvel UK weekly was up to fifty years ago but does so with far more detail and knowledge than I can ever manage to muster. It is definitely worth a look.
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21 comments:
On MSTIH's cover, I know the Subby's pic's from the Defenders' first comic. But to me, however, that pic's also Subby from the 1977 Superheroes Card Game! Likewise, Thor vs Hulk's from Defenders # 10, but I associate it with 'Super Spider-man & Captain Britain' # 233, where I read that story! That device of little kids buttonholing Thor, demanding to know who's top dog, between him & the Hulk, was used in a Marvel Revolution paper Marvel - was it Hulk Comic or Spidey & Hulk? I forget - but, whichever it was - the battle Thor recalled wasn't their fight during the Avengers/Defenders clash.
Phillip
That’s one lame-looking Molten Man cover. How could the artist not invoke glowing, melting, burning, smoldering…???
Charlz
Steve, do you intend to provide first person coverage of the UK’s national hedge-laying competition in September?
I recall last year, you said your schedule was full for that weekend, but I am hopeful that this year you may be able to provide the stellar coverage as in the past for things such as snookers championships.
CH 47
Charlie, I fear I may be prevented from covering that contest by a subsequent engagement.
Phillip, the Thor/Hulk clash occurred offscreen in Avengers #3.
Tomorrow (September 2nd) is exactly 50 years since the death of JRR Tolkien.
September 2nd is also Keir Starmer's 61st birthday and the 24th anniversary of my father's death in 1999.
Today is exactly 40 years since my first day in the Upper 6th on September 1st 1983.
That is the most amazing bit of bullshit spam ever up above: win a free turkey??? Gobble gobble puritan pilgrims!!!
When we lived in Kent, my Dad had a friend who met Tolkien once. He was a lecturer at Canterbury in the late 60s and once wrote JRR a kind note saying how much he enjoyed his work, and that if he were ever in the area he was welcome to stop in for a cup of tea. And he did.
(That same person also had a good story about how he was in a lift that suddenly plummeted and he decided he might stand a chance of being less hurt if he were jumping up and down - the rationale being that if you were in mid-air when it hit the ground, you’d be spared a lot of the shock of impact. Seemed to work. We heard that story in the 70s, and then we’re startled to see him telling it on TV in the mid-80s.)
Matthew, back in the 1950s (long before I was born!) my father worked as a lift mechanic which involved installing and repairing lifts. He told me that a lift can't plummet to the bottom of a shaft because there's a safety mechanism in place to prevent it but I've read that lifts do fail in certain circumstances and I avoid using them myself!
He also told me about all the different places where they installed lifts including on one occasion in a convent. Apparently one of the other mechanics took a fancy to one of the nuns and tried to persuade her to leave and marry him!
I'm rather surprised there's nothing on Radio 4 about the 50th anniversary of Tolkien's death as Radio 4 usually loves any excuse to celebrate an anniversary.
Anyone going to the UK bog snorkeling championship at Waen Rhydd peat bog in Wales this weekend?
Yes, I'm going! Can't wait!!
Never mind Lord Of The Effing Rings, it's The Hobbit I consider as Tolkien's greatest work. I first encountered that book at the age of 7 and the name "Bilbo Baggins" still makes me think of long, dark scary passages deep underground!
I rather prefer the Silmarillion, Colin, but to each his own. I'm a sucker for cosmic horror, I guess.
But the Hobbit was compelling because the young reader was introduced to a world that seemed entirely new, even though it was based on very old myths and legends.
I suppose that was the point.
I too, always wondered what was going on underground! I'm guessing we all as kids used to tip over big rocks to see what was crawling around.
Well, I did anyway.
Usually there was some weird stuff under there.
Like people who explore caves and find isolated ecosystems.
Y'know, to me, Gollum was more interesting, or intriguing, before Tolkien explained what he actually was. And what the magic ring was, for that matter.
I had to use my imagination to try and figure out what he was and how he got down there.
M.P.
MP, I didn't know The Silmarillion was "cosmic horror" - it sounds a lot more interesting than I'd realised.
I suppose the '80s rock band Marillion took their name from The Silmarillion - it's a strange coincidence if they didn't!
As you will be aware, Steve, I am one for staying on topic in the comments, so going back to the comics...
I see from the Power of the BeeSting - thanks for the link - that one of the five questions in the pocket money competition (a multiple choice quiz) asks for the capital city of the north Irish six counties, and offers an optional answer of 'Londonderry'.
Tsk tsk, Marvel.
-sean
On Sean's recommendation I've been watching episodes of the classic serial 'I Claudius' on BBC4 which features the standard portrayal of Caligula as a deranged, debauched monster when in reality he was probably just mildly eccentric or even mentally ill. Modern historians also dismiss as malicious tittle-tattle the idea that Tiberius spent his final years living in debauchery on Capri. You only have to look at the relentless but effective demonising of Jeremy Corbyn in our own supposedly informed age to see that blackening someone's name was a lot easier 2,000 years ago when most people were clueless about what happened at the top of society.
BBC4 is also showing a series called 'Colosseum' which is about...er, the Colosseum. At first I thought it was a drama serial but it's actually a drama-documentary featuring lots of academic talking heads. Anyway there are 8 episodes in total and I've watched 2 so far including an episode all about women gladiators!
SEAN - help ole Charlie out! The reference to Londonberry? (If it’s a sore subject just advise such and I’ll start googling?)
Thats the official British name for Derry that hardly anyone who lives there uses, Charlie. Originally the prefix was added because City of London investors financed colonization of that part of Ulster in the 17th century, and its been disputed ever since.
Colin, the main source for Robert Graves' original Clavdivs books was Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius, who I think its fair to say wouldn't be regarded as a particularly rigorous historian by modern standards.
But not much is really known about the private lives of the Roman emperors otherwise, so using his work is as valid an approach to drama as any other. The emperors were the absolute authority in an imperialist state based on slavery, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to present them as unpleasant people (which is kind of the point about I Clavdivs).
-sean
Re Charlie's question about the Molten Man cover giving no indictation of heat, it's because in Molty's first two appearances (this and the previous one) he wasn’t hot to the touch. It's only when Conway brings him back in about 100 US issues' time that he's like a walking electric cooker ring. As I've probably said here before, the bit in that later story when Spider–Man sees footprints burnt in the carpet and knows straight away it's Molten Man just doesn't make any sense.
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