November 3rd, 1973 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

If you're British, a strange switch flicks in your brain if you hear the words, "Four candles," or, "Don't tell him, Pike!"

Well, I've no news to impart about the first of those two quotes but I can shed light upon the second, as this week in 1973 was when those words were first uttered.

It's true. We saw the sixth series of the World War II sitcom Dad's Army launch, with the episode The Deadly Attachment in which the platoon must guard a gang of captured U-Boat sailors, a ladder is climbed, a song is sung and that classic line is born.

Meanwhile, East and West were colliding, as Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge was completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia, via the Bosphorus Strait, for the first time in history.

Speaking of firsts, it was also when NASA launched Mariner 10 toward Mercury, with the aim of it becoming the first space probe to reach that planet.

On that week's UK singles chart, David Cassidy was still bossing things, with his double A-side Daydreamer/Puppy Song, just as he had been the week before.

There was change, however, on the accompanying album chart.

That's because David Bowie's brand new LP Pin Ups smashed onto the listings at Number One, thwarting a stern challenge from Elton's Goodbye Yellowbrick Road which had to settle for entering at Number Two.

Things race towards a climax, as a Mandarin-controlled Hulk's sent to attack the Red Chinese. Or, at least, some of them.

But it's only a matter of time before the Jade giant breaks the villain's conditioning and sets off to trash his base of operations. Something that becomes much easier with the help of a simultaneous attack by Nick Fury and friends.

Then it's the clash of the super-teams, as the Puppet Master seizes control of Professor X and makes him set the X-Men on the Fantastic Four. What a bounder!

And to make matters worse, the villain's aided and abetted by the Mad Thinker!

Yet more entanglements hit the Marvel timelines, as the third (or, possibly, fourth) incarnation of Kang shows up.

This time, it's Immortus who's causing trouble. The high-hatted troublemaker wants to unite with the Masters of Evil and use his control of the realm of Limbo to summon powerful figures from the past, to help out.

Elsewhere, thanks to his mystical powers, Dr Strange senses evil in Bavaria. There, he finds the townsfolk possessed and, being Dr Strange, concludes there must be supernatural forces at work.

However, he soon discovers it's really the work of aliens from another dimension!

It's a great day for all lovers of the lizard, as the herpetological horror finally makes his return, dozens of issues after his previous appearance.

This time, he's in New York and, I think, out to use his mastery of reptiles to take over town. Can our hero stop the villain? Especially with his arm in a sling?

Elsewhere, thanks to cheating, Loki defeats Thor in the Trial of the Gods. Can the thunder god prove to Odin that his half-brother won by using hidden Norn Stones?

And just how does it involve the Vietnam War?