The Marvel Lucky Bag - November 1973.

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

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Some may disagree with me but, for my money, November 1973 wasn't the greatest month in cinema history.

In fact, the most interesting films released that month would appear to have been Carry On Girls, Disney's Robin Hood cartoon and something called Flesh for Frankenstein which is not a film I could claim to be familiar with.

I have, however, seen the other two movies and feel I should declare Robin Hood to be the better of the pair.

In retrospect, it does seem odd there was never a Carry On Robin. The adventures of the arrow-happy outlaw and his merry men would surely be a fertile hunting ground for the Carry On gang.

It's the big one. The Evil Eye saga approaches its climax, as Thor and the Hulk battle it out on the streets, with neither able to gain the upper hand.

And there's still the small matter of Dormammu to be dealt with.

At last, we get the swamp-shattering origin of the Man-Thing!

Admittedly, we'd already got it in 1971's Savage Tales #1, as it's reprinted from there.

After that, there's a tale called The Cyclops, then one called Frankenstein A.K*, followed by The Death-Dealing Mannikin. Not to mention Swamp Girl and Preview: The Son of Satan.

That's all followed by The Cold of the Uncaring Moon and Birthright!

After umpteen dozen years of wearing nothing but swimming trunks, the ruler of Atlantis finally gets a new wardrobe, as Reed Richards whips him up the threads that'll allow him to survive out of water, following a collision with a sunken ship filled with nerve gas.

Despite appearances, we would seem not to be getting an adaptation of Sleepy Hollow.

Instead, we're granted a tale in which someone called Duke Durbano discovers who killed someone called Matt Carter and tracks down someone called Bones Bullinger.

That's all well and good but just who's posing as the Headless Horseman?

And would he have gotten away with it if not for those pesky kids?

A brand new book hits our shelves. And, before I've even opened it, I'm going to assume it's made up entirely of reprints.

But will I be proven right?

No, I won't. After all, the issue's first yarn is an all-new tale in which the Rawhide Kid meets the Dakota Kid, and the gun-toting duo must unite in order to thwart some evil ranchers.

The issue's second tale is, however, a reprint from 1959.

At last, we get Marvel's long-awaited adaptation of BBC Two's flagship arts show!

Wait? What's that? That's not what this issue's Arena is?

Instead, it's an adaptation of Fredric Brown's tale in which a human and an alien must combat each other, even as their space fleets wage war on each other.

And that's not all we get. We're also supplied a four-page reprint in which a machine sends an inventor back in time - but not in quite the way he'd intended.

I admit, I've only picked this one because of the untrammelled melodrama of Rich Buckler's cover.

In our first thriller, a man hires a mechanic to create a robot to murder his business partner.

In our second, a man's killed at a railway crossing and promptly places a curse on motorists.

In our third, a man meets a woman who tells him of a subterranean war between the Clabs and the Paladorns. But will he survive the revelation?

And, in our fourth, we meet a man who wears black gloves to hide the fanged mouths embedded in his palms.

All of these stories are reprinted from a 1952 comic called Mystic.

Jim Starlin gives us a classic cover - although John Romita seems not to agree, as he's decided to completely redraw our hero's face.

But what of the insides?

It's the one in which Eon enables Mar-Vell to gain Cosmic Awareness to boost his fight against the villainous Thanos.

For some reason, this also causes his hair to change colour.

I do believe the trail of sparkles he now leaves behind him is a tribute to the trail of sparkles that used to follow Steve Ditko's Captain Atom around.