The Marvel Lucky Bag - December 1973.

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

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I don't know what Hollywood was on in December 1973 but it was clearly working. It was, after all, a month which saw the release of more memorable movies than you could shake a stick at.

Not only were we treated to such films as Serpico, Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World, Fantastic Planet, The Wicker Man, The Three Musketeers, Papillon, Sleeper, The Day of the Dolphin, The Sting and Magnum Force, we were also subjected, for the first time, to the legendary terror of The Exorcist.

Of those films, I've seen Serpico, Digby, The Wicker Man, The Three Musketeers, Papillon, Sleeper, The Day of the Dolphin, The Sting, Magnum Force and The Exorcist. To be honest, I couldn't choose a favourite from that lot but, being a horror fan, I'm always going to have a leaning towards The Wicker Man.

But I must confess that, in my head, I always get Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World mixed up with One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing.

The Living Colossus may not be one of Marvel's great characters but it seems you can't get him to stay away.

In this thrilling adventure, special effects man Bob O'Bryan's legs are broken by a vengeful actor. Fortunately, he then discovers he can mentally control the gigantic body of our main character.

But that's not all we get. We're also treated to a Lee/Ditko reprint titled The Man Who Captured Death! in which a dying man traps Death, in order to save himself but, holy smoke, he then discovers Death brings peace to us and is needed to keep things running smoothly.

Hold on. Isn't this basically the plot of the first dozen issues of Neil Gaiman's Sandman?

Now that they've finally got that bothersome clash with the Avengers out of the way, Marvel's non-team are free to get on with the task of revivifying the Black Knight, following his unfortunate descent into petrification.

Thus it is that they travel back to the crusades, for reasons I can't quite remember.

Put out the bunting because a brand new mag hits the shelves!

Granted, it's not that new. A quick glance at the cover will alert sharp-eyed readers to the fact it's a reprint book. 

Inside, we encounter The Other Iron Man which I believe to be the one in which the Mandarin abducts Happy Hogan, thinking him to be Iron Man - not realising he was just wearing the armour to enable Shellhead and Tony Stark to be seen by people in two separate places at the same time.

And then we get the Captain America tale in which the Adaptoid becomes the Super-Adaptoid.

That doesn't of course, prevent the star-spangled shield-slinger from spanking his bottom.

But, let's face it, this is what all sensible people came here for, as Fu Manchu's son makes his sensei-shattering debut.

After assassinating the unfortunate Dr Petrie, Shang-Chi feels bad enough about it to kung-fu his way past super-apes and sumos, for a confrontation with his malevolent father.

But that's enough of the new, because another reprint mag's turned up in our lives.

In this one, we find The Thing That Devoured a Planet, Enter: the Machine Age!, It Came From Beneath the Earth! - and The Eye of Doom in which floating eyes from Venus invade the Earth. All of these tales are 1950s reprints.

Interesting that, in that first story, a professor postulates the existence of a giant being who roams through space and eats planets.

There's no news of whether it's been seen in the company of a man on a surfboard.

And yet another new title enters our lives. Even if that title's taken from a 1940s movie.

Inside can be discovered such treats as The Ghost Still Walks, House of Fear!, My Brother... the Ghoul, and He Dwells in a Dungeon! which doesn't seem like the best place to dwell. Whoever he is, he really ought to consider moving to somewhere nicer.

Yet again, these are all reprints from the 1950s.

Knock me down with a feather, it's yet another new book launch. And guess what? It's filled with 1950s reprints.

This time, we're supplied with Like a Chicken Without a Head!, Rudolph's Racket, Propaganda! and Time Marches On!

Sadly, Rudolph's Racket doesn't appear to involve any red-nosed reindeers.

There've been plenty of first appearances, this month but there's also a final one, as Millie's rival meets her Waterloo.

All the tales in this are reprints as well but, this time, from 1970.

Amongst them are Soak It to Me, Time for a Sit-In, Groovy Southern Styles for Chili, More Money, Honey? and One Redhead Too Many.