January 5th 1974 - 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. 

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1974 may have been a bright new year for some but no sooner had the holiday period ended in Britain than the bad news arrived, with the UK entering its first post-war recession, thanks to government figures revealing the economy had contracted during the third and fourth quarters of 1973.

On the positive side, it was also the first year in which New Year's Day was celebrated as a public holiday. At least, in England. I don't know if it was already celebrated as such in Scotland where people had always made a bigger deal about the event than people in England had.

On the UK singles chart, the top spot still belonged to Slade and their festive smash Merry Xmas Everybody.

But there was change afoot on the British album chart, with Yes's Tales From Topographic Oceans climbing nine places to seize the Number One slot and make it clear to everyone that the Age of Prog was well and truly upon us.

It's not a great new year for the Hulk either. Looking to avenge his recent defeat at the brute's hands, the Mandarin decides that should he combine his might with that of the Sandman, they can finally succeed where each had failed alone.

Needless to say, he turns out to be wrong.

And not only that but I do suspect this is the tale in which Sandy falls into a hot vat of something or other and emerges from it having been transformed into Glassman. Surely, one of the great endings in comic book history.

Elsewhere, we get the conclusion of the story in which the superior intellect of  Reed Richards brainwashes Dr Doom into thinking he's finally destroyed the stretchy scientist.

So far, the Avengers' tactic of recruiting criminals has worked a treat, with Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver all coming up with the goods, however petulantly.

But this is where the flaw in the plan is exposed, when the Swordsman decides he too would like to join the gang, mostly in order to get his hands on an Avengers pass and use it to commit even more crimes.

Obviously, our heroes aren't fooled by such bare-faced cheek and it's within the blink of an eye that they're battling him and he's trying to kill them.

As for Dr Strange, all I can reveal about his adventure, this issue, is that he encounters, "The Demon's Disciple," and I only know that because it says so on the front cover.

Can it be true?

Yes, it can!

Doc Ock is back!

And he wants to steal a machine that can cause any piece of technology to fail in its duty!

Not only that but I do believe this is the saga in which he becomes Aunt May's lodger and is well on his way to becoming Peter Parker's step-uncle! Can Spider-Man's problems get any worse?

I'm betting that they can.

Thor, meanwhile, is still battling the Absorbing Man on the streets of New York. And he's got a problem too. Which is that he's unconscious.

Unconsciousness. The great leveller.