The Marvel Lucky Bag - January 1974.

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

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Hark! Do you hear them? The creatures of the night?

You certainly did if you entered a cinema in the first month of 1974.

It was, after all, a month which unleashed upon us The Satanic Rites of Dracula and The Bat People.

Fortunately, for those who don't appreciate nocturnal flappings, that January also saw the release of John Wayne's McQ, and something called Rhinoceros. The latter of which was, it seems, a comedy starring both Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

In all honesty, I think the only one of those four films I've seen is The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Therefore, I see no choice but to name it the official Steve Does Comics' Film of the Month.

Ka-Zar gets the first issue of what feels like his millionth comic!

Sadly, I possess limited knowledge of what happens in it, other than it seems to feature more flashbacks than you can shake a T Rex at. And that's a lot of flashbacks.

Also, it's fabulous.

How do I know that?

Because the cover says it is.

And it's not just Ka-Zar who's headlining a new book, this month - because Man-Thing issue #1 is now hitting a swamp near you.

And I must confess I don't really know what happens in this one either.

I do know that Howard the Duck's name is revealed.

But I too can reveal it.

It's Howard.

The Duck.

It would seem Daredevil and the Black Widow are also in this one. As well as someone called Dakimh the Enchanter.

It's unlucky issue #13 for someone when the Son of Satan has his second-ever adventure.

And it looks like that someone is Satan who still has to put up with his offspring's determination to slap him about a bit.

In truth, this is all an excuse to give us an origin issue in which we discover just where our favourite anti-hero came from and how his sister's involved.

Not only that but we learn from where he got his mighty trident.

Thor receives his own Marvel Treasury Edition but can even such a huge book contain whatever awesomeness a thunder god might throw at it?

Just about.

But only just.

Because we get a reprinting of the epic saga in which Thor and Hercules duke it out for the hand of Jane Foster, while Pluto sticks his shades on, heads for Hollywood and contrives to turn the Greek prince of power into a prisoner of Hades.

But, with his strength reduced by 50%, can the scion of Asgard hope to do more than merely annoy the brash Olympian?

Truly, we're being spoiled because now we're given a second Treasury Edition.

And this one seems to feature just about everyone.

We have the Human Torch and Spider-Man vs the Sandman.

Then, we get Daredevil's first-ever encounter with the Sub-Mariner, as brought to us by Wally Wood.

Next, the Black Widow encounters a villain called The Astrologer.

And, finally, the Hulk fights the Thing in a clash reprinted from Fantastic Four issues #25 and #26. Also starring the rest of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers and Rick Jones! And the Teen Brigade!!!

And another new mag hits the shelves.

And this too features the Man-Thing!

As far as I can make out, the Fantastic Four's Thing heads for Florida to punish the swamp monster for copying his name.

Seriously.

However, newly arrived from another dimension, the Molecule Man also finds himself in Florida. Surely, a three-way scrap can be the only outcome of this outcome.

Is there a human being alive who could say no to that cover?

No. There isn't. And so it is that the lord of all vampires finds himself up against a skeleton that's got loose on the streets of London.

But how can even Vlad himself hope to defeat a man who refuses to die?

My memories of what happens inside this book are a little vague but I do know it's the one in which Jack Russell first encounters Topaz and her power to calm the wildest of beasts.

And that has to be good news because he's going to need all her help to subdue the wildness of Taboo.

But everything we've seen, this month, pales into hopeless insignificance as we enter the comics event of the decade.

And that's Marvel Comics' tribute to Evel Knievel!

I can shed no light upon the activities of Evel in this comic but I do know he stars in a yarn called The Perilous Traps of Mr Danger! as written by a mystery scribe and drawn by Win Mortimer.

We also get a page titled Evel Knievel Bicycle Safety.

Somehow the words, "Evel Knievel," and, "Bicycle safety," don't feel like they belong in the same sentence.