Forty years ago today - February 1984.

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

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A wise man once said, "Time, time, time. See what has become of me."

That man was Paul Simon and I've no idea what he meant by it.

However, I do have an idea about something else.

And that idea is that I now need to strip to the waist and wrestle so violently with Time that it runs backward and I can, at last, see just what was going on in the Marvel comics which bore the never-to-be-forgotten cover date of February 1974.

A totally bizarre story meets our eyes, in which the Fantastic Four must defeat legendary comic book artist Neal Adams who's kidnapped the Human Torch so he can use the hero's power, to agitate the Earth's core and accelerate our planet's expansion.

Granted, the villain isn't named in the story as Neal Adams. Instead, he's called Alden Maas but even I can spot that's an anagram.

Regardless, at the tale's climax, we discover the Mole Man isn't best pleased by nefarious Neal's plan.

And I think we can assume that can only be bad news for the plucky penciller.

It's time for a revenge match, as Bruce Banner visits the circus - only to discover it's the Circus of Crime!

Spotting Bruce in the audience, the Ringmaster sets his latest recruit the Dragon Man on him but that's clearly not going to stop the Hulk from wrecking the hypnotic huckster's latest money-making scheme.

Still working as a hero for hire, Rhodey takes a job in Hong Kong, trying to discover what ruined a load of film stock.

And it turns out the Radioactive Man destroyed it.

As far as I can remember the glowy scientist has no interest in the film stock and is on another mission altogether.

Needless to say, that doesn't prevent the villain and the armour-clad hero from clashing.

Spidey gains an unlikely ally when the Hobgoblin decides to show up at an exclusive club, many of whose members he's attempting to blackmail.

Unfortunately for the villain, the Kingpin also happens to be a member of the club and decides to help our hero in his battle with the flying felon.

In his other mag, Spidey displays an epic gift for terrible judgement when he decides to reveal his true identity to the Black Cat, even though she's clearly not a full shilling.

Unfortunately for the wallcrawler, it turns out she doesn't fancy Peter Parker, only Spider-Man, meaning he's going to have to keep his mask on at all times if she's to avoid having a psychiatric meltdown in his presence.

It's a veritable nightmare for the X-Men when Mystique breaks into their HQ in an attempt to liberate Rogue from their clutches.

Only for her to discover her "daughter" doesn't want to be liberated.

Beneath the streets of New York, the Morlocks are also up to things. Things which I suspect can't be good things.

From what I can remember, Conan rides into yet another town and finds himself up against yet another sorcerer.

The good news for him, this time, is the sorcerer's a bit of an amateur and easily defeated - even with a demon on his side.

It's not one of Daredevil's finer tales, as the man without fear finds himself battling an annoying stage magician who loves to commit crimes.

This leads to him re-encountering one of the gang who used to taunt Matt Murdock by calling him, "Daredevil," when he was a kid.

Off the top of my head, I can't remember if it's the villain or his victim who's our star's former tormentor.

I do remember, though, that the villain's lumbered with the rather unfortunate sobriquet of, "The Trump."

Also, for no good reason, Matt has a mental meltdown about it all.

But, sadly, not one that's actually interesting.

It's the cosmos-crunching conclusion to the Beta Ray Bill saga, as that character, Thor and Sif finally encounter the demons from another dimension who've been wiping out Bill's people.

Needless to say, those scoundrels don't last long when confronted by that power trio, and the day is soon won.

Not only that but, afterwards, Odin gives Bill a civilian secret identity that's fit to rival Don Blake himself.

I suspect loose ends from other comics are being tied up in this one when the Avengers must go to the aid of Spider-Woman whose body's in a hospital bed, thanks to her spirit being trapped on the astral plane.

As you might expect, the gang lacks the skills needed to help her but, fortunately, they know how to contact Dr Strange who certainly can do something about it all.

In further news, it's only in the last few days that I've discovered Spider-Woman's alter-ego Jessica Drew isn't named in honour of TV detectives Jessica Fletcher and Nancy Drew.

When Cap's friends are tormented by a series of nightmares, there's only one person can be responsible.

Mother Superior - the daughter of the Red Skull!

And that's the limit of what I remember about this one.

And about her.