The Marvel Lucky Bag - February 1984.

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

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Films to treasure for the rest of your life were notably absent in February 1984 but the month did see the release of both Blame It On Rio and Footloose, neither which are within a million miles of being movies I actually like but they are, at least, films I've actually heard of.

In all honesty, this month's Marvel B-Listers don't look much more promising than those movies but I'm nothing if not an optimist. So, let's see what we can find amidst them that might tickle our fancy.

And I cannot deny that I've picked this one purely because of the strangeness of its cover. What's going on? Why are they all just stood around, like that? What can it all portend?

That, I cannot say. All I know of the tale within is that it's titled Assault on the Empire! and has a character called Cloud in it.

Possibly the least attractive cover in the history of comics tells us we've the chance to reacquaint ourselves with Elektra's appearances in the pages of Daredevil, thanks to the medium of reprints.

I've not included an issue of Epic Illustrated in ages. So, what does this one offer us?

It offers us Wizard's Masque, Dispositio: Chapter III, The Scroll, Frankenstein, Terror in Paradise, Conan the Calendar, The Legend, The Dance, Reunion, The Monster and The Hero, as brought to us by the likes of Jim Starlin, John Bolton, Bernie Wrightson, Charles Vess and Bill Sienkiewicz, among many others of redoubtable talent.

Judging by that cover, it looks like plenty of people are in for a whole heap of trouble.

And our hero clearly agrees because, when the media show up to broadcast a symbolic funeral for the town of Clairton, Rom decides it's a great opportunity to warn the world of the threat the Dire Wraiths pose to us all.

My motto is, "Never turn down a chance for morbidity," and, clearly, someone at Marvel agrees with me because this month's edition tells us all we need to know about characters who are either dead or inactive; from Air-Walker to Man-Wolf.

A brand new mag gives us lots of old stories, as a whole heap of Lee/Kirby Tales of Asgard reprints get its very own comic.

The X-Men's unlikely crossover with the Micronauts continues, as Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo and Butch Guice spin a yarn they call Into the Abyss!

Marvel does like to give us tales in which Conan finds himself in the modern age. In this one, he becomes a gang leader, although I've no doubt he'll be one with a moral code.

I'm assuming this is the adventure in which he gets into a fight with Captain America and makes short work of him?

In the issue's second tale; according to the GCD, Phoenix, the Silver Surfer and Dr Strange return to the destroyed universe.

I'm not sure what they do about it from that point on. I can only hope they use their vast power to un-destroy it.