March 23rd, 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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This week in 1974 produced great news for anyone who likes to guzzle that gas, because it was the week in which OPEC's five-month long oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan finally came to an end and we could all get back to the hard work of driving up the world's temperature.

It's a striking cover and one I remember well. Mostly because, one Sunday evening, as a child, I decided to get my pencil out and copy every fizzog on it, having decided it was time for me to learn how to draw faces.

Inside the comic, I do believe that, still stuck at giant size, Goliath finds himself in the Andes where he blunders across a hidden civilisation with advanced technology and no reluctance to use it.

Yes, this does sound remarkably like the Inhumans. But the Inhumans, they ain't.

And there's more because I do believe Hawkeye's in sensational solo action against Power Man, Swordsman and the Black Widow.

As the world has come to expect - and even demand, my knowledge of what's occurring in Dr Strange's strip is a little vague but I've good reason to suspect our hero's, once more, in combat with Baron Mordo. And that Dormammu's up to his elbows in it all.

Who says the Kingpin's no fun?

Mostly, the Kingpin does, as he's always going on about how he's not the jolly fat man everyone thinks he is. Even though literally nobody has ever expressed an assumption that he's jolly.

However, here he is, giving Spider-Man a good time by swinging him round and round above his head.

But it's not such good news for Webhead once we enter the comic.

You see, our hero's just discovered Wilson Fisk is really the Brainwasher and that he's programmed George Stacy to commit a robbery most heinous.

How's Spidey ever going to be able to inflict the necessary levels of violence upon Stacy without upsetting his daughter Gwen?

Elsewhere, no sooner has Tony Stark finished his encounter with Kala Queen of the Underworld than he's travelling back in time to meet Cleopatra Queen of the Nile, thanks to the Machiavellian machinations of a miserly magician who's menacingly made up his mind to murder his monarch.

Methinks Stan the Man's decided Don Heck's strength is drawing glamorous women and is making sure the stories include them.

Needless to say, Cleo falls in love with Iron Man, despite him being encased from head to foot in armour.

Fresh from his defeat at the hands of Hercules, Thor returns to Asgard - only to discover he'll have to rescue the place from the treacherous Seidring who's used his newly-gained Odin Power to take the place over!

And we finish with a surprise, as, in addition to the book's usual strips, we're treated to Lee/Ditko thriller The Secret of the Universe in which a man sets out to discover just what lies beyond the cosmos and, of course, lives to regret it.

Just look at that cover!

Seriously, if that doesn't make you want to part with six pence of your own money, I don't know what will. frankly, I'd happily part with eight pints of my own blood to get my hands on this book.

And, inside, things are just as awesome, as the Glob makes his first appearance when an escaped convict sinks into a bog and finds himself transformed into a mindless swamp monster with only one thing on his mindless mind.

Smooching with Betty Ross! 

Meanwhile, on the streets of New York, the Organizer and his team of animal-themed henchmen are making decent people's lives a misery.

But how does this tie in with the fact that Foggy Nelson's decided he wants to run for the post of District Attorney?

Finally, this issue, the Frightful Four make their dastardly debut, as the Wingless Wizard, Sandman and Paste-Pot Pete team up with the enigmatic Madame Medusa in a bid to defeat the first family of comics.

Thus it is that, no sooner have Reed Richards and Sue Storm announced their engagement, than the villains invade the Baxter Building and start capturing their foes, one by one.