March 9th, 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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I only know Howard Keel for three things.

The first is being in Dynasty.

The second is singing Bless Yore Beautiful Hide - although I've no idea just whose beautiful hide he was blessing or whether he even was a legally ordained minister with the power to bless beautiful hides.

And the third is him being terrorised by giant plants that want to eat him.

And guess what? March 9th, 1974 was the night on which I first encountered the third of those events because it was on that very evening that BBC One broadcast the film the world can only know as The Day of the Triffids.

What with the channel having, earlier, broadcast the Doctor Who adventure Death to the Daleks, there was clearly, that evening, no shortage of things to keep us gripping our chair arms in sheer, white-knuckled, fear.

By strange coincidence, the first ever Doctor Who companion Carole Ann Ford was also in Day of the Triffids and was, as far as I can remember, machine-gunned to death, while being menaced by vegetables.

At least, her character was. I'm fairly sure the actress herself is still alive and well and that no performers were machine-gunned to death during the making of that film.

In the real world, the week saw Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath resign, succeeded by Labour's Harold Wilson who'd already run the UK from 1964 to 1970 and fancied another crack at it.

Within days of that, the miners' strike was over.

And, the day after that, the Three-Day Week was over.

That was good news for all who loved coal and full-length weeks but it was also a good spell for Alvin Stardust because, over on the UK singles chart, his latest offering Jealous Mind hit the top spot.

Meanwhile, on the British album chart, the Carpenters' Singles 1969-1973 reclaimed the summit it had previously surrendered to Slade's Old New Borrowed and Blue.

Obviously, any sane man loves anything which bears Alvin Stardust's name but there were other singles on that chart and, of those, these are the ones I dug:

Devil Gate Drive - Suzi Quatro

The Air That I Breathe - the Hollies

Jet - Paul McCartney and Wings

Candle in the Wind - Elton John

The Man Who Sold the World - Lulu

After the Goldrush - Prelude

Dance With the Devil - Cozy Powell

My Coo-Ca-Choo - Alvin Stardust

Living for the City - Stevie Wonder

Teenage Rampage - the Sweet

Ma-Ma-Belle - Electric Light Orchestra

and

The Show Must Go On - Leo Sayer.

Should one wish to further investigate the issues raised in this post, that week's UK singles chart lives here.

And the accompanying LP chart dwells within.

Can it be?

Can Marvel's tallest hero be back in the fold?

Yes, he can.

And it's just as well. For, it seems a brand new villain's about to make his debut.

That villain is the Collector and I do believe he's dragged the team into things by trying to add the winsome Wasp to his menagerie.

But can Hank and the gang stop him without putting a strain on the hero that will cause him to stay stuck forever at giant size?

Elsewhere, Dr Strange wants to know the secret of Eternity and decides that some sort of mind meld with the Ancient One should do the trick.

However, Baron Mordo seems to have plans that may just scupper the whole thing.

From what I can remember, this is the issue in which Peter Parker visits the police - including Captain Stacy - and clears Spider-Man of having kidnapped him. 

Far more important, of course, is that Mary Jane gets a job comprised of dancing on tables and taking photos.

It can mean just one thing. 

That we're about to meet the schemings of a man the world would know only as the Brainwasher if it had ever heard of him.

Things get possibly subterranean for Iron Man when Tony Stark and colleagues find themselves pulled into an underground city, to be confronted by its queen who tells him she'll execute them all unless he builds a machine which will allow her to invade the surface world.

Meanwhile, above ground, Thor and Hercules are scrapping in the streets of New York, for the attention of Jane Foster.

But what's this? I do believe this issue also contains a full-page ad for the imminent arrival of a brand-new star in the Avengers' comic! Who can he be? And what can be his gimmick?

Somewhere in Central America, the Hulk's still caught in the crossfire between Thunderbolt Ross and the Evil Inhumans.

In the pages of Daredevil, the Sub-Mariner shows up at Franklin and Murdock's legal practice, looking to sue the entire human race.

When that plan falls through, he decides to earn himself his day in court by getting arrested for smashing up New York.

This can only bring him into conflict with the man without fear who turns out to be the man without a hope, as Subby promptly batters him from pillar to post.

And we finish off with one of my Fantastic Four faves, as Diablo escapes his dungeon and decides the best way to take over the world is by unleashing a man-made dragon upon the denizens of Empire State University.