The Marvel Lucky Bag - March 1974.

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

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March 1974 wasn't a great month for movies but it did see the release of three films few could ever forget. They were John Carpenter's Dark Star, The Great Gatsby and the equally great Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla.

Of those three, I would have to select the first as my Steve Does Comics Pick of the Month. After all, it's not every film that has a killer beachball in it, and I can't help feeling the other two would have been greatly enlivened by the addition of one.

The post-apocalyptic antagonism continues when the Martians capture Killraven, looking to achieve a propaganda coup by broadcasting his death to every human slave, thus destroying their will to resist.

That's assuming they have any will to resist, which isn't a thing I can remember their human slaves ever displaying.

I do believe this is the first issue to feature the deadly menace of the High Overlord.

It's like a horror fan's dream come true, as we finally get an answer to the age-old question of who'd win a fight between Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster.

And, to the surprise of some of us, it would appear the Monster would!

However, while he's successful in giving Drac a great big stake through the heart, the downside is he also has to destroy someone called Carmen, thanks to his foe having turned her into a vampire.

In this month's backup strip, we find Seeing Eye, a yarn reprinted from Uncanny Tales #22 in which a crook hatches a plan to steal a wealthy man's guide dog in exchange for a ransom.

But, wouldn't you know it? That guide dog only turns out to be a retired werewolf!

The Son of Satan takes a break from pestering his dad, in order to pester a haunted university.

But it turns out it's no ghost that's causing the trouble. It's the ice-demon Ikthon. Can a man powered by Hellfire survive in a land that knows only numbing cold?

Issue #4 of the magazine that will not die kicks off with The Law and Phillip Bliss! (Part 1) wherein someone called Katanya tries to kill the Zombie and throw him in the sea.

Next, we get James Bond Meets Baron Samedi, as brought to us by the talents of Don McGregor and Pablo Marcos. I've not read it but, given its subject matter, I'm going to assume it ties in with the events of Live and Let Die.

Then there's such fare as The Drums of Doom!, Neo Witch Craft, Courtship by Voodoo, Nightfilth Rising and The Four Daughters of Satan before we return to our main feature with Dead Man's Judgment! The Law and Phillip Bliss -- Part II.

Marvel's making Dracula earn his pay, this month. Not only does he have to fight Frankenstein's Monster, he also has to tussle with Russell.

In this terrifying yarn, we learn how Baron Russoff became a Werewolf and brought the curse of lycanthropy down upon his family.

This all, ultimately, leads to Drac attacking Jack and Topaz in an attempt to retrieve a mystic tome that once belonged to the Baron.

And if we want to know how we reached the events of the book above, all we have to do is read this book.

In it, Jack and Topaz visit Transylvania to investigate Jack's past and, inevitably, that leads to them entering Castle Dracula...

Someone at Marvel's clearly decided we can't have too many crossovers, this month. And so it is that the Sub-Mariner must battle Spider-Man in an epic clash that...

...lasts for about three panels before both parties lose interest in fighting and go their separate ways.

Given that the title is mere issues away from cancellation, I can only assume Spidey was added purely to provide a boost to sales.

In reality, the main thrust of the story deals with Subby having a rematch with the man called Force.

There are also further developments in the drama of Zephyrland. Developments which, if I remember rightly, lead to Dr Strange being called in to help liberate the beleaguered kingdom.

I do love a good monster comic, and the comic that loves monsters even more than I do tells us what happens when nuclear tests performed by a captive scientist awaken the ancient dragon Grogg.

However, it turns out, the scientist knew Grogg existed and disturbed him on purpose in order to create a distraction that would allow him to escape.

In this issue's second tale, explorers land on an alien planet, only to be attacked by monstrous animals.

Finally, thinking it seems like a good idea, they kill the biggest monster of the lot.

Only to discover it was really a robot that had been put there to hold the other animals in check.

And, now, those other animals are completely out of control!