April 27th 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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Shock, horror and, no doubt, anguish gripped the world of football on April 27th, 1974.

But what could have been the cause of such kerfuffle?

It was only the news that football giants Manchester United had been relegated from top flight football for the first time since the 1930s, thanks to a 1–0 home defeat at the hands of their deadly enemies Manchester City. And in one of those fits of  irony that only sport can provide, the goal that sent them down was scored by former United legend Denis Law.

Granted, not everyone was shocked, horrified or anguished. I suspect that fans of every other club took great pleasure in the news. Such is the nature of football enmity.

Fans who were definitely in good spirits were those of Leeds United because, mere days before that event, their club had clinched their second ever title, reminding us, once more, of the ups and downs of life.

Speaking of the ups and downs of life, I've a feeling I didn't have any of this week's Marvel weeklies. Just what caused them to be absent from the shops, I cannot even venture to suggest but, happily, by the following week, normal service had resumed.

I do have to say that's not the greatest cover I've ever witnessed. However, with any comic book, it's what's within that truly matters.

And, within it, Sir Denis Nayland Smith hires Black Jack Tarr to kill Shang-Chi in his house of deadly traps.

Can our hero defeat that house?

And can he convince Sir Denis that he was duped into killing Dr Petrie and has now turned his back on his evil father?

In their strip, I do believe the Avengers are trying to thwart the dreams of the Sons of the Serpent but I cannot say if we've yet reached the shock reveal of just who is the head honcho of those herpetological hatemongers.

Dr Strange, meanwhile, finds himself battling the unlikely menace of Mr Rasputin, malevolent descendant of the mad monk of the same name.

The original Rasputin may have been mad but this one clearly isn't. Realising he's no match for Strange when it comes to magic, the villain opts, instead, to shoot him.

And blow me down if it doesn't work where a thousand Dormammus may have failed - because it does, at least, land the sorcerer supreme in a hospital ward.

But what's this? Even when we finish this issue, the excitement isn't over?

That's because the back cover of this week's mag features the winners of the Marvel UK competition for those who fancy designing a brand new super-hero or villain. Thus it is that this issue brings us news of Newspaper Man, Mud Man, the Red King and his Army of Chess, Blitzkrieg the Man-Beast, and the awesome Twinkler, among many others.

Drama hits us in in its rawest form, as New Yorkers can only stand and watch while two Vultures slog it out in the skies of the Big Apple, for the right to be known as the real Vulture.

Then again, there's one New Yorker who doesn't have to just stand and watch. And that's Spider-Man who's quickly on the scene with his super-powers, looking to put a stop to their silliness.

Elsewhere, Iron Man's still battling to overcome the Crimson Dynamo and convince him what fun it'd be to defect to the West.

Next, as so often in recent weeks, we get a Lee/Ditko mini-masterpiece.

In this one, would-be alien invaders send a shape-shifting scout to Earth, telling him to disguise himself as a member of the world's dominant species.

But the useless fool adopts the form of a housefly and is promptly swatted.

To wrap up the issue, in a storyline that seems to have been going on for decades, Thor's still trying to rescue Hercules from the perils of Hades.

Revived and boosted by the Leader, the rambunctious Rhino rudely ramrods his way into the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross, only to get a slap in the teeth from the Hulk. 

Is this the story in which the Leader becomes paralysed, thanks to his escape craft blowing up?

In Daredevil's strip, we get the conclusion of the tale in which the Ox and Dr Stragg have swapped bodies, giving the scientist by far the better part of that deal.

Having said that, I do believe the scientist ends up dead at the end of the tale, while the Ox is still alive.

We also get the conclusion to the Fantastic Four's first adventure in the Andromeda galaxy, in which they find the Skrull who killed Sue and Johnny's father. I'm fairly certain that killer dies at the tale's climax, although I'm struggling to recall just how.

However it happens, the quartet are now free to return home and get on with the everyday task of clobbering criminals of all shapes and sizes.