Fifty years ago today - May 1974.

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

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A time portal has appeared in my living room.

And I cannot resist the urge to step through it.

At last, Conan finds himself a female who can adorn a cover without cowering.

According to the blurb, she's a were-woman, proving, once again, that no one in the 1970s Bullpen seems to know what the "were" in "werewolf" actually means.

Apparently, what happens inside is someone called Amytis betrays Conan who then kills someone called Gimil-Ishbi. He also fights Lilitu before quitting the Turanian Army.

Judging by that cover, Libra's aiming for the title of World's Most Constipated Looking Super-Villain, as Mantis finally finds out who her dad is.

It would appear Cap and Falc are out to give Nick Fury the slap we all know he deserves.

And that's all the wisdom I can share about this issue, other than to say it clearly features a guest-appearance by the X-Men.

This all rings a bell. But only in the very vaguest of ways. Is Nekra something to do with the Mandrill?

Whether she is or isn't, it seems it all relates to the fact that, while defacing American landmarks, the Black Spectre tries to force Daredevil and the Black Widow to work for him.

I genuinely have no idea what happens in this one and, sadly, the cover lends me few clues. But I do know the tale within bears the dramatic title Doomsday: 200° Below!

I do know what happens in this one, though.

It's another belter when the Hulk finds himself in the Great Refuge and up against none other than Black Bolt.

Realising our hero's too strong to contain for long, the leader of the Inhumans has him put into a rocket and fired at Counter-Earth.

The Molten Man's back - and causing trouble for Spider-Man!

I do believe this is the one in which Molty's out to find a cure for his condition and, for no good reason, Spidey keeps trying to sabotage his attempts to find that cure.

But I do suspect that means this is the issue in which Liz Allen makes her surprise return appearance.

My memories of this tale are super-humanly fuzzy but I do believe Pluto's prisoner on the cover is none other than Krista, sister of the magnificently strapping Hildegarde.

That's Marvel's big hitters accounted for.

But what of that company's biggest rival?

Just how does a random sampling of its output that bears the same cover date look?

It's looking like a great big slab of super-hero goodness, as Detective Comics gets the 100-page treatment - kicking off with Batman investigating an abduction and ending up having to fight an enraged bear.

But that's not all. This issue also contains such gems as The Fear That Haunted Hawkman and Doll Man in A Million-Dollar Corpse!

The Green Lantern, meanwhile, encounters Too Many Suspects!, Batman and Robin unearth the Inside Story of the Outsider! and there's tense action for the Golden Age Manhunter when he tackles the Cobras of the Deep.

But, most importantly of all, the Bronze Age Manhunter reveals just where the evil army of his clones originated.

A brand new mag and a brand new heroine smash their way into our shops, as Rima the Jungle Girl emerges from the undergrowth to, no doubt, startle us all.

But, the cover demands to know, "Is she beast or human?"

My guess is that she's human.

I don't know anything about the main story but I do know it's called Spirit of the Woods and is brought to us by Robert Kanigher, W H Hudson (responsible for the original novel), Nestor Redondo and Joe Kubert.

The backup strip is a thing called Four Tombs! and is the product of Robert Kanigher and Alex Niño.

I think we can guarantee this comic will look good, if nothing else.

And another new mag hits our shops.

Not that you'd know it from the cover, as this is officially issue #164, thanks to it inheriting the numbering from the now-defunct Jimmy Olsen comic it replaces.

And, appropriately, the issue kicks off with an Olsen yarn as "Mr Action" must figure out who's behind the vandalism of a project created by his father to help troubled teens.

We also get Supergirl in sensational solo action against Brainiac, Krypto becoming a Hollywood star,  Jimmy Olsen (again) in The Gift-Wrapped Doom, Perry White leading his staff on The Death March!, and finish off with The Three Wives of Superman.

All three of whom, I'm fairly certain, come to an untimely end thanks to their marriage to the man of steel.

Speaking of that hero, we get a giant-sized reprint of the first-ever Superman story, as he delivers a witness to the governor to stop an execution, then stops a wife-beater.

Not only that but he must intervene when Lois Lane attracts the homicidal wrath of someone called Butch Matson.

Finally, Clark Kent sets out to discover which treasonous scum is behind a senator who's pushing legislation that will get the United States involved in a war in Europe.

But it's not all Kal-El, this issue. We're also provided with an adventure for Chuck Dawson, a tale called The Mystery of the Freight Train Robberies! starring Zatara, The South Sea Strategy, Sticky-Mitt Stimson, The Adventures of Marco Polo and action for such characters as Pep Morgan, Scoop Scanlon and Tex Thomson.

As we all know, anything Superman can manage, Batman can match. And, so, he too gets a Limited Collection Edition in his name.

In this one, we encounter The Case of the Joker's Crime Circus!, The Case Batman Failed to Solve!!!, The Mayors of Yonville!, Hate of the Hooded Hangman!, Hot Time in Gotham Town Tonight!, Ghost of the Killer Skies! and a look at Batman on the Screen.

As if that wasn't enough for any sane reader, we're also supplied with a free Table-Top Diorama as created by no lesser authority than Neal Adams.

And I've included this one purely because of the Jerry Grandenetti cover. Inside, we're treated to three ancient stories of terror as reprinted from 1952.