June 22nd 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. 

***

The power of Glam once more conquered the UK singles chart, this week in 1974, as Gary Glitter seized the summit, with his track Always Yours, making it his third and final UK Number One. I must declare I have no memory of it. Nor do I recall ever having heard it on the radio - not even before certain things came to light about its singer.

There was, however, no change at the pinnacle of the UK album chart, with David Bowie's Diamond Dogs retaining the top spot it already held.

My recollections of this one are intensely vague. However, I am aware Shang-Chi's cheerfully visiting a beach when a bunch of assassins show up and try to kill him. It does seem like every story in this era is simply our hero going somewhere random and promptly being attacked by assassins.

Elsewhere, the Avengers are still making a meal of defeating the alien Ultroids. And now things are serious because the extraterrestrial nogoodniks have kidnapped a burgomeister!

Dr Strange, meanwhile, is in a Dimension of Death and having to survive various traps created by Umar the Unstoppable.

The Leader's latest scheme kicks up a gear, as the Hulk and Glob clash once more. This time, in the streets of a city.

But how can even the Hulk hope to defeat a lump of sludge?

Thinking about it, I can't remember how he does it but I do recall it all ends with the muck monster reduced to a load of slugs that, in the final panel, begin to make their way back towards each other.

Thinking about it even more, doesn't the Glob fall into an electrical substation and get blown to pieces? Possibly, from the very crane that is pictured on the front cover?

When it comes to Daredevil, I think this is the one in which the Plunderer gets his hands on the other half of the medallion that was given to him and Ka-Zar when they were boys, and that enables him to create a gun which makes things melt or disintegrate or just go bendy in people's hands.

And, finally, the Fantastic Three are still trying to stop the Frightful Four and their deadly new ally the Thing.

Spider-Man remains convinced he's been reduced to the size of an insect and trapped in a model amusement park.

However, it's not long before he realises he's actually normal sized and in a real amusement park.

But that can only be bad news for Mysterio and the control tower he occupies at its centre.

The Black Widow and Boris are still in America and still trying to kill the Crimson Dynamo.

But they won't succeed if Iron Man has his way.

Nor if the Crimson Dynamo has his.

Sadly, I suspect that neither of those two will have his way.

Next, we get a single-page retelling of Spider-Man's origin, brought to us by Stan Lee and John Romita and reprinted from 1968's Spectacular Spider-Man #2 .

Thor, meanwhile, is successfully defeating Ego the living planet and gaining the cooperation of the Rigel Colonizers while, on Earth, Jane Foster's offered a new job - as a school teacher for the High Evolutionary's New Men.

And, finally, we get a two-page look at Peter Parker's pad, as drawn by Larry Lieber.

Speak Your Brain! Part 80.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Whisper it loudly, brave ones, for yet another landmark moment has been reached in the history of mankind, as the world's most talked-about event is back.

Yes, it's the 80th edition of the feature in which the first person to comment in the box below gets to decide just what is or isn't the site's latest hot talking-point.

That talking-point could be just about anything under the sun. Or over it, next to it or, even, round the back of it.

Therefore, be sure to make your mark in eternity and choose just what that topic shall be,

And may Fate bless each and every one of us.

2000 AD - May 1986.

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

***

It can sometimes seem like the human race expends most of its time, energy and enthusiasm on trying to make the world a worse place but it can, sometimes, actually try to make it a better one.

May 1986 saw one such occasion, as it witnessed an event called Hands Across America in which over five million people formed a human chain which stretched from New York City to Long Beach, California, in order to to raise money for the fight against hunger and homelessness.

For those who preferred to do their hand-holding in the cinema, there was not a bucketful of great films to be found. However, May did at least see the release of Short Circuit, Top Gun and Poltergeist II. None of which I would regard as classics but they were generally memorable.

Over on the UK singles chart, the month kicked off with Falco's Rock Me, Amadeus sitting pretty at the summit before it suffered the indignity of being dethroned by Spitting Image's The Chicken Song, a deliberately annoying spoof of a deliberately annoying comedy song the world had known as Agadoo.

When it came to the album chart, that listing too was dominated by just two records, with the month beginning with Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music's Street Life - 20 Great Hits on top before that was replaced by Peter Gabriel's So.

But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

As always, it was giving us Tharg's Future Shocks, Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Ace Trucking Co. And, as sometimes, it was giving us plenty of Judge Anderson: PSI Division.

But what's this? It was also providing us with what appear to be two brand new strips: Bad City Blue by Alan Grant and Robin Smith; and Sooner or Later, the handiwork of Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy.

Sadly, I've never read either of those strips and, so, can shed no light upon their natures or merits. However, after what feels like a lengthy period of stagnation for the book, it's good to see it, once more, dipping its toes into the water of innovation.

June 15th 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. 

***

If there was anything we all loved to do in the 1970s, it was take off all our clothes and run around naked at sporting events. Therefore, inevitably, it was only a matter of time before a record celebrating the act would top the UK charts.

And top it it did, this week in 1974 when the pinnacle of the British Hit Parade was only went and claimed by Ray Stevens and his single The Streak.

While that was going on, the summit of the accompanying LP chart was showing no signs of change, with David Bowie's Diamond Dogs retaining the pole position it had seized the week before. 

The trend I highlighted, recently, of me only seeming to get every other issue of The Avengers, during this period, continues with another issue I missed out on at the time.

But what happens in it?

Shang-Chi is still in Miami and looking for a place to live. I can shed no light upon his activities after that but, given how things always go for him, I'm assuming it somehow manages to lead to a fight with deadly assassins.

In their strip, the Avengers have been captured by the Ultroids!

But not to worry. The Black Widow, of all people, has showed up to rescue them!

I know little of what Dr Strange is up to but am aware it involves Umar and have no doubt it shall be something that the fate of the universe depends upon.

And the back cover gives us the chance to buy some patches which feature our favourite super-heroes on them.

And they'll only cost us 40 pence!

But what's this? It's not just the Avengers I missed out on, this week, because it's an issue of Mighty World of Marvel I didn't own at the time.

Looking for yet another opportunity to lose to the Hulk, the Leader reverts himself to his pre-Gamma Ray appearance  and befriends Bruce Banner, that he might learn of previous Hulk foes who might be able to stop the woodland-hued wonder.

Thanks to that, he decides the Glob is just the monster he needs and sets off to recruit him.

Far, far away from that, Daredevil's in a savage land at the bottom of the world and discovering the shocking origin of Ka-Zar.

Spoiler alert! It bears a remarkable resemblance to the shocking origin of Tarzan.

The Fantastic Three, meanwhile, are still trying to find a way to overcome the Frightful Four, now that those villains have the Thing on their side.

It's starting to look hopeless for our hero, with Mysterio having shrunk him to the size of an insect and trapped in him a perfect scale-model of a funfair.

Or has he?

Meanwhile, things get confusing for all British readers, as Iron Man's strip introduces us to a brand new super-villain.

The Black Widow!

The one who's currently rescuing the Avengers in their comic.

Oh the joys of Marvel UK continuity incongruities.

Anyway, the Widow and Boris are sent to America to kill the Crimson Dynamo for defecting to the land of the free.

And, while they're at it, they're also going to kill Iron Man and Tony Stark!

But that's nothing because, in a galaxy far far away, Thor's battling Ego the Living Planet.

What he doesn't know is that, back on Earth, the hapless Jane Foster, fresh from acquiring a flatmate from outer space, goes on a flight and instantly bumps into two men who possess strangely animal-like qualities...

And we finish off with a Not Brand Echh reprint titled The Auntie Goose Rhymes Dept, created by Roy Thomas and John Verpoorten and narrated by Aunt May in the career-defining role of Auntie Goose.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - June 1984.

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

***

There was plenty of 1980s goodness in store for you if you ventured into a cinema in June 1984. It was, after all, a month which saw the unleashing of such thrills as Once Upon a Time in America, The Search for Spock, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Cannonball Run II and Conan the Destroyer.

I am confident in declaring Gremlins to be the best of that bunch.

Other opinions are available.

I know nothing of the contents of this one, other than that the main tale's called Blind Trust and is brought to us by Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco.

The backup strip, on the other hand, is called Bitter Memory and is the handiwork of Zelenetz and Terry Shoemaker.

With a name like Shoemaker, I just hope his work doesn't turn out to be total cobblers.

The eleventh issue of Dreadstar brings us a Jim Starlin cover we'll never forget and a story in which, as the Instrumentality begins its Holy Cleansing, the High Lord Papal recalls his childhood.

Not only that but Infra Red and Ultra Violet are also introduced to us.

I got that summary from the Grand Comics Database. I don't have a clue what any of it means.

Hercules' latest mini-series comes to a conclusion, as something or other happens.

All I can say about this one is it features a character called Skyppi who I'm going to assume is not related to the bush kangaroo we all know and love.

Iron Fist and Luke Cage find themselves in combat with the spinning menace of the Whirlwind, a foe I can't see either of them being much use against.

This month brings us Episode 2 of the limited series they're all talking about.

At least, they would be if it wasn't a secret.

In this one, the heroes and villains engage in their first battle - with the heroes winning, and taking captives.

Dr Doom, meanwhile, uses the distraction to invade the villains' base and revive Ultron.

Elsewhere, Magneto abducts the Wasp and, in an unrelated incident, the Thing reverts back to being just plain old Ben Grimm.

The book that can't stop asking me questions I can't stop not being able to know the answer to demands I tell it what would happen if the Hulk went berserk, although I'm fairly certain it's not the first time the world's had to deal with that problem.

Tragically, I can't tell you what happens on this occasion but I do know its cover's brought to us by Bill Sienkiewicz, while its insides are the product Peter Gillis and Ron Wilson.

And there's more cover action from Bill Sienkiewicz when the queen of the discos meets the Inhumans, a group of people I suspect have never been in a disco in their entire lives.

Regardless, despite their lack of glitter ball credentials, she travels to the moon to aid them against a mysterious blackness threatening the very existence of Attilan.

Forty years ago today - June 1984.

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

***

The British election campaign's hotting up.

But there are even greater conflicts going on in this world.

And they're occurring in the comics below!

I'm struggling to remember just what transpires in this one but I do believe it involves a brand new villain called the Rose who's responsible for fixing American football games via the bribing or blackmailing of a quarterback.

Clearly, only your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man has the chops to deal with that sort of thing.

Also, Robbie Robertson's acting a bit grumpy.

Speaking of Spider-Man, he and his girlfriend find themselves confronting a Blob on the rampage through the streets of New York, thanks to the villain's grief over the death of his friend Unus the Untouchable.

I seem to recall the Black Cat's power of bad luck being noticeably more useful against their opponent than Spidey's more physical powers are.

It's one of those stories that questions whether it's Dr Octopus who controls his arms or whether they control him, when Reed Richards must enlist the villain's aid in the emergency treatment of Sue who's on her radiation-inflicted death bed.

He manages to get Ock to agree to help - but the cephalopodic scientist's mechanical limbs aren't necessarily as accommodating.

What's this? Hydra kidnap the Black Widow, in order to lure the man without fear into a deadly trap?

Needless to say, he walks straight into that deadly trap.

Also needless to say, his super-senses get him - and her - straight out of that deadly trap.

We take a mighty diversion, as the now-pacifist Balder is sent to deliver a message to Loki, on behalf of Odin.

Loki, however, has allied himself with the malevolent Malekith and doesn't want to hear about it.

Inevitably, it all leads to a fight.

One in which, Balder redefines the word "pacifist" by chopping off Loki's head.

The Avengers have to thwart the Dire Wraiths who've infiltrated the staff at the Kennedy Space Centre for, doubtless, nefarious purposes.

Tragically, I can remember nothing beyond that.

I am, however, confident the world's mightiest super-team triumph.

Conan bumps into yet another damsel in distress and rescues her - only for it to turn out she's evil and drugs the men she encounters, turning them into her helpless slaves until she gets bored with them and transforms them into statues.

Can our hero regain his senses before he too becomes part of the decor?

Things start to get weird when Rogue starts to think she's Carol Danvers and sets out to rescue one of Carol's old boyfriends from the clutches of SHIELD.

This necessitates her having to launch a single-handed assault on the organisation's helicarrier.

One that succeeds.

This, though, leads to Nick Fury declaring war on the X-Woman.

With Bruce Banner going increasingly out of control, Rom steps in to try and sort out the mess. He manages to de-radiate the victims of Bruce's latest device but finds that even he can't de-radiate the Hulk enough to cure him.

I remember little of this one but do know the Red Skull's daughter and Baron Zemo have turned Cap's old friend Dave Cox into a ruthless killing machine intent upon slaughtering the hero and his sidekick Nomad.

Can the star-spangled Avenger talk some sense into the man?

Or is it too late for that?

Now there's trouble. The new, robotic Taurus is out to kill the original Taurus - and only Iron Man can stop him!

The problem is Shellhead's going to have to do it without his repulsor rays because the gauntlets he acquired in the Secret War have been messing up the functioning of the rest of his armour and he's had to ditch them!

June 8th 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. 

***

Would the nation ever recover from the shock?

June 8th, 1974, saw the broadcast of the final part of the Doctor Who serial Planet of the Spiders.

How we gasped as giant, talking spiders were put in their place and green screen went mad.

But what mattered most was that it was the final episode to star Jon Pertwee as the Timelord. Now we'd have to get used to a brand new actor in the part. One called Tom Baker. 

Change may have been afoot in our favourite sci-fi show but there was none in evidence on the UK singles chart. That was still topped by the beret wearing kings of Glam that were the Rubettes. And that was all thanks to their track Sugar Baby Love.

But there was change on the corresponding album chart, with David Bowie crashing straight in at Number One with his latest waxing that wasn't waning, the LP the world could only refer to as Diamond Dogs.

Sugar Baby Love is, of course, a proven classic but the other tracks I approved of on that week's Hit Parade were:

This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us - Sparks

There's a Ghost in My House - R. Dean Taylor

Judy Teen - Cockney Rebel

Waterloo - ABBA

Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me - Elton John

W.O.L.D. - Harry Chapin

America - David Essex

and

Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks

Should you desire to study the topic in greater depth, that week's UK singles chart may be found here. 

While the accompanying album rankings reside within.

It's battle beneath the Earth, as the Hulk finds himself dragged into the latest war between the Mole Man and Tyrannus.

Of course, our hero has never needed much persuasion to get into a scrap but, this time, he has extra motivation, as it means he gets to hang around with his new-found pal the mighty Mogol.

But, hold on. Can it be true? In the heat of conflict, can it turn out his ally is no man but a machine?

And just how is the Hulkster going to react to that discovery?

Daredevil, meanwhile, is still in the Savage Land, still suffering from a power failure when it comes to his super-senses and at the mercy of the murderous man-ape Maa-Gor!

The Fantastic Three, meanwhile, are still having to overcome a Frightful Four bolstered by the addition of the Thing.

And the back cover gives us another chance to win a fishing rod, by the simple act of identifying boats.

Shang-Chi's in Miami where he heads off to visit a museum, for reasons I don't recall, and it all ends up with him battling some people who want to steal the building's statue of Buddha.

Elsewhere, Pietro's been kidnapped by aliens, which means the rest of the Avengers have to go looking for him.

Fortunately, those aliens haven't gone very far and the gang manage to locate their parked spaceship, thanks to the Scarlet Witch having developed some sort of radar sense that I don't recall ever being mentioned again.

And, finally, Dr Strange is still struggling with the deadly menace of Kaluu.

But, perhaps more significantly, we get what I believe to be our first-ever glimpse of Umar sister of Dormammu!

It can only spell trouble for Spider-Man when Mysterio returns - and does so with a plan that could destroy the mind of any man.

But there may be even greater peril than that on the horizon because, in another part of town, Norman Osborn's remembered he's the Green Goblin!

And if that's happened, how long can it be before he remembers our hero is his own son's flatmate?

Iron Man's still putting up a brave battle against the awesome might of the Scarecrow.

And Thor's got more trouble on his plate than even that. No sooner has he managed to battle his way to the strange alien world of Rigel, than he has to come face-to-face with the strange alien world of Ego - the living planet.

And we finish off with a Lee/Ditko short in which a man believes he's uncovered an alien invasion - only to discover that he's the alien invader. And that he's been suffering from amnesia.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - June 1974.

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

***

Just what treasures greeted us as we entered out local fleapit in June 1974?

No less than these treasures: Herbie Rides Again, The Parallax View, Chinatown, The Terminal Man and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat.

Intriguingly, there was also a thriller which bore the enigmatic title of W and starred Twiggy. I must confess I've no idea what that one's about.

Of all those films, I think I've only ever seen Herbie Rides Again. Therefore, fate has left me no option but to declare that to be the Steve Does Comics official Film of the Month, although I suspect others may argue with me on that score.

Neal Adams gives us another stylish cover, although I do have to say his Shang-Chi has a strong Gil Kane vibe about him.

Inside, we get such tales as The Shaolin Priest of Laurel Canyon, The Dragon's Vengeance, The Dragon Has Entered! and, most importantly of all, The Origin of Shang-Chi as brought to us by Samurai Steve Englehart and Judo Jim Starlin themselves.

There's also a look at What Makes the Martial Arts Work? and Lee's Life. The latter being written by Denny O'Neil under the not at all unlikely pen name of Wan Chang O'Shaugnessy. Genuinely. That's the name he uses. I'm saying nothing.

Dr Strange gets yet another chance to prove he can carry a series of his own, with the launch of his brand new book.

And it starts in a memorable vein, thanks to the first-ever appearance of Silver Dagger who invades the Sanctum Sanctorum, stabs our hero in the back, helps himself to the Eye of Agamotto and imprisons Clea.

Things are looking grim - but, then, Strange is pulled into the Orb of Agamotto where he meets a talking caterpillar.

A brand new title hits our afterlives, although it's destined to have only one issue.

But who cares about longevity when we can have 52 pages of Dracula-related frolics?

Inside, we encounter Night of the She-Demon!, Keeping Track of Drac!, Have You Ever Seen a Huge, Black Vampire? and The Village Graveyard. The final two tales being 1950s reprints and the first being a yarn which features Lilith daughter of Dracula!

Because you can never have enough giant-size comics, we're also treated to another new title destined to last for just one outing.

And this one also has a vampire in it!

And  a werewolf!

It would seem, from that cover, that the fiendishly fanged pair are destined to team up against everyone's favourite wall-crawler. How can even he hope to survive such an attack?

Successfully, I suspect.

And there's also a string of single-page pin-ups of Spider-Man's deadliest foes, as first presented in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 and drawn by no lesser man than Sturdy Steve Ditko.

Yes, it's that one. The concluding part of the yarn in which deceased clown Darrel re-enacts  his life story, via the medium of our main cast, and Manny has to fight a trio of weirdos to save the ennui-stricken entertainer's soul.

Judging by that cover, everyone's favourite hero for hire has to tackle a villain called Cottonmouth.

I must admit that, if I didn't know a cottonmouth was a type of deadly snake, I wouldn't find the name a very menacing one for a villain. It'd have as much impact as Wool Fingers or Nylon Toes.

It's time for all Ray Harryhausen fans to celebrate, as Marvel brings us its deathless adaptation of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, as related by Len Wein and George Tuska.

Who can forget the thrills as the sea-loving adventurer tackles six-armed goddesses, bat-things, centaurs and Tom Baker?

Not me. That's for sure.

Just how much terror can a company pack into just 36 pages?

We're about to find out!

In our first tale, a vampire sleeps for years after gorging on the victims of a nuclear war. When he awakens, however, he must confront the reality that there are no humans left and only robots remain.

In our second, a wealthy miser pretends to be dead - only to then discover that he really is dead!

In our third, a thief steals a ruby dedicated to the god of rain. With grim inevitability, he's then followed around by heavy rainfall until he returns the gem.

And, in our fourth, a genie is released when a man opens his bottle but because the man doesn't stake his claim to the creature, the genie has no master and responds by enslaving the whole world!

And another new mag hits our spinner racks!

I possess little information about the contents of this one but I do know it includes a Roy Thomas and Barry Smith chiller in which a man becomes a movie star after striking a deal with a makeup artist. However, that man doesn't realise he's traded his soul for fame.

It is, of course, reprinted from 1970's Tower of Shadows #5.

Fifty years ago today - June 1974.

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

***

They claim you can't turn back time but whoever They might be, they're total fools because we're about to do just that.

And it won't even cost us a penny!

It may, however, cost us our souls...

I'm struggling to remember what happens in this one.

In fact, I'm struggling so badly that it's making me suspect I've never even read it.

Regardless, it seems the Sub-Mariner's got his eye on Sue Richards again.

I predict that, as always, he will be foiled in his amphibious amorousness.

The Molten Man's still in a bad mood.

This is mostly because he's trying to find a cure for the condition that's turned him into a raging human inferno - and Spider-Man, for no good reason, keeps trying to prevent him from finding one.

The Avengers find themselves up against a space-dragon thingy called the Star-Stalker, as the Celestial Madonna Saga rumbles on.

Does this one take place in a Vietnamese temple? I feel like it does.

I'm pretty sure I've never read this one and, therefore, have no idea what happens in it but, if this is the Secret Empire storyline, does that mean the man in the silly-looking hood is President Nixon?

Also, how have I got it into my head that Nixon is involved in the Secret Empire storyline?

It would appear the X-Men play a role in this tale but I don't know in what capacity.

Happily, I'm far more clued up about this one.

That's because it was reprinted in Marvel UK's 1977 Avengers Annual and I can confirm the cover accurately depicts what happens inside. Conan must come to the rescue when a giant crocodile threatens to nibble on the latest nubile young woman to enter the barbarian's life.

No sooner has he returned to New York than Daredevil's once more tackling the forces of Black Spectre.

But, shock upon shock, it turns out that all of its soldiers are women with tattoos!

How can our hero hope to defeat women with tattoos?

And things go from bad to worse when the Black Widow is mind-controlled into working for the organisation - whose leader turns out to be that sexy baboon of bad intent the Mandrill!

The Hulk's on Counter-Earth and having a barney with the President and his horde of beast-men.

It, of course, all leads to an encounter with Adam Warlock in which the Biblical parallels bash us over the head until we can't possibly fail to notice them.

Back on Earth, Glenn Talbot escapes from his Soviet captors.

But is there more to his escape than meets the eye?

I know nothing of this one, other than what's featured on the cover.

And that means we get the return of the Unicorn and Sunfire - and, it seems, a new mask for Iron Man!

Also, the presence of Sunfire suggests to me that this one likely takes place in Japan.

The Destroyer's back - and causing all kinds of mischief. I don't know why he's back and I don't know why Hercules is involved in it all.

I am going to hazard a guess, though, that this is the tale which leads to Thor suggesting the Destroyer should become a new herald for Galactus.

For some reason, this leads me to guess that it's going to end up in the Hudson river.

And we complete our look at Marvel with an absolutely terrible tale in which the X-Men must tackle Frankenstein's Monster when it comes out of hibernation and goes on the rampage.

But what's this? Things aren't what they seem? And it is in fact, a space robot?

Mary Shelley must be turning in her space grave.

That looks like a comprehensive assessment of Marvel's offerings, to me.

But what of the other lot? The ones perpetually locked in a power struggle with Marvel? The ones the world knows as DC? Just what do they have to offer us in a random sampling of their comics which bear that month as their cover date?

I do suspect this may have been the first issue of Batman I ever owned.

And what a way to start, as we're presented with 100 pages of fledermausian frolics.

For a start, when Robin decides to investigate shenanigans at a circus, it's not long before his billionaire mentor also gets involved and it turns out Catwoman's caught up in it too!

But let's all hold our horses - and our tigers - because it turns out she's not the villain of the piece!

But there's more.

Thanks to the power of reprints, the dynamic duo find themselves having to survive an island populated by robot dinosaurs, we explore what would have happened had an animal other than a bat blundered into view when Bruce Wayne was trying to decide upon a guise in which to fight crime, Batman must tackle a villain fixated with pennies, we discover the significance of a bullet-proof vest, meet a villain called Dr Doom, explore the Secret of Batman Island and take a look at the history of Catwoman's costumes.

I think that lot would keep anyone happy.

It's as dramatic a cover as you could imagine.

But is the tale inside as dramatic?

Not as far as I can remember, as the scarlet speedster has to contend with Captain Boomerang's latest crime spree.

Meanwhile, in this month's backup strip, it's trouble for the Green Lantern when his power ring starts compelling him to commit anti-social deeds. Can he restore normal service? Or has a brand new super-villain been created?

I've never read this one but I have a Nick Cardy cover and a list of story titles that are sure to set my imagination ablaze.

Those story titles are:

Lost: A Million Miles from Home!

The Legionnaire Who Killed!

The Verdict of the Legion!

The Super-Stalag of Space!

The Test of Brainiac 5!

The Execution of Matter-Eater Lad!

Duo Damsel's Double-Play!

The Lore of the Legion!

The Wrath of the Devil-Fish!

and

The Superboy of Bigville!

I have to say most of those titles sound very high-stakes. I'm definitely buying this book if I see it on the spinner rack, this summer. I'm just hoping at least some of the Legionnaires manage to make it out alive.

But let's face it. This is what we all came here for.

At last, we discover what would happen if Superman ever fought the original Captain Marvel, when the man of steel must confront Captain Thunder, an alternate universe version of that hero who's found himself trapped in Metropolis and compelled to assist criminals whenever he uses his powers.

It would appear that Anton Arcane and his Un-Men attack the Swamp Thing - only for him to be  rescued by the resurrected corpse of someone called Black Jubal.

I've no idea what any of that means but I have no doubt at all that it's great.

In our main story, we can only watch in dread while a village eagerly awaits the arrival of Satan.

But has everyone in the community been acting badly enough for them to gain his favour?

Or have some of them been a little too nice?

And because even that isn't enough for the true lover of horror, we're then treated to The Gun That Couldn't Stop Killing and When Time Went Mad, the details of which I'm struggling to recall.