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.