August 31st 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. 

***

There are those who'll tell us there's a reason for everything in this world.

The Osmonds clearly hoped that was the case because, this very week in 1974, they ascended to the pinnacle of the UK singles chart, thanks to their track Love Me for a Reason.

On the accompanying LP chart, Paul McCartney and his Wings were proving to be a band who were neither on the run nor even moving, as they remained right where they were at the summit, thanks to their career-defining album of repute.

It's a momentous milestone in the history of Marvel UK, as its flagship title hits its 100th edition!

And to celebrate, we get an issue dedicated entirely to the Hulk!

We kick off with a senses-shattering conclusion to his battle with Draxon the dictator in which the brute brings freedom to whatever European land it is he's in and then reveals himself to be a monster of the people by refusing to become its king. 

Next, we get a 3-page recap of that saviour's origin as brought to us by Lee, Kirby and Ayers and recycled from the pages of Incredible Hulk #3.

Following that, there's the shocking tale in which Kang the conqueror sends the Hulk back in time to kill World War One flying ace the Phantom Eagle because that man is an ancestor of Bruce Banner.

Kang's thinking is that such an act would mean Banner could never be born. Therefore, the Hulk will never exist and the Avengers will never come to be 

I think that everyone except Kang and writer Roy Thomas can spot that, if the plan succeeds, the nonexistent Hulk could never go back in time and would, therefore, not be able to kill the Phantom Eagle. Thus rendering the entire plan futile.

Finally, we receive a two-page feature which tells us everything we could ever need to know about the the star of this book.

When it comes to the celebrations, Daredevil and the Fantastic Four are, it  seems, not worthy of mention.

No such landmark status for Spidey's mag, yet, although it's starting to close in on one.

Having stolen a mysterious ancient tablet from the Kingpin, the webbed wonder decides to hide it in his closet.

But how long can it be before the rotund regent of robbery, rough-housing, ranting, raving and rancidly rapacious rascalisation escapes from his prison cell and decides to retrieve it?

Far far away from that, I do believe Iron Man finally manages to defeat the Mandarin and escape his exploding castle.

In the meantime, Happy Hogan's having serious trouble trying to run Stark Industries. Which you'd expect, what with him being neither businessman nor hi-tech wizard.

And the Destroyer's still rampaging around Asgard, thanks to Loki's determination to ruin the local Olympics.

I get the feeling Loki was probably the kid who got chosen last for sports teams in school and had to play in goal.

I bet Thor always got chosen first.

And got to be the centre-forward.

If you want to know why Loki hates Thor, there's your motivation.

Just as Mighty World of Marvel hits its 100th issue, the company's newest mag hits its 50th.

And it does so with everyone's favourite martial artist getting himself tangled up in a tale they call A Fortune of Death!

I remember little of this story but I do believe Shang-Chi visits a restaurant and is promptly attacked by an assassin.

And then he's attacked by the waiters!

After that, he's probably attacked by the bus driver, on the way home.

It really isn't safe for that man to go anywhere.

Discovering the Wasp and Goliath have been abducted by Diablo, the Avengers set out to rescue them.

Only to discover Goliath's reluctantly working for the criminal pharmacist and that they're going to have to go through both he and the Dragon Man to get to their foe.

Dr Strange, meanwhile, finds himself in the realm of Nebulos who, I assume, is not to confused with Nebulon. There, he gets his hands on a stick which'll enable him to defeat Baron Mordo.

Now all he has to do is work out how the defeat far greater threats of Nebulos and the Living Tribunal.

Speak Your Brain! Part 86. Debatable job titles in film and television.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Another bank holiday has come and gone but, as life returns to normal in the land of tea and crumpets, just what is playing upon all our minds?

Frankly, I don't have a clue what's playing on mine.

And that's because you haven't decided on it yet.

You guessed it. Such indecisiveness on my part can only mean the return of the feature in which the first person to comment below gets to decide just what will be the topic for debate.

Therefore, hesitate ye not - and set that ball rolling in whichever direction it deems fit to roll.

August 1984 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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

***

The UK singles chart, in August 1984 was a battleground between two acts, with Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Two Tribes starting the month at Number One before it was overthrown by George Michael's Careless Whisper.

However, there was no argument as to what ruled the roost when it came to the accompanying album chart. That's because the month saw just one LP claim the top spot. And that was the behemoth the world knew only as Now That's What I Call Music 3.

The nation's favourite magazine dedicated to speculative fiction returns to bring us, among other things, a preview of the movie 2010.

Those other things include an interview with Ron Moore about his low-budget movie Futurekill, John Brosnan's review of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and multiple interviews with various cast members from Star Trek.

But that's not all. There's also a preview of the film version of Dune, a look at The Company of Wolves, an inspection of Italian Fantasy movies, and reviews of Supergirl, Romancing the Stone and Star Trek III.

With all that, I think we can safely say we're getting our money's worth.

It would appear this issue's dedicated to Malcolm Hulke, the writer who gave us the Silurians, Sea Devils and Draconians.

There's an interview with Tegan actress Janet Fielding.

And we get Part 2 of the comic strip The Voyager in which the Doctor's hanging around with a talking penguin called Frobisher.

But is that where our luck runs out? I notice there's also a review of Colin Baker's first story The Twin Dilemma. I don't want to prejudge that review but I am aware it is often cited as being one of the worst Doctor Who serials ever broadcast.

Will this mag go against the grain in its assessment of it?

Some days, you can't even atone for things in peace - as Captain Britain discovers when he visits the Scott family to apologise for Micky Scott's death and, while he's there, Meggan re-appears and everybody gets attacked by robots!

Following that, we get Night Raven Pathology II.

Then, there's a four-page Showcase tale titled Crime Passionelle as brought to us by Graham P Cousins and Mark Lockett.

Next, we're treated to Superheroes on Celluloid; Pete Scott's 3-page article on that very subject.

And, as though anyone could ever forget, the Micronauts and X-Men are still trying to survive the combined menace of Baron Karza and an evil Professor X.

I know little of the contents of this one except the story inside is called The Colossus of Shem and is the handwork of Bruce Jones and John Buscema.

I do know though, that that has to be the dullest cover I've ever seen on a comic that stars Conan.

August 24th 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. 

***

Who needs Jurassic Park?

Not our Stone Age ancestors.

They did, after all, have to share the world with dinosaurs, every single day of their life.

I know this because, during the evening of August 24th, 1974, BBC One thrilled the nation by showing legendary Hammer flick One Million Years BC.

Granted, some may claim it's not the most historically - or even prehistorically - accurate movie of all time but what kind of madman cares about that? It has allosaurusussusses. It has pterodactyls. It has cannibal cavemen, Raquel Welch and Martine Beswick. It even has constant shouts of, "Akita!"

I still, to this day, don't have a clue what, "Akita," is supposed to mean but, as every other word uttered by every character in that film is, "Akita," it must mean something impressive.

As Marvel UK's flagship title hits its 99th issue, we find the Hulk still in Europe and being declared a golem, as he takes the fight to the tyrannical fiend Draxon the Dictator. But how can even he hope to triumph against the dictator's new super-weapon?

On a smaller but no less deadly scale, Foggy Nelson must combat the Gladiator, having set up a fight with the menace in an attempt to convince Karen Page that he's Daredevil.

Fortunately for the lovestruck lawyer, the real DD's on the scene to deal with the buzzsaw-brandishing bad boy of binding, bobbin-threading and general couturier-related activity.

But that only serves to even more convince Karen that Foggy is The Man Without Fear.

And, probably worse, it convinces the Gladiator that he is.

Finally, the Fantastic Four come face to face with the Seeker who, if my memory doesn't betray me, tells them the gene-shattering history of the Inhumans, a secret race of people with superpowers, who've always lived alongside us.

After an intense battle, Spidey finally defeats the Kingpin and steals the mysterious tablet from him, only to discover the police are out to shoot him.

This, inevitably, leads our hero to end the tale by declaring that, if people insist on viewing him as a menace, then, from this point on, he'll become one!

Meanwhile, Iron Man's still in the Mandarin's castle, out to punish him for wrecking Tony Stark's missiles. However, the villain has the upper hand and it seems the iron clad ironclad is truly doomed.

Elsewhere, the Destroyer's still loose in the middle of Asgard's Olympics and causing nothing but trouble. All of it thanks to Loki and his latest plan to take over the realm eternal.

I do believe this issue contains the conclusion of Spider-Man's first encounter with Shang-Chi, thanks to a Fu Manchu scheme to use a transmitter built into the Empire State Building to take over everyone's minds.

Needless to say, that vile plan fails and Spidey parts company with the master of Kung Fu, baffled that he's found himself battling a fictional character.

Elsewhere, Diablo's back, sporting a brand new look and, for reasons I can't recall, he gets the newly-revived Dragon Man to knock out and abduct Goliath. 

I can only feel this must be bad news for humanity.

And for Goliath.

As for Dr Strange, I do believe the sorcerer supreme closes out the issue by losing a fight with Baron Mordo but is then reunited with Victoria Bentley who must have the most English name of any fictional character ever.

Speak Your Brain! Part 85. The life you would aspire to if there were no negative consequences.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Journey with me into mysterious realms, for we are set to enter the most puzzling of them all. One that even I, your omniscient host, knows not how to navigate.

And that's because it does not yet exist.

Just what path will be carved from the labyrinthine tangle that is the human mind?

That, I cannot say.

And will not be able to say until some brave soul plots it in the comments section below.

It can only mean the  return of the feature which will not die.

The one in which the first person to comment gets to decide just what it is we must discuss.

Therefore, look you not behind you, for fear of what strange fiend may be matching you, stride for stride but, instead, move forward into the light and illuminate the discourse, just as hope must illuminate even the most wretched of souls.

2000 AD - July 1986.

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

***

Nothing but trouble awaited the unwary traveller foolish enough to enter a cinema in July 1986.

In the case of one of those films, it was big trouble.

That's because the month saw the release of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China. However, that film wasn't alone in landing you in bother because July also saw the unveiling of The Howling II, Aliens and Psycho III.

Then again, it wasn't all trauma. You could, if you bought a ticket, also encounter The Great Mouse Detective and Prince's Under the Cherry Moon. Neither of which have I ever seen.

Despite also never having seen Psycho III - nor having ever even heard of it until now - I'm going to confidently state that Aliens is the pick of this month's releases. However, I understand that others may disagree.

When it came to the charts, just two tracks topped the UK Hit Parade, that July. They were Madonna's Papa Don't Preach and Chris de Burgh's Lady in Red. I don't like to knock Chris but I can't help feeling Madonna's single is the better of that pair.

And Madge was also riding high on the British album chart because her LP True Blue spent the whole month at Number One, crushing all other platters like they were no more than eggshells.

But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

It was still trundling along and still giving us its now familiar mix of Strontium Dog, Ace Trucking Co, Judge Dredd, Tharg's Future-Shocks, Sooner or Later, Anderson PSI Division and Bad City Blue.

I can say little else of what was occurring in its pages, other than to display my awesome levels of arts knowledge by noticing that the cover of Prog 477 seems to be some kind of homage to Grant Wood's American Gothic.

I suspect the cover of Prog 478 is also a homage to something but I struggle to work out just what.

August 17th 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. 

***

This week in 1974 saw conflict once again descend upon Europe, with Turkey invading Cyprus for a second time, leading to it occupying 37% of the island's territory.

In response to this, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO's military command structure.

But there was, at least, a reward for harmony on the UK singles chart, with the Three Degrees hitting the summit, thanks to their evergreen charmer When Will I See You Again?

As we all know, the Three Degrees were long rumoured to have been the then Prince Charles' favourite band.

And Car 67 by Driver 67 was long reported to have been the Queen Mother's favourite song. 

However, I can shed no light upon what the then Queen's favourite music of choice was. One would hope, under the circumstances, that it was a certain band fronted by Freddie Mercury but who can know?

There was no matching sense of movement upon the accompanying LP chart, with Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run retaining the Number One spot it had held for several weeks.

The Three Degrees may have been asking, "When will i see you again?" but a woman who'd had no doubt that, "We'll meet again," was back in the spotlight on August 17th, thanks to BBC One broadcasting The Vera Lynn Show. This was a mere five years before Pink Floyd sang, "Does anyone in here remember Vera Lynn?" I can only conclude Roger Waters must have either missed the show or he'd assumed that everyone had a very short memory.

It's another classic, as the Hulk finds himself in the exotic continent of Europe where he soon comes into conflict with the evil dictator Draxon.

Or does he?

As far as our hero's concerned, he just wants to get away from it all and hang out in the mountains where it's peaceful.

But can the Hulk refuse to come to the assistance of a crying child?

And just how do golems come into it all?

In the pages of Daredevil, a brand new super-villain's born when Foggy Nelson decides to fool Karen Page into thinking he's Daredevil, by hiring a costume and staging a fight between himself and the costumier, little realising the costumier's about to call himself the Gladiator and use the spinning blades he's now sporting on his wrists to do serious harm to our out-of-shape lawyer.

Meanwhile, the FF are fighting the Inhumans - and Black Bolt - while the Seeker invades the Baxter Building, believing the captive Dragon Man to be an escaped Inhuman who must be returned, at once, to the Great Refuge.

Spidey's on the trail of the Kingpin who's stolen a mysterious tablet from ESU.

But can our hero gatecrash the voluminous villain's lair without getting himself shot to pieces?

Or without getting tangled up in his own webbing?

In other news, Tony Stark's missiles keep failing.

There can be only one explanation.

The Mandarin

And that can mean only one course of action.

Attacking the Mandarin's castle.

In retrospect, every Mandarin story of my childhood seemed to involve someone attacking the Mandarin's castle.

But, once he's inside it, how's Iron Man going to survive the Eastern egomaniac's combination of bling and karate?

And crisis hits Asgard when Loki decides to wreck the land's equivalent of the Olympics by unleashing the Destroyer upon it.

Can even the combined warriors of that golden realm thwart such a being?

Odin clearly could. Therefore, I'm going to assume he's having one of his legendary power naps while all this is going on.

Each thinking the other to be a murderer and gangster, Shang-Chi and Spider-Man are coming to blows but it's not long before they realise they need to unite against the real villain of the piece. And that's Fu Manchu.

My memories of this week's Avengers tale are vague but I know it involves the Black Widow getting trapped in a machine which makes people hallucinate, with a subplot in which Hank Pym decides to try and revive the inert Dragon Man.

Somehow I can't help feeling that's a bad idea.

But, let's be honest, most of Hank Pym's ideas are bad ideas.

Especially the ones that involve him imbuing the spark of life into things.

To conclude our issue, Dr Strange and Baron Mordo are in conflict, when they should be helping each other halt the Living Tribunal's plan to eradicate all of humanity.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1984.

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

***

What would one find upon entering a zeitgeist-happy cinema in August 1984?

You'd find not a single movie I've ever seen but you would locate The Philadelphia Experiment, Cloak & Dagger, Red Dawn, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The Woman in Red, Sheena, Tightrope and Bolero.

I really couldn't even hazard a guess as to which of those films would be the best.

But I'm guessing it's not Bolero.

The New Mutants hit their 18th issue and do it bearing a cover by the now almost-inescapable Bill Sienkiewicz.

Not only that but he draws the inside of it, as well.

From what I can gather, Danielle Moonstar's decided the Demon Bear that killed her parents is coming for her.

Elsewhere, Rachel Summers, still in the wrong time period, tries to contact Professor X.

Warlock tries to escape his father who appears to be called Magus. Which seems odd, bearing in mind the links between the other Marvel character called Warlock and his future self the Magus. Is this coincidence? Is a plan afoot in the head of writer Chris Claremont?

And that pesky Demon Bear does indeed show up and, having showed up, decides to critically wound Danielle.

A brand new book hits our spinner racks - and our eyeballs - as Amazing High Adventure is unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

It would appear to centre around tales that draw upon real life history.

And, so, blessed with 52 pages at its disposal, it brings us such yarns as The Pike, Gold, Ambrose A Abernathy's Amazing Adventure Apparatus and Death Stroke, featuring such people as the Aztecs, Inuits, Russians and even Oliver Cromwell.

The mag that won't stop asking me questions I don't know the answer to is at it again.

This time, it's demanding to know what would have happened if Uncle Ben had lived.

Presumably, our cast would never have been short of rice.

On a more tragic note, it seems that, while Uncle Ben survives this tale, Aunt May doesn't.

I can only assume her death spurs our hero to fight crime, rather than remaining the high-salaried entertainer he always wanted to be.

The Avengers get their 13th annual.

And it's unlucky for some - including them - as Roger Stern and Steve Ditko serve up an epic that, if its cover's to be believed, sees the world's mightiest team confront one hundred Hulks.

From what I can make out, they're clones, and the Fixer and Arnim Zola are mixed up in it all.

Is that the Fixer who Daredevil killed in his first appearance? Because, leaving aside that he's dead, getting mixed up in cloning Hulks doesn't really seem to lie within either that character's style or his skill set.

A comic with a terrible title smashes its way into our lives.

And that smashing is being done by the Hulk.

All I know about this one is it runs for three issues and is the brainchild of Scott Adams, John Byrne, Bill Mantlo, Mark Gruenwald and John Romita.

Also, I know that someone called The Chief Examiner is out to study the Hulk and his powers.

For what dread purpose, I cannot say.

And yet another new title appears as if by magic. This time, I do believe, it's aimed at the less sophisticated reader.

That, therefore, will be me.

On his way to Earth, a Kymellian called Whitey's attacked by the evil Snarks, causing his ship to crash near the home of the Power family.

There, to save them from the deadly Snarks, Whitey bestows superpowers upon the family's four children.

As the cover informs us, a large percentage of the world's abducted heroes are trapped beneath a mountain, with only the Hulk to keep it from crushing them.

It's all the fault of the Molecule Man who's done it to impress a woman.

Elsewhere, the X-Men decide to join forces with Magneto; in the process, allowing the Wasp to escape his clutches.

I do believe that, even as this is occurring, Galactus and Dr Doom are each concocting a scheme for dealing with the Beyonder.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume this is Marvel's adaptation of the film of the same name.

It's credited to a combination of David Michelinie, George Lucas, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Butch Guice and spans 64 pages.

It's another impossible-to-ignore cover from Bill Sienkiewicz, while Mark Bright draws the insides.

Apart from that, all I know of this issue is Alison lands a job in a music video which bears an uncanny resemblance to the one for Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Forty years ago today - August 1984.

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

***

Is our hero about to be greeted by doom?

It's possible. I am, after all, getting the feeling my knowledge of this month's fare is uncomfortably limited.

But I shall plough on and see just what memories those covers can unearth.

I'm struggling to recall anything that happens in this one but I do know that, like the rest of Zodiac, Aquarius is out to kill our gang of misfit protagonists - and that he fails.

Also, I happen to know Tony Stark and Rhodey are starting to get jealous of each other, thanks to their rival claims to be Iron Man.

From what I recall of this, the Red Ghost has a serious case of agoraphobia and hits upon the genius idea of recruiting soon-to-retire burglar the Black Fox to commit robberies on his behalf. 

There are only two problems.

One is that the Black Fox doesn't want to do it.

And the other is that Spider-Man doesn't want him to do it either.

With the wallcrawler getting in the way of things, it can only end in a punch-up between man and apes.

Here's an occurrence we never saw coming.

Conan bumps into his old friend Fafnir - who we've not seen since the days of Barry Smith - and it turns out the giant beardy bloke didn't die at the siege of wherever it was when he lost his arm.

In fact, he carried on without it and now has a plan to acquire a brand new one.

Sadly, that plan involves getting a witch to rustle him up a replacement appendage and - to the shock of no one but he and Conan - the demonic limb she gives him turns out to have a mind of its own.

And it's not even a nice mind.

It's a weird one when Daredevil finds himself besieged by robot children created by the dead mother of Death-Stalker.

And not only do they insist on going wherever he goes, they also insist on exploding in an irresponsible manner!

My memories of this adventure are very very vague indeed but it seems various Avengers find themselves at one of Sersi's legendary parties where the inevitable trouble breaks out.

Cap and Nomad are still being plagued by the Red Skull's Sisters of Sin and I do believe it turns out that, for several weeks, the brainwashed Nomad's been surreptitiously drugging Cap in a way that's now made him revert to his true age.

Can there be any hope of survival for the geriatric crimefighter?

All I recall of this issue is Hulkie's on the rampage across America, in search of Dr Strange, and that all attempts to reason with him are doomed, thanks to the manipulations of Nightmare.

The seemingly infallible Answer is still testing Spider-Man's abilities, on behalf of the Kingpin.

Needless to say, this means threatening to blow up the Black Cat.

It's an incident-packed issue, as Cyclops' future daughter Rachel Summers finds herself in our timeline and targeted by an ancient and powerful vampiric mutant called Selene.

Meanwhile, infiltrating government agencies leads Mystique to discover that a brand new character called Forge has developed a weapon which can remove super-powers.

It's bad news for Wyatt Wingfoot when a huge great big death ray from the sky starts scything a gigantic trench across his reservation.

And it turns out to be bad news for everybody else, as well, because that death ray then sweeps across the United States before reaching New York.

It appears to be the work of someone called Terminus, the latest threat from outer space.

But what is his/hers/its purpose? And what can be done to stop him/her/it?

Things get action-packed for Thor, with the Dark Elves out to capture the Casket of Ancient Winters from a man called Roger Willis.

However, it's not going well for our heroes, with Malekith capturing Thor's current girlfriend Melodi and threatening to kill her if they don't hand over the object.

August 10th 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. 

***

As we all know, the Marvel comics of this period were filled with all kinds of shenanigans in the White House, with Captain America, Daredevil, the Hulk and even Adam Warlock being drawn into political machinations related to that place and that office.

However, things were also happening in the real world. For, this was a week which saw the scandal-hit Richard Nixon announce his resignation as President.

Almost immediately, this was followed by Vice President Gerald Ford taking his place to become the 38th president of the United States.

On the UK singles chart, George McCrae's Rock Your Baby was still sitting pretty at Number One. While, on the corresponding LP chart, the roost was being well and truly ruled by Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run.

Rock Your Baby is a pleasing song but other tracks I approved of on that week's singles chart were:

Band on the Run - Paul McCartney and Wings

Rock the Boat - Hues Corporation

If You Go Away - Terry Jacks

Bangin' Man - Slade

Wall Street Shuffle - 10 C.C.

Beach Baby - First Class

Mr Soft - Cockney Rebel

One Man Band - Leo Sayer

and

Ring Ring - ABBA.

Should one wish to examine the matter in greater depth, that week's UK singles chart may be found here.

While the UK album chart resides right within.

It's the team-up we've all been gagging for, as the master of kung fu meets the master of sarcastic self-pity.

It all happens when each of them encounters a gang of thieves who seem to be working for the other hero. A hero whom each hero believes to be a murderer.

In fairness to Spider-Man, Shang-Chi is a murderer.

Needless to say, this brings them into conflict and, needless to say, this soon leads to them into uniting against the real villain of it all. None other than Fu Manchu himself!

The Avengers are still battling the Sub-Mariner who's managed to get his hands on the Cosmic Cube. Inevitably, the underwater menace is even more useless at using the thing than everybody else has been, and soon loses it...

...Only for it to end up in possession of the Mole Man who turns out to be even more useless at using it than Subby was.

And the issue concludes with Dr Strange having to endure yet another comeback by Baron Mordo.

But what's this on the back cover? A house ad for the first Spider-Man Marvel Treasury Edition? What kind of a fool wouldn't want a thing like that?

We enter the second part of the epic in which the Kingpin takes advantage of confusion caused by a student demo, to steal an ancient and mysterious tablet from a display case in ESU.

But what's going on with the cover? The sharp-eyed observer will spot at once that it's actually the frontispiece of Iron Man #45, altered to make it look like a Spider-Man cover. What next? redrawing Killraven panels to make them look like Planet of the Apes?

In our second tale of the issue, we get the concluding part of the Angel's battle with Iron Man in which the armoured Avenger relies on the Angel's innate sense of goodness showing through at a time of crisis.

And, after that, we find a landmark treat indeed when we're supplied with Thor's first ever clash with Hercules. The one in which the thunder god inadvertently finds himself in the land of Hellenistic deities and in conflict with the son of Zeus.

With the two combatants evenly matched, can nothing bring an end to their pointless brawling?

I do believe the Hulk concludes his tussle with the forces of Hydra, agrees to hand the injured Jim Wilson over to Thunderbolt Ross and then stows away on a ship which'll take him to Europe and the land of Draxon the dictator.

Just who is this tyrant?

And how does a local legend involve the Hulk?

Next, I believe, is the conclusion of the Daredevil/Spider-Man encounter in which the duo must stop hitting each other for long enough to hit the Masked Marauder.

Easier said than done when he has a blinding ray and an airship.

Also, when they just like hitting each other so much more.

And, finally, the Fantastic Four are still having their first ever run-in with the Inhumans, including the walking enigma we know only as Black Bolt.

As far as I'm aware, Ka-Zar doesn't appear anywhere in this issue, despite the cover's proud boast that he does.