Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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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.
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.
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.
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44 comments:
“Rotund regent of robbery, rough-housing, ranting, raving and rancidly rapacious rascalisation” has to be some kind of record, even if I’m not entirely sure that “rascalisation” is a real word.
But y’know…it SHOULD be :)
b.t.
To me that is the classic Spider-Man Comics Weekly logo (being the first I remember at the newsagent). Is it original to Marvel UK? I don’t recall it being used on either Amazing Spider-Man or Peter Parker, in the US, but not sure if it was from an Annual or special. MWOM #100 was a bit of a let down given we were in the middle of the first Inhumans storyline, in FF, but they weren’t featured in this milestone issue.
I thought the Osmonds were all but finished by 1974, but a quick wiki search confirms otherwise. Still a few years of white suits and teeth.
DW
1964…. 1974…. 1984…. That is one hell of a long time to keep bubbling up to #1 on the music charts. Chapeau / Hats off to Paul McCartney. Way more than “once in a generation” talent. We were lucky to experience his works in real time.
(Apologies to COLIN, et al.)
HELP!
FOOTBALL - my $9/ month subscription to CBS’s cable station Paramount now gets me all of your Champion League games on Saturday! (England’s “2nd League” after the EPL) . Can any of you recommend a team(s) to regard?
Charlie is basically bored with Premiere League since it will likely be a repeat of last year between CITY and ARSENAL.
Somehow watching the 2nd tier seems more “down to earth” and “real”?
Charlie
The current top six in the Championship have all been involved in the Premier League over the last decade, and are (possibly Witford aside) proper football clubs. Personally I have time for both Norwich and QPR but both currently look as likely to challenge for that title as West Ham for the Premier league. Choose carefully as you only get one exchange 😉
DW
Watford
Charlie, I thought you were into gravy wrestling these days ;)
By the way, Macca had a UK #1 album (McCartney III) as recently as 2020 and a US #1 album (Egypt Station) in 2018.
Anyone remember the Boyzone version of Love Me For A Reason from 1994?
Steve didn't provide a link to the UK singles chart from this week in 1974 but I assume Sylvia's classic Y Viva Espana was riding high and had possibly reached its' peak of #4 by this time. Surely it's the best song ever about holidays, isn't it?
All the ladies fell for Rudolph Valentino
He had a beano back in those balmy days
He knew everytime you meet an icy creature
You gotta teach her hot-blooded Latin ways
But even Rudy would've felt the strain
Of making smooth advances in the rain
Oh, this year I'm off to sunny Spain
Y Viva Espana
I'm taking the Costa Brava plane
Y Viva Espana...
Colin, Sylvia was at Number Seven on that week's chart, and still rising like the unstoppable force she was:
https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19740825/7501/
I'm still trying to forget everything Boyzone ever did.
Charlie, I think it goes without saying that you should watch both the Sheffield teams.
Is anyone excited by the Oasis reunion? Me neither. I couldn't stand them even in their heyday with their faux laddish "working class lout" image. Noel Gallagher claimed to be a socialist back in those days but a few years ago he called Ed Milliband a Marxist so now his true right-wing colours are clear for all to see and he probably backs Farage. But no doubt enough idiots will turn out for the reunion concerts and so Noel and his horrible brother will do very nicely thank you.
So many choices on THE CHAMPIONSHIP! Please keep them coming! Looking for a good “underdog” story (like West Ham, Newcastle, AstonVilla getting into top 4.)
COLIN- Charlie be truly mystified at the coverage given to an OASIS reunion. You’d think it was a “the 2nd coming.”
Colin - Oasis isn't my bag, either. Their credibility (for the previous generation) must have plummeted, being "useful idiots" for Tony Blair's cringeworthy cool Britannia campaign. How to go from supposedly 'edgy' to mainstream, in one easy step - get filmed inside No.10 Downing Street!
Charlie - Underdog = terriers. Hence, Huddersfield Town. ( I'll admit Airedales & Bedlingtons aren't as 'low-slung', having longer legs, but many terriers are/have! )
Phillip
DW: the “SPIDER-MAN” part of that version of the SPIDEY COMICS WEEKLY logo were originally created for the U.S. MARVEL TEAM-UP, where they remained for the first 41 issues before being replaced by a much more boring title treatment that lasted for the rest of that mag’s run.
b.t.
As for Oasis — I really only know them for “Wonderwall”, which I think is a pretty catchy pop tune. They came along just as I was starting to lose interest in modern music, so I missed all the hoopla about the band at the time. If they had other hits here in the States, I must have missed them. After awhile I became vaguely aware of the rift between the two Gallaghers and that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the band.
According to Wikipedia, they were HUGELY successful, in terms of record sales, influence on other bands, etc. so I’m not surprised news of their reunion tour is such a big deal. You UK guys are probably long since tired of hearing about them, and are well justified in your disdain. Me, I don’t care enough about them either way to do more than shrug at the news. Still kinda like “Wonderwall” though :)
b.t.
b.t. - I can't hear "Wonderwall", without the spoof version imposing itself over the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy1ueZf1WMQ
Phillip
Steve, you forgot to mention that the Windsor Free Festival took place over the last week of August '74, and a load of hairy degenerates turned up to have a party in the queen's back garden for the third year in a row.
https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/windsorcomments-1974.html
Notoriously though, this time the Thames Valley cops decided to do something about it, and after a few days of revelry closed the festival down. Boooo!
Fortunately, at least Hawkwind had already played.
-sean
I've read that Shang-Chi story, in MOKF #22.
The fortune cookie thing is a bit dubious. Also, its really unlikely our hero - who we're told is working as a labourer (in his pyjamas!) - would go to that kind of Chinese restaurant anyway.
I assume New York is like London, where if you're just eating after work and want Chinese food you'd go to the kind of cheapo place in Chinatown that doesn't have any tourist trappings. Not least because the food is better (which is why actual Chinese people eat in them).
Anyway Steve, Shangalang doesn't get attacked on the bus afterwards. He runs into Sir Dennis and Blackjack Tarr who are on their way to Fu Manchu's place, to sort him out What a coincidence!
-sean
b.t., It seems you are correct about 'rascalisation', as I cannot find it in the dictionary.
I blame the English language for that rather than Steve though.
-sean
Thought y’all were talking about “Pillow Talk” Sylvia and wondered why I’d never heard of her hit song “Y Viva Espana”. I’ll have to check out Swedish Sylvia.
Interestingly, when one googles “Sylvia singer” the first thing that pops up here in the U.S. is the Wikipedia page for a THIRD mononymous Sylvia, a Country/Western singer I’d also never heard of before.
b.t.
It occurs to me that if Fu Manchu REALLY wanted his son dead, instead of going to all the trouble to print up and insert a special “You Will Die!!” fortune into his after-dinner biscuit as a prelude to having another batch of inept assassins try to chop him to bits, he could just as easily have poisoned his meal and be done with it.
b.t.
I can only name two Oasis songs, Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger and, as Phillip mentioned, the Mike Flowers version of Wonderwall is the one I'm most likely to think of! So much for Oasis - the Spice Girls probably had more impact at the time and Pulp's Common People is the standout song of that '90s "Britpop" era anyway.
I remember Liam Gallagher being interviewed around 1996 when he said "I think we are living in really important times" and the interviewer asked "Why do you think they're important?" to which Liam replied "I dunno, they just are".
DW, the UK Spider-Man logo soon changes again, remaining curved but the letters look more stretched and THAT is the classic logo for me because it was in place when I discovered Marvel in November '74 and that particular logo really was exclusive to the UK I believe. The Mighty World Of Marvel logo must also be getting a big change soon because the current logo was gone by the time I discovered Marvel UK.
Phillip, Blair had "Cool Britannia" and celebrity parties at No.10 but Keir Starmer says things will get worse before they get better and not a celebrity in sight, how times change! But I suspect things will get worse before they get EVEN worse.
b.t., If you haven't heard 'Y Viva Espana' I'd leave it that way if I were you.
I looked up Sylvia Vrethammar - thats her full name apparently - online, and found out her first big record in Sweden was 'Son of a Preacher Man'. In Swedish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Du1o3gedQ
You see where trying to find out more gets you? Don't do it!
-sean
Thanks b.t.
Marvel Team-up didn't occur to me because I thought it launched later in the 70s.
DW
Colin
I think this one sticks in my mind because of the much-advertised cloth patch they sold of an upcoming issue. The more serious a fan I became, the more important I thought the period before I 'started' was. If they made a cloth cover, it MUST be important.
DW
If the Gallagher brothers have shown us anything, it's that human evolution is not always a straight line.
There's some neandertal in that woodpile.
M.P.
Colin - As regards "Things will get worse before they get better", maybe Starmer was "unsettled" by Maggie's portrait, as he's now channeling her infamous catchphrases!
Phillip
Phillip, not sure what anyone expected from a government led by Sir Keir, but removing the Thatcher portrait is probably the best you're going to get.
Its amazing what the British press gets worked up about, isn't? Like when Barack Obama got rid of a bust of Churchill from the Oval Office (allegedly).
To me, the most interesting aspect of the story was that the Downing St portrait in question was commissioned by... Gordon Brown.
-sean
Sean - Rachel Reeves probably told Sir Keir to put Maggie's portrait back, as Rachel made a point of using the word "iron" (as in "Iron Lady" ) in every one of her sentences.
Everyone said that Tony Blair was more Tory than the Tories. Maybe Gordon, with a secret Thacher-fixation, was pulling Blair's strings!
Phillip
Sean, that bust of Churchill was given to George W Bush by Tony Blair so it had only been in the Oval Office for a few years anyway before Obama got rid of it.
Phillip, Blair invited Maggie to visit No.10 soon after he got elected and then Gordon Brown did the same thing when he became PM ten years later but by then Maggie was being affected by dementia and Brown was accused of exploiting her. Nothing ever seemed to go right for poor old Gordon!
bt, ignore Sean's advice to boycott Y Viva Espana - it's very catchy and definitely an earworm!
Always a frown with Gordon Brown, Colin.
Thatcher was always demented, so I don't think that was the reason he was singled out.
-sean
DW:
What is this “cloth patch” you speak of? I know UK comics were big on “free” bonuses like masks, posters, games and other gimmicks but I never heard of this one. Sounds…interesting :)
As for things that happened in comics before I started buying them having an increased allure: I would read those little footnotes referring to events from previous issues and just vaguely covet them but I never saw old comics for sale anywhere so I literally had no conception that acquiring them was even possible. I always thought to myself “Wow, that sounds amazing, too bad I missed it” and that was that.
When I started buying Warren comics, they always had those Back Issue pages filled with tiny thumbnail repros of the covers — that was my first realization that older comics were something that could actually be purchased. Of course the prices were too high for my personal comics budget at the time, but it definitely increased my desire for Comics From The Before Times.
b.t.
Also, just the numbering on the covers made the thought of acquiring older comics seem nearly impossible. My first AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was issue #128 — I thought of the earlier 127 issues as things that I’d never get to experience. Sad, but — “oh well”.
b.t.
b.t. - Regarding footnotes/flashbacks, I felt the same way. You felt you'd missed a classic, but unobtainable, story. A Moondragon-Daredevil story referenced Iron Man vs the Submariner, for example. "Wow! That must have been the greatest battle ever - but I missed it!" my young self thought. As a kid, Iron Man & the Submariner having fought at least 3 times, being something I didn't then know. Everything seems unique, in and of itself, to a kid. Likewise, in Spidey, back-references to the White Tiger vs the Jack of Hearts. "What? The White Tiger's got no super-strength, but he defeated the Jack of Hearts, who gave the Hulk a run for his money? One of Marvel's greatest battles ever - surely - but I missed it!" I thought, aged 8. Needless to say, I got those decades later, along with others. Boy, those Footnotes/ back-references were big-time teasers!
Phillip
Phillip:
If the Iron Man Vs. Subby battle referred to in that footnote was the 3-part punch-up that began in TALES OF SUSPENSE 79-80, the first two parts pencilled by Gentleman Gene are entertaining enough, but the climactic chapter in TALES TO ASTONISH 82 pencilled by Jack Kirby at the 11th hour when Colan came down with the flu, is downright extraordinary. It may not be the Greatest Battle Ever — there’s really no story to speak of, no personal stakes etc, just 12 pages of violence — but Kirby stages the fight as if the two were mortal enemies who have hated each other for years, so every breathless moment of it is incredibly intense.
It was such a memorable “GOOD GUYS DUKE IT OUT!!!” donnybrook that Rich Buckler couldn’t resist swiping the hell out of it in GIANT-SIZE SUPERSTARS 1.
b.t.
b.t. - Iron Man # 54 was the one back-referenced in DD/Moondragon. However, I think I've also got one of the other two. I remember, in one of these, Iron Man's armour may already have been failing (or something), when he had to fight Namor. That stuck in my craw, somewhat, as the outcome if Iron Man were 'fully charged', is what I wanted! If he isn't, the fight result isn't valid!
Phillip
bt, the patch DW referred to was a cloth print of a comic cover which was available to buy via mail order from Marvel UK. The patch was about the same size as a comic cover (I think) and you were supposed to sew it onto a T-shirt I assume. DW referred to a 'Spider-Man Comics Weekly' patch but there was also a 'Mighty World Of Marvel' patch featuring the famous Steranko cover where the Hulk is holding up a crumbling Hulk logo.
I recently mentioned The Marsh Family who did a YouTube parody of ABBA's Dancing Queen called "Vance VP" and now they've done a brilliant parody of Eddy Grant's Gimme Hope Jo'anna called "Gimme Hope Kamala" - some of the comments underneath the video suggested Kamala Harris should adopt it as her campaign song which isn't a bad idea!
I just came on here to see if anyone had mentioned the cloth patch and saw that DW beat me to it. Like the sort of band name patches you'd get your mum to sew onto your denim jacket except it looked like a comic cover and was comic size. Probably belonged on a jacket - I think it would be wasted on a t-shirt. I never bought one, put off by the price and the lack of a villain on the cover.
b.t.
Here’s the one I’m referring to
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284860098694
DW
bT - you started at ASM 128??? You’re a youngster around these parts!
Hi gang; just two quick comments. Regarding Oasis- I always rather liked "Champagne Supernova", "Wonderwall" a bit less so but still enjoyable. Enough so that I bought the cd; but subsequently found the rest of the disc rather unremarkable....
And as for ABBA- they can now be added to the lengthy list of musical artists who have requested Trump stop using their music at his events. Of course, it might be amusing if someone substituted that "Vance VP" parody for the real version when they try to play "Dancing Queen"...
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