August 3rd 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. 

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Legendary poet James Grainger once wrote, "Now, Muse, let us sing of rats!" But we have something even better to sing of.

And we won't even be singing of it.

We'll be reading of it.

And it's not an it. It's a them.

Or would it be more grammatically correct to say, "They's a them?"

You guessed it. It's a tumultuous trio of comics from Marvel UK.

But not just any tumultuous trio. It's the trio that was thrust upon an awestruck nation exactly 50 years ago this week!

What's this? Everybody's favourite misfit surrounded by the hordes of Hydra?

Can it be curtains for the emerald marvel?

No it can't.

I'm not so certain about Jim Wilson though. It seems the secret organisation has managed to injure him and, given our hero's hair-trigger temper when it comes mistreatment of innocents, that can't be good news for the villains' survival chances.

Elsewhere, things are also kicking off between Spider-Man and Foggy Nelson, with the webbed wonder having decided the not-noticeably-athletic lawyer must be none other than Daredevil.

Meanwhile, the Masked Marauder's still loose on the streets of New York.

Finally, the Human Torch makes a remarkable discovery when he stumbles across a beautiful young lady sat in the street. A young lady with a very large dog and an eagerness to introduce the flame-flaunting foiler of fiends, felons, foes and flibbertigibbets to her family of fiends, felons, foes and flibbertigibbets.

Unless I miss my ever-loving guess, this is the start of the tale in which the Kingpin decides to steal an ancient tablet from the premises of ESU, using a student protest as a distraction and, in the process, kicks off a multi-part saga that'll end in tragedy for an ageing gangster.

The Angel, meanwhile, gets caught in an atomic blast set off by Tony Stark and his men. Needless to say, this instantly turns him bad and causes him to want to join the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Can Iron Man stop him?

It's hard to believe he can. After all, Iron Man only has a suit of armour, repulsor rays and jet boots, at his disposal while the Angel has the thrilling power of feathers.

More to the point, will this teach Tony Stark to stop exploding atom bombs in populated areas?

On a world far far away but also no more distant than the top of the nearest rainbow, Jane Foster's auditioning to become a goddess in an attempt to impress Odin.

Sadly, she fails the audition when she panics at the sight of a big scary monster.

Given that everyone else in Asgard seems to be terrified of the thing too, it seems a bit harsh for her to be singled out as a sissy.

Regardless, it spells doom for her relationship with Thor.

But he needn't spend any time worrying about it, because it turns out the goddess Sif has grown up in all the directions necessary to impress a thunder god.

As far as I can make out, someone called Demmy Marston blames Shang-Chi for the death of his girlfriend and has, therefore, put a price on his head. One which leads to all kinds of trouble in an aquatic park. From memory, I think sharks may be involved at some point.

Meanwhile, the Avengers find themselves up against the Sub-Mariner. Is this the one in which Namor gets his hands on the Cosmic Cube or am I just going mad?

And, to close with, Dr Strange is having his first-ever encounter with the Living Tribunal who's decided it'd be a great idea to destroy the planet Earth. 

There's never a dull day when you're Sorcerer Supreme.