November 23rd, 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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Oh is he more, too much more than a pretty face?

I don't think so.

Then again, perhaps I do think so.

He is, after all, still at Number One on the UK singles chart, with his latest smash Gonna Make You a Star.

I refer, of course, to David Essex who's discovered what it's like to rule supreme over the British music scene.

Also having a strong sense of what it's like to reign supreme is Elton John whose Greatest Hits album, has smashed straight in at Number One on the accompanying album chart.

It is, of course, November 1974.

The Lizard is back!

And so is the Human Torch, in a comic which bears a Gil Kane cover of mystery origins. Was it drawn specially for this issue or is it a reprint from somewhere else?

That, I don't know but I do remember asking that selfsame question in an ancient post you can find right here.

Meanwhile, Iron Man's still having to endure the Mandarin boring him to death with his origin story. and then trying to spin him to death with his sizeable wheel.

But maybe Shellhead's the lucky one because, when he's done that, the villain wants to start a global nuclear war, with him being the only winner.

Fortunately, the Chinese government have something to say about that sort of malarkey.

And say it, they do.

Elsewhere, it's triple trouble  for Thor, Balder and Sif when the Enchanters Three show up in New York.

And they've brought their Living Talisman with them!

Then again, let's be honest, there wouldn't be much point in them bringing their dead talisman with them.

It took me far too many years to realise that, on this cover, the Black Knight's flying vertically, with the Avengers falling towards the skyscrapers below, rather than him flying horizontally, with the Avengers floating behind him in a disorganised manner.

I did always wonder how Goliath and Hawkeye were managing to fly.

Elsewhere, Dr Strange and Victoria Bentley are in a bizarre world, in search of Clea, when who should show up but Dormammu!

And now, Strangey's going to have to go through him if he's to ensure the survival of those two women!

As for Shang-Chi, he's in Beijing, trying to protect Sandra Chen's scientist father from the Manchurian machinations of his own fiendish father.

Shangy does such a great job of it that, by the end of this issue, that scientist's dead and our hero's unconscious. 

From what I can make out, Taj and Rachel prevent Frank Drake from committing suicide and this enables him to join their cause which I'm sure he'll prove massively valuable to.

Elsewhere, Jack Russell's furry alter-ego finally wins his fight with Max Grant .

And Frankenstein's Monster avenges the death of the Bride of Frankenstein by killing his creator's wife.

We complete the issue with a short tale from 1953's Adventures Into Terror. It's called The Executioner and features Francis Tourneau's efforts to create a more efficient means of executing people.

Unfortunately for him, the French Revolution breaks out and he becomes the first victim of his own machine.

The machine the world knows as, "the guillotine."

The Hulk?

Defeated by a blonde?

It can only happen in the pages of They Shoot Hulks, Don't They? when the brute finds himself flung from the top of the Empire State Building.

Meanwhile, the man without fear's still in England and still trying to clear the name of Ka-Zar who's been framed by his evil brother the Plunderer.

And the Fantastic Four finally overcome the Wakandan traps set for them by the Black Panther and confront him, ready for him to reveal the dynamic truth about his origin.

From that cover, I think we can all assume this is the pulse-pounding issue in which Taylor finally proves to the apes that he can speak.

Not that that's likely to do him any good.

Especially as his first words to them are so abusive.

In Ka-Zar's strip, the Petrified Man becomes Garokk, the Sun God and thwarts Zaladane's attack on the Vala-Kuri. Obviously, the highlight of this issue is Garokk coming up against a T-Rex.

When it comes to Gullivar Jones, Wayne Boring takes over the art chores but will Wayne live down to his surname?

I suspect not, as  Gullivar and Chak the pterosaur man strive to survive while the lovely but hapless Meru is taken captive by someone or other.