November 9th, 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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This week was a bad one for all fans of Freddie Mercury lookalikes but a great one for editors of unprincipled tabloid newspapers because it was the week in which British peer Lord Lucan disappeared, following the murder of his children's nanny, launching a veritable industry of conspiracy theories, speculation, conjecture and outright lies.

Over on the UK singles chart, Ken Boothe wasn't going anywhere, thanks to his Number One hit Everything I Own.

And there was also no change atop the corresponding album chart, with the Bay City Rollers still dominant, thanks to their LP Rollin'.

I find Everything I Own inoffensive enough but these are the tracks I most approved of on that week's singles chart:

Gonna Make You a Star - David Essex

Killer Queen - Queen

Far Far Away - Slade

Magic - Pilot

Junior's Farm - Paul McCartney and Wings

Annie's Song - John Denver

Whatever Gets You Thru the Night - John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band

and

How Long? - Ace.

Should you wish to investigate the matter further, that singles chart can be found here.

While the album chart dwells within.

Dr Strange makes the cover, thanks to Dan Adkins but I do believe our first story of the issue is a Master of Kung Fu one.

It's true. Shang-Chi is back from his Iron Fist induced hiatus and, to celebrate, he breaks the habit of a lifetime by going for a stroll and being attacked by assassins.

But at least he doesn't have to fight them alone. This time, he's bumped into a woman called Sandra Chen - and it turns out she's a whizz at kung fu as well.

I do believe Stephen Strange is still in the Ancient One's dream and still having to battle the mind-bending menace of Nightmare.

And the Avengers are about to have a run-in with Magneto and the Toad who, thanks to the scientific experiments of a man called Dane Whitman, manage to return to Earth from the asteroid the Stranger left them on.

Can Whitman stop them?

And how does this involve his uncle, a flying horse and a suit of armour?

Having resurrected Dracula, last week, Frank Drake's returned to London where his vampirised girlfriend turns up in the shower and is very much looking forward to drinking his blood.

Drac, meanwhile, is off somewhere else, trying to disguise himself as a regular, everyday human being.

Jack Russell, meanwhiler, is busy discovering yet more about his family's lycanthropic backstory.

There is then a short strip which recounts the tale of French vampire Viscount de Morieve.

And we end with the story of how Frankenstein's Monster befriended a blind man and how it all went wrong when the man's family showed up and saw him with a monster.

What is this madness? Doc Samson gets himself fully powered up and decides to make time with Bruce Banner's girl?

Bruce, of course, doesn't like that, and he responds by un-curing himself of being the Hulk and setting off to battle his Freud-fixated foe.

But how can he possibly defeat someone who's as strong as he is and almost twice as smart?

Elsewhere, the man without fear has been teleported to Europe where he must fight the Gladiator to amuse the assembled dignitaries of the Maggia. It all comes to a head when a lion gets into the arena and DD must save his opponent from a good chewing.

Next, Mr Fantastic must find a way to survive when he and an imitation Thing are stuck in the Negative Zone and being sucked towards an anti-matter planet.

And we finish with a two-page short in which Marie Severin tell us how to be a Marvel artist.

Everyone's favourite astronaut finds himself trapped in a cage and unable to prove to the locals that he can speak.

And it doesn't help that Dr Zaius insists on hiding the evidence.

Gullivar Jones, meanwhile, finds himself on the River of the Dead.

And Ka-Zar manages to overcome the challenge of Kraven.

But no sooner has he done so than he comes face-to-face with a visitor who insists on calling himself the Petrified Man.

In fairness, if I saw a sabre-toothed tiger coming towards me, I'd be quite petrified too.

It's a classic cover.

And a classic warning to us all, as Silvermane discovers that eternal youth comes at a price.

And that price is death!

Also, the Lizard is back.

Elsewhere, Tony Stark manages to convince everyone he's still alive.

But, then, the Mandarin blows up his factory!

Well, Stark's not going to put up with that sort of Manchurian malarkey. So, he flies over to China to confront the villain.

Only to get clobbered by a giant robot.

And it's the tale we all thought we'd never see, as Thor takes on the Super-Skrull.

Having said that, I'm trying to remember, didn't he also tackle the Super-Skrull at the wedding of Reed and Sue?