December 14th, 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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We all like a good scrap and, half a century ago, as Santa started to get his boots on and charge up the batteries on his reindeer, the battle to be the UK's Christmas Number One was already starting to hot up.

Not that you'd know it from what was then topping the UK singles chart, because it was Barry White's not noticeably seasonal offering You're the First, the Last, My Everything.

And the summit of the accompanying LP chart was similarly devoid of festive spirit, held, as it was, by Elton John's Greatest Hits.

I don't mind that Barry White track, but singles I approved of even more on that week's Hit Parade were:

Gonna Make You a Star - David Essex

Juke Box Jive - the Rubettes

Magic - Pilot

Streets of London - Ralph McTell

Junior's Farm - Paul McCartney and Wings

How Long? - Ace

Killer Queen - Queen

Hey Mister Christmas - Showaddywaddy

The Bump - Kenny

and

Stardust - David Essex.

Should you wish to study the matter in greater depth, that week's UK singles chart may be found by clicking this link.

While the accompanying album chart is located here.

From that cover, it looks like we're encountering the shocker in which Magneto's turned out to threaten the United Nations Security Council.

The one in which in which Wanda gets shot in the head, which convinces Quicksilver to rejoin Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!

I do believe Shang-Chi's still on the loose in the Amazon and, in the space of just a handful of pages, manages to be in conflict with crocodiles, Nazis and his own father.

Dr Strange, meanwhile, is still trying to prevent Dormammu from reaching a portal that would allow him to gain access to the planet Earth.

And, frankly, it's not looking good for our hero.

Things move up a gear, this week, as not only do Taylor, Zira and Cornelius manage to escape Ape City, they also head off into the disturbing wilderness of the Forbidden Zone.

Following that, there's a two-page text article about the Apes on TV.

Then, the Savage Land's getting distinctly wet, as Damon the Man-God rides around on his magic horse and causes no end of trouble for the locals until he's finally convinced to go away by someone called Lelania.

But all of that pales into insignificance besides what happens in the final third of this issue.

And that's because a sensational new series begins when everyone's favourite masked monarch Dr Doom gets his very own strip!

And, in it, he must contend with Diablo who's taken his beloved Valeria hostage!

Somehow, I can't see Doomy putting up with that kind of behaviour.

What's this I see?

Is it a cover originally drawn by Neal Adams but heavily modified by John Romita?

My knowledge of this week's Dracula thriller is a little limited but I do know it involves the vampire getting his hands on a mirror which doubles up as a time machine.

Needless to say, Vlad's determined to make use of it.

And he does.

Elsewhere, Jack Russell meets a man called Buck and, together, they set off in search of the pesky Darkhold everybody seems to want to get their hands on.

This leads the pair to an island.

And, I've no doubt, a huge pile of trouble.

But at least things look to be going better for Frankenstein's Monster. He has, after all, been befriended by a tribe of Neanderthals.

However, that's when another tribe shows up with hearts filled with nothing but aggression.

A brand new super-hero makes his debut!

And quickly manages to become a super-villain, thanks to his terrible plan to make himself look heroic.

Yes, you guessed it, the world most powerful window cleaner has finally arrived in the form of Hobie Brown who decides to put his gift for inventing things to good use.

But will that use be up to the job of battling Spider-Man?

Iron Man seems to be missing from this week's issue but we still have plenty of Thor to look forward to.

Sadly, that means we also have to endure Odin and his hissy fits.

The old duffer's managed to defeat the villainous Forsung but when he orders Thor, Balder and Sif to return to Asgard, Thor says he want to stay on Earth, and the king of the gods reacts like any rational person would and promptly exiles him and strips him of his enchanted powers.

Fortunately, there's always work available in a circus, for a strong man.

Not so fortunately, the circus Thor decides to join is run by the Ringmaster, and its entertainers have a noticeably criminal vibe about them...

From that cover, I'm going to guess Victor Von Doom's still trying to get the Hulk to be his deliverer of bombs for him.

And I'd guess the Hulk's not being overly helpful.

Daredevil, meanwhile, must confront the terrifying return of the Stilt-Man who's about to team up with the Masked Marauder.

While everyone else must confront the terrifying return of Mike Murdock.

And, in our final tale of the issue, we get to discover the mind-boggling origin of the Black Panther, as related by the man himself.