Forty years ago today - December 1984.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Wait!

What is that fair voice which, like a trilling princess, calls out to me?

Why, 'tis the past.

And I know in which way it lies.

The Avengers find themselves battling the Fist of Maelstrom, which sounds like the sort of fist you wouldn't want to find yourself having to battle.

It turns out that not only did Maelstrom not die the last time our heroes fought him but he's alive and well and growing rapidly.

But how can those heroes defeat a foe capable of becoming as big as he needs to be to crush them?

Simple. By making him grow so large he loses all density and fades away.

But, hold on. Didn't Reed Richards use that method to dispatch a foe, just a few months ago?

The X-Men finally defeat the Dire Wraiths, with a little help from the forces of magic. And Rachel Summers joins the team then tells them just where she came from and what happened to her version of the planet Earth.

Meanwhile, a fair distance away from all that, Magneto's corpse is fished out of the ocean.

But it's a lot more alive than it's supposed to be!

Spider-Man meets a man who's always right. A condition which leads to him wanting to be alone, in order to escape the constant demands of his fellow man.

The trouble is, people won't let him be alone.

Especially the criminal underworld who think that having a man who's always right on their side may prove advantageous.

It is intriguing that his power is basically the same as that of The Answer who died a couple of issues ago.

Is this pure coincidence? Or is there some kind of link between the two men? One that we - and he - have yet to discover?

Reed Richards makes the not-so-shocking discovery that the evil warlord who's happily ruining an entire world is his own father.

However, is the ageing scientist really to blame?

Or is his devious wife the true culprit of the piece?

Iron Man comes up against the maddening menace of the Termite, a villain who, despite his name and helmet, is not the Ant-Man knock-off we might expect him to be. He, instead, has the power to bore through anything.

Does that mean he bores his way through this comic?

No he doesn't. In that regard, he proves to be more than adequately entertaining.

Not that Rhodey thinks so, as he makes a total Horlicks of dealing with the villain.

And his distrust of Tony Stark is growing by the hour.

Having teamed up with the Kingpin, Daredevil fights the latest chapter in his interminable war with Micah Synn.

But, seriously, how can it be taking this long for him to put a stop to the activities of a cut-price Tarzan clone?

Conan has plenty on his plate when he and a bunch of rival thieves decide to steal from a temple, in a tale of greed, lust, confusion, possession and repossession.

The rapidly ageing Cap and Red Skull battle each other to the death - and it looks like death has indeed come for the pair of them.

But then, in a cop-out and a half, Black Crow shows up, for no good reason, de-ages Cap on the spot, and saves him.

Beta Ray Bill returns when the warriors of Asgard join forces with Earth's mightiest heroes to battle Surtur's hordes on the streets of New York.

But, back in Asgard, Odin waits alone to deal with the fire demon, should he show up in the Realm Eternal.

And Thor, the soft lad, has managed to accidentally create a rainbow which the villain can use to get to that self-same realm!

Spider-Man finds himself in Retro Mode, as he goes back to this old costume.

And that's not all. Mary Jane decides to tell his everyday alter-ego her less than fun-packed backstory.

Meanwhile, the Hobgoblin is putting himself around town and cutting himself in on everybody else's dodgy activities.

It's the thriller you thought you'd never see, when the Hulk finds himself on a planet where everyone is stronger than he is and where he's no longer invulnerable!

Still, at least he's still got his looks.