July 5th, 1975 - 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. 

***

Have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?

10cc haven't.

They've never been in love with anyone.

Or at least they haven't, if you believe what they tell you.

And, this week in 1975, they were telling you it from a lofty height.

It's true. Their most famous song was still keeping them aloft at the pinnacle of the UK singles chart.

But what of the accompanying album chart?

It had a brand new Number One.

And that was the Carpenters' Horizon which is a record I couldn't claim to have ever heard of but it seems plenty of other people had very much heard of it and they clearly liked what they'd very much heard of it.

My Spider-Senses tell me this is the Beetle-related tale in which John Romita and Sal Buscema get to to re-tell Spidey's origin, as the boy wonder mithers about Gwen Stacy having left him to move to London.

I do believe that's followed by a tale which retells the origin of Iron Man, thanks to Gene Colan and Johnny Craig.

Once that's done, Shellhead finally defeats the Melter, by making his gun over-heat from overuse.

And Spidey and Irony aren't the only ones delving deep into their origins, because so is Don Blake, as he tries to work out just who he is and why.

It's trouble for Shang-Chi because Denis Nayland Smith's gone and got himself kidnapped - and the master of kung fu's sister may be the villain behind the deed!

But there's really big trouble for the Avengers because Egghead, the Mad Thinker and Puppet Master have got their hands on a satellite and are using it to extort money by threatening to blow up cities, with its massive great death ray.

But what's this? Local crime boss Barney Barton wants in on the Avenging action?

And he's an old friend of Hawkeye?

But how can this be possible? Surely a man of Hawkeye's quality would never have hung around with any criminals during his days as a criminal.

Dr Strange meanwhile, finds himself having to visit a small but sinister town on the coast, at the insistence of a man called Ethan Stoddard...

I've never read this one but I like to think it's a tribute to the legendary movie Horror Express.

I have no reason to think it is.

But I do believe Jack Russell wraps up his first encounter with Taboo and recruits a new ally, in his daughter Topaz.

And Frankenstein's Monster finds himself paying a visit to a warehouse which houses the deadly crime syndicate we know only as ICON.

Not yet having managed to get beneath the Planet of the Apes, space explorer Brent manages to get himself shot in the shoulder.

Fortunately, Doctors Zira and Cornelius are available to help - and to tell him what happened to Taylor and the others. 

Adam Warlock, meanwhile, finds himself up against a fancy fiend called Apollo who I remember having a submarine and turning out to be a pig!

Porcines are nowhere to be found in the latest chapter of Marvel's version of Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Instead, our hero finds himself facing a statue of Kali - and its six arms of death.

Despite what the cover tells us, that's no thing in a temple. It's the dreaded Cancellation Monster that's closing in on our hero because it's a fearful reality that this is the last issue of Marvel UK's weekly Savage Sword of Conan comic!

Refusing to go down without a scrap, the barbarian and Fafnir complete their adventure on Bal-Sagoth, just in time for a volcano to destroy the island.

Meanwhile, King Kull's having trouble with A Kingdom by the Sea!

Drama ploughs into overdrive when Dr Doom's henchman has the Shaper of Worlds turn him into Nazi super-heel called Captain Axis. A man who has more than enough power to destroy the Hulk, with his bare hands!

Or has he?

And brace yourself. It's the news we've all been praying for. It's the death of Mike Murdock!

And it all happens during Daredevil's climactic battle with the Exterminator and his Ani-Men!

But, on a mysterious island, Alicia Masters is about to meet a mysterious being known only to the world as Him!

The Stranger's back, and causing no end of trouble for the board-happy misery.

It seems the Surfer's latest attempt to break free of Galactus' space barrier alerts the Stranger who promptly plants a bomb on Earth, designed to kill all life on the planet

That, to me, seems a slight over-reaction to the Surfer trying to break through Galactus' space barrier.

Elsewhere, we experience yet more of The Origin of Professor X!

Fifty years ago today - July 1975.

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

***

There are times in this life when no introduction is necessary.

Which is a good thing because I don't have one. 

I seem to recall this being the one in which the Avengers keep leaping into exploding floating balls, for no good reason at all. Until the Beast rescues them by coming up with the radical plan of not leaping into exploding floating balls.

No wonder he was seen as the intellectual of the X-Men.

And, speaking of intellectuals, doesn't it turn out the villain of the piece - the Stranger - is nothing of the sort and is really the Toad disguised as the ever-antagonising antagonist?

It's the first colour Conan comic I ever owned, bought at an indoor market in Blackpool. That market was on Lytham Road. Maybe, from now on, I ought to declare on which street I bought every single comic I've ever owned

As for the story inside, I recollect it features the usual attempt to rob a tomb or somesuch.

And that prompts a giant golden scorpion to come to life!

And that means Conan must kill it!

As if that's not excitement enough for us, I do believe this thriller sees the return of Murillo and the debut of Tara of Hanumar.

I don't have a clue if this Demon-Druid's related to the Demon Druid who once fought Thor. Nor why he's wearing an outfit that doesn't in any way, shape or form suggest the word, "Druid," to me.

Either way, it all looks like trouble for Cap.

It looks like the Black Widow and Man Without Fear have loads of trouble on their plates, as they try to rescue Foggy Nelson from the clutches of Hydra!

I've never read this tale but am familiar with Arkon and have long been of the opinion that he needs a good slap.

I do believe it's the first-ever Hulk story to be narrated in the first-person, by the Hulk. Which, as the Hulk normally tends to refer to himself in the third-person, is a strange concept indeed.

More importantly, the brute must face the forces of the Mole Man, as he tries to find a cure for a young girl's blindness.

I'm not sure I've ever read this one.

Unless it turns out the "Hulk" is actually a robot built by the Mandarin, and bursts out of a crate.

In which case, I have read it.

It does raise the question of just how many robot Hulks there are. There was one in Fantastic Four #100. Dr Doom once built one as decoy. One even turned up in The Eternals. By Gadfrey, you could put together a veritable army of Marvel's robot Hulks!

It's not just Conan who's having trouble with scorpions this month. So is Spider-Man.

But his real problem is trying to discover just how Gwen Stacy's managed to be suddenly alive again.

Another story I'm not sure I'm familiar with and whose contents I can shed little light upon - other than to say it clearly features Ulik. Plus, its Marvel Value Stamp features Volstagg.

Regardless, I like to think Ulik wins this time. For some reason, I'm always disappointed when he loses.

That's Marvel's big-hitters accounted for.

But what of another big hitter?

A company that's an ever-present rival to Marvel?

That company is, of course, DC.

Therefore, let us see what a random selection of its publications which bear the same cover date are looking like.

As is instantly apparent from that cover, we're being granted access to a reprint of an early issue of All-Star Comics.

But not just any issue.

Indeed, it's none other than issue #3, from 1940. The one that featured the first meeting of the Justice Society of America.

Yet another Sword-and-Sorcery thwarting hero hits the spinner racks of this fair world when Stalker erupts from the imaginations of Paul Levitz and Steve Ditko.

I've not read this issue but it seems that, in a bid to become a great warrior, our hero sells his soul to someone called Dgrth, not realising it'll be taken from him while he's still alive!

Sometimes I think it's like you can't trust people who show up, trying to buy souls.

At last, a legend arrives, as Lady Cop hits the beat and deals with so many incidents in her first day at work that it's a scandal they don't give her a medal and let her retire.

But will she ever find the man in boots who killed her friends in the incident which prompted her to become a police officer in the first place?

What's this?

King Kong has a comic of his own?

No. He doesn't.

Instead, we're treated to some sort of Ka-Zar type strip that I assume to be set in the dim and distant past.

In this pterodactyl-pounding publication, someone called Attu and her new-born son Kong are banished from their tribe, by someone called Trog.

Attu's then rudely murdered by a bunch of beast-men, and Kong swears to avenge her death.

However, no sabre-toothed tigers seem to be involved in that revenge bid.

Sadly, this book will last for just five issues before becoming extinct.

Forget anything Marvel can offer, this month.

Why?

Because DC brings us the greatest super-hero of them all!

God!

Yes, it's true. Sheldon Mayer, Nestor Redondo and Joe Kubert treat us to their adaptation of all your favourite tales from The Bible; including Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and his Flood, and the Tower of Babel, amongst many others, all crammed into just 68 pages.

It's the one we've all been praying for, as the Shadow gets to battle and then team up with The Avenger.

But who's the true villain of the piece?

That's Shiwan Khan, a man who reckons he knows all the Shadow's tricks.

But, as the man of mystery demonstrates, there are some tricks he didn't learn in Tibet...

June 1985 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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

***

The dark days of 1980s English football got noticeably darker, this month in 1985 when, in response to the Heysel disaster, just four days earlier, UEFA announced an indefinite ban on all English clubs taking part in European competition, with Liverpool expected to serve an extra three years after other English clubs had been readmitted.

In a more positive sporting vein, the city of Birmingham, England, unveiled its bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics.

When it came to films, A View to a Kill was unleashed upon an awestruck world, marking Roger Moore's seventh and final appearance as James Bond.

Also waving goodbye to us was Route 66 which was officially decommissioned. Whether that means it's still there but not used, I cannot say.

On the UK singles chart, June sauntered into our lives with Paul Hardcastle ruling the roost, thanks to his track 19. That was then dethroned by the Crowd's You'll Never Walk Alone which, in turn, lost its top spot to Frankie by Sister Sledge.

The associated album chart watched the month begin with the Style Council's Our Favourite Shop in pole position before that was dislodged by Bryan Ferry's Boys and Girls which then had to subside before the might of Marillion's Misplaced Childhood which then had to make way for Bruce Springsteen's Born in The USA!

Drama builds upon tension, and tension builds upon drama, as Captain Britain convinces Technet to return him to the proper world - whatever that is - where his double-crossing doppelganger's attacked Betsy Braddock!

Abslom Daak, meanwhile, finds himself in Daak Alliance.

And Night-Raven finds himself In the Frame.

Mike Collins, however, gives us Part Two of City Snapshot.

And Space Thieves presents PARTS vs. Zarts, though, frankly I have no idea what it is.

Yet again Conan discovers The Devil Has Many Legs!

But does he have too many?

And just how many is enough?

That's followed by Pete Scott's article The Eternal Champion.

Next, Red Sonja learns that While Lovers Embrace--Demons Feed. A fact she'd already learnt in the pages of 1983's Red Sonja #1.

After that, Night-Raven must contend with Time & Tide, this issue's Marvel Showcase sees Mike Jones unveil a four-page yarn called To Win a Maiden's Heart, and King Conan must endure the Red Moon of Zembabwei!

But what's this majestic announcement? If we enter a competition, we might win a Doctor Who record?

Please tell me it's Doctor in Distress. Who wouldn't want a copy of that slamming away on their gramophone?

There's also a gallery of readers' art, a look back at the Davison era story Frontios, a review of The Two Doctors/Mark of the Rani, and an interview with Vengeance on Varos director Ron Jones.

And, if the cover's to be believed, on top of all that, this issue includes all my favourite regular features!

But this is what we all came here for. A look at the making of Return to Oz!

There's also an interview with John Halas but I don't know who he is. So, I'm going to assume he's some sort of animator.

There also looks to be a chat with Jeff "Starman" Bridges.

And there's definitely a retrospective of classic ITC show The Prisoner.

June 28th, 1975 - 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. 

***

There are so many places that I'm not, right now.

I'm not in New York.

I'm not in Paris.

I'm not in Chengdu Province of Sichuan.

But, most of all, I'm not in love.

You guessed it. That intro can only be my not-at-all contrived way of letting you know that, this week in 1975, 10cc hit the top spot on the UK singles chart, thanks to the song of that very title.

Over on the accompanying album chart, the pinnacle was suddenly grabbed by a band who were always in love; Wings, with their LP Venus and Mars. The album that Band on the Run could only have dreamt of being.

What melodrama awaits us?

This melodrama. Spider-Man still needs to reach the airport to prevent it from being the one that  takes the one he loves so far away.

But the clueless Prowler's still obstructing him from that goal.

Tony Stark, meanwhile, is nowhere near an airport. He yet remains a captive of the Melter who's forcing him to make improvements to his melting gun.

The villain hasn't, however, bargained with the fact that our hero's in a position to don his original armour and clank, once more, into the fray.

And Dr Donald Blake is having a lie-down while reminiscing upon that time he found a stick in a cave and used it to defeat the Stone Men from Saturn.

He is, of course, doing this in a quest to make sense of his confusion as to what his true identity is.

Dr Strange dominates our front cover but the issue kicks off with Shang-Chi invading his father's HQ, in the wake of his sister having got her hands on some magic rubies that could see her destroy her own father.

The new Goliath, meanwhile, invades Coney Island, in a bid to rescue the Black Widow from the clutches of Egghead, the Mad Thinker and Puppet Master.

But can he get past their giant android who, by an amazing coincidence, just happens to be the exact same size as him?

Stephen Strange, meanwhile, is still in a stranger world and still being drawn by Barry Smith.

But who can the mysterious master of that oddly nightmarish world be?

I generally try to avoid making definitive statements on the internet, as they're always proven wrong by people who know more about things than I do but that genuinely has to be the worst-drawn cover I've ever seen on a professionally produced comic.

When it comes to the book's insides, I do believe the prince of darkness takes a ride on a train. One that also happens to contain Jack Russell.

But perhaps our attention should be on Ireland where the villainous Dr Sun is out to recruit the vampire Lucas Brand.

Speaking of Jack Russell; in his own strip, that character's furry alter-ego must battle Algon the son of Taboo!

And Frankenstein's Monster, is once more, engaged in fisticuffs with a pig monster.

Part Two of Marvel's adaption of Beneath the Planet of the Apes greets us within, as Nova sits around on the back of a horse until she encounters Earth astronaut Brent. She then leads him to Ape City where the answers to his questions may be encountered.

Following that, I do believe Adam Warlock continues to rampage around Counter-Earth, having been convinced, by the Man-Beast, that its population deserve nothing less than a good slaughtering.

And it's starting to look like even nuclear weapons can't stop him!

On a slightly smaller scale, Sinbad experiences the second instalment of his golden voyage, thanks to Marvel's interpretation of the recent movie of that description.

Conan battles dutifully on but cancellation's now mere weeks away.

Still, before that happens, he and Fafnir are stranded on the island of Bal-Sagoth where they must quickly become friends if they're to survive for long enough to land some prehistoric crumpet. 

King Kull, though, in his strip, encounters a Kingdom by the Sea!

Solomon Kane, on the other hand, seems to have disappeared from the book, after just one week.

But what's that that that cover is telling us?

It can only mean that, having drunk Hank Pym's shrinking serum, last week, the bumbling brute's found himself in a world controlled by the Shaper of Worlds on behalf of Dr Doom's former snivelling Nazi lackey.

I'm sure our hero will take as much pleasure in smashing Fascism as the rest of us would.

When it comes to Daredevil's strip, the man without fear's become the man without a time zone, as he's still not managed to get back in sync with the rest of humanity, after being blasted by the Exterminator's T-Ray.

Foggy, meanwhile, has devised a stunt designed to lure the villain out into the open.

And the Fantastic Four grow increasingly worried, as they realise Alicia's been abducted by persons unknown.

We readers, however, know she's been taken to a place called The Beehive, by a bunch of scientists who want her to approach a strange being that others can't.

I do believe the Silver Surfer recruits the aid of top scientist Al Harper, in a fresh bid to smash his way through the space barrier which holds him prisoner on the planet Earth.

But to do that, he's first going to need a whole great big heap of money.

Elsewhere, in their strip, the X-Men discover the origin of Professor X, as we receive an introduction to the power and menace of the Juggernaut!

Speak Your Brain! Part 104.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Who am I?

Where am I?

What's happening?

I'm at a lacuna.

A lacuna of non-commitalness created by the wait for the return of the greatest feature the internet has ever seen.

The one in which the first person to post in the comments section below gets to decide the topic du jour.

But what shall that topic be?

I cannot say.

Only you can.

Therefore, feel free to post it and get this site swinging into a level of action never before surpassed in human history.

2000 AD - May 1987.

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

***

As temperatures in the UK soar ever upwards, let us soar, instead, to the cinemas of May 1987 and see just what treats await us within them.

Those treats are these: American Ninja 2, Creepshow 2, The Gate, Ishtar, Personal Services and Beverly Hills Cop II.

I think the only one of those I've ever seen is The Gate. Therefore, I shall list that as my Film of the Month.

And what of sport?

It was the month in which Vienna's Prater Stadium saw Porto best Bayern Munich 2–1 to win that team's first-ever European Cup.

Also flying high - but then landing - was 18-year-old West German Mathias Rust who managed to dodge Soviet air defences, and land his plane in Moscow's Red Square before being arrested for the feat. Fortunately, he was released from custody in August 1988.

When it came to the UK singles chart, May launched with Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now reigning supreme before they were, thankfully, stopped by Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).

On the adjacent album chart, the month arrived with Curiosity Killed the Cat's Keep Your Distance on top before that was dislodged by Swing Out Sister's It's Better to Travel which was then dethroned by Simple Minds' Live in the City of Light.

Fab. But what of the Galaxy's greatest comic?

It was an exciting time for all lovers of high culture because the publication was celebrating its tenth birthday. And it did that by giving us such old warhorses as Anderson PSI Division, Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Nemesis, Strontium Dog and Tharg's Future-Shocks.

We did, however, get one newish feature, in the form of Prog 253's one-page strip that bore the title Tales from Mega-City One.

June 21st, 1975 - 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. 

***

Little of interest happened, this week in 1975. Therefore, I shall launch straight into my look at the activities and antics of Marvel's mightiest heroes, as they seek to fill, with thrills, spills and heroics, the pages of the UK's favourite comics.

The Prowler makes his not-necessarily senses-shattering return, meaning Spidey faces a battle to reach the airport, before Gwen can use it to take her to England and out of his life forever.

But it's bad news for Iron Man too because the Melter's built himself a new melting gun, used it to escape from prison and is now demanding Tony Stark create an even better one for him.

Next, we take a journey into mystery when it finally dawns on the thunder god that he can't be the real Thor if he's really Don Blake who only got the powers of Thor because he found a magic stick in a cave.

Cue a reprint of Thor's first appearance in the Marvel universe, back when he battled the invading Stone Men.

And cue our hero trying to make sense of it all.

I think we can all see there's a huge development in the pages of the comic's main strip.

But, before that, John Buscema draws a tale in which Shang-Chi decides to invade his father's secret lair.

Following that, with the other Avengers busy elsewhere - and the Black Widow kidnapped by Egghead, the Puppet Master and Mad Thinker - Hawkeye sees no choice but to swallow Hank Pym's growth serum and become the new Goliath!

And then there's a treat for us all, as Barry Smith descends upon Dr Strange's strip, to pencil a tale in which, after narrowly avoiding being run over by a truck, the sorcerer supreme finds himself in a strange reality where nothing makes sense.

I remember acquiring this issue in a city centre stationers that had a subterranean tunnel which linked it to the biggest toy shop in Europe.

I can't help feeling all stationers should have a tunnel linking them to the biggest toy shop in Europe.

As should all houses.

I know what doesn't have a tunnel linking it to a toy shop.

And that's Hydra's HQ.

If it did, they'd all probably act a lot nicer.

As it is, they still have the Hulk running loose in that HQ - and he's got the help of Ant-Man!

But what of the Chameleon?

And, at the story's end, has he, as seems likely, managed to squish Bruce Banner beneath his evil shoe?

Following that, Daredevil's still battling the Exterminator's Ani-Men but, holy smoke, he gets zapped by their T-Ray and flung out-of-sync with the rest of humanity. He does, at least, find himself in the company of Debbie Harris and other earlier victims of that ray.

Elsewhere, the Fantastic Four are not only facing Ronan the Accuser on the streets of New York, they're defeating him!

You might think that's all their current problems over and done with.

But is it?

After all, while that's going on, Alicia's abducted from her apartment, by a man of mystery.

As far as I can make out, Dracula's in nostalgic mood and thinking back to a time when a man told him about the existence of a pool of blood that can confer immortality upon those who drink from it.

Meanwhile, Jack Russell's still a prisoner of the wizard Taboo and his lovely daughter Topaz.

And Frankenstein's Monster's also up to something but I can't say exactly what.

I suspect the pig creature he fought last week will be looking for revenge.

That cover can only mean one thing.

We've finally reached the start of Marvel's adaptation of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, as presented by Alfredo Alcala and Doug Moench.

It, of course, features yet another astronaut landing in the simian wonderland and setting out to discover just what's happened to his predecessors.

Speaking of people who arrived from outer space, Adam Warlock's experiencing Count-Down for Counter-Earth! which, I think, involves him deciding to go on the rampage and destroy that planet.

But the other big news we need to hear is that this issue sees the launch of Marvel's adaptation of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, thanks to Len Wein and George Tuska!

Conan and Elric continue an encounter that sees them call a truce, so they can travel to the sunken city of Yagala and battle the combined might of people called Xiombarg, Prince Gaynor, Kulan-Gath and Terhali.

Elsewhere, Thongor's vanished from the comic, to be replaced by none other than that puritan purifier Solomon Kane who finds himself in an adaptation of Robert E Howard's Skulls in the Stars.

It's a turning point in the life of the Beach Boy from space, as he meets the Inhumans and it all goes so well that the experience leads him to set out to destroy the entire human race.

How odd that both he and the equally cosmic Adam Warlock should decide to destroy their adopted planets in the same week.

As for the X-Men, they and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are both trying to recruit the Stranger - only for him to reveal he's an alien and then abduct Magneto and the Toad!