Thursday, 9 January 2025

January 11th, 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
***

No one knew it at the time but footballing history was about to be made, this week in 1975.

That's because it was the week in which, having been fired by Leeds United, Brian Clough was put in charge of Second Division strugglers Nottingham Forest. Within five years of his arrival, the club would win the English title, and twice become champions of Europe.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #100

It's a moment humanity will never forget, as
Spider-Man Comics Weekly becomes the second of Marvel UK's mags to hit the hundred issue mark.

And what a way to do it.

By battling the awesome power of...

...the Kangaroo!

That's right, the Antipodean antagonist makes his debut this very week. And I don't think anyone will ever forget it.

But that's not all. Thor and Iron Man have been dumped from this special issue, and so it is we have room for the concluding part of the thriller in which the Chameleon steals a priceless painting from an art gallery and frames George Stacy for the crime.

Can the webby wonder thwart the two-faced villain?

You bet he can.

And you can read my review of this landmark issue, right here.

Marvel UK Avengers #69, Dr Strange, Sons if Satannish

Shang-Chi's up to something but I don't know what.

Meanwhile, the Collector's still out to collect the Avengers.

Needless to say, his attempt is unsuccessful. But a pleasing consequence of it all is that Hank Pym finally regains his  growing powers!

And Dr Strange is about to have an encounter with none other than Satannish himself!

Marvel UK, Planet of the Apes #12

An exciting new chapter begins for us all, as, Marvel's adaptation of the first movie now out of the way, the company's free to unveil the adventures of Jason and Alexander featuring fabby artwork by Mike Ploog and a whole new take on the secrets and weirdnesses of the Forbidden Zone.

After that, Rod Serling recalls highlights from his career, followed by a look at the sets used in the Ape movies.

But even that's not enough for us.

And, so, the issue closes with the latest trials and tribulations of Doctor Doom, as he must combat both the Faceless One and Doomsman, for control of Latveria. This is brought to us, of course, by Larry Lieber and Wally Wood.

Mighty World of Marvel #119, The Hulk vs the Colossus

The Hulk's arguing with a talking fist - and that can only mean trouble.

And it can only mean the concluding part of the tale in which our hero must fight a giant stone robot activated by aliens who double up as Egyptian gods.

Needless to say, such a foe proves no match for Marvel's mightiest mortal and it soon finds itself falling to pieces.

Elsewhere, Daredevil's strip goes distinctly atypical when, upon being invited to deliver a college lecture about aliens and the law, the man without fear must thwart an alien invasion that intends to send the whole world blind.

And what's this attacking the Baxter Building?

Is it Klaw?

Yes it is and, having survived his recent encounter with the Fantastic Four and Black Panther, he's now a creature of living sound!

Marvel UK Dracula Lives #12, Neal Adams cover

Neal Adams provides a memorable cover for a tale in which Dracula 
and someone called Lenore return to 20th Century England, pursued by our regular set of vampire hunters.

Still, not to worry, fans of fiends, because Drac has plans for their disposal.

Sadly, for him, those plans are scuppered by the arrival of a deformed son of a nobleman.

When it comes to werewolves, Jack Rusell's captured by Mark Cephalos - a man who's out to use the energy released by his werewolf transformations for, no doubt, nefarious purposes.

And, finally, this issue, Frankenstein's Monster thinks he's found the last descendant of his creator.

Then it turns out he hasn't.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every now and then, Charlie sees a cover here that suggests it may have been originally published in the states, or is Derived from one.

But honest to cripes the Hulk yelling at a big fist of the Thing… Never seen anything like it before, lol!

Anyone know anything about it?

Anonymous said...

COLIN - yes, may Jimmy Carter rest in peace. He was book-ended by two presidents who clearly committed treason: Nixon and Reagan.

And that their political party so malaligned Carter such that his legacy today is a president with a difficult four years, who then spent the rest of his life building plywood shacks for indigent people is shameful.

Back to the comics!

And for what it’s worth, there is now officially no more Christmas music on any radio stations that I can find in the United States, including the religious ones. It ended on Sunday with the feast of the kings epiphany.

I guess if I could find an orthodox radio station, they might still be playing some… But I doubt if Ruddie the red nosed reindeer was a big hit in Serbia or Greece Which is probably where 99% of the orthodox around us come from

Anonymous said...

I love the Conway/Andru run of ASM but between the Kangaroo, The Grizzly and the Mindworm, they really didn’t have the best track record for coming up with compelling new villains.

Rod Serling looks like he’s rocking a dreads/mullet combo on that POTA cover.

b.t.

Anonymous said...

I mean, I guess The Punisher started out as a villain, but by the end of his First Appearance he was already leaning toward Anti-hero status.

b.t.

Colin Jones said...

The POTA cover is ruined by that Rod Serling blurb.

There was a documentary about Rod Serling on BBC Radio 4-Extra over Christmas which I meant to listen to but I forgot about it until now.

Anonymous said...

We discussed that Dracula Lives cover artwork in the 50 Year Lucky Bag, Steve, back when it originally appeared on the front of Tomb of Dracula #6. Iirc, we agreed that it did look like the work of the Neal Adams/Gil Kane combo which some sources credit it as.

-sean

Colin Jones said...

Charlie, Jimmy Carter's voice is heading for the stars on two gold discs attached to the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The discs feature sounds of Earth (languages, music, birdsong, crashing waves etc etc) and a message from Carter because he was the POTUS when the Voyagers were launched in 1977. The discs are meant to be a kind of message in a bottle in case the Voyagers are found by an alien civilisation in the distant future. I'm not sure how the aliens will understand what Carter is saying (assuming they can even play the discs) but I'm glad it's HIS voice they'll be hearing rather than Reagan's or Trump's!

Anonymous said...

Carter also gets his head carved into Mt Rushmore at some point, according to Pat Mills and Brian Bolland in 2000AD -

https://www.theliberati.net/quaequamblog/2020/05/12/judge-dredd-snapshots-the-cursed-earth-part-5-the-mutie-mountains-prog-65/

"No! Not... the teeth!"

-sean

Anonymous said...

Colin:
It depends. If Voyager got found by benevolent aliens who wished to share the wonders of their advanced super-science with us, they might hear Trump’s voice and think, “Nahh, those dipshits aren’t ready, they’d only use whatever we gave them to further their own selfish interests. Pass!” That would be tragic. On the other hand, if they were EVIL aliens looking for new worlds to conquer, they might hear his voice and think, “Zoinks, we thought the Pustule People of Deneb IV were the most repulsive beings in the Universe, but that voice makes me want to choke on my own vomit — Stay away from that planet!”
That would be kinda awesome.

sean:
Respectfully disagree — the Dracula cover looks like Neal Adams pencils and inks to me.

b.t.

Anonymous said...

You said that last time too, b.t.
Its like Groundhog Day round these parts sometimes, isn't it? One day, I will get a life...

Our best bet for getting hostile aliens to give Earth a miss is Space X.
The sooner Elon Musk leaves the planet and boldly f#@*s off to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, and annoy new civilisations, the better.

-sean

Anonymous said...

These are some truly cool covers. They do the job any good comic book cover does: they make me wanna read the comic!
Or buy it, if it was on a spinner rack.
Now, I'm gonna have to do some research to figure out where that big fist came from and who or what that swamp monster was.
Say, Steve, how many years has it been since I last posted my list of comic book swamp monsters on this blog?
At least a couple years. It's a big list.
But I'll hold off for another year or two...

M.P.

Anonymous said...

Sean---

I agree that Musk should go into space.
Far, far into space.
Against his own will, if necessary.

M.P.

Colin Jones said...

Yesterday Elon Musk interviewed Alice Weidel , the leader of the far-right AFD party in Germany and, according to Fraulein Weidel, Hitler was actually a communist so we've been wrong about Adolf all along!

Anonymous said...

GO TAMWORTH!

Colin Jones said...

In the vacuum of space those Voyager spacecraft will never rust so they'll last for billions or even trillions of years.

Anonymous said...

One of them could be found by an alien race of sentient machines, who re-programme it and send it back to its creator, when it could destroy the Earth, Colin!
Mind you, Star Trek also predicted Irish reunification in 2024, and that didn't turn to be reliable, so maybe not.

-sean

Anonymous said...

*turn out to be reliable

-sean

Anonymous said...

They also predicted we’d all dress like the Wiggles…

😉

DW

Colin Jones said...

UPDATE: After some research on behalf of SDC readers I must admit to inadvertently making a slight mistake regarding Jimmy Carter's message on the discs attached to the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. The message is not actually spoken but printed and appears as the last of 118 images showing scenes of Earth. There IS a recorded message but it's spoken by Kurt Waldheim, the UN Secretary-General in 1977. We must hope that the aliens who find either of the Voyagers in the distant future will have invented a Star Trek-style universal translator because the discs also feature greetings in 55 Earth languages.

Colin Jones said...

The Voyager discs also include the song Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry but apparently this was controversial because rock'n'roll was considered to be "adolescent" by some members of the committee choosing the discs' contents. Carl Sagan was in charge of the project (the discs were his idea) and he replied "There are lots of adolescents on Earth" so Chuck Berry got included.

Anonymous said...

Kurt Waldheim? So... to greet aliens on behalf of the human race NASA picked a nazi? Nice.

-sean

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should have put Oasis on the discs. Geeze… radio stations are having contests for a 3-day trip to the UK with choice seats.

UK’s Talk Sport even is giving away Oasis tickets.

Charlie didnt understand the big deal of the reunion when it was announced this summer (?) and still doesn’t.

And this reunion is just shy of the 2nd coming of the Almighty, why are they giving away tickets (on radio stations old farts listen to)???

Colin Jones said...

Because only old farts care about Oasis, Charlie. It's a pathetic need to relive their youth.

Anonymous said...

It is a bit weird if Oasis tickets are now being given away, Charlie, as some months ago it was a bit of a news story that they were fleecing their fans with 'dynamic pricing' of the shows.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/sep/01/oasis-ticketmaster-in-demand-standing-tickets.

I never understood their popularity at the time, or the whole 'Cool Britannia' thing. I mean, third rate Beatles and Kinks imitators waving Union Jacks... so what, right? But then I was 30ish when that stuff happened so I'd already been there and done that (well, not waving Union Jacks obviously, but you know what I mean).

No doubt Colin is right about old farts re-living their youth, but it would be old farts a decade or so younger than me. The sort of people who think the first Stone Roses album is one of the greatest ever. Because how else could you possibly think that unless you hadn't really heard much else beforehand?

See also: Grunge. I didn't get that either. A world where the Foo Fighters are huge is one shaped by people younger than me. The bastards.

-sean

Anonymous said...

PS I should have gone with a link to this piece about the Oasis tickets instead -

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/08/oasis-ticket-sales-uk-spending-retail-sales-barclays-brc

It seems they actually boosted the British economy! Its the sunlit uplands. In your face European Union - Britpop means Britpop.

-sean