The Marvel Lucky Bag - January 1975.

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

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Even the most easily-pleased of men would struggle to declare January 1975 to be a spell which conferred legendary cinematic releases upon the world.

It did, however, see the unleashing of Slade in Flame, as well as And Then There Were None. Both of which I have at least heard of.

It was also a month which saw the release of a film called Teenage Seductress but I suspect we'd probably best draw a veil over that one.

Marvel's second-best werewolf gets his third Giant-Size issue. And one thing's for sure, stuff happens in it.

Granted, I don't know what stuff but I do know it happens and the main tale's called Castle Curse! and drawn by dauntless Don Perlin.

We also get a bunch of 1950s reprints which flaunt such titles as The Visitor, The Man Who Went Back, The Man Who Talked to Rats! [I don't know if he did that before or after he went back], and The Hands of Death.

I would claim it's the team-up that had to happen. Except it didn't have to happen. And happen it doesn't, with Spidey and Doc Savage never making contact at any point in the tale and Savage never becoming aware of the wall-crawler's involvement.

It's the one in which a delectable woman from another dimension is being menaced by a giant, Pan-like creature, and Spider-Man must use all his wit to help her.

But should he help her?

And is everything as she's claimed it to be?

That's followed by a reprint of his first-ever meeting with Daredevil in which the pair must bring down the Circus of Crime, as depicted by Sawdust Stan Lee and Trapezial Steve Ditko.

It may not be a Giant-Size issue but that doesn't mean we can't admire and respect the latest adventure from Killraven and his war with the worlds. 

In this one, we're treated to the origin of Volcana Ash while our gang must stop the Death Breeders and rescue Adam 3,031, Eve 3,031 and a baby.

There's also a two-page tale titled Escape from Nowhere! reprinted from the venerable pages of 1957's World of Suspense #7.

Strangely, despite having read this comic on far more occasions than is good for me, I must confess to having no recall at all of that back-up tale.

Then again, forget Giant-Size comics completely. What all people with real sense most dig in life are the even bigger bounteous beauties that are Marvel Treasury Editions.

In this one, we get to see the Black Panther join the gang, the Vision join the gang, Yellowjacket marry the Wondrous Wasp, and the vituperous Valkyrie form the Lady Liberators. All drawn by the redoubtable pencil held in the redoubtable hand of the redoubtable John Buscema whilst sat at his redoubtable drawing board.

And Doc Strange too has tabloid treasures to bestow upon us.

This time with a cover by Frank Brunner.

Inside, we encounter a selection of mixed appeal, thanks to yarns like The End-- at Last!, The Origin of the Ancient One!, The End of the Ancient One!, To Dream-- Perchance to Die!, Face-to-Face with the Magic of Baron Mordo! and The Cult and the Curse. All reprinted from the 1960s.

But, from the 1970s, we also find Finally, Shuma-Gorath! which I'm thinking must bring an end to the whole Shuma-Gorath Shenaniganza.

It's a bit of an oddity, as Marvel gives us the Spider-Man Comic Book Reader which I'm going to assume is intended to help young people learn to read.

Never content with being smaller than anyone else, the Hulk also grabs himself a Treasury Edition of his very own.

In this Gamma-powered grab bag, the jade juggernaut has his origin retold by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, then gets to fight Hercules who's on his way to Hollywood, fights the Sub-Mariner while under the influence of the Puppet Master, has to defeat all his old foes in one day when they're recreated by the power of the Leader's mind, must stop Doc Samson from making moves on his girl, and battle the Thing when the Leader has a wager with Kurrgo about which of the two sluggers would win a scrap.

That Kelly Freas/John Romita cover may be the least accurate representation of Day of the Triffids I've ever seen but there's no denying it's the kind of image that'll get all sensible customers grabbing the mag from the nearest available spinner rack.

Inside, Gerry Conway and Ross Andru give us their rather more faithful adaptation of the John Wyndham classic.

And that's followed by stories and features such as A View from Without....., The Bradbury Chronicles, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Mongo!, Savage World!, Past and Present Master, Hey Buddy, Can You Lend Me a... and Light of Other Days.

A fair number of those are reprints, Almost all will go on to appear in Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes comic.

I know almost nothing about this but, apparently, it's a full-blown comic and not just a picture.

Clearly, it's designed to tie-in with the toy of the same name and is twenty pages long. It's also pencilled by John Buscema.