February 15th, 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. 

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This week in 1975 was a great one for all fans of creating a post-industrial landscape, as a woman called Margaret Thatcher defeated a man called Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party.

This made Thatcher Britain's first female leader of any political party. She would, of course, not be the last. Other famous female leaders of UK parties, since, have included Liz Truss, Theresa May and Kemi Badenoch.

Inside this epic issue, Jason and Alexander are sentenced to death, by evil mutants. In an arena of death, they join forces with the captured gorilla Warko when they must battle multiple mutated murderous monstrosities.

They're never going to get round to rescuing the Lawgiver, at this rate.

That's followed by a feature on Michael Wilson's re-write of Rod Serling's Planet of the Apes script, and his event-packed career that includes having been on the US communist blacklist.

Then, an ugly man spurned by polite society volunteers to undertake a one-way journey to the centre of the Earth. But, there, he discovers beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

It's yet another Tale of the Watcher. This time, by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Howard Purcell, reprinted from 1968's Silver Surfer #7 which recycled it from 1962's Amazing Adult Fantasy #12.

And, yes, it does sound remarkably like the origin of the Mole Man.

That's all a bit odd. This week's Hulk tale is the second part of his and the Avengers' contretemps with Psyklop but the cover shows him battling the inheritor.

I can only assume someone at Marvel UK thought the Inheritor looked sufficiently like Psyklop that no one reading the book would notice the disparity.

They clearly hadn't counted on my eagle eyes.

Then, it's the second part of the tale in which Daredevil dresses up as Thor in a bid to flush the Cobra and Mr Hyde out into the open.

And, of course, Dr Doom has totally defeated the Fantastic Four, thanks to him now possessing the Silver Surfer's powers.

As that cover makes clear, there's nothing but trouble going on for the Avengers. Not only have they been captured by the New Masters of Evil, they then discover the mastermind behind it all isn't even Jarvis.

It's a robot!

After that, we discover a Don Perlin drawn retelling of the origin of Iron Fist.

And, then, Dr Strange can't return to Earth, thanks to a spell placed by Asmodeus. So, to fool that spell, he changes his appearance, meaning it won't be able to recognise him.

And that's how the good doctor gets his notorious full-masked super-hero look.

Sadly, it's not enough to prevent Ymir and Surtur from being released upon the world.

I'm not sure that's the wisest hiding place for a criminal, what with the blatant danger of hypothermia.

Not to mention the police might start asking questions about why a snowman has a human face and an assault rifle.

Inside this comic, there's a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the Schemer.

And Peter Parker would like that $5,000.

And so he sets out to capture the villain.

However, the villain arrives at the Kingpin's mansion - and then vanishes, along with Mrs Kingpin!

Following that, Adam Austin makes his senses-shattering debut as the brand new penciller for Iron Man.

But what's this? How come none of us have ever heard of Adam Austin? And how come his drawing style looks suspiciously like that of Gene Colan?

Iron Man, meanwhile, goes to visit Happy Hogan in hospital but, as luck would have it, the hapless chauffeur gets kidnapped by the Black Knight. This can only lead to a battle between the armoured foes, in a genuine English castle in the United States.

And, finally, the under-powered Thor loses his fight with the Wrecker.

And that means he may well lose his life, as well!

What a fool I am. A mere seven days ago, I announced that last week's venture was one of the few issues of Dracula Lives I ever owned.

In retrospect, it turns out I didn't own that issue at all.

This was the issue I owned.

Inside, the good news is Frankenstein's Monster escapes a village mob and stakes Dracula right through the ever-loving heart.

The bad news is he also has to do the same to Carmen, thanks to Dracula having turned her into a vampire.

Next, Joshua Kane captures Jack Russell, because he wants the pleasure of hunting a Werewolf.

And, to make matters worse, Lissa finally unearth's Jack's secret.

And we finish off with a Steve Ditko oldie in which a man enters a castle, determined to prove it contains no ghosts - but is soon forced to flee in terror.

However, it turns out the castle does indeed not contain any ghosts. It is, though, inhabited by living suits of armour and animated stone gargoyles.