Forty years ago today - February 1985.

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

***

Here I am again, looking forward to looking backwards.

There's not a huge amount of advancement on last month. The Norse gods, Bungalow Beta-Ray Bill and Earth's mightiest heroes are still fighting the demonic forces of Surtur on the streets of New York while Odin and Thor try to scrap with the fire giant in the streets of Asgard.

It's a format-busting issue, as a magazine manages to get shots of the She-Hulk sunbathing topless on the roof of the Baxter Building and she sets out to use her legal skills and knuckles to prevent publication.

For some reason, the publisher of that magazine bears a noticeable resemblance to Stan Lee. I'm not sure just what John Byrne is trying to tell us.

By some means I can't recall, Red Sonja's old foe Kulan Gath has managed to take control of modern-day Manhattan and turned it - and its heroes - into a very loose replica of the Hyborean Age. This forces old enemies to unite in a bid to put a stop to his reign of terror.

The recent trend towards Ditkoesque villains in this strip continues, as the Spot bamboozles and bewilders Spider-Man with his inter-dimensional powers.

In possibly more serious news, Spidey's alien costume has managed to flee the Baxter Building and is now loose in the city, trying to find him.

I'm struggling to remember much about the main plot in this one, other than the mindless Hulk manages to befriend another creature who keeps getting attacked by some other creatures.

However, I do recall that, on Earth, the U-Foes manage to escape captivity and, by dumb incompetence, send themselves to the exact spot in the multiverse where the Hulk is.

I suspect this can only lead to trouble for all involved.

Batroc ze Leapair seems to 'ave finally learned his, 'ow you say, lesson and, instead of fighting Captain America, himself, has hired a couple of bad hommes to do it pour him.

Frankly, they're just as useless as he is but there are two of them and, between them, they manage to temporarily inconvenience Cap and steal his shield.

A shield that I assume Batroc is looking to sell to someone or other.

It's the battle I never expected to see, as US government meddling with equipment discovered in an abandoned base that once belonged to Thanos manages to bring the Blood Brothers back to Earth and they prove more than a handful for the world's mightiest super-team.

Daredevil keeps being tormented by dreams about the Two-Gun Kid and, when he discovers an unscrupulous business tycoon wants to build something on Native American land, he starts to realise this is no coincidence and that he must complete a mission the Western hero began 100 years ago.

A notable change in cover style is delivered by Mike Kaluta.

But, inside, it's still John Buscema serving up the pencilling when Conan and Fafnir help a rapidly ageing countess reach the nest of a bird whose egg contains a yolk which can grant her another 1,000 years of life if she bathes in it.

In what's quite a shock to the reader, she doesn't turn out to be evil.

Can it be? Has the Hobgoblin succeeded where the original Goblin failed, and defeated Spider-Man?

It looks like he might do when he and the Rose kidnap Liz and MJ to force Harry to hand over his father's secret journals.

We all knew it had to happen at some point. Growing ever more concerned by Rhodey's erratic behaviour as Iron Man, Tony Stark's forced to do what he never wanted to do again - and put on a suit of armour.

But it's a lot more primitive than Rhodey's.

And visibly more retro.

Then again, Rhodey's generally useless at being Iron Man. So, the tech disparity probably won't matter.