March 22nd, 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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Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven could only eat their hearts out with envy on the 22nd of March, 1975.

That's because it was a night which saw Ding-a-dong by Teach-In win the 20th Eurovision Song Contest, for the Netherlands. Amazingly, none of the above composers ever won the competition. They clearly just didn't have the musical chops for it.

And the week saw more history being made in the world of music, as the Bay City Rollers hit the tippermost of the toppermost of the poppermost of the UK singles chart, thanks to Bye Bye Baby.

Thus was a legend born.

One that would overshadow even the works of Schubert.

Speaking of legends, it was also a week which saw Tom Jones' 20 Greatest Hits claim the pinnacle of the British album chart.

The Black Widow's still tangling with Spider-Man who's still under the weather and, therefore, struggling to teach her the lesson he'd normally be able to teach her.

Elsewhere, Iron Man defeats the Mandarin's giant android Ultimo - with a fair amount of help from a volcano.

However, no sooner does our hero return to the States than he discovers there's a warrant out for his arrest!

And, lastly, Thor's still battling the Destroyer, still unaware it's being powered by Sif's life force and even less aware that, while all that's going on, Ulik and his Troll colleagues are invading Karnilla's castle!

It's the cover that infamously redraws the Vision as Thor because UK readers are, as yet, unfamiliar with the android.

And that can only mean one thing. The concluding part of the tale in which the Avengers and Dr Strange must combine to prevent Ymir and Surtur from destroying our planet.

Except it isn't. That story ended last week.

Instead, we get the second part of the gang's battle with the Scarlet Centurion while, in his own strip, Dr Strange goes in search of Eternity but finds only Times Square and Tom Wolfe.

Still, at least the cover's right about us getting martial arts action from the Sons of the Tiger.

No.

Wait.

It's not.

Instead, we get martial arts action from Iron Fist who gets the honour of being kicked in the face by Batroc Ze Leapair, making him the first Marvel hero to be kicked in the face by Batroc within the pages of a Marvel UK mag.

 
From all this, I get the feeling there's been a major cock-up in the front-cover-planning department.

It's an event to remember, as Jim Steranko's artwork for the cover of Hulk Annual #1 makes its Marvel UK debut.

And does so with the original head on it, rather than the one redrawn by Marie Severin for the front of that US mag.

But what's this? The lower lettering's been altered to tell us it's the Inheritor who's in this issue and not the Inhumans?

Can even the world's mightiest mortal hope to thwart that cockamamie cockroach?

And speaking of insects, Daredevil finds himself up against Spider-Man's old foe the Beetle when he heads north to Canada.

Elsewhere, there's bedlam in the Baxter Building when the Sandman, armed with a new costume and a bunch of chemicals, breaks into the Fantastic Four's HQ, looking to steal some of their inventions and sell them.

My knowledge of this issue is spectacularly fuzzy but I do believe Drac's confronted by a man in an iron lung - and the power of voodoo.

Not to mention men on motorbikes.

The Werewolf by Night is on display in a travelling show.

And I do believe Frankenstein's Monster falls off a cliff and inadvertently waves goodbye to the 19th Century.

But not to life.

I never had this issue but I have read this tale reprinted in an issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. I can only assume that, on that occasion, the dreaded deadline doom must have stricken them.

As for what happens within, I do believe the Badoon come to Earth, with an eye on conquest but decide there'll be more fun to be had in hunting the Silver Surfer.

I suspect it won't be as much fun for them as they'd expected.

And speaking of hunting for people; fresh from their victory over Magneto, the X-Men must try to keep track of a brand new foe.

The one that humanity - and he himself - calls the Vanisher!

My memories of this one are hugely vague but it seems clear that the brawling barbarian encounters the menace of the Grim Grey God.

And I suspect he'll make that god a fair bit grimmer by the time he's finished with him.

I also predict he'll rescue a young woman while he's at it.

In the issue's other story, Kull has an adventure called The Shadow Kingdom.

Covers commissioned for Marvel UK books often tend to be less than stellar but I've always liked this one, thanks to its high level of melodrama. 

Inside, I do believe we're blessed with the conclusion of the morality tale in which an injured man and  gorilla must work together if they're to survive in a world which seems to want nothing but their deaths.

Following that, we find an interview with Mark Lenard, otherwise known as Urko in the Planet of the Apes TV show - and as Spock's dad in Star Trek.

And we finish with a short called Dig Me No Grave, which I believe is a bit Lovecraft about things.