March 8th, 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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50 years ago, this week, I made a discovery that would change my life and probably alter the entire course of human history.

That's right. It was the week in which I discovered Conan is pronounced Coe-nann and not Connun.

How did I discover that?

Because none other than Stan Lee himself appeared on ITV children's magazine show Magpie to plug the launch of Marvel UK's two new comics, The Super-Heroes and Savage Sword of Conan.

Not only that but he did so by appearing dressed up as J Jonah Jameson while presenter Mick Robertson was dressed as Spider-Man.

I believe it was also the first time I'd ever seen Stan Lee on TV, although I could be wrong.

But what else was occurring in the world?

March 8th, 1975, was a crucial date when it came to TV because that was the day on which, evil creator of the Daleks, Davros first appeared in Doctor Who; finally, after all those years, giving the tyrannical trash cans a clearly-defined origin story.

And what of the UK singles chart? That was treated to a brand new Number One, as Telly Savalas managed the unlikely feat of topping the British Hit Parade thanks to his cover of the David Gates song If.

But there was no change atop the corresponding album chart, with Status Quo's On the Level retaining its supremacy.

That Telly Savalas track is, of course, a unique musical experience few will ever forget but other songs I approved of on that week's UK singles chart were:

Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) - Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel

Only You Can - Fox

Shame, Shame, Shame - Shirley and Company

Dreamer - Supertramp

How Does It Feel? - Slade

Your Kiss Is Sweet - Syreeta

Angie Baby - Helen Reddy

January - Pilot

and

Shoorah Shoorah - Betty Wright.

Should you wish to investigate the matter in greater depth, that singles chart can be located here.

While the adjacent album rankings reside within.

And blow me down if it's not the very first issue of one of the books I was just talking about, as the Silver Surfer gets his own mag and is now free to inflict his unique brand of self-pity and sanctimony upon the good people of Britain.

This being the sensational first issue that we the readers demanded, we do, of course, encounter the first half of the Surfer's origin, as relayed to us by John Buscema and Stan Lee.

But that's not all. We also find the first half of the opening outing for the X-Men when a man called Magneto hijacks an American missile base and has plans to do bad things with it.

I'm not totally sure what those bad things'll be but my God will they be bad.

And Conan too hits the shops with a vengeance!

But how ironic that he and the Surfer should get their own mags in the same week. Were there ever two characters who were more the polar opposite of each other? One, all moping and speechifying. The other, a man of few words, with barely any capacity for moping at all.

But was Conan technically Marvel's first British hero? I suppose it depends on exactly where Cimmeria was.

Personally, I like to think it was somewhere near Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

And Conan's not the only thwarter of wizards in this book. For its backup strip features the man who preceded him in more ways than one; King Kull.

I do believe we also receive a free poster with this issue. It's Neal Adams cover artwork for  the US Savage Sword of Conan #2.

It's time for mind-splitting sensation, as we finally discover the true identity of the Schemer and just why he has it in for the Kingpin!

Admittedly, I think every single person who's been following this saga's already guessed the answer to both those questions, what with them having been somewhat telegraphed.

Elsewhere, the good news for Tony Stark is Happy Hogan's finally stopped being the Freak.

The bad news is Tony's now been ordered to testify to Congress about something or other.

The even worse news is that, on his way to testifying about something or other, he's teleported all the way to China by the Mandarin - and the Mandarin has a giant robot called Ultimo!

But Stark's problems are nothing compared to those of Thor. Not only has he been killed by the Wrecker, he recovers just in time to see the crowbar-carrying buffoon get flattened by the Destroyer. Which means our hero must now fight that unstoppable engine of destruction - totally oblivious to the fact it contains the spirit of his beloved Sif!

Marvel UK seems to be merrily printing the Hulk's adventures out of order. No sooner has our first Jarella encounter ended than we get a second. The one in which she visits our world, making Bruce Banner's day but quickly discovering she has to go back home or the sun will explode.

Meanwhile, I think Daredevil's still blind and still having to deal with the menace of Mr Hyde and the Cobra.

And the Fantastic Four are, yet again, trying to get the better of a Cosmic-powered Dr Doom.

Here's an odd issue because, not only do we get Part 2 of the armrest gripper in which the Avengers go back in time to discover just what happened to Bucky on the day he exploded, we also get a second Avengers adventure.

You probably guessed, from that cover, that it's a continuation of the ongoing Dr Strange storyline in which Ymir and Surtur have been unleashed upon Earth, and the good doctor must seek assistance from the world's mightiest team and the Black Knight, in order to tackle them

But, before all that, I do believe we encounter the final part of the triptych in which Iron Fist, Shang-Chi and the Sons of the Tiger must each thwart one third of Fu Manchu's latest scheme.

And, this week, it's Shang-Chi's turn to hog the spotlight.

I take it, from the cover, that the Jason and Alexander serial's concluded.

And I'm fairly certain that means we're getting the tale in which, following a battle between men and apes, a wounded gorilla and human must work together if they're to survive.

Even better, the week's second story is Marvel's adaptation of Black Destroyer in which an alien big cat is adopted by the crew of a spaceship, then sets about killing them off, one by one, before trying to steal their ship!

A less than stellar cover greets us but do we care about that when that cover informs us we're about to meet the man who will go on to become Marvel's first major movie star?

I can only mean Blade who encounters the king of the vampires on a cruise ship.

Next, I do believe Frankenstein's Monster is cheated of the revenge he wishes to inflict upon the last descendant of his creator.

And, to close the issue, Jack Russell's ordered to kill a reclusive millionaire, by a man who's holding his sister prisoner!