May 31st, 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. 

***

All eyes were on matters of Europe-wide significance, this week in 1975.

The first was the European Cup Final, at which Leeds United were defeated 2–0 by Bayern Munich in Paris. However, the evening's events went pear-shaped when Leeds' Peter Lorimer had a goal disallowed and the match's generally suspicious refereeing ignited a riot among the fans.

Later, that week saw the launch of the European Space Agency, with the UK among its ten founding members.

As we can see, everybody's favourite slinger of webs is still having trouble with a man called Bullit who's out to get elected via a campaign of zero tolerance towards criminals - despite being a criminal himself!

Meanwhile, Iron Man's investigation of the collapse of a house leads him to a subterranean world ruled by none other than the Mole Man!

And Thor and friends are still trying to halt the devastating amble of Mangog.

I do recall that this one features the Hulk's first encounter with the Silver Surfer, meaning it's being printed many many months later than it should have been. I can only assume Marvel UK was waiting until we'd been properly introduced to the board-bound sensation before publishing it.

It is, of course, the one in which Hulkie tries to force the Surfer to take him away from the planet Earth, unaware his opponent is also trapped on this world.

Daredevil's back and about to have a return run-in with the Ani-Men who are now under new management. That management being a mystery villain called the Exterminator.

And the Fantastic Four's decision to take a relaxing break on an uninhabited island goes instantly south when it turns out the island is inhabited.

It's inhabited by a giant robot called a Sentry. And it works for a long-gone bunch of aliens called the Kree!

Not only does the Surfer have his hands full with tackling the Hulk, this week, he's also got to deal with Spider-Man!

Frankly, other than that Spidery and Surfery are in it, I struggle to recall anything about this tale.

When it comes to the X-Men, they're in the process of graduating from Professor Xavier's school.

But no sooner has the Prof declared he's taking a leave of absence than the Blob returns and gets caught up in a battle between the team and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

And I do believe this is the story in which Cerebro puts in its first appearance.

Well, the Hulk wanted to leave the planet Earth and that's exactly what he does when he encounters the original Night-Crawler in a tale that's already been reprinted in The Mighty World of Marvel. Such are the continuity problems Marvel UK sometimes finds itself lumbered with.

But, before that tale, we encounter Shang-Chi who, while fighting evil at Buckingham Palace, stumbles across Dr Petrie and rescues him from the clutches of Fu Manchu, meaning our hero's no longer a murderer!

Following that, we find the conclusion of the Avengers' battle with the Circus of Crime, conducted against the backdrop of a completely deranged Hank Pym marrying the Wasp.

It's in this tale we discover that if you marry someone while clinically insane, it still counts in the eyes of the law.

It's that rarity, a Dracula Lives cover where our favourite fang-barer isn't boasting about how he's going to kill everybody else in the comic.

And that's probably because he's dead.

But no one ever called the prince of darkness a man who takes death lying down.

And so it is that barely has Blade offed him than the count's revived. This time, by an itinerant minister called Josiah Dawn.

And I do believe we're seeing an equally impressive fightback from the Werewolf by Night who, having survived the Hangman's attempts to kill him, defeats the vigilante and frees his captives.

And, finally, Brother Voodoo is up against The March of the Dead.

I'm not sure that insulting an ape by calling him, "Ape-face," makes an awful lot of sense. I mean, what other kind of face would a gorilla be likely to have?

Regardless, Kingdom on an Island  of the Apes continues, with Derek accused of having killed the Lawgiver. An accusation which sees him fleeing Ape City and seeking refuge on a mysterious island he comes across on his journey.

That's followed by An Interview With Wally Harton: Costumer on the Planet of the Apes.

And, on Counter-Earth, Adam Warlock must survive an attack by Rhodan and the Hounds of Helios.

Is this the first-ever appearance of what will become that good old cover staple: Conan stood atop a veritable hillock of attacking foes?

Whether it is or not, the man becomes captain of the royal guard of Zahmahn and the boyfriend of its queen.

But, when that queen catches him with a servant girl, she flings the pair of them in a dungeon, to be devoured by the Dweller in the Dark!

Elsewhere and Elsewhen, King Kull fights his way through a yarn excitingly titled The King and the Oak.

And we get what I believe to be Thongor's first appearance in the pages of Marvel UK, thanks to Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria! which is, it seems, based on Thieves of Zangabal by Lin Carter.

Speak Your Brain! Part 102. Your favourite team.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Here we are again, once more confronted with a feature that never stops, never tires and will never relent nor regret.

It's the one in which the first person to comment gets to decide what's to be tonight's topic for debate.

That topic could be anything which exists within the sphere of human existence.

Or even inhuman existence.

Therefore, feel free to post your comment and get the ball rolling as it has never rolled before.

May 1985 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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

***

As so often, May 1985 saw both triumph and tragedy imposed upon the world, in equal measures.

When it came to triumph, the 30th Eurovision Song Contest in Gothenburg found itself being won by Norwegian act Bobbysocks! and their offering La Det Swinge.

In sport, Everton - fresh from winning their first Football League title in fifteen years - picked up  the European Cup Winners' Cup, thanks to a 3–1 win over Rapid Vienna in Rotterdam.

But the sport also found disaster when 56 people were killed in the Bradford City stadium fire.

And, only days after that, 39 more fans died in Brussels' Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool.

When it came to music, Dire Straits released their new album Brothers in Arms which would go on to become the first compact disc to sell over one million copies.

Rather more ominously, May 1985 saw scientists from the British Antarctic Survey announce they'd discovered a hole in the Earth's ozone layer.

When it came to the UK singles chart, only one track ruled the roost that month. And that was Paul Hardcastle's Vietnam commentary 19.

Over on the accompanying album chart, the month began with Various Artists' Hits 2 atop the pile before that was deposed by the aforementioned Brother in Arms.

The nation's favourite sci-fi mag gives us an odd cover that would look more at home on the front of The Fortean Times than on the nation's favourite sci-fi mag.

That's down to it taking a look at Dennis Potter's upcoming film Dreamchild which appears to be based upon the life and works of Lewis Carroll and involves the Muppet people in some capacity or other.

And because even that's not enough for readers as demanding as us, there's also attention being paid to such fare as Ladyhawke and Buckaroo Banzai.

It's not just the TV show that's been going on for a long time. So has the magazine dedicated to it.

And so it is that the publication hits its 100th issue by taking a look back at the development of the character and his various incarnations over the decades.

It also takes a look at the history of the Timelords.

And there's an interview with writer Robert Holmes.

Not to mention a colour poster of Peri and the Doctor!

It looks like bad news for the hero who never seems to win a fight, as he now has to battle his evil twin Kapitan Briton!

Elsewhere, Abslom Daak finds himself in a thing called The Battle Joined.

Next, we encounter Episode One of a new serial called City Snapshot by Mike Collins. I have no knowledge of that strip at all.

And that's followed by The Coming of the Space Thieves.

It's just another day at the office for the battlingest barbarian of his age when Conan discovers The Devil Has Many Legs!

That seems a bit non-specific. Personally, before fighting the Devil, I always insist on knowing exactly how many legs he has.

In the latest instalment of Magik, Illyana defeats Belasco and becomes ruler of Limbo before returning to Earth and, I would assume, the X-Men.

That's followed by The Ride starring Night-Raven.

And then we discover a Marvel Showcase tale called Forest.

But we conclude our delve into the month's offerings when King Conan encounters the Red Moon of Zembabwei, adapted from the story of the same name by DeCamp and Carter.

May 24th, 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. 

***

A wise woman once told us all to stand by our man.

And that woman was Tammy Wynette whose classic song of that inference remained atop the UK singles chart as May 1975 was approaching its waning days.

There was change afoot, however, on the accompanying LP chart because it saw The Best of the Stylistics ascend to a summit it was, no doubt, determined to cling on to.

But forget all that. There's a brand new threat in town!

And that threat is Bullit, a politician standing on a hardline anti-crime platform who is, himself, a mobster!

Can Spider-Man thwart this bounder?

And, more importantly, can determined newspaperman Joe Robertson expose him for the fraud and thug he truly is?

Far away from that, I do believe Iron Man's in China and battling the Mandarin in a bid to rescue Happy Hogan from his clutches.

And, of course, Thor and his mates are still trying to thwart the unstoppable stroll of Mangog!

I think that cover's meant to tell us the Thing and his teammates are battling the Hulk at a local airport.

And not only them, because a bunch of other heroes have invited themselves along to join in.

It all leads to the brute being put on trial, with Matt Murdock defending him and Reed Richards called to give evidence.

But what's that gun Reed has in his hand when he turns up at the trial?

And is it really going to do what he says it will?

Such has been the level of crossovers, lately, that the Fantastic Four's strip has been absent for several weeks but, at last, it's back!

And it's Daredevil's strip that's now gone missing.

However, lovers of men without fear need not fear being without men without fear, as Hornhead appears in the FF's strip and brings along Thor and Spider-Man, due to the FF having convinced themselves he's really Doctor Doom in disguise!

A serious dose of poshness breaks out in the pages of Shang-Chi when the martial artist and friends head to Buckingham Palace for yet another fight with that bunch of phansigars, and an assignation with a secret corridor directly behind the Queen's throne...

But, in New York, it's a wedding to remember for Jan and Yellowjacket who claim their nuptials while the Circus of Crime demonstrates its smarts by attacking a building packed solid with people who can all fight better than it can.

And, finally, Dr Sanders and the Sub-Mariner are battling to prevent the Undying Ones from gaining access to our world.

They succeed.

But only at the cost of the sorcerer's freedom.

I do believe this is the one in which Doug Moench and Rico Rival transform Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court into a Planet of the Apes tale, thanks to a man inventing a time machine and setting off into the future, in a bid to retrieve the astronauts from the first Planet of the Apes movie.

This means, of course, the presence of ape knights in shining armour. Not to mention dragons, fair maidens and other Medieval such-likes.

To be honest, that summary is kind of making me miss Apeslayer.

After that, Adam Warlock comes down to Earth on Counter-Earth where he falls from the sky and is  found by a bunch of youths who decide to hide the unconscious man in a barn. Biblical influences are obvious but was Rascally Roy Thomas also inspired by classic British movie Whistle Down the Wind?

It's another of those rare issues of Dracula Lives I once owned.

Having said that, I'm not at all sure what happens in the Dracula tale.

However, I suspect he may be getting a good staking from Blade and friends.

Elsewhere, the werewolf by night has a punch-up with a bunch of beach-dwelling body-builders before bumping into the Hangman who wastes no time at all in getting on with the job of hanging him.

Elsewhere, Brother Voodoo's still learning how to be Brother Voodoo.

And it seems to involve our hero getting his hands on a magic amulet - and gaining a sidekick, into the bargain.

As we can probably guess, this issue sees the conclusion of Thomas and Smith's adaptation of Rogues in the House, with Conan having to take on a man-ape that likes to dress up as a priest.

That's followed by King Kull in action against The Night of the Red Slayers! A tale I can shed no light upon whatsoever.

The Surfer's still having a remarkable amount of trouble dealing with a man who only has one eye and no hands.

And is dead.

Admittedly, judging by that cover, if he didn't insist on firing his cosmic blasts at the ground, instead of at his foe, that might help.

The X-Men, meanwhile, are managing to get themselves into a scrap with both the Sub-Mariner and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. One that I have no doubt they will emerge from completely unscathed.

2000 AD - April 1987.

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

***

History was made on two separate occasions in April 1987.

The first occurred when the governments of Portugal and China signed an agreement for control of Macau to be returned to the latter country in 1999.

The second was when a soon-to-be legendary cartoon first appeared as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. That cartoon was, of course, Captain Pugwash.

Oh.

No.

Apparently, it was The Simpsons.

The UK singles chart greeted the month with Ferry Aid's charity cover of Let it Be at Number One before that was displaced by Madonna's La Isla Bonita and, at last, the world would be alerted to the plight of young girls with eyes like potatoes.

Over on the adjoining album chart, there was only one player in town and that was Now That's What I Call Music! 9 which spent the entire month in top spot.

But what of the cinema?

What might one find enclosed within the walls of one, were one inclined to enter one?

One might find Police Academy 4, The Secret of My Success, G.I. Joe, Extreme Prejudice and My Demon Lover because they were all released that April.

I must confess to never having seen any of them but the one I most want to watch is My Demon Lover, purely because of its title.

And then there's the galaxy's greatest comic.

It was, as so often, giving us a diet of Bad Company, Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd, Tharg's Future-Shocks, The Dead and Sláine.

On top of that, Prog 516 offered us Classic Covers of 1980, Prog 518 offered up Classic Covers of 1982, and Prog 519 served out Classic Covers 1983-1986. The astute reader will have guessed that these were reprints of classic covers from the 1980s.

Atlas/Seaboard May 1975.

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

***

Last month, the world's challengiest comics company published a magnificent thirteen titles.

Will it be equally ambitious, this month?

No.

It won't.

In fact, it'll only bring us three books.

Clearly, it's decided to concentrate on quality over quantity.

The Scorpion hits his second issue.

And does so by doing something or other.

From that cover, I'm going to guess the pulp adventurer's up against more zombies than you can shake a stick at, while the internet informs me that a voodoo witch is also involved.

That sounds like bad new for all involved.

Better news for the rest of us is the strip's still being pencilled by Howard Chaykin, and this issue's inked by the powerhouse quartet of Bernie Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Walt Simonson and Ed Davis.

The Scorpion may have reached his second issue but Atlas' most brutal barbarian of them all has reached his third!

And he's up against the Lizard King!

No, that doesn't mean he's confronting Doors frontman Jim Morrison. Instead, he's doing something that involves the death of Woogins.

I know. I can't believe it either. Woogins was my favourite comic book character of all time! And now he's gone!

But that's not all. We also witness the deaths of Marius and Manlius!

How will we ever carry on without Manlius?

Perhaps more significantly, we experience our first meeting with Ironjaw's adoptive father.

And I suspect that means we get to discover more about the past of the metal-mandibled mayhem-meister.

Devilina hits her second issue!

Unfortunately, it's also her last!

Regardless, within her 68 pages, we encounter Curse of the Ra Scarab, Vendetta, The Devil's Procuress!, The Prophesy and Night Creature. All of which, from their plot summaries on the Grand Comics Database, sound quite gruesome and unpleasant.

But that's not all we find, because the issue also takes a look at everyone's favourite new movie that's setting the box office alight; Flesh Gordon.

May 17th, 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. 

***

As we all know, Country legend Tammy Wynette achieved musical greatness in 1991 when she sang on the KLF's Justified & Ancient but she achieved immortality in a different way, this week in 1975, when her disc Stand by Your Man hit the pinnacle of the UK singles chart. It is genuinely shocking to realise that only sixteen years separate those two singles. Somehow, it feels like the vastness of eternity must lie between them.

No change, however, was to be sighted atop the UK album chart, with the Bay City Rollers retaining the supremacy they'd already seized, with their latest offering Once Upon a Star.

Spider-Man demonstrates why you should avoid him like the plague if your name rhymes with, "Stacy."

Elsewhere, Tony Stark's also in danger of losing a friend, thanks to the Mandarin having abducted the hapless Happy Hogan.

Rapid action is clearly required and, so, Stark wastes no time at all in taking time out to invent, build and test a new suit of armour before setting off to deal with the fiendish fiend. 

Speaking of fiendish fiends, Mangog's happily exercising his right to roam, and scattering the best warriors Asgard can muster, as he closes in on the fabled realm, with just one thing on his mind.

Unsheathing the gigantic Odinsword!

The Hulk's socking it to the American legal system, although I think he's still, at this point, resisting arrest at the airport and battling the finest of New York's heroes.

But be impressed by Daredevil. Not only is he in New York, fighting the Hulk, he's also trapped in the Latverian embassy, having, in his own strip, been captured by Dr Doom who's swapped bodies with him, in order to launch a sneak attack on the Fantastic Four.

And such is the genius of the villain that he doesn't even notice his brand new body is blind.

However, with the FF appearing in both the Hulk and Daredevil stories, their own strip is absent from this issue.

This is the second of only two issues of The Super-Heroes I ever owned.

I got it from W H Smiths and remember being highly taken by John Buscema's pencils in a tale that sees Mephisto decide to give super-powers to the ghost of the Flying Dutchman, in order that he can defeat the Silver Surfer.

When it comes to the X-Men, Professor X reads a news story about the Sub-Mariner and wonders if he might be a mutant. Which, I suppose he is.

Magneto also wonders the same thing and, so, the race is on to get Subby to sign up with either the X-Men of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. 

Clearly, no one's told them the Avenging Son is not what anyone would describe as a team player - but I'm sure they're about to find that out for themselves.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, Shang-Chi's about to have yet more trouble with the phansigars who are out to rob a corner shop.

Next, Yellowjacket's kidnapped the Wasp and taken her to his secret HQ in a tree. It's there that she gets to know him better before returning to the Avengers' HQ to let the rest of the gang know she's about to marry the vespidan villain.

But, as that cover makes clear, Dr Sanders is about to recruit the aid of the Sub-Mariner, in his quest to get to the bottom of what's going on with the Undying Ones and their influence over his friend Kenneth Ward.

I think this issue may be the last the world has ever seen of Apeslayer but I like to think he's still out there, somewhere, battling those mendacious monkeys to the bitter end.

Regardless, in this sensational issue, our man escapes the clutches of the Warlord and flees, with his mates, to what's left of Yankee Stadium.

There, they face a giant crab and the bionic might of the Warlord himself.

And, speaking of might, Adam Warlock's still on the High Evolutionary's asteroid and still battling to prevent the Man-Beast from wrecking Counter-Earth. For this purpose, the Evolutionary sticks a mysterious gem on his forehead. One that I'm sure will not go on to cause any problems at all in the future.

And then we get Good Lord! the short in which a bunch of astronauts from Earth inadvertently kill God, having mistaken him for an attacking monster!

I do detect one of the few issues of this mag that I actually owned.

Inside it, someone called Mr Lo is blundering around London on behalf of someone called Dr Sun.

But Drac has more to worry about than even that because, by the story's end, he's been killed by Blade!

And there's serious trouble ahead for Jack Russell because lunatic vigilante the Hangman is on the loose and it can only be a question of time before he decides it's a good idea to hang the nearest werewolf!

And finally, this issue, someone called Papa Jambo is training Jericho Drumm to become the man the world will know as Brother Voodoo!

It's one of my favourite Barry Smith Conan tales, as he and Roy Thomas show us their adaptation of Rogues in the House. A title so often mistyped as Rouges in the House.

As we all know, this sees Conan team up with a thief and a priest in an attempt to take down one of those pesky man-apes you can't move for in the Hyborean Age.

Elsewhere, King Kull's caught up in the Night of the Red Slayer!

And then we encounter a short called The Blood of the Dragon!

I know little of it but am aware that it features cameo appearances by both Gil Kane and Roy Thomas.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - May 1985.

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

***

There's nothing like a movie for bringing to life our nightmares, dreams and whatever it is that's the midway point between a nightmare and dream.

So, which nightmares and dreams were being given life during this month in 1985?

These nightmares and dreams were being brought to life: Brewster's Millions, Rambo: First Blood Part II, A View to a Kill and Fletch.

A View to a Kill is the only one of those I've ever seen. Therefore, in my time-honoured tradition of determined ignorance, I shall declare that to be my film of the month, even though it's not actually all that good and its main appeal to me rests in its theme tune.

But forget James Bond. There's nothing more exciting than a knight in shining armour, and that John Bolton cover declares that's just what's in store for us, as the Black Dragon makes his lances-shattering debut!

Just what distinguishes him from Marvel's already existing Black Knight?

I've no idea but, within this book, he gets 31 pages of metal-clad mayhem, action, thrills, spills, chivalry and deviltry.

And that's then followed by something called The John Bolton Photo Session.

I'm assuming that involves photos of John Bolton, which seems a strange thing to put in a comic about a knight but there you go.

Everyone's favourite cannibals make their Marvel mark.

And it's not even written by Michael Fleisher!

It's written by Dave Manak!

Anyway, it seems they've got trouble with the Rainbow Bridge.

Whether that brings them into conflict with Thor, I cannot say.

I suspect it doesn't.

This comic will last for fourteen issues before death claims it.

And the company's move towards attracting younger readers continues when the Get Along Gang launch themselves upon an unsuspecting world.

And Dave Manak's behind this one, as well!

I know nothing of this comic but I do know its main attraction is called The Ice Cold Mystery and features such characters as Montgomery Moose, Woolma Lamb, Dotty Dog, Portia Porcupine and Zipper Cat.

No Dave Manak in this one. Instead, Muppet Babies #1 is delivered by the typewriter of Stan Kay who weaves us a thriller which goes by the name of The Haunted Nursery. A thriller wherewithin our heroes discover that a secret door connects their nursery to a haunted castle inhabited by a monster who turns out to also be a baby!

To be honest, if I were a young child, every single thing in that plot description would traumatise me.

The future star of Hollywood gets his very own limited series!

I know nothing of the tale inside, other than that it's called Animal Crackers and is the brainchild of no lesser talents than Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola.

I'm assuming this is Marvel's answer to Richie Rich.

But what's this? Artist Warren Kremer seems to have been involved in the creation of both Richie Rich and Royal Roy?

Whatever the character's antecedents, this issue mostly concerns itself with The Mystery of the Missing Crown in which the king of Cashelot discovers that one of his crowns is missing!

We also encounter a 6-page adventure in which Roy and his crocodile Gummy catch two poachers on his royal estate.

I feel like I'm going to find Roy a tough character to relate to.

And yet another new mag hits our local shops.

In this one, Peter, Jonah and a trio of interns visit a strange island where planes have been disappearing.

But the gang soon fall into the hands of Ducktor Doom who's using those he captures to film a rock video that'll make him rich.

It may all sound like a living nightmare but, fortunately, Spider-Ham's on hand to save us all!

John J Muth's stylish cover lets us know Moonshadow is back for a second issue.

Tragically, I can reveal nothing of this month's contents, other than that they go by the name of A Very Uncomfortable Thing.

Can it be?

Can the Thing really be quitting the Fantastic Four?

Well, yes, he can. Especially as he quit the team several months ago, back when this series began.

Regardless, this issue's episode is titled Remembrances and I assume there'll be much soul-searching, agonising and mulling over the fact that Johnny Storm's now dating Alicia.

That's a very dramatic cover from M D Bright.

But, sadly, I can't reveal whether the insides are equally as potent, as I've never seen them.

I do know, though, that this May's masterpiece is labelled The French Spaceman which makes me wonder if we're going to see Batroc, Radion or the Grey Gargoyle, as I believe all of them are French.

Granted, none of them are spacemen but I don't know of any French Marvel characters who double up as spacemen.