July 12th, 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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Has any man ever been drowned by a water bed?

More to the point, has any man ever been drowned by a pillow?

If there's one man who has, it's probably Johnny Nash.

That's because no man's pillow is more drenched in tears than his.

You guessed it, this is my way of building up to announcing that, this week in 1975, the man himself hit the top of the UK singles chart, thanks to his smash hit Tears On My Pillow.

Over on the parallel album chart, top spot was retained by none other than the Carpenters and their platter that shattered; Horizon.

Tears On My Pillow is an appealing song but there were other tracks I also approved of on that week's UK Hit Parade. Among them were:

Misty - Ray Stevens

I'm Not in Love - 10cc

Give a Little Love - the Bay City Rollers

Whispering Grass - Windsor Davies and Don Estelle

Listen to What the Man Said - Wings

and

Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John.

Should one wish to peruse the matter in greater depth, that UK singles chart can be found here.

While the adjacent LP rankings dwell herewithin.

Now what's Spidey supposed to do? While he's been pining over Gwen Stacy, the Beetle's only gone and kidnapped Aunt May!

I suggest that what he can do is fling the villain into a swimming pool and hope Aunt May doesn't decide to get engaged to him.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark has plenty to worry about, as well, because the Crusher intends to live up to his name when it comes to how he deals with Iron Man.

Not only that but Happy and Pepper have decided to get married!

To each other!

And I do believe this may be the issue in which Don Blake discovers he never existed and Odin just made him up, to teach Thor a lesson!

Can it be true?

Yes it can!

Because you The Reader demanded it, Conan's book's been cancelled!

And merged with The Avengers!

Granted, that might not be quite what's happened but I'm sure that's how it'll be marketed by a cunning editor.

Needless to say, as someone who never got his hands on a single issue of the weekly Conan comic, this is good news for 11-year-old-me, as it means I can now get a weekly fix of Barry Smith's artwork, on top of all the other treasures this publication can offer.

And the issue kicks off in fine style with Conan on a ship, prepping for the siege of Makkalet in which a bid shall be made to steal back the Living Tarim from its denizens.

Elsewhere, the Avengers are in space, with gangster Barney Barton, looking to bring the knuckles of justice to the faces of Egghead, the Mad Thinker and Puppet Master. One of these characters will be dead by the end of this tale.

And I think we can guess which one.

Even more elsewhere, Shang-Chi's sister's trying to get her brother to join forces with her in her vendetta against their father.

Needless to say, our hero's having none of it.

Its all great stuff, of course but I suppose we should stop to reflect upon the fact that it's the first time Marvel UK's suffered the indignity of having to merge two comics because of poor sales.

Could it be that dark clouds are beginning to lurk upon the horizon?

"Don't count on it, Baldy!"? Are they sure the Hulk now has the mind of Bruce Banner? I don't recall the scientist ever talking like that.

I do, however, believe this signals the not-so-brutish brute is back in the land of Jarella and, possibly, heading for a showdown with himself.

Alicia's finally got to meet the cocoon that contains a being so awesome he can only be referred to as Him!

And the Fantastic Four are finally on the way to doing something about it.

And it's bad news for us all when a brand new villain enters the life of Daredevil

And that villain's called the Jester.

And his main weapon is a yo-yo.

And he bears no spiritual resemblance at all to any villains Batman may have ever encountered.

It's the clash that had to happen, when the lord of vampires meets Marvel's premier werewolf!

And all sorts of stuff's going off in the strip that belongs to Frankenstein's Monster but I don't know just what.

I do know, though, that it involves the criminal organisation ICON and a big robot called the Berserker!

Despite what that cover claims, this is an issue in which Brent manages to flee Ape City, not one in which he forces his way into it

It's also the instalment in which he finally discovers he's still on Earth, thanks to finding himself in the underground ruins of somewhere famous in New York that featured in Hello Dolly.

On the same planet but in the distant past, Sinbad finally completes his mission to defeat Tom Baker and restore a Vizier to full facial health. 

Adam Warlock, meanwhile, is still battling the evil New-Man Apollo who's now revealed himself to be a giant, talking warthog!

A beautiful but curiously undramatic John Buscema cover greets us and I believe it heralds the tale in which the Surfer finally manages to find a way through Galactus' space barrier...

...only to discover he's in the future and the universe has been completely ravaged by a charmer called The Overlord.

Following that, the X-Men have a scrap on their hands when their mansion is invaded by the Juggernaut!

Faced with a crisis like this, it seems they're going to need help from the Human Torch!