August 9th, 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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You can't accuse the British public of not being cosmopolitan. After all, this week in 1975, it fully embraced the genuine and authentic sound of the Caribbean by propelling Totally Tropical's Barbados to the very peak of the UK singles chart.

Over on the album rankings, things were as they had been the week before, with the Carpenters ruling the roost, thanks to their latest LP Horizon.

I must confess Barbados isn't one of my favourite reggae tracks of all time. However, tracks I did approve of on that week's chart included:

Give a Little Love - the Bay City Rollers

If You Think You Know how To Love Me - Smokie

Jive Talkin' - the Bee Gees

The Last Farewell - Roger Whittaker

Misty - Ray Stevens

Fame - David Bowie

That's the Way (I Like It) - KC and The Sunshine Band

and

I'm Not In Love - 10cc.

Should you wish to investigate the matter further, that week's UK singles chart can be found here.

While its accompanying LP chart dwells within.

As for me, it's August 1975!

I'm on holiday - in Blackpool!

Quatermass and Tarzan are on TV!

Comics by a brand new publisher called Atlas are everywhere!

Ray Stevens' cover of Misty is on the sound system in the big Woolworths by the Tower!

Spaceships of Ezekiel by Josef F Blumrich is for sale in the smaller Woolworths that's not by the Tower - and proving that it is possible to write a boring book about ancient astronauts!

Elsewhere, in the window of Ripleys' Believe It Or Not, a giant tap floats in mid-air, as an endless stream of water flows from it.

Those are delights enough for any man. What can even Marvel UK possibly hope to add to them?

Spider-Man's campaign against drug abuse continues.

But, because things are never easy for him, he also has to contend with the return of the Green Goblin!

Elsewhere, Iron Man succeeds in defeating Titanium Man and then guides Half-Face away from the path of Communist evil!

And I do believe that Thor somehow manages to defeat Galactus and convinces Ego to let a load of space refugees live on him.

Despite what's claimed on the cover blurb, I have a strong suspicion that, this week, Conan is, in fact, on his way to inadvertently encounter a big frog monster at some standing stones while the siege of Makkalet continues without him.

Meanwhile, someone's turning the Avengers Mansion defences against its inhabitants. Who can that someone be?

And just where has the Vision vanished to?

And why has Ultron just smashed his way up through the floorboards while claiming to be indestructible?

Meanwhile, after several weeks' absence, Shang-Chi's returned to this comic and is confronting Razor-Fist, the man with two huge blades where his hands should be. A set-up which does seem a trifle impractical when it comes to performing day-to-day tasks.

Thrills are piled upon spills when the Defenders travel to Rutland, Vermont, to prevent a cult from unleashing Dormammu upon our world!

After that, I think we may be getting the story in which the Jester "murders" himself and lumbers Daredevil with the blame for the death!

And I believe we reach the conclusion of the Fantastic Four's first encounter with Psycho-Man. Although - as far as I can remember - of that quartet, only the Thing and Human Torch show up for the fight.

Fortunately, the Black Panther and Inhumans are also on hand to help introduce the villain to the five knuckles of justice.

When Brent refuses to help the human mutants battle the apes, his captors use threats against Nova to make him cooperate. And now we get the reveal of just what those captors truly look like!

But the big news is that, The Day of the Triffids having been wrapped up, a brand new series is launched. One in which, sent to Earth to infiltrate humanity on behalf of his Kree masters, Marvel's Captain Marvel makes his space-hopping UK debut!

I remember reading this issue on a bench somewhere near Lewis's department store. As a child, I thought Lewis's department stores were owned by Jerry Lewis. Reader, to the shock of everyone, it turned out I was wrong.

Dracula's got his work cut out for him because he must put up with people firing wooden bullets at him, from a helicopter - and must brace himself for The Coming of Doctor Sun!

Jack Russell's got problems too because not only is his sister worried that she's also going to become a werewolf upon her eighteenth birthday, there are also schemes afoot from Baron Thunder who wants to set a stone monster on our hero.

And, now that Marvel have run out of Frankenstein stories, it's time for him to be replaced, in the comic, by the Living Mummy.

Quite what that character gets up to, this week, I'm not sure but I'm assuming we're going to get some sort of origin tale for him.

It's not just Planet of the Apes that's debuting a new strip, this week. So is The Super-Heroes - and it does so when Doc Savage shows up!

But, first, someone called Yarro Gort is helping to prop up a dictatorship but Shalla-Bal gets injured and the Surfer's forced to send her back to Zenn-La, without him.

Next, the aforementioned man of bronze encounters The Doom on Thunder Isle!

And the X-Men visit the Antarctic, for reasons I'm not totally sure about, where they encounter a man called Ka-Zar.