The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1975.

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

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August 1975 didn't see the release of a million films of note or distinction but it did witness the unleashing of Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Land That Time Forgot and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, all of which are memorable in their own sweet way.

As for which is best, I'm tempted to nominate The Land That Time Forgot as my Movie of the Month - purely because I'll watch anything that has monsters and Doug McClure in it - but I must confess that Picnic at Hanging Rock is clearly a classier film and has Neighbours' Mrs Mangel in it, and the presence of that icon alone is enough to make any film a classic in my books.

History is made, as Marvel's answer to Batman arrives and takes the chance to cause trouble when he's hired, by The Committee, to capture everyone's favourite werewolf!

We all like to see super-villains team up before turning against and betraying each other.

And, now, we've got the chance to see it every two months, as a brand new book arrives to set our spinner racks a-spin.

It looks like Subby has his work more than cut out for him when he has to deal with not only Dr Doom but also Attuma and Tiger Shark! Not to mention the diabolical Dr Dorcas!

And another new title hits our shelves, with the arrival of Skull the Slayer!

I'm not totally sure why we need another battler of dinosaurs, when the company already has Ka-Zar to fill that role but here he is.

In this phenomenal first issue, military type Jim Scully and friends get lost in the Bermuda Triangle and find themselves in a bizarre realm populated by prehistoric monsters and futuristic aliens.

At least, I think he does. That's how I remember it, anyway.

I can predict this book will run for a sensational eight issues.

Speaking of men fighting dinosaurs, everybody's favourite barbarian gets to do just that when he gets to show a T-rex who's boss, thanks to the Machiavellian malarkey of yet another sinister sorcerer. I think this may be the story that introduced me to the word, "ziggurat."

Not only that but we get a look at The Gods of the Hyborian Age, Part II: Crom and Mitra: Gods to Swear By.

Then, there's Lin Carter's The King Is Dead - Part IV of Chronicles of the Sword: An Informal History of Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction.

That's followed by Robert E Howard's cheery Lines Written in the Realization That I Must Die.

And we finish off with Roy Thomas' adaptation of REH's essay The Hyborian Age, Chapter 1: The Pre-Cataclysmic Age.

But, of course, the real reason for buying this issue is Boris Vallejo's never-to-be-forgotten cover.

It's a day out for Adam Warlock that we'll never forget, as he finds himself on a world populated entirely by clowns.

Clowns who bear a strange resemblance to our favourite comics creators, as Jim Starlin decides to bite the hand that needs him.

The Invaders get their very own mag and immediately start as they mean to go on, by smashing it to the Nazis.

To do that, they head for Berlin, in search of a villain called Brain Drain!

I do believe this is the first appearance of Marvel's Scarecrow.

I know little of the character and I know less of this story but I do know he likes to pop out of a painting and he does just that, this month, in order to battle an evil cult.

This, however, is the last issue of Dead of Night, which means he'll have to pop out of any future paintings somewhere else.

You've seen the film. You've read the books. Now experience the magazine when Marvel gives us its take on the Man of Bronze and entices us in with a Roger Kastel cover.

In this issue's 52-page main story, Doc and we encounter The Doom on Thunder Isle!

And There's a look at George Pal: The Man Who Shot Doc Savage!