Forty years ago today - September 1985.

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

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Let us fling ourselves, once more, into the turgid maelstrom that is our days of yore.

Will this mad perfidy never end? Much to the horror of his friends - and Sif -  Lorelei's used her magic to take control of Thor's mind and get him to swear loyalty to Loki as ruler of Asgard!

Clearly, there's only one person who can do anything to sort this mess out.

And that's Lorelei's big sister; the Enchantress.

The FF aren't happy with Psycho-Man and his recent activities. And, so, they set off to Sub-Atomica to give him the smack in the gob he's been asking for.

The only problem is that, when they find him, he's about ten times their size!

It's a turn-up for the books when Arcade recruits Kitty and Colossus in a bid to prevent Dr Doom from killing him.

But is everything as it seems?

Given that it's Arcade - and Dr Doom is allegedly dead - I think we can take it for granted that nothing is as it seems.

Sadly, I can't recall in what way it isn't as it seems.

Also, robot replicas of the X-Men are involved.

Maybe a robot Dr Doom is also involved.

Maybe a robot Arcade is also involved.

Maybe a robot Kitty and Colossus are also involved.

Maybe I'm a robot too.

I'm too confused to remember.

A tale of non-start thrills concludes, as Spider-Man and the Wasp unite to bring justice to a bunch of criminals who've done something or other in relation to killing union leaders.

Paladin's there too but doesn't seem to be able to make up his mind whose side he's on or whether he's a good guy or a bad guy.

History's made, as Bruce Banner reappears after an absence from the strip of what seems like several billion years.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he's going to live long enough to enjoy it.

As far as I can remember, on an alien world, he encounters a brilliant Earth scientist who's taken over the planet and keeps draining its inhabitants of all blood in an attempt to achieve immortality.

Needless to say, Bruce is having none of that nonsense.

And neither is Hulkie-Pops.

Cap takes a backseat when Nomad sets out to bring Madcap to justice. A bid that requires he first makes friends with the unhinged villain and, effectively, become his flatmate.

Deep in the depths of space, Nebula and her crew of pirates are causing so much trouble that the Avengers find themselves having to team up with the Skrulls in a bid to tackle them.

Matt Murdock's female friends are never anything but a burden to him. And, so, when Glorianna O'Breen is kidnapped by refugees from Deliverance, Daredevil and the Black Widow must enter the swamps of somewhere or other to get her back.

As far as I can remember, both DD and Widdy spend the entire issue complaining they don't know how to operate in a swamp and could be killed at any moment by absolutely anything and everything. Which, given their talents, seems a little unlikely.

It's yet more trouble for Conan when he and his friends are attacked by a gang of orphaned children who they, inevitably, then decide to help.

Somehow, this all climaxes with a bunch of people being hanged by someone for something.

Nothing but chaos can come of it when the Beyonder turns a skyscraper into solid gold, and the Kingpin decides he wants his share of it, while the authorities are determined to cover it up in an attempt to prevent the global price of gold from collapsing and causing a worldwide economic crisis.

Needless to say, only Spider-Man can prevent the rotund rapscallion from carrying out his epic heist.

Infamy piles upon infamy when Madame Masque returns and promptly allies herself with Obadiah Stane who's kidnapped Bethany Cabe and sent a big flying machine thing to kill Iron Man!

According to the cover, we also get the untold origin of Obadiah Stane but I have no memory of it. So, I must conclude it can't quite be up there with the origin of Dr Doom.