The Marvel Lucky Bag - September 1985.

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

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Cinema. What a thing it is.

Granted, it wasn't too much of a thing in September 1985. After all, there weren't too many high-profile movies released that month but it did, at least, see the unveiling of such experiences as After Hours, Death of a Salesman, Plenty, Agnes of God and Invasion U.S.A.

Of those, After Hours is the only one I've ever seen, and that was so long ago that I have almost no recollection of it and tend to get it mixed up, in my mind, with Desperately Seeking Susan.

Meanwhile...

...Marvel Fanfare's back to thrill, delight and enchant us.

And, this month, its thrilling, delighting and enchanting us with a tale of something or other.

Whatever that something or other is, it clearly involves Dr Octopus, the Grey Gargoyle, Electro and the Sandman.

And, judging by that cover, I'm going to guess they're out to gang up on poor old Iron Man.

I'm also going to guess it's the Rhodey version of Iron Man they're ganging up on and not the Tony Stark one.

But what's this? We also receive seven pages of pin-ups of our favourite Marvel heroes?

How many times has the Squadron Supreme guest-starred in the comics of others?

But, now, at last, it has its very own vehicle. One in which the team decides it needs to seize control of the Government if it's to resolve all of humanity's problems. Which does, I must confess, seem like a Squadron Supreme kind of thing to do.

However, there's always one dissenter in any group and so strongly does Nighthawk disagree with the idea, that he goes right ahead and quits.

After just six, monthly, issues, Web of Spider-Man receives its first annual and plants our hero in a 37-page epic labelled Give Me a Hand, Future Max!

What all that involves, I've no idea but, apparently, this tale introduces us all to someone called Future Max. A feat for which I'm sure we're all grateful.

And, now, refusing to let Conan and Kull steal the limelight any longer, Solomon Kane gets his very own comic!

And it's another one about which I'm woefully ignorant. But I do know the story's called Red Shadows and is adapted from the story of the same name by Robert E Howard.

Secret Wars II hits its third issue - and does so with a dramatic cover which heralds a drama in which the Beyonder follows in the footsteps of the Fantastic Four's Infant Terrible and falls under the influence of a mob boss.

However, he goes far further with it than that juvenile alien did - by taking over the Kingpin's operations, the United States and then the whole world!

Anyway, he quickly gets bored with that and decides to have a chat with Daredevil instead.

Bret Blevins produces a cover you have to love, for an issue that presents us with such things as a French explorer getting lost in Africa, peasant resistance to Genghis Khan, a gypsy encountering Napoleonic forces, and barnstorming in the early days of aviation. On top of that, there's a multitude of pin-ups.

I've no knowledge of the contents of this one, other than to be able to reveal it's the brainchild of Alan Zelenetz and Chris Warner and is called A Madness of Dreams!

A brand-new hero enters our lives, as the perma-lucky Longshot leaps through a portal and arrives on Earth, with no memory of who he is or whence he originated.

Fortunately, he's befriended by the dog-like creature called Magog and a human survivalist called Eliot. 

If that cover's to be believed; this issue, the Defenders gain the assistance of Sgt Fury and his Howlin' Commandos.

However, I'm not sure that cover is to be believed and that it's not, instead, an illusion they find themselves encountering.