Forty years ago today - November 1985.

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

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1985.

November.

Let's see what it's got to throw at us.

I do believe the Avengers - with able assist from the Skrulls and the Beyonder - finally manage to bring an end to Nebula's interplanetary reign of piracy.

However, that occasion does see the departure of Starfox who's been reminded, by it all, that there's a universe out there to explore.

There's not a pterodactyl safe when Conan's around.

But, come to think of it, does this story even involve a pterodactyl? I believe it involves a cult leader who cynically exploits his followers, and a whole bucketful of rain.

Oh, the veritable meta of it all. Steve Rogers only goes and gets a job at Marvel Comics, drawing the adventures of...  ...Captain America!

But, through that act, he becomes aware of a letter to the editor which claims there's something strange going on in a barn.

Needless to say, Captain America's not the type to ignore a strange barn and, so, he goes there.

Only to find it's guarded by the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android!

It's going to be a hot night for the man without fear, as a small-time crook accidentally gets his hands on Sunturion's suit of armour and sets out to bump off his old gangland boss.

Needless to say, our hero is more than up to the task of stopping him, with a climax that suggests to me that Sunturion was always intended to be Marvel's answer to DC's ERG-1/Wildfire.

Will the drama never end? In a sub-atomic realm, the Fantastic Four are helpless prisoners of the Psycho-Man who's keeping them harmless, with his emotion-controlling devices.

But they may be able to find a little help from a princess they've not seen in a long time...

Also, this is the issue in which Sue Storm stops calling herself the Invisible Girl and officially becomes the Invisible Woman!

That's a very Alex Nino-esque cover from Mike Mignola.

Inside, at an alien crossroads, the Hulk's body, now separated from Bruce Banner's spirit, is possessed by the soul of Walter Langkowski who I think used to be Sasquatch but is currently deceased.

And that all leads to the Hulk being brought back to Earth, by Alpha-Flight!

Spider-Man's managed to arouse the wrath of the normally even-tempered Firelord and must find a way to survive the issue.

But, as that cover makes clear, he not only survives, he thrives!

Then again, we already knew that because we saw the climax of this fight in last month's Avengers comic.

The wall-crawler's quest to bring Jean DeWolff's murderer to justice leads him into conflict with the Sin-Eater who's also killed a judge friend of Matt Murdock.

Our hero, however, finds the villain's not so easy to contain when there are innocent onlookers getting in the way.

Thor and his army descend upon Hel in a bid to liberate those who don't belong there.

But it's not long before he and his army begin to get distracted by the shades of those they care about.

And then Hela shows up and tears Thor's face off.

Tony Stark finally has his big showdown with Obadiah Stane who's got himself a suit of armour and is now calling himself Iron Monger.

Seriously, that's what he's calling himself.

With super-villain instincts that bad, it's no wonder it doesn't take Stark long to completely clobber him.

As that cover suggests, Rachel Summers decides to become the Phoenix, for reasons that completely elude me.

But there are other concerns, as well, because no sooner has he reformed and joined the X-Men than Magneto gets arrested by the government!