December 6th, 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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It's like a living nightmare. Of this week's comics, I only had Planet of the Apes.

Will I let that put me off talking about what was in the rest of them?

Of course I won't.

When it comes to the Inhumans, Black Bolt still has amnesia and is now in San Francisco, getting caught up in a civil rights protest.

Prince Namor defeats Warlord Krang, saves Lady Dorma and reclaims the throne of Atlantis.

Only for it to be hit by an earthquake.

Nick Fury has plenty on his hands when Hydra decides to set off a massive bomb!

It's World War Two and Captain America and Bucky must spend a night in Greymoor Castle. A place in which I believe German spies to be operating.

And tragedy strikes Captain Marvel, when his beloved Una dies.

But he barely has time to mourn her before a being called Zo decides to give him a whole new bunch of super-powers!

The Avengers are up against Arkon who still has the Scarlet Witch captive.

And, if that cover blurb's to believed, Conan's up against the Devil-Bats of Nergal!

From that, I can only assume, he's having to survive an adaptation of Robert E Howard's The Hand of Nergal.

Sadly, I am having trouble recalling just what that tale actually involves.

And Dr Strange is, at last, battling Shuma-Gorath who I think has just burst out of the Ancient One's brain!

Dracula, looking like he's about to hit the world's biggest chord on his piano - just before discovering he's forgotten to bring his piano.

But, inside, he has better things on his mind, as he must escape a room that's rapidly filling with water - and then try to find the statuette that everyone's been going on about for the past few issues.

And the Werewolf by Night?

It seems his search for a cure is about to lead him into conflict with a mild-mannered scientist who accidentally drinks a formula that turns him into a Mr Hyde knock-off called DePrayve.

Meanwhile, the Living Mummy and friends encounter a bunch of the Elementals' lackeys on the streets of Cairo.

This week's thrilling instalment of Escape from the Planet of the Apes is called When the Calliope Cries Death.

What that title has to do with Escape from the Planet of the Apes, I have no idea.

Then again, perhaps it means this is the week in which the chimps are introduced to Ricardo Montalban's circus.

In his strip, Ka-Zar bumps into both the Man-Thing and agents of AIM.

And I do believe it means we experience that weird gear shift in which the art switches from being by John Buscema to being by Neal Adams and back again, with Adams' artwork suffering from some of the heaviest, scratchiest, awkwardest, obscuringest, inking I've ever seen.

Meanwhile, the Black Panther confronts his would-be usurper Erik Killmonger, at a waterfall, and gets flung off it.

This is the issue in which we get to see Gog beat up a tyrannosaurus but, also, the one in which we get to see him drown in quicksand.

I can't help feeling that's not really a happy ending.

Still, the good news is that it, at least, foils Kraven's plan to do whatever it is he was planning to do.

Next, the Unicorn's out to wreck a science convention, for reasons that escape me. And that can only mean it's a job for Iron Man.

Following that, Thor and the Warriors Three are failing to stop Thermal Man's rampage around New York.

But, fortunately for mankind, the Communist party of China is about to come to the rescue!

With a great big bomb!

Don't look now but it's Aquon!

Half man.

Half fish.

Half witted.

And all hissy

Yes, the Captain Omen drama rolls on, as the Hulk's recruited by Omen's crew, in the hope he can help them overthrow the ageing tyrant.

But, first, there's Aquon to be dealt with.

And a room full of water.

Elsewhere, Daredevil's still trying to prevent Starr Saxon's robot from killing Biggie Benson.

And still making a terrible job of it.

Never mind. There are always other people around to sort that kind of mess out.

And the Fantastic Four shrink themselves down to sub-atomic size, as they search the Microverse for the Silver Surfer.

But we get an extra treat, this week, thanks to a short tale titled Spell of the Sea Witch in which a bank robber's flight from justice leads him to encounter the ghosts of pirates.

Or does it?

It looks like it might be curtains for Giant-Man when the Porcupine discovers where he lives!

But, then, the prickly pilchard does a Stilt-Man and accidentally shrinks himself to sub-atomic size!

Which does make me wonder if he bumps into the Silver Surfer while he's down there.

Elsewhere, the Cat and Spider-Man are battling the Man-Killer whose mind snaps when she discovers she's, unknowingly, been working for a bunch of men!

And the X-Men must overcome a Count Nefaria who's assembled a crack team of villains that includes such heavyweights as the Scarecrow, Plantman, the Eel and Porcupine!

Clearly, if you're a fan of the Porcupine, this is the issue for you.