April 24th, 1976 - 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 was starting to look like nothing could dislodge the Brotherhood of Man from the top of the UK singles chart, this week in 1976, as their Eurovision-winning ditty Save Your Kisses for Me continued to see off all challenges - even that of ABBA's Fernando!

But there was change atop the corresponding LP chart, as a new record smashed straight in at Number One, in the form of Presence by Led Zeppelin.

That cover is a salutary warning to us all to never trust evil children who have gigantic heads, flying chairs and super-powers.

It's a warning I shall make sure to heed at all times.

When it comes to Conan, I do believe the scrapping Cimmerian finds himself up against The Fiend from the Forgotten City.

It certainly is forgotten. I have no memory of it at all. Nor of the tale that contains it.

Then, the Avengers are on an alternate Earth and having to battle Brain-Child in the thriller that Watchmen could only dream of being.

Back on our own world, Iron Fist is gone from the mag but Shang-Chi returns.

And does so in an adventure in which the master of the martial arts finds himself on a boat leaving Marseilles, with various other passengers, including a mysterious blind woman.

And, in World War One, the Phantom Eagle must prevent German airships from attacking the United States!

As far as I'm aware, in Ape City, while Jason and Alexander are off somewhere else, Brutus kills an ape called Xavier and the locals immediately assume he must have been killed by rebellious humans.

I suspect this can only lead to trouble for everyone.

In Ka-Zar's strip, Maa-Gor the ape-man has a spot of luck when he wanders into some mist and emerges from it, transformed into a super-intelligent being who instantly demonstrates his smarts by recruiting the services of the man called El Tigre!

And Venomm's snakes are on the brink of killing the Black Panther, before Taku talks their master out of it, with a philosophical debate about the value of revolutions.

Dracula's still causing trouble in the New World, while a horror writer promises his editor that he's going to get an interview with an actual vampire.

But what's this?

There's no Werewolf by Night in this issue?

Instead, we get the first appearance of the Ghost Rider?

And that means we get his origin.

And that means stunts, pacts and Satan.

And the Man-Thing finds himself in a strange world in which warriors from different eras must fight each other, for reasons that are not altogether clear.

It's the big one for all lovers of politics because, at last, the true identity of the Disruptor is revealed!

And it turns out he's exactly who we all thought he was.

Elsewhere, Umar the Unstoppable attacks Dr Strange, and Dormammu emerges from a big crack in the ground, planning to attack our lovely planet.

That's followed by a tale called Iron Man and Iron Man! I'm going to assume that's another of those tales in which the armoured Avenger must fight an inferior version of himself.

Well, there may be two Iron Men but Marvel's most inescapable character, right now, is the Ghost Rider who, this week, manages to be in not one but three Marvel UK books. He turns up in this one, courtesy of a team-up with the Thing and a tale called Christmas Eve Panic! In which I'm assuming the pair are still trying to bring a halt to the latest activities of the Miracle Man.

Meanwhile, Thor and Loki have switched bodies and, with his usual genius, Odin, unaware of this fact, banishes our hero to the realm of Mephisto!

But the bigger news is that Jack Kirby is gone from the strip and Neal Adams has arrived.

As that cover makes clear, the Hulk is back in the Great Refuge. However, the Inhumans have built a rocket to take them to Counter-Earth where, for some reason, they think they'll be happier.

But the Hulk?

And a space rocket?

In the same story?

With his reputation?

I think we all know how that's going to go.

And what drama hits us when it comes to the man without fear. Not only does he defeat Death's Head but, at the denouement, our hero reveals to Karen Page that he is, in fact, Matt Murdock.

Thank God that decision will never come back to haunt him.

And then we get even more of the Inhumans, as the Fantastic Four and their Himalayan allies derail Maximus the Mad and his plan to control everybody's minds.

But, hold on. Something odd is about to happen...

...and it does because, no sooner have they left the Great Refuge than the FF find themselves simultaneously teleported into The Titans where they'll have to deal with Dr Doom and his recreation of the Prisoner TV show!

More importantly, this issue also marks the return of this book to my local newsagents, meaning I'll miss none of the FF's adventures!

After that, the Super-Skrull tricks the Thing into a potential fight with Captain Marvel, as we discover just who that villain's employer is.

Captain America, meanwhile, has a big PR problem when the leader of a gang of crooks takes to wearing a replica of his costume during heists, thus causing everyone to think the hero's gone bad!

Subby manages to prevent a war between Atlantis and the surface world but it leads to his people thinking he's dead.

And, in Nick Fury's strip, the authorities still seem not to have realised that AIM and Them are the same organisation.