Forty years ago today - June 1986.

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

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Can our collective sanity survive whatever it is Marvel's finest can throw at us, this month?

There's only one way to find out.

Our hero causes nothing but trouble when the clanking clod agrees to put a satellite in orbit.

Only for it to turn out to be the property of AIM who promptly use it to start blasting places to oblivion, using its great big death-ray.

The cover tale's a strange one from Charles Vess. One that's so strange I can't remember much of what it's about but I do believe the wall-crawler must rescue a child from criminals, on a snowy day, while there's some sort of stuff going on with an imaginary Wendigo.

Or maybe it's not imaginary.

Or maybe it is.

However, that's the second of this issue's adventures. I suspect the first one sees Spidey decide to threaten the Kingpin over his destructive interference in the life of Matt Murdock. 

After months of build-up, the unstoppable Imhotep - Ravager of Worlds - finally shows up.

And Conan beats him up, like he beats everybody up.

Drama flows unbounded when Ben Urich writes an exposé of the Kingpin, only for his wife to almost die because of it.

Elsewhere, the star of the comic must tackle one of the Kingpin's goons who's taken to committing crimes while dressed as the man without fear.

It's all slam-bang action when the Avengers battle Kang's lackeys - including suicidal Dire Wraiths - as one Kang plots to destroy all the other Kangs.

The Blue Streak is back with a new costume and equipment. But that doesn't save him from getting offed by the mysterious vigilante Scourge.

For the eighty-five billionth issue running, Doc Samson's battling the mindless Hulk wherever the mindless Hulk might go.

However, Bruce and Betty leave for their honeymoon, with Bruce being misled into thinking everything's all quiet on the Hulk front.

For once, when things keep going wrong for Spider-Man, he doesn't blame the old Parker luck.

Instead, he drops in on Dr Strange who tells him he's suffering from repeated contact with the Black Cat's jinx powers.

So, Strange removes the jinx from Spider-Man - but that eliminates the Black Cat's powers just when she needs them most.

It's an odd turn of events, as the X-Men, busy minding their own business, are attacked by the so-called Freedom Force who are out to arrest them for something or other.

Fortunately, the police come to their rescue and send the bad guys packing.

A front cover homage to Action Comics #1 tells us we're in the past.

But are we going to stay there?

After all, the FF and Nick Fury find themselves repeatedly oscillating between the 1930s and the present.

And Fury takes the opportunity to fly to Germany, in a bid to kill Hitler!

Well, that's a swizz. Last month, Balder was killed by Kurse.

And, this month, it turns out the victim wasn't Balder at all.

It was Malekith!

Disguised as him!

So, Thor sets off to find the real Balder. A quest that leads him to a floating castle and a trio of damsels in distress.

But are those damsels as innocent as they seem?

And just what have they done with Balder?