Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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What was occurring in this week of exactly fifty years ago?
This was occurring.
The UK's legendary heat wave peaked with a temperature of 35.9 °C (96.6 °F) in Cheltenham.
Possibly not connected with that was that, suddenly, you couldn't move for punk bands. Not only did the Clash play their first gig, opening for the Sex Pistols in Sheffield, but the Damned played their first gig too, opening for the Sex Pistols in London.
Elsewhere, but perhaps not as anarchically, David Steel was elected leader of the UK's Liberal Party.
And, on the UK singles chart, the Real Thing held onto their Number One spot, thanks to You to Me Are Everything.
While the accompanying album chart saw a brand new Number One, thanks to Rod Stewart's A Night on the Town.
Just two issues of The Avengers to go before the book's cancellation but there's still no rest for Conan the Barbarian, as he encounters yet another Lovecraftian horror from beyond the other side of sanity, thanks to a drama titled ...In the Dark Valley Waits...Death!
Thanks to H Warren Craddock and his fixation on alien threats, the Avengers find themselves caught up in a Trial of Terror!
And Shang-Chi must endure a ...Death Duel with Darkstrider!
Jason, Alexander, Malagueña and oddball inventor Lightsmith find a perfect hiding place - inside a nostril on Mount Rushmore.
Brutus the gorilla, meanwhile, is preparing an attack on the base of the Inheritors!
Back in the present day world, Dracula destroys Doctor Sun and regains his full powers but that's not enough for Blade who demands the vampire help him find the fiend who killed his mother.
And, then, it's time to strap ourselves in as we encounter a tale we'll never forget when the Man-Thing is blundering around in the swamp and encounters the corpse of a suicidal clown...
And Ka-Zar's search for the missing Zabu leads him to a city whose fanatical cult has enslaved its own people!
It's a landmark issue, all right, as the Punisher makes his shoot-first-ask-questions-later debut.
And I believe that means the Jackal also makes his first appearance.
But what's this? A brand new strip has materialised in the mag?
It certainly has because none other than Moon Knight himself tries to stop someone called the Conquer-Lord from assassinating the mayor of somewhere or other!
When it comes to the mag's old stagers, Iron Man has double trouble on his hands when the Red Ghost revives the Unicorn and ups his power levels in a bid to destroy our hero.
Thor travels to the World Beyond, in search of Odin who continues to engage in combat with the mysterious Infinity.
Meanwhile, Bashful Benjy visits an Arizona ghost town where he bumps into the Son of Satan and they discover they must battle the ghost of the town's founder.
And Dr Strange confronts the Ancient One - and the masked Dr Strange - while Baron Mordo gains control of the Aged Genghis!
The Hulk's latest Canadian adventure continues, as a young woman bids to save her brother by transferring the curse of the Wendigo onto the brute, via the use of magic.
However, not all goes to plan when a certain claw-possessing troublemaker of Canadian origin appears in the final panel, and comic book history will never be the same again!
Back in New York, it would appear that Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson set out to assess the sanity of the imprisoned Gladiator who, inevitably, sets out to escape!
And I do believe the X-Men are prisoners of Magneto. A fact that leads to an escape bid by the Angel which leads to him bumping into an island inhabited by the mysterious Red Raven!
A brand new villain appears in the life of the Fantastic Four, as the Monocle sets out to start World War III by killing delegates at the United Nations.
And he's going to use his deadly camera to do it!
Subby has problems of his own when Doctor Dorcas transforms Olympic swimmer Todd Arliss into the villainous Tiger Shark. A foe who quickly defeats a weakened Namor before abducting Lady Dorma. Surely the most abducted woman in history. Even ahead of Sue Storm.
In the jungles of Wakanda, Captain America joins forces with the Black Panther to try and thwart Baron Zemo's latest - satellite based - wheeze.
Nick Fury leads SHIELD to its latest victory over Hydra.
And the Ghost Rider races to save Roxanne Simpson from Snake Dance's deadly ritual.
I suppose Lady Dorma can take some comfort from the fact that she might be Marvel's most abducted female but at least she's not as prone to being sacrificed as Roxanne is.
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31 comments:
Anyone else notice the gun violence on some of the covers?
After watching so many UK shows here, Charlie wonders how Brits process gun violence compared to the US?
Gun violence can be an everyday reality here, usually within a handful of miles from where one lives.
You gents… i wonder if it feels more like science fiction?
Joe (on behalf of Charlie)
Joe - When I was a kid, my auntie Dorothy (she was actually a more distant relation than that ), visiting from the USA, asked me if I'd consider moving to America, when I grew up. I replied, telling her that living in the USA didn't appeal to me, as lots of Americans have guns, and they shoot people! My auntie Dorothy asked if I realized that's just on American tv cop shows, and it's not like that, in real life. I wasn't altogether convinced!
Phillip
It’s a thing Phillip. The jerk-o across the street from me had a huge sign up this past election that said “god, guns, and trump.” I Like to remind people that Texas, with 30 million people, has more gun murders in a year than the UK, France, Germany, and Japan combined, which has a population of around 300 million people.
In either this MWOM issue, or the next one (probably the next one), it said Wolverine was 5 ft 5. In contrast, X-Men # 108 claimed Wolverine stood at 1.6m (5 ft 2+). The Marvel Universe being totally consistent, and realistic, was very important to me, in my youth; so that minor discrepancy irked me.
Phillip
Funnily enough, Charlie Joe, no-one over here is campaigning for the right to bear arms. Mass shootings aren't something people particularly think they're missing out on.
Well, except it seems Rupert Lowe. I see tool of billionaires Joe Rogan - who seems to be quite popular in the US? - had a British politician on his show for the first time, and it was that **** Lowe, whinging about 90s anti-gun legislation in the UK being the result of 'one murder' in Dunblane.
Actually, it was 16 school kids and a teacher murdered. One massacre like that seems quite enough, don't you think?
Still what can you expect from someone who also went on about Sharia Law over here. Although strangely enough didn't mention theres also the Jewish Beth Din, and Catholic ecclesiastical courts...
Funny how it's the flag waving 'patriotic' politicians who seem to be keen on slagging off their country, and pandering to a hostile Power trying to destabilize it.
-sean
Joe- I think because we were so used to seeing US gangster type films in the UK that seeing guns in US comics wasn't really an issue for us/me. Plus we were aware from the news and TV documentaries that the US had a gun problem. When I was in Cincinnati in April I didn't see any guns ( other than on one Police officer) . However, I did see a few signs on shop doors stating "no firearms" etc which did make me think twice about entering the shop.
Phillip, I was never that annoyed by the discrepancy in US comics but my pal at the time , used to get really fanboy upset about these things.
Paul - To me, as a kid, what I was reading in comics interested me far more than the adult world ( thus, Marvel was more "real" than external reality. ) So maybe I was just as bad as your mate!
Phillip
Ok… sounds like you guys have been exposed to enough hand gun play that it falls under “reality” and not imaginary “sci fi” lol.
Hey - have your heard that the politician who has really wrecked america under trump by licking his… ooops… running the Senate just as Trump wants is quite probably brain dead? Hasnt been seen in weeks. Old, was falling down, fainting, or making a speech and suddenly just stand there saying nothing for minutes on end. Mitch “the turtle” McConnell.
But if it is acknowledged he is brain dead, then he must be removed forcing an immediate election. Republicans dont want an immediate election so it seems they are keeping someone brain dead in office, lol.
I don’t know if it’s irony, or satire, or what… But a literally brain, dead politician being kept in office just sounds like a juicy bit for the comedians, no?
I assume this is Mr McConnell? If so, yes I have heard about this. As you say it's all very strange as there are rumours the man is being kept alive by machine. Politics just gets weirder by the day. In the UK we've just heard a politician, Ann Widdicombe (78) has been murdered.
Phillip- nothing wrong with being more interested in comics than reality . As can be seen by the above comment from Joe reality is looking more like a comic book by the day
Well said McScotty!!! JP
OK, Charlie in a fit of nostalgia, bought the Overstreet comic book price guide for 2026. In it, they talk about the massive fall in prices post Covid in comic books. after massive run up during covid.
For example, the last issue of submariner published in the 1950s fell from like $22,000 to like $1,500 in the same condition.
Does the Spidey cover above with Punisher command more $ in the UK?
Joe - There's a 'like new' one going for about £155, and a VG/FN one for about £40. I'm surprised!
Phillip
Holy Moley!!! So A partial reprint of the first punisher in Spider-Man commands multiples over other issues. Very interesting.
There's a copy of the above UK Super Spider-Man comic in the Glasgow Forbidden Planet store for £10 , the next issues after that mostly go for £5 each. It's a similar cost for the death of Gwen Stacy issues. Similarly copies of the US Marvel Tales reprints cost about £10-£15 each.
Steve, the Sheffield Sex Pistols gig - at the Black Swan club - was clearly the more significant of the two you mentioned, as I believe it was where the artist formerly known as Johnny Rotten first met original Clash guitarist the late, great Keith Levene (who of course later became part of Public Image, the original version, with Jah Wobble).
It's funny how 1976 is so associated with punk, even though the first British punk single - generally agreed to be the Damned's 'New Rose' - didn't come out til October, and 'Anarchy in the UK' (which more people actually heard) the following month.
A couple of small gigs in July doesn't really seem like you couldn't move for punk bands...
My impression is that the whole thing was mythologized in retrospect, by a music press that had a lot of pages to fill every week.
Obviously you'd expect tastes to change with generational shifts - and that did seem to happen every 10 years or so, back when popular music seemed quite central to youth culture (eg '67/68, '76/77, '88) - but my sense is that in the late 70s disco and reggae had a lot more impact than punk.
And the idea that old dinosaur rock music was finished doesn't really tally with the facts either. I mean, the 70s ended with a number one Pink Floyd single, and their biggest album since Dark Side of the Moon...
As for "No Rolling Stones in '77", they have a new album out now ffs.
-sean
Next week's MWOM reprints the first proper Wolverine cover, and story, and I recall fairly hefty prices being sought for it in the past. No idea if these actually sell at the inflated asking prices, however. This week's POTA cover looks like It's a re-hash of a US painted cover, but a quick google search suggests it's original. I think this was about the time I dropped POTA, but I'm hazy about the actual final issue. I thought Avengers moved straight into the Titans when the FF moved to the soon to be release Captain Britain weekly (along with Nick Fury) but I now recall a MWOM starring the Incredible Hulk and the Avengers masthead, and so presumably they spend a couple of months in that title. I was probably equally vague when this cam up ten years ago!
Just under twelve hours until England Norway. Squeaky bum time.
DW
All eyes on England Norway! Bonne Chance! JP
A bit of context, if anyone's interested -
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/09/the-story-behind-iconic-norway-v-england-commentary-bjorge-lillelien-maggie-thatcher
If Ingerlund win and so do Argentina, that might make for an interesting semi-final...
-sean
Comic fans - i’m watching the Tour de France and, like the World Cup, many commercials are targeted to the upcoming Marvel movie “SPIDER-MAN brand new day!!” Same in UK land? JP
Charlie, I've not seen any adverts for it but, then again, I don't tend to pay much attention to adverts, so they could have been plugging it to death for all I know.
Sean, it is strange that 76 is so associated with Punk but there was a sizable punk movement before that (in Glasgow at least) from fans of US bands like the Ramones and Television etc who started up in early 75.
I've seen the UK MWOM Wolverine issue selling for £20 in Glasgow. It's unreal what some folk will pay for a black and white partial reprint comic .
I can't see anything other than an Argentina v England semi final .
Well, there were people into Iggy Pop and the Stooges when they played at Kings Cross in 1972, Paul. I suppose it depends what you call punk, which I think has actually changed over the years. I recall seeing Spike Lee's 'Summer of Sam' which was set in New York in 1977, so inevitably there were some punks in it... who looked straight out of the 1980s!
-sean
That's true Sean, even the MC5 from the 1960s could be called (proto) Punk and I think that term was used to retroactively describe "garage" bands from that time . I was there in 76 but my memory of it all is a bit vague as I was zonked out on Irn-Bru!!!! . .
Irn-Bru I love you
Gonna spend all my money on you...
Anyway, yes Paul - I recall reading Sounds and being a bit confused at first by the mid 80s vogue for psychedelia from a couple of decades earlier, and the use of the term 'punk' for some of the garage reissue compilations that came out back then.
-sean
Ah that jogged my memory re the Irn Bru song I had forgotten that...Just to baffle those not in the know a few other lines...
I don’t like drinking milk or Coke
And ginger beer just makes me choke
And orange juice gives me the boak
And I’m not that fond of water
From East Kilbride to Timbuktu
The drink for me, the drink for you
We drink It -bru....
I'll get my coat.
It never gets any easier…
DW
Excellent!!! Congratulations!!!
First half England were by far the better team but your struggling to finish teams off. Good thing for you is that so are Argentina so the semi final is very much winnable for England. So much so that I'm looking to book up on that one way space shuttle to Mars 😯😁
It could go either way, Paul. But historically Argentina have been better at handling the ball...
What we still don't know though is: who won at golf, Harry Kane or Sleepy Donald?
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/11/england-world-cup-harry-kane-trump-golf
-sean
Lol yes, Argentina have indeed always been good at handling the ball especially when playing England
I wasn't aware that Harry Kane and Trump played golf, interesting stuff. The media backlash against England looks like it may have found it's starting point if they lose.
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