Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Marvel UK.
What craziness is it up to now?
John Romita's short run on the Fantastic Four reaches its dramatic conclusion with victory over the "monster" that's been rampaging through the streets of New York.
But that's nothing compared to the nightmare to come, as the Thing's been left in a high-tech chair in the Baxter Building with no one around to make sure it doesn't kill him!
When it comes to Captain America, still with Red Skull's nuclear tape attached to the back of his neck, the star-spangled Frisbee flinger's forced to return to Exile Island and combat the ageing war criminals after whom it's named. But not to worry. SHIELD is working on a way to help him.
Speaking of SHIELD; in his own strip, Nick Fury's still fighting Baron Strucker.
And Strucker has a Satan-Claw!
But who cares about that? Nick's got a face-changing gizmo. And that's a lot more use in a fight, it appears.
Subby's got plenty on his plate when Captain Barracuda sneaks into a naval base and steals its Sonic Magno-Directoid.
I have no idea what that is but have no doubt it's a thing you wouldn't want a man called Captain Barracuda to get his hands on. Frankly, I wouldn't even want Captain Haddock to get his hands on it.
And the Ghost Rider has more on his plate than even that when he discovers he's going to have to take on the whole of Zodiac. Frankly, given how useless he is in most of his fights, I don't fancy his chances.
Hooray! The Kree/Skrull War reaches the Great Refuge and I believe we're given the reason why Maximus went mad!
Needless to say, it's all the fault of that bounder Black Bolt!
But, before that, we have the spectacle of the Hulk vs the Devastator who I remember being some sort of Russian spy in a suit of armour and causing trouble on Gamma Base.
But, before that, we have the spectacle of the Hulk vs the Devastator who I remember being some sort of Russian spy in a suit of armour and causing trouble on Gamma Base.
But, of course, no armour's going to protect him for long from the incredible one.
As far as I can make out, Conan's still stuck in the tale that humanity can only know as The Dweller in the Pool!
And there are more Hollywood woes for Daredevil when the Stilt-Man arrives in Tinseltown and disguises himself as the Stunt-Master, in a bid to catch our hero unawares!
From memory, I think his plan involves him attaching his stilts to the side of his motorbike and pretending they're super-fancy rockets intended to make the thing jump further.
I'm also going to assume that we get the conclusion of Derek Zane's latest adventure.
I do know for certain that, after last week's absence, the Man-Thing is back and that ruthless businessman F. A. Schist has entered La Hacienda, in a bid to prevent the muck monster from inflicting damage upon its valuable Fountain of Youth!
And I'm going to guess that Ka-Zar and Tongah are having to assist the Zebra-Men who've been captured and imprisoned by a wrong 'un called Zaurai.
The tension's so taut that you could cut it with a knife and it would slap you in the face, like an over-tightened rubber band, as the Jackal attaches a spy device to Peter Parker's arm and declares it can't be removed without blowing his arm off!
Needless to say, Petey removes it without blowing his arm off and then polishes off the Grizzly too, for good measure.
Will the Jackal never learn that he'll never get one over on our hero?
When it comes to Thor, Loki has control of Asgard - thanks to now possessing the Odin-Ring - and he intends to marry Sif!
Thor's not big on that idea and neither is Sif but, then, to keep the thunder god out of the way, Loki creates Durok the Destroyer and sets him off rampaging away on Midgard!
Elsewhere, Tony Stark finally overcomes the cheeky LMD that's taken his place - but at the cost of a heart attack that may just claim his life!
Meanwhile, the Invaders live up to their name and invade a small part of Germany, in a bid to prevent the villainous Brain Drain from doing whatever it is he's planning to do. However, on their way there, they're attacked by three Teutonic warrior gods!
And Spider-Man and the Human Torch must team-up when the Frightful Four launch their latest bid to take over the Baxter Building. Unfortunately, the cloddish quartet then open the gateway to the Negative Zone and suddenly have to deal with Annihilus trying to enter our world and take it over!
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32 comments:
Where did that Spidey cover's villains eventually end up?
Answer:
The Grizzly:
https://tainthemeat.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/marvel-superheroes-top-trumps-3.jpg
The Jackal:
https://tainthemeat.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/marvel-superheroes-top-trumps-4.jpg
Phillip
STEVE - Surely you meant “star-spangled shield slinger?” You feelin all right, bud?
Leapin’ Lampreys and Sufferin’ Sturgeon, I can’t believe you worked Capatain Haddock into the conversation!!!
Hallelujah!!!
On behalf of the Belgian contingent may I award you a Belgian No Prize, Steve?
CH
PHILLIP - I have no particular recommendation for a DC war comic. If you like tanks, I would read HAUNTED TANK stories. If you like GIs I would read Sergeant ROCK. If you like something akin to the RAT PATROL or COMBAT tv series, again I would read HAUNTED TANK or perhaps the LOSERS.
I dare say, though, that stylistically Kirby‘s “THE LOSERS “is a gem.
we should keep in mind that we are reading comic books though and not watching realism like the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. You are going to the “against all odds” stories.
CH
Joe - The strange harlequin green (?) of Haunted Tank, on some covers, evokes some memory from early childhood, but I can't remember what, for the life of me! Here's the harlequin green tank; but my computer's security says it's a 'low trust website', so just in case you don't want to risk it, it's GI Combat # 169!
Sometimes the Haunted Tank's a Stuart, but not on # 169. That's a more modern-looking/post WW2 tank!
Phillip
Anon, I suspected that I'd used, “star-spangled shield slinger,” before and, therefore, made an executive decision to not use it.
Charlie, on behalf of the site, I accept that No-Prize and thank everyone who made it possible. Especially myself.
I thought it was a good one, Steve, as the way Cap threw his shield around it might as well have been a frisbee. Still, it's nice you got a No-Prize.
Btw, those Marvel UK comics had a bit more competition this week, as IPC hit the back of the net with its latest, exciting new paper for boys... Roy of the Rovers #1!
https://www.greatnewsforallreaders.com/blog/2016/9/25/on-this-day-25-september-1976-roy-of-the-rovers
Note the price: 7p an issue (as was Action, if you recall that cover I linked to last week). That's 2p less than than the Marvels... and there were no reprints!
-sean
Thanks, Sean.
As for IPC, Marvel UK was giving me the Kree/Skrull War. I'd happily pay 2p extra for that. Unless, of course, Roy of the Rovers was also finding himself caught up in an intergalactic war. I'd happily pay 2p extra to see that as well.
Not sure why DC stuck them in a Stuart tank. Jeb was a traitor and frankly a Custer. His behavior at Gettysburg probably cost leave the battle.
That's a fair point, Steve, as I do not recall Roy Race ever getting caught up in an intergalactic war. But on the other hand did the Avengers ever spend weeks at the bottom of the first division facing the possibility of relegation, like Melchester Rovers in the 78/79 season?
Still, tbh Roy was too clean cut a comic character for my taste really...
But what about Action? You could read Kids Rule OK, Death Game 1999 - funnily enough written by the same guy, Tom Tully, as Roy of the Rovers - Hellman of Hammer Force, and Hook Jaw.... and still have a spare 2p left!
I'd have thought that might have held some appeal to a cost-conscious Yorkshireman.
-sean
Nothing wrong with a little self love Steve!!!
Too funny Sean!
Steve, no Kree or Skrulls in Melchester but that issue did have an exclusive article from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh! Also, Neal Adam’s ghost inked the first episode of Tommy’s Troubles. Apparently.
DW (Roy of the Rovers fan August 1978 to October 1979)
Sean, funny they use the term ‘soccer’ on the cover. Not a widely used term. Certainly not around our way.
DW
Steve, the POTA cover depicts the Derek Zane story not the famous scene from the first apes film.
Radio 4's ARCHIVE ON 4 on Saturday night is about the 50th anniversary of Callaghan's government asking the IMF for a loan which has gone down in legend alongside the three-day week and the Winter Of Discontent to show how terrible the '70s supposedly were and how we needed Thatcherite neoliberalism to save us!
BREAKING NEWS! Charlie’s “neighbor” Jenny McCarthy, the famous Playboy bunny, who was a vaccine denier is moving houses! Yay!
(She Actually lives 20 minutes up the road in Saint Charles with Mark Wahlenberg.)
She now claims she was never a vaccine deny, she just wanted safer vaccines. Oh. Revelation there!
Only the United States would rally behind a Playboy bunny and her opinion on deeply scientific subjects like vaccines and wreck society:
DW, I don't recall ever hearing the word 'soccer' in everyday speech back then either (or now really, for that matter).
It did appear quite regularly above the title on old football comics though. See for instance this old Tiger cover picked at random (mainly for Paul/McScotty's benefit, as it features Hot-Shot Hamish ;) -
https://www.greatnewsforallreaders.com/blog/2018/1/28/on-this-day-30-january-1982-tiger
But it's not that odd when you bear in mind that IPC comics were distributed in a number of Anglophone territories, and in some of them other forms of football - like Gaelic, or Aussie Rules - were popular.
I don't imagine that even among 'soccer' fans a crediting 'HRH the Duke of Edinburgh' on the cover would have done much for Irish sales of RotR #1 though...
-sean
Colin, thanks for the POTA netting clarification.
Back on the subject of "soccer" I was surprised to read that the name was coined by folk at Oxford Uni in the late 1800s as a shortened name for association football (a socc with er added). Like most Brits we never used soccer as a name as kids but it was used in magazines and comics a lot.
Roy Race is one of the few UK old school characters I really miss, not the new fangled version , but old Racey. My childhood pal was a massive Roy of the Rovers fan and got me hooked on his stories . Then Marvel and DC came along and that was that!
Sean - thanks for the link to that Hotshot Hamish cover , another classic character
Starting Junior school, aged age, a fourth year (the top classes) boy approached my pals and me, asking: "Do you wanna lek soccer?" So "soccer" definitely was used, in Yorkshire, in the 70s. Incidentally, "lek" is a Yorkshire word for "play", very similar to Danish "leg" (c.f. Vikings invading Yorkshire.) "Lego" is related, etymologically!
Phillip
aged 8 - damn typos!
Phillip
In Glasgow , if you asked you pals if they wanted to play soccer you would have gotten a slap! But soccer certainly was a known word back in the mid 60s it was jus rarely used in my group of pals/ peers and considered a word those softies down south used 😋
Paul - During the resulting "soccer" game, little 8 year old me tackled fourth year "Tommo" (the c*ck of the school! ) He kicked me in the cocyx, in response, leaving me writhing on the playground, in agony! Not very sportsmanlike from "Tommo", particularly as he was about 3 feet taller than me, at that age! Incidentally, Tommo wasn't the fourth year who organised the game (a friendly guy. ) Nevertheless, not a good idea, slapping fourth years - even if soppy words, like "soccer", were coming out of their gobs!
Phillip
Well a verbal slap in face Phillip I was being "colourful" lol.
I remember watching a junior game as a child ( in Scotland Junior football is similar to English non league -Senior league Rangers Celtic etc this was junior League not age related) and I have never witnessed such aggressive behaviour . As the game was played in an almost open park you could see players being hurtled around like a Sal Buscema villain being physically flung through the air and no one bothered. It was a different game then I suppose.
I played for a local under 13 team and we lost the first leg of a match to a Glasgow team ( Pakhead under 13) 18 v 1 and drew the return game 2v2. Their players were all about a foot taller than us. It turned out 6 of them were 16 years old so we got through to the next round ( we lost 2v1,)
On a different subject, I've been watching some history documentaries on YouTube which were created by AI and they were so lifelike it was jaw-dropping. I didn't realise AI had become THAT good and now I understand why actors are worried they might become obsolete - after all why bother with actors when AI can produce such amazing realism. The technology would be especially effective for science-fiction, fantasy and superhero films and spectacular special effects would be no problem!
Paul, it wasn’t a term we used in the softie south. I only adopted it in Oz to differentiate from Aussie rules. Speaking of which, go the Lions! (Brisbane have just won the 2026 title).
DW
I've seen a few of these as well Colin, the detail is amazing .
Logically, american football (and Aussie?) should find a new name since the sport has almost nothing to do with the foot, no, and continues to confuse americans.
Any of you guys wanr to come on over and play an OVER 65 soccer game tomorrow morning, let me know! No tackling, no goalies, everyone well behaved except for occasional verbal outbursts.. Very gentile!
Alas my very very good friend of 40 years, Mishel, had the widow-maker heart attack 4 weeks ago. (LAD is the acronym). Still in ICU at University of Chicago hospital. Turned me into an emotional wreck because he refused all treatment (ER, 911)so I drive him 15 minutes to his wife, knocked on the front door, politely declined to come in for a cup off coffee and said, “Mishel is having a heart attack. He wont let me take him to the ER or call 911. YOU need to make him listen! NOW!”
PLEASE - ALL OF YOU - There are some very basic tests one can take for very little $ that will tell you your heart’s calcium score and also test the other arteries outside the heart. EVERYONE should do this NOW given or ages!
For the Yanks here, the test is marketed under LIFELINE. If you want more of info, lmk.
In fact these tests will be the xmas gifts to our adult kids.
Peace and Love! Charlie
Speaking of xmas, there is serious discussion on old folks radio whether the current #1 song about “Texas” Will continue to remain number one, I think going on 25 weeks now, until Mariah Carey knocks her off with the perennial Christmas #1 “all I want for Christmas!”
Charlie thinks it’s time for one of those world famous “Steve does polls “polls!!!
Charlie and Co. are headed to the International PAW PAW festival in Paw Paw, Illinois this morning! He will dutifully report back!
It is the very least Charlie can do given Steve will, per expectations, be filing a multi page report on the CONKERS championships October 11 from Southwick, Northamptonshire!!!
Surely, Steve has been keeping his powder dry for the Cnkerd championships! After all, we did not get a report on the snookers, bog diving, hedge laying, or cheese rolling contests this year. Therefore we should Expect a suspenseful accounting of the conker championships, no? LO! There shall be an a report!
Charlie I had a full physical and was given the ok despite me saying I felt awful. It was put down to my age and 5 months later I had a heart attack. Not putting folk off testing, it's a MUST but be wary, listen to your body regardless of results. I had reasons to think I wasn't well at all about a week prior so I should have taken that as a warning to hospital myself. Hope your friend is ok.
Thank you McScotty.
My friend is on 4 weeks, 28 days, in the Intensive Care Unit. The cost is at least $20,000 per day. He will be presumably paying 20% or more of the bill. The “dark humor” at the soccer game is that when he gets his share of the bill it will he at least $125,000 and that just might be the nail in the coffin. If he were 65 and on the mandatory (!) government Medicare
Plan A, which is free (!), he would owe about $0. This country is something else, sometimes.
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