September 8th, 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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September 8th, 1976, was a night of note for all comedy fans, with BBC One showing both Carry On Up the Khyber and the first-ever episode of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

In the real world, however, the week's events were dominated by flying machines, for good or ill.

It was the week in which Viking 2 landed at Utopia Planitia on Mars and snapped its first close-up colour photos of the planet's surface.

Soviet Air Force pilot Lt Viktor Belenko landed a MiG-25 fighter jet on the Japanese island of Hokkaidō and requested political asylum in the United States.

More darkly, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules belonging to the Venezuelan Air Force crashed in the Azores, killing all 68 occupants.

When it came to the UK singles chart, ABBA were still ruling supreme, thanks to their smash hit Dancing Queen, while the Beach Boys retained command of the neighbouring LP chart with their 20 Golden Greats.

Dancing Queen is, of course, a timeless classic and, even after all these decades, I can indeed still feel the beat from the tambourine but there were other tracks I also approved of on that week's Hit Parade. And among them were:

You Should Be Dancing - the Bee Gees

The Killing of Georgie - Rod Stewart

Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Heaven is in the Back Seat of My Cadillac - Hot Chocolate

and

Sailing {1976} - Rod Stewart.

Should one wish to study the matter in greater detail, that week's UK singles chart may be found here.

And its adjacent album rankings dwell within.

It looks like it's all up for the human race - and for the Fantastic Four and Subby - when Magneto takes command of the Atlantean invasion of New York!

And he has Sue and Dorma hostage!

Still, there's always hope when Reed Richards is around.

Especially as he's built a weapon that could trap the villain in his own magnetic field!

Meanwhile, in his own strip, Subby battles Karthon the Quester for ownership of the Serpent Crown.

Elsewhere, Nick Fury escapes Baron Strucker’s Alpha-Ray execution machine, and the forces of SHIELD rush to locate a bomb that contains spores which threaten all mankind!

And it's big trouble for Captain America who - thanks to the Red Skull - has a tiny but mighty explosive device attached to the back of his neck!

Meanwhile, Ghost Rider battles the demonic Roulette while trying to rescue Roxanne Simpson from a burning building.

It's the story that had to happen! Conan goes to war with vegetation!

But, first, in the Hulk's strip, Glenn Talbot explodes!

Then, no sooner have the Avengers defeated the Mandroids than Triton asks them for help in combating the latest scheme of Maximus the Mad.

When it comes to Conan, not only does the barbarian have to thwart the ambitions of vegetables, he must also deal with the monstrous Pthassiass which, despite its name, isn't some sort of disease but is, instead, a giant monster living in a pool!

Daredevil's investigation into Brother Brimstone’s activities leads him to a design for an experimental exoskeleton, and a possible confrontation at a bunch of tar pits.

It would appear a brand-new tale has arrived on the Planet of the Apes, when Derek Zane returns to continue his search for the missing astronauts from the first movie.

This leads to an alliance with a chimpanzee version of Robin Hood.

But hold on. Is it my imagination or hasn't this tale already been published in this book?

Still, if that's a letdown, there are always the adventures of Ka-Zar to keep us thrilled and, this week, he, Zabu and Illyana escape the Temple of Ilak-Aron. However, I'm sure that won't be the end of their problems with that cult.

The Man-Thing, meanwhile, has troubles of his own when a frightened girl flings water from the Fountain of Youth at him. Just what consequences will that have for such a creature?

Dracula then presents us with a Lieber, Lee and Heck short story in which a sailor investigates a plea for help, in the form of a written message from a mysterious island.

But is the sender of that message as human as one might imagine?

Finally, the latest instalment of Marvel's adaptation of the first Apes movie sees Taylor manage to prove his intelligence to Dr Zira!

Hooray! It's the Mindworm!

Everyone else hates the Mindworm!

But I love the Mindworm!

And we get to see Peter Parker and Flash Thompson share a flat!

I don't know what more a human being could demand of a Spider-Man tale.

In Thor's strip, the thunder god's about to be killed by Hela when Odin steps in and kills her, thus bringing an end to death.

But is that the good news it might initially seem to be?

When it comes to the Invaders, the gang discovers a Nazi scientist has created the evil Master Man by using stolen Super-Soldier research.

A short story then reveals the origin of the Inhumans, featuring a guest appearance by a surprisingly friendly Sentry.

And the Thing gets involved in the activities of a haunted painting of a Scarecrow.

Tony Stark, meanwhile, is once more in the clutches of the villainous Midas and is developing a plan for overcoming the rogue LMD that's taken his place.