The Marvel Lucky Bag - September 1976.

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

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A wise man - or, possibly, woman - once said, "Hooray for Hollywood!" and who am I to argue?

But not all films are made in Hollywood.

Then again, I suspect that all the films listed below were.

Regardless, September 1976 saw the unleashing of the following feature-length theatre-packers into the cinemas of the world. Bugsy Malone, The Front, Mad Dog Morgan, Vigilante Force, High Velocity and Norman... Is That You?

I can honestly say I've only ever heard of one of those movies, and I think you can guess which one it is. However, despite having heard of it and being able to hum the odd song from it, I've never actually seen it. I shall, therefore, have to forego my usual task of nominating a Steve Does Comics Movie of the Month.

You, however, may have your own thoughts as to which are triumph and which are tripe.

Marvel's big news, this month, is the arrival of a brand new hero. One like no other. Albeit one with certain alleged spiritual similarities to the likes of Spider-Man.

And it all happens when the injured Centurion Nova-Prime chooses a successor. And that successor is high schooler Richard Rider.

But, with great power comes great responsibility and, so, our hero then has to battle Nova-Prime's greatest foe, the dreaded Zorr!

As I'm sure we've all noticed, it's the United States' 200th birthday.

And who better to celebrate that than the man who literally wraps himself in its flag every day?

Gasp as, upon meeting the mystic Mister Buda, our hero finds himself sent back to World War II!

Thrill as he becomes Betsy Ross's inspiration for the American flag!

Shudder as he assures Geronimo of the American brotherhood to come!

Tremble as he finds himself in a World War I dogfight, boxes with John Sullivan, helps a fugitive slave, witnesses the first atom bomb test, helps victims of the Chicago fire, visits an undersea lab, finds himself in the middle of a war on the moon and then discovers just what the truth is at the heart of America!

The lord of the vampires' UK mag may have died an undeath but its US counterpart refuses to shake off this mortal coil.

Unlike one of Dracula's victims who comes to him, seeking death.

The world convulses with horror, as a new super-fiend appears in a bid to make all our lives - and especially Spider-Man's - worse.

I remember little of this tale but I do have a feeling the menace is created by the same process that created the Scorpion and that Dr Harlan Stillwell's involved.

It has always struck me as odd that we're expected to think that a man with the powers of a fly is a threat to a man with the powers of a spider. Isn't that rather like pitting a villain called the Antelope against a hero called the Lion?

We all love a good Treasury Edition and Giant Superhero Team-up gives us what we can all hope will be just that.

In our first tale, the Thing and Sub-Mariner battle it out for possession of the evil Serpent Crown, on the streets of New York. I'm not totally sure that qualifies as a team-up.

In our second tale, Daredevil's exposed to radiation, goes mad and takes it out on Captain America in a charity boxing match. That doesn't really sound like a team-up either.

In our third tale, when rival fan clubs discuss who's the stronger, Thor or the Hulk, the thunder god drops in to relate the story of the pair's epic clash in the pages of Avengers #3!

And, in our fourth tale, Laufey, King of the Giants, is killed in battle with Asgard, leading to his newborn son Loki being adopted by Odin.

Come to think of it, none of these stories involves a superhero team-up.

Talk about false advertising.

Union Jack gets centre stage on this month's cover!

Other than that, I'm struggling to say what happens in this one but I'm sure it'll all connect, somehow, with the presence of Baron Blood and his vampiric antics.

And I'm struggling to recall most of what happens in this one too. I am, though, aware that Sersi makes her debut in a yarn titled The Devil in New York.

From that title, I'm going to assume it involves the Deviants attacking New York City, and our heroes having to take action against them.

Everyone's favourite barbarian gets his second annual in 10,000 years and, in it, we encounter Marvel's adaptation of The Phoenix on the Sword, as brought to us by Roy Thomas and Vicente Alcázar.

The penultimate issue of Amazing Adventures brings us Keith Giffen and Bill Mantlo's contrivance for introducing a whole host of Marvel's most popular heroes into the strip without breaking continuity when Killraven enters an automated museum and becomes involved in the dreams of the man trapped in there.