October 20th, 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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Sometimes, coincidences are too great to seem like coincidences.

A perfect example of that occurred this week in 1976 when the Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince was struck by another ship, causing the deaths of 78 people.

At that very moment, Number One on the UK singles chart was the song Mississippi by Pussycat.

Fortunately, no such tragic synchronicity was to be found on the accompanying album chart, with ABBA still holding sway, thanks to their Greatest Hits album.

Britain's most sensational super-hero gets his second-ever outing.

Not that the creative team in America are going for every British cliché available but, after encountering Merlin and Stonehenge in his first appearance, he now comes up against a knight in shining armour. Next he'll be driving to fights, in a double-decker bus and setting up base in a red phone box.

Regardless, until then, our hero recalls his first encounter with Merlin and how - offered a choice between the Amulet of Right and the Sword of Might - he chose Right over Might.

However, he might not have been as right as he might have thought, as that decision leaves the sword available for a man called the Reaver to claim.

Nightmare in the Negative Zone! sees Reed Richards trapped in that very universe and pursued by Annihilus. Fortunately, he's still back home in time for his tea.

However, things quickly head south, as Ben dumps Alicia and quits the team, vowing revenge on the lot of them!

Then we get Spy School! in which, as far as I can make out, Nick Fury experiences dizziness caused by an invisibility pill.

But forget all that. What really matters is, this issue, we faithful readers are gifted with a free boomerang!

And it's red!

In the tale that bridges the gap between Conquest and Battle, it's nothing but chaos for Caesar when the humans capture and threaten to kill his wife Lisa! Now how's he going to convince the gorillas to cool it?

From that cover, I think you can guess that he doesn't.

For the millionth week running, Ka-Zar, Tongah and the Zebra-Men are up against Sheesa and her army of the dead.

That's followed by Dracula, Lee, Lieber and Reinman's I Lived a Ghost Story! in which a man insists on spending a night in a haunted house.

Needless to say, he's chased from the building by spirits. Which is a relief to the estate agent who's also a ghost.

The Man-Thing appears to have left behind La Hacienda and its Fountain of Youth and gets involved in a tale called Deathwatch!

It's a tale I know little of but I do believe it involves an elderly character called Zeke and his equally aged wife.

Finally, in Marvel's adaptation of the original Apes movie, Taylor continues to be on trial for the crime of being able to speak.

Sweet Christmas! It's a ground-breaking day for Marvel UK, as none other than Luke Cage gets his own strip in its flagship title!

This is very big news indeed, as the only time I remember him appearing in Marvel UK before this was when he tackled Spider-Man, straight after the death of Gwen Stacy.

But before we reach that, the Hulk, Thunderbolt Ross and Clay Quartermain are imprisoned in the Gremlin's Siberian fortress.

And the villain erases what little there is of Glenn Talbot’s mind!

But what of the aforementioned Hero for Hire?

As I'm sure you know, a man called Lucas is framed for murder and imprisoned. It looks like a life behind bars awaits our man, until a dodgy scientific experiment gives him superhuman strength and bulletproof skin, allowing him to escape and set up a new life as Luke Cage!

Elsewhere, I think Conan's still carrying on in some way with Princess Stefanya.

And Daredevil's still investigating a criminal sports syndicate. By disguising himself as the boxer Kid Gawaine, he exposes the gang’s antics and brings its leader to justice.

As that cover makes clear, Spidey continues to be in France and battling the mind-boggling power of the Cyclone!

But none of that matters.

All that matters is the tale's epilogue - and its impossible return of Gwen Stacy!!!

Meanwhile, as a favour to Thor, the Silver Surfer tackles Durok the Demolisher, eventually depositing the brute in a distant and devastated future where it can do no harm.

In Iron Man's strip, a security guard accepts supernatural powers from Lucifer who's out to escape his dimensional prison. That guard battles Iron Man but changes sides when his wife appeals to his better nature, thus tanking Lucifer's fiendish plan.

A Tale of Asgard reveals Loki's childhood jealousy of Thor and his growing desire for power.

And, finally, Spider-Man's wrongly blamed for a scientist's abduction, leading to a clash with the X-Men who then discover the wall-crawler's dying from an inconvenient toxin!

From out of the blue, the Avengers move to The Titans, abandoning The Mighty World of Marvel!

And from out of the blue, Golden Age heroes erupt from the dimmest recesses of Rick Jones' dimmest psyche!

It can only be the end of the Kree-Skrull War and the return of Big John Buscema to the fray.

But exactly what's happened to Clint Barton?

In his own strip, Captain America battles a robot duplicate created by Chinese agents seeking to discredit him via a film studio. However, that plan ends badly for the treasonous studio owner.

Elsewhere, the young Black Bolt is released from isolation - only for Maximus to try and force him to use his deadly voice!

In another elsewhere, the Sub-Mariner confronts the tyrant Naga whose deception leads Karthon to kill him, finally bringing peace to Lemuria.

And it's more trouble for the Ghost Rider when Satan shocks us all by - just for a change - targeting Roxanne Simpson.

This time, he offers to release her father's soul from Hell if she abandons her protection of Johnny Blaze!