Random comics I have owned. Part Five.

A far wiser man than me once said, "Shut up!" But I don't listen to wise men. That's what's made me the man I am today. Therefore, here's the latest instalment in the stunning new feature that's inducing catatonia on a scale never before seen in the history of the World Wide Web, as I take another random look at the covers of comics I once owned.

A crack team of hunters demonstrate the exact qualities you need if you're to catch your prey. Stealth, intelligence and razor-sharp alertness.

I acquired this comic on a Sunday morning. No comic acquired on a Sunday morning can ever be bad.

It's the third of the Black Orchid's original three appearances in Adventure Comics.  Sadly, it's another tale I can't remember that much about.

For those who've never read any of her original tales; blessed with invulnerability, super-strength and the ability to fly, she was basically like Supergirl but, for some reason, kept using a mastery of disguise to defeat her foes, when you would've thought she could have saved herself the trouble and just given them a punch in the bracket.

The Justice League come up against an alien called Nekron. I don't recall exactly what he was about but I do recall he was up to no good.

I'm not totally convinced Wonder Woman actually died in this tale.

If I remember right, this was the last issue before the X-Men all got dragged off into outer space for the trial of the Phoenix.

Needless to say, it was all cracking stuff and a highlight of its era.

The last issue of Conan I ever had.

From what I recall, Conan wanders into a village and it's not long before he's up against a deadly menace from the sea.

Poor old Conan, even a trip to the seaside turns into a life or death battle for him. I bet he couldn't even attempt to eat a toffee apple without it trying to kill him.

I always remember this issue as having great artwork but I can't remember who it was by.

Our third cover that involves a man carrying an insensate female.

One of my childhood faves, as our, "hero," finds himself up against a skeleton on a mission of revenge.

If you don't love that cover, there's probably no hope for you.

Then again, if you don't want to be a skeleton on a mission of revenge, there's probably no hope for you.

I really don't remember anything about this issue at all. I have no doubt though that it was all very strange.

Having blown up half of London, Iron Fist is still having trouble with his nuclear-powered foe.

Is this the issue where Misty Knight gets her bionic arm, or did she already have it by this point?

Strange Tales #115 - The origin of Dr Strange.

William Hartnell was fifty five when he was first cast as Dr Who.

Lou Reed is seventy one.

This makes "crotchety old" William Hartnell young enough to be Lou Reed's son.

Such unlikely agenesses raises the question of how old is Aunt May?

If Peter Parker was sixteen when The Amazing Spider-Man was launched, shouldn't that make her somewhere in the region of thirty six? One can only marvel at the life she must've led, to have been in that sort of state before she was forty.

This in turn raises the question of just how old is the Ancient One?

Is he genuinely ancient or is he merely ancient in the sense that William Hartnell and Aunt May were?

Tragically, there're no answers to this question in the origin of Dr Strange.

But there is the answer to the question of how Strange got the mystic powers that so fail to define him.

Stephen Strange is a self-centered surgeon who, thanks to his free living ways, has lost the digital sensitivity vital for surgery.

Taking this development with impressive aplomb, he decides to become a no-good drunken bum.

However, there is just one hope left for him. He goes to Himalaya, in the hope the legendary Ancient One can help him.

While there, Strange discovers the Ancient One's prodigy Baron Mordo's up to no good and agrees to become the Ancient One's apprentice in an attempt to foil him.

I first read this tale in Origins of Marvel Comics and, as with all early Dr Strange tales, was much taken with its ability to not outstay its welcome.

The thing can only be labelled a masterclass in compression. In just eight pages, we get to meet Dr Strange, discover his backstory , meet the Ancient One, meet Baron Mordo, discover Mordo's evil scheme and then see the good doctor become the Ancient One's sidekick. If Stan Lee and Steve Ditko had been let loose on the Lord of the Rings movies, the trilogy would've lasted about ten minutes and been all the better for it.

Thanks to some rather pleasing Steve Ditko art and the fact I've always wanted to be a master of the mystic arts, I'll give Dr Strange's origin tale eight Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth out of ten, which puts it slightly behind most 1960s' Marvel super-hero origins but comfortably ahead of most 1970s' Marvel super-hero origins.

The nightmare monsters of Strange Tales - Part 2.

Reader -- Now it can be told! I created Toppic, the subject matter too big for one post to contain!

What can stop it?

What can defeat it?

Nothing!

Well, in that case, we might as well have the second part of our look at the nightmare monsters of Strange Tales.

When will people learn that no good ever comes from giving giant robots fists?

Is it just me or do those "people" in the background bear a noticeable resemblance to the Hulk's Toad Men from Outer Space?

Surely one of the most memorable monsters ever to grace a comic book cover. Orrgo the Unconquerable.

Pildorr the Plunderer.

I'm sure that story's fine but, personally, I'm more interested in reading the back-up tale Save Me From The Weed.

I don't know what it is but my instincts tell me it's up to no good.

If they built a scarecrow that size, what size were their crows?

Possibly the most bizarre monster ever to make a Strange Tales cover.

He might be named after a perfume but there's nothing sweet about Taboo!

Taboo returns.

Just how many times over the years has the comic book universe seen the Sphinx come to life? You'd think they'd all be used to it by now.

Why do I expect the Fantastic Four to appear whenever I see this cover?

Who said two heads are better than one?

The injustice of it all. Zzutak gets a cover credit and his opponent doesn't.

The nightmare monsters of Strange Tales - Part 1.

Tremble, puny humans! It is I -- Bloggurr, the thing from the search engine!

As we discovered the other day, Tales to Astonish had more than its fair share of monsters.

But it was nothing compared to Strange Tales.

So many are the monsters that mag inflicted on us, before Dr Strange came along to make sure we need never worry about monsters again, that I'm going to have to break this post down into two parts just to fit them all in.

Speaking of things that struggle to fit in, it's the Colossus!

He doesn't have a name but he doesn't need one because no human can beat him.

Somehow I suspect that, in this very tale, one does.

Dragoom - the flaming intruder!

And a flaming nuisance.

I remember reading this tale in one of Marvel's 1970s reprint mags. Sadly, I don't recall what happened in it.

A legend is born!

Fin Fang Foom is on the rampage.

And how long can it be before he starts to use the Great Wall of China as a whip?

Gargantus. The thing that walks like a man!

Gargantus - the thing that still walks like a man.

Gorgolla. A monster so hard he steals Gorgilla's name.

Grogg!

This is another one I read in a Marvel reprint mag. I seem to recall it was one of my favourite elderly Marvel monster tales.

Clearly I wasn't the only one to like him, because Grogg is back.

Grottu!

You can't go wrong with a giant ant.

It!

I think they could've made a bit more effort when it came to naming the thing. Given Stan Lee's propensity for adding superfluous consonants, could they not at least have called it "Itt"?

Argh! They've made a monkey out of Magneto.