Forty years ago today - August 1986.

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

***

Here we go.

There's mixed news for our battling barbarian, this month.

The possibly bad news is that the demon inhabiting the body of Tetra is out to win the heart of our hero.

The good - presumably - is that Keiv is restored to his human form, after having been in monstrous guise since the days of Conan the Barbarian #173.

Come to think of it, that was only twelve issues ago. Why does it feel like an eternity?

Hard as it may be to believe, Subby isn't the American public's favourite Avenger and, so, protests break out over his membership of the team.

Protests that Moonstone decides turn into riots!

On top of that, Subby's sued for billions by a group of insurance investors.

But isn't he supposed to be infinitely rich because all the gold, diamonds and treasure from all the shipwrecks in the world are his to claim?

It's grave news for New York City, with Spider-Man having gone missing.

That sounds like the cue for Silver Sable to step in and replace him.

But, surely, that can only lead to a clash with one of his numerous foes?

It does.

And, in this instance, that foe would be Jack O' Lantern!

Conflict hits the X-Men when they're not pleased with Wolverine for using his claws on Rachel just as she was trying to kill Selene.

Still, Rachel knows how to deal with that - because, when he gets in her way again, she throws him in front of a subway train!

When Captain America intervenes in Daredevil's battle with nut-job nationalist Nuke, America's greatest hero discovers his government's still been conducting its Super Soldier Program!

The Black Cat's not in a good mood.

She heads for Dr Strange's house to confront him over the loss of her powers.

But, first, she has to work out how to get into it, given that it's magically protected.

But there's more everyday drama to be dealt with too, as Robbie tries to come to terms with the fact that his son Randy's suddenly got a white wife!

To be honest, Robbie's never struck me as being the kind of man who'd have a problem with that.

It's bad news for greengrocers everywhere because Loki's stolen the Apples of Idunn and hidden them in the Old West!

I am assuming that means Thor's now going to visit the Old West.

And I can only assume that means he's going to be meeting up with at least one of Marvel's cowboy heroes.

Inside this thrill-packed book, when Tony Stark and Clytemnestra visit a fair, they run into Jack and Lissa Russell.

And, needless to say, things quickly head south, with Lissa becoming possessed by Morgan Le Fay, and Jack transforming into the Werewolf!

Can it be?

The end for both Bruce Banner and the Hulk?

It's starting to look that way because, physically separated from his green alter-ego, the scientist continues to weaken and his doctors announce he must again merge with the Hulk if he's to survive.

Still, with the Hulk also weakening, the Avengers finally manage to defeat the brute.

But what's this?

The Hulk may not live long enough to reintegrate with Banner, because Hercules is all set to kill his fallen opponent?

It looks like we're in for a trip on the Nostalgia Train, as the Fantastic Four are back in Central City where, unless I'm totally misremembering, is where it all began for them,

And they're there to investigate a black dome that's surrounding the town.

Apparently, Central City's in California, which is a bit odd, as I'd always assumed it to be more... ...you know... ...central.

With a bar full of villains dead - and all other minor bad guys in a panic - Cap disguises himself as Mirage, in a bid to lure Scourge into his trap.

But, just as it seems he's about to acquire the answers he seeks, a mystery character appears and kills Cap's foe!

Forty years ago today - July 1986.

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

***

You know what I was doing on this date in 1986?

I've no idea but let's pretend I was reading these comics.

Thor's found Balder, living in a floating castle with three beauteous maidens who turn out to be malevolent trolls manipulating his senses.

Needless to say, a punch-up between the two gods can only be moments away.

But I do recall both heroes being worryingly happy to kill trolls in this one. Which seems somewhat out of character for them.

It's the clash that had to happen when the Fantastic Four meet Adolf Hitler!

Granted, they've already met him, back in his Hatemonger days but, now, they get a crack at his younger self.

Anyway, it turns out it's all an illusion and they've been in the present all along and that, contrary to earlier reports, Reed Richards is still very much alive.

Well, that was all a waste of 75 cents.

And there's yet more illusions in this one, as Rachel Summers keeps dreaming that Wolverine's out to kill her. 

Good gravy! Are we to experience no reality, this month?

Despite now being powerless, the Black Cat manages to thwart the plans of some bad guy or other and, so, Sabretooth sets out to gain revenge on his behalf.

But the Walmart Wolverine hasn't counted on the presence of Spider-Man!

Just about everybody on the planet is now fighting the brainless Hulk - and getting nowhere with it.

As a result, the heroes decide they have no choice but to kill him.

As they've not even managed to slow him down at any point, it's a bit hard to see how they think they're going to achieve that.

Not that it matters because it turns out that being separated from each other has left both the monster and Bruce Banner dangerously unstable and the pair of them are going to die of their own accord if they're not reunited!

Captain America's finally got wind of the existence of Scourge the vigilante assassin who's been wiping out minor super-villains.

But can even the wing-headed wonder succeed where an entire bar filled with super-villains can't?

The Avengers manage to free themselves from Kang's trap - with the help of Ravonna - and Immortus reveals he's been controlling the 31st Century tyrant all along. 

The drama continues when Matt helps Karen Page overcome her drug addiction and a frustrated Kingpin recruits a patriotically deranged super-soldier to murder the man without fear.

From what I can recall, Conan and his army set out to kill a king who sent them off to die. And there's nothing going to stop the barbarian from getting what he wants.

Then again, he has an army, a demon and a monster on his side. So, perhaps his victory isn't that surprising.

Peter Parker's a man in a quandary. Torn, as he is, between his friendship for Flash Thompson and his enmity for Flash's alter-ego the Hobgoblin.

But his mind's quickly made up for him when Scourge breaks into the prison where Flash is being held - looking to kill him for being the Hobgoblin - and Spidey knows at once that he must save his friend.

I struggle to recall what happens in this one but I'm going to assume Tony Stark's out to get back at AIM for tricking him into launching their killer death-satellite for them.

Maybe there's an island involved in somewhere like South America.

Maybe there isn't.

Forty years ago today - June 1986.

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

***

Can our collective sanity survive whatever it is Marvel's finest can throw at us, this month?

There's only one way to find out.

Our hero causes nothing but trouble when the clanking clod agrees to put a satellite in orbit.

Only for it to turn out to be the property of AIM who promptly use it to start blasting places to oblivion, using its great big death-ray.

The cover tale's a strange one from Charles Vess. One that's so strange I can't remember much of what it's about but I do believe the wall-crawler must rescue a child from criminals, on a snowy day, while there's some sort of stuff going on with an imaginary Wendigo.

Or maybe it's not imaginary.

Or maybe it is.

However, that's the second of this issue's adventures. I suspect the first one sees Spidey decide to threaten the Kingpin over his destructive interference in the life of Matt Murdock. 

After months of build-up, the unstoppable Imhotep - Ravager of Worlds - finally shows up.

And Conan beats him up, like he beats everybody up.

Drama flows unbounded when Ben Urich writes an exposé of the Kingpin, only for his wife to almost die because of it.

Elsewhere, the star of the comic must tackle one of the Kingpin's goons who's taken to committing crimes while dressed as the man without fear.

It's all slam-bang action when the Avengers battle Kang's lackeys - including suicidal Dire Wraiths - as one Kang plots to destroy all the other Kangs.

The Blue Streak is back with a new costume and equipment. But that doesn't save him from getting offed by the mysterious vigilante Scourge.

For the eighty-five billionth issue running, Doc Samson's battling the mindless Hulk wherever the mindless Hulk might go.

However, Bruce and Betty leave for their honeymoon, with Bruce being misled into thinking everything's all quiet on the Hulk front.

For once, when things keep going wrong for Spider-Man, he doesn't blame the old Parker luck.

Instead, he drops in on Dr Strange who tells him he's suffering from repeated contact with the Black Cat's jinx powers.

So, Strange removes the jinx from Spider-Man - but that eliminates the Black Cat's powers just when she needs them most.

It's an odd turn of events, as the X-Men, busy minding their own business, are attacked by the so-called Freedom Force who are out to arrest them for something or other.

Fortunately, the police come to their rescue and send the bad guys packing.

A front cover homage to Action Comics #1 tells us we're in the past.

But are we going to stay there?

After all, the FF and Nick Fury find themselves repeatedly oscillating between the 1930s and the present.

And Fury takes the opportunity to fly to Germany, in a bid to kill Hitler!

Well, that's a swizz. Last month, Balder was killed by Kurse.

And, this month, it turns out the victim wasn't Balder at all.

It was Malekith!

Disguised as him!

So, Thor sets off to find the real Balder. A quest that leads him to a floating castle and a trio of damsels in distress.

But are those damsels as innocent as they seem?

And just what have they done with Balder?

Forty years ago today - May 1986.

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

***

It's time to take yet another sentimental journey, back to a time and place where most of life's problems could be solved by punching them.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird are keeping Goliath prisoner but then have to put up with a judge forcing them to release him.

At which point, the voluminous villain does what you'd expect him to do and sets out to kill the duo.

Fortunately, Iron Man's on hand to help foil that plan.

Has there ever been a greater moment of melodrama in the entire history of the human race?

I think not.

After all, not only does Spider-Man rescue Sha Shan from the clutches of the Hobgoblin, he also discovers the true identity of the fiend.

And it only goes and turns out that he's Flash Thompson!

I do believe Conan and his army are betrayed by their current employer King Maddoc. 

And I suspect that means King Maddoc isn't going to be king for much longer.

You could cut the intensity with a fork, as Daredevil's nursed back to health by Sister Maggie, Karen Page shows up in New York City and Ben Urich is successfully frightened into not publishing an exposé on the Kingpin.

But what's this? All of that pales into insignificance next to Matt discovering Sister Maggie is his mother?

It all gets wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey when it turns out that, thanks to his time-travelling shenanigans, there are now multiple Kangs in the universe.

But one of them is determined to make sure that, from now on, there'll only one of him.

A man called William Cross is freed from police custody by a gang called Death-Throws but is unable to pay for their rescue operation.

So, the gang decides to extract payment by using him as bait in a trap to capture Hawkeye.

But even more tension abounds on the human interest front, as Cap's girlfriend Bernie moves out to attend a distant law school.

It wouldn't be a Bruce and Betty wedding if there wasn't at least one incident.

And this wedding's incident is that Thunderbolt Ross shows up and shoots Rick Jones!

Needless to say, the fact that the world's greatest singer is lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor, in front of them, isn't enough to dissuade the bride and groom from getting on with tying the knot.

There's a lesson to be learnt by us all when a small-time thief breaks into Peter Parker's flat, steals his Spider-Man costume and then gets himself into a whole heap of trouble by wearing it - including having to single-handedly take on a criminal gang, under pressure from a demanding cop.

Lady Deathstrike turns herself into a cyborg and sets off to kill Wolverine.

Needless to say, it'll take more than that to stop the canny Canuck.

Now the FF are in trouble - when they find themselves caught up in a power struggle between Blastaar and Annihilus.

And it seems the quartet's subsequent triumph is at the cost of Reed Richards' life!

In some ways, it's a good day for Balder.

In others, it isn't.

For instance, it's decided that he shall be the next ruler of Asgard.

On the other, Kurse shows up at the ceremony and kills him.

Forty years ago today - April 1986.

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

***

Plunge with me into the past, using my patented Steve Does Comics Time-Plunger, guaranteed to never fail.

Now Loki's in trouble.

Thor's back in Asgard and out to get him for turning him into a frog.

But it's actually Volstagg who turns out to be the hero of the day by finding the late Surtur's sword and using its magic to break the spell!

Speaking of trouble, Blastaar is back.

And so is Annihilus!

I've read this story.

And I have absolutely no recollection of anything that happens in it.

But I do have a feeling Nightcrawler might be in a mood because his recent stint as an inter-dimensional swash-buckler is over.

Then again, I could be totally wrong.

It's chewed fingernails all round, as the gang of thugs Ernie Popchik shot at, in the subway, turns up at May's boarding house to claim its revenge.

I believe this is another of those periodic stories where Peter decides to give up being Spider-Man, only for circumstances to force him to change his mind.

Bruce Banner's put together a crack team of cracked scientists in a bid to destroy the now-mindless Hulk, while Doc Samson's still out to track down the beast and give him a good chinning.

And what's this? Betty agrees to marry Bruce?

Well, we all know how that always ends.

As we all remember, the Armadillo is a man who became a deformed monster, in order to save the life of his beloved.

But now it's all gone wrong because he's found that self-same beloved is cheating on him!

There's only one thing for it.

He's going to have to go on a rampage!

The battle with the Beyonder may be out of the way but it's only gone and torn a great big hole in some mountains, leaving a huge gash in the Earth's crust that'll cause the planet's destruction within hours.

There's only one man can save the day.

And that's the Molecule Man.

But will he be willing to do it?

Matt Murdock's still blundering around feeling sorry for himself, now that the Kingpin's ruined his life.

And then he gets stabbed by a mugger.

There's only one thing for it.

He's going to have to get help from Sister Maggie.

You know?

Sister Maggie?

The one who's been there, right from the very birth of Daredevil?

You know? Along with Stick and Elektra?

You know? As featured in Daredevil #1 and Sons of Origins of Marvel Comics?

Conan arrives in town to warn some king or other of impending doom but ends up climbing a tower, to prove his worth - and, therein, finds a rather important prisoner....

Just when we'd all forgotten about the Hobgoblin (well, I had, anyway), he's back.

And so is the Rose who I'd also forgotten about.

But it's a rather unpleasant tale with Flash hitting both his girlfriend Sha Shan and Ned Leeds, before the Hobgoblin takes the poor woman hostage.

I'm struggling to recall anything that happens in this one but I have the feeling MODOK's corpse is under the remote control of someone at AIM who's out to gain command of the organisation.