September 6th, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Oi, you, put on your tap shoes and grab that sequinned top hat because, on this evening of 1978, BBC One was giving us On Broadway With Lena Zavaroni, its award-winning entry for that year's Golden Seaswallow of Knokke competition.

To be honest, song and dance shows are not my bag but I don't care about that. All I care about is the award it won. I don't have a clue what the Golden Seaswallow of Knokke is but it has to be the best name for an award ever.

On the UK singles chart, many interesting things were underway that week but, surely, the highlight had to be the presence, at Number Eight, of Supernature by Cerrone; in my book, the greatest Disco record not to have been sung by someone called Gibb, and a reminder that 1970s mainland Europe was often a remarkably potent source of songs to go clubbing to. I do believe it was also the first chart entry for any song written by Lene Lovich. So, there's a piece of history, for you, right there.

I definitely have no idea at all as to what happens in this issue but that Hunter person looks like he's trouble.

I do have to say that's a really nice cover by the mighty Walt Simonson, proving he could do rabbits, robots and ray guns just as effectively as he could do thunder gods and manhunters.

Speaking of which, I see that rabbit is back, which suggests he must have been popular with readers.

Unless I miss my guess, this issue gives us the John Buscema version of The Tower of the Elephant, even though Marvel had previously published a version drawn by Barry Smith.

I don't know whether this was the only instance of Buscema being given a crack at a Conan story that had already been tackled by Bazza. Either way, it provides an intriguing opportunity to compare the way two very different artists can approach the same tale.

The TV star himself is up against the Leader but, this time, he has the help of Doc Samson.

Despite being smarter than anyone else alive, I have no doubt the Leader will still, somehow, mess it all up and lose again.

Meanwhile, I can reveal that this issue's Iron Man tale finds the armoured Avenger up against Mr Kline, in a George Tuska drawn tale I have no memory of.

It seems odd to me that I have strong recollections of Daredevil's problems with Mr Kline but Iron Man's tussles with him totally escape my recall. I am starting to think Iron Man must have been Marvel's least memorable hero during my childhood, judging by how few of his adventures, after Don Heck's initial run, have stuck in my mind.

I do believe I had both this comic and the original issue of The Rampaging Hulk from which its main story's sourced.

Sadly, I have little recall of the tale itself, other than that our hero finds himself up against a hefty-looking robot controlled by the Metal Master.

I'm fairly sure the story's drawn by the previously mentioned Walt Simonson and inked by Alfredo Alcala, which is a fairly blockbuster combination. I just hope Alfredo's famously strong inking doesn't totally obliterate all trace of Walt's style.

Spidey's still having trouble with the fake Green Goblin. I'm not sure if the Harry Osborn incarnation's turned up yet.

In the back-up strips, you have to fear the worst for Hercules because he finds himself battling the Destroyer, without the slightest clue what he's up against.

Elsewhere, in the Captain America tale, Spider-Man's helping the good Captain and the Falcon against Stone Face.

Unfortunately, things aren't going too well for the Falcon who's just been knocked out and tied up.

I don't know much about Stone Face but, given his lack of a high profile in the Marvel universe, if he's capable of defeating Spider-Man, Captain America and the Falcon all at once, I shall be very surprised.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - September 1968.

At last it can be told!

You demanded to know what the greatest Punk song of all time is - and Steve Does Comics can tell you!

Over a period of one week, this site's rampant hordes have been voting, and the results of that voting are as follows:

London Calling - the Clash. 1 vote.
God Save the Queen - the  Sex Pistols. 1 vote.
My Way - the Sex Pistols. 1 vote.
New Rose - the Damned. 1 vote.
Electroc*te Your C*ck - the Voms. 1 vote.
Bloodstains - Agent Orange. 1 vote.
Everything else. 0 votes.

I can, therefore, announce that there is no greatest Punk song of all time. There are, in fact, six greatest Punk songs of all time.

Well, that may be true but there is definitely a greatest super-hero of all time.

Who he is, I don't know but I do know who he's not - and that's any of the characters headlining the comics below.

But that's not to say they're not great in their own right, and that's why I'm taking a look at what they were up to in the comics whose cover date was that of this month of fifty years ago.

The good doctor's in a dread dimension, confronted by hideous creatures and trying to liberate Victoria Bentley and Clea from the clutches of Dormammu.

I do believe this all, somehow, leads to Dormammu gaining access to the Earth, via some sort of giant crack in something or other.

Dormammu had a remarkable knack of repeatedly attacking the Earth, for someone who'd vowed never to attack the Earth. He must have purchased his vows from the same place that Galactus did.

Happy Herb Trimpe's barely got his feet under the table on the Hulk's strip than he's unleashing the Phantom Eagle on us.

Despite the cover blurb's claim that he's Marvel's greatest action hero, I must confess he's a character I know only from his guest appearance in one issue of The Incredible Hulk.

I'm fairly certain that tale revealed him to be an ancestor of Bruce Banner, thus drawing him to the attention of the murderous Kang.

This particular comic seems to have about eighty million pages and also features stories involving the original Human Torch, Captain America, the Patriot, the Sub-Mariner and Joe Maneely's Black Knight. The Subby tale looks to be the one reprinted in Les Daniels' epic Marvel tome.

Don Heck takes over the artistic reins from Gene Colan, and the Metazoid arrives.

Memory tells me this was reprinted in issue #1 of Marvel UK's The Titans and that, despite his monstrous appearance, the Metazoid was an oddly sympathetic character who had little taste for wrong-doing.

I also remember The Titans printed some of the pages in the wrong order, making it a somewhat confusing read.

Despite that, I could tell that Marvy was still maintaining his Walt Lawson identity and still trying to avoid arousing the suspicions of Carol Danvers.

It would seem that this issue retells the story of how Nick Fury came to be head of SHIELD, presumably for the benefit and entertainment of those who'd missed the original tale.

From what I can make out, it seems to be a faithful but elongated retelling.

Hooray! My favourite Sub-Mariner villain makes his diabolical debut, in yet another Subby issue that features some of John Buscema's finest pencilling.

Fifty years ago this month - September 1968.

September of 1968 was a big month for all lovers of  high culture.

For a start, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was launched on NBC. It went on to run for two seasons but, somehow, it seems strangely wrong that the Banana Splits had seasons. Surely, the whole concept of having a season, rather than randomly unleashing episodes upon the world, went against their whole ethos?

Far less anarchic, and far more sensible, was Hawaii Five-O which also premiered that month. Steve McGarrett was clearly made of stronger stuff than Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky because his show went on to last for twelve seasons, was, at one point, America's longest-ever running cop show and didn't end until 1980.

And it wasn't only TV that was giving its audience a thrill because there was also good news for Aunt May. Thanks to that's month's abolition of English theatre censorship, her favourite musical Hair opened in London. I have no idea how long that ran for. For all I know, it might still be running.

But I do know what is definitely running.

And that's our favourite Marvel heroes, in the pages of the comics bearing that month's cover date. They're running straight into danger because they've never heard of the concept of calling the police.

Captain America's mithering about Bucky again - and, this time, he decides to do something about it, other than just pointlessly replacing him with Rick Jones.

He decides to go back in time.

Needless to say, hijinks with Dr Doom's time machine ensue and history's almost rewritten.

You wonder why Dr Doom's time machine is allowed to just sit around unattended in his abandoned castle. Shouldn't someone do something to deactivate it before malcontents decide to use it to wipe out all of humanity?

Batroc, the Living Laser and the Swordsman are causing trouble in a story I've read but am struggling to remember the contents of.

What a very nice cover that is by Gene Colan.

Daredevil's falsely accused of killing the Jester's civilian alter-ego and then takes a long time to figure out who he was and why he can't be dead, despite having hyper-senses which should surely have tipped him off straight away as to what the link is between the alleged victim and the super-villain.

Is this the one in which the Mad Thinker pretends to be a renowned scientist and helps Reed Richards to cure Ben of being the Thing, only for Aunt Petunia's favourite nephew to, inevitably, turn evil?

The Hulk has his first scrap with the Mandarin, in a tale with a heavy SHIELD presence. Highlight of the fight has to be the Hulk lifting up the Mandarin's entire fortress and it not falling apart.

The Mandarin may not have much integrity but his fortress clearly does.

I have a feeling that, in this one, Tony Stark gets kidnapped and taken to the future in order to repair a computer of his own creation that's taken over the world, in an eerie foreshadowing of the rise of Skynet.

The Vulture's out to prove he's every bit as good as Blackie Drago, by defeating Spider-Man.

Needless to say, the attempt fails but I do believe this story leads to Spider-Man being thrown in prison.

But, hold on a second, doesn't the aforementioned Jester storyline lead to Daredevil also being thrown in prison?

Does this mean Daredevil and Spider-Man both end up in the same jail, at the same time and are each involved in the act of escaping from it, with no knowledge that the other is doing likewise?

The forces of Asgard do all they can to prevent Mangog from unsheathing the Odin Sword and killing us all.

Needless to say, they're not getting very far in the attempt.

I have no idea what happens in this tale but it has a John Romita drawn cover, which is a nice thing to see on an X-Men comic.

August 30th, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

After a few weeks of nothing very important happening in 1978, at last, that year gave us one of the pivotal moments in human history because, on the 25th of August, U.S. Army Sergeant Walter Robinson walked across the English Channel, in 11 hours and 30 minutes, using just a pair of home-made water shoes. Sadly, I have no information on whether he then went on to attempt a stroll across the Atlantic or whether anyone has since replicated his feat.

Next to that, I'm sure the contents of that week's Marvel UK offerings could only pale into insignificance.

And here's where we find out if they do.

Frankly, I don't have a clue if they do in this comic because I know next to nothing of its contents, other than that Chris Claremont and Carmine Infantino's Star-Lord strip is still present, as is the Tales of the Watcher.

Sadly, I can shed no light on what this week's Watchery tale is about but have no doubt it provides a valuable lesson for us all.

I do have to say that I like that cover, which is, it seems, by Carmine Infantino, although I can't shake the suspicion that other hands may have been involved as well. Is it just me or do Han Solo's legs have a Dick Giordano feel to them?

Here's a mystery. Only two weeks after declaring that Iron Man would be returning to the pages of Super Spider-Man, Marvel UK launch him, instead, in The Mighty World of Marvel.

I have to admit to having no recollection at all of Iron Man ever having been in The Mighty World of Marvel. How can such a thing have completely slipped my memory, and which strip made way for him? Was it The Invaders? Was it Daredevil? Was it The Fantastic Four?

I genuinely cannot say.

Spidey's still having trouble with the fake Green Goblin - and now the rejuvenated Silvermane's getting in on the act as well. Sometimes, Peter Parker's right about his luck being rotten.

When it comes to the back-up strips, I do know the Thor tale sees Hercules doing what he does best - showing off his muscles in a restaurant.

Sadly and inevitably, his fun comes to an end when there's a kerfuffle outside, which may possibly be caused by the Destroyer.

A strange thing is that the art on this strip's partially rendered with blue ink. I don't remember any Marvel UK mag, other than Captain Britain, using even partial colour since the early days of Mighty World of Marvel when we were often treated to the sight of our favourite heroes coming at us in glorious green.

In the noticeably more monochrome Avengers tale, we're getting that one where an ever-growing Yellowjacket is unconscious on the streets of New York, causing the Vision to have to enter his body in a nifty reversal of the plot line from Avengers #93.

The greatest Punk song of all time!

Punk! What is it? Where is it? Why is it?

Clearly, the answer to that question isn't as simple as it might sound. To some, the word, "Punk," may conjure up instant images of spitting, fighting and vomiting but my incredibly extensive research for this post tells me that, at one point, in the 1970s, even the Bay City Rollers were labelled a Punk act.

This would at least explain why every BBC documentary I've ever seen about Punk claims that Eddie and the Hot Rods were the first British band to be labelled a Punk outfit, even though, to me, they always seemed far closer to the Rollers in visual style than they were to the Pistols.

From this, we can conclude that - as one would expect of a genre with a DIY aesthetic - Punk is a broad church, encompassing pretty much any act that thinks it's in it, including Iggy Pop who never thought he was in it but found himself put in it anyway.

Thus, within its many aisles, we find acts as diverse as the Stooges, Patti Smith, Blondie, the Stranglers, the Sex Pistols. the Damned, X-Ray Spex, the Slits, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Ramones, the Clash, Jonathan Richman, Devo, the Buzzcocks, the Boomtown Rats, the Undertones, Toyah(!), Sigue Sigue Sputnik(!), the Doors(!) and a million others.

Where does Garage end and Pub start? Where does Pub end and Punk start? Where does Punk end and New Wave begin? Where does New Wave end and Grunge begin? Where does Grunge end and Lo-fi start?

I have no idea.

You, on the other hand, may know the answer to all of these vital questions.

Clearly, in the face of such confusion, there's no rational response but to bow to recent public pressure in this site's comments section and launch a poll to decide just what is the greatest Punk song of all time. Therefore, if you have any nominations, feel free to make them in the comments section below and I shall collate them into a poll which I shall launch on Tuesday and then leave in place for a week, in order to give the whole world a chance to vote.

What are my nominations? I must confess I'm not an expert on Punk, having been more of a New Wave fan but the tracks that leap quickest to my mind are Anarchy in the UK, London Calling, No More Heroes, Jilted John and Looking Through Gary Gilmore's Eyes.

But those are only my suggestions. So, get your safety pin in your nose, get that super-glue in your hair, get your tartan scarves out, get ready to sing that great Punk anthem Shang-a-Lang and give us your nominations.

August 23rd, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

August 23rd, 1978, was proving to be an intriguing night for all lovers of the BBC.

BBC Two was showing The Bloxham Tapes, in which Magnus Magnusson investigated the work of Arnall Bloxham who, over a 20 year period, hypnotised 400 people and recorded them talking about their previous lives.

Was this proof of reincarnation?

I don't know but I do remember watching it.

On BBC One, we got a less astral offering, with Taste for Adventure: The Game of Genghis Khan, a documentary which followed Raheem Mohammed as he travelled to a buzkashi game in the foothills of the Hindu Kush. There, he joined battle with another 130 horsemen in a game more like war than sport. As we all know, buzkashi is a game brought to Afghanistan by Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes. You don't see many games that were brought to Afghanistan by Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes, on BBC One, at peak-viewing time, these days.

When it came to music, surely the highlight of the week had to be that Jilted John by Jilted John was at number 10 on the UK singles chart. How could anyone dispute that it was indeed the greatest Punk song of them all?

The Star Wars regulars are still having trouble with Crimson Jack. At least they're not having trouble with Fiery Jack.

Meanwhile, Star-Lord is stuck on a desert planet, with an alien who wants to kill him. Fortunately, our hero has an unlikely ally, in a desert bug who likes to suck every drop of moisture from its victims.

What the Watcher is up to this issue, I could not say but I do know that epic Steve Does Comics football icon Fatty Foulke is once more on the back cover and still advertising crisps.

Hooray! The Leader's humanoids are back!

I always had a soft spot for the Leader's humanoids, even if they never seemed to prove more than a minor annoyance to the Hulk.

But I do love how grumpy they look on this cover.

Then again, I suppose that, if your life consisted entirely of fighting the Hulk, you probably would look grumpy.

But why, exactly, did the Leader cover them in polka dots?

I'm no expert on military equipment but I do suspect that if one was hit by a bazooka, from a distance of a few feet away, one wouldn't be shouting, "No! Nooo!" One would be too busy going splat. Clearly, the Green Goblin's made of strong stuff.

2000 AD - July 1980.

Do you know what you were up to in July of 1980?

I do.

I was watching the Moscow Olympics.

Granted, not everyone in the world was doing likewise, as the games managed the feat of being boycotted by 65 countries - a serious achievement, even by Olympic standards.

Still, that meant there were more medals to go round for the rest of us, and the people of Britain got to cheer as the likes of Daley Thompson and Alan Wells claimed gold.

Top of the bill for the Brits, though, were the two epic clashes between Seb Coe and Steve Ovett to decide who was the world's best middle-distance runner.

Needless to say, we got no answer to that question, as they each proceeded to win the wrong event.

I could claim that such excitement was being matched by the contents of the galaxy's greatest comic but, in all honesty, I can't describe what was happening in it, in any more than the fuzziest of ways.

I do, however, know that that month's issues were giving us Nemesis the Warlock, the Stainless Steel Rat, Wolfie Smith and Robo Hunter, while Judge Dredd was still on the lookout for the Judge Child. It never struck me at the time just how long his story arcs used to go on for.

From Prog 168 onwards, the comic was also giving us The VCs, a strip I have no memory of, not even when I Google images from it. I had been assuming it was some sort of spin-off of Ro-Busters but it, instead, seems to have been an Outer Space war series.

Apparently, the enemies in it were referred to as, "The Geeks," which does ring a bell. I'm wondering if the whole thing had a Starship Troopers vibe to it. I could imagine that a 2000 AD Outer Space war strip would possess such a thing.