Forty years ago today - August 1979.

The past.

Where is it?

What is it?

Does it reside in the hearts, the minds and the souls of all who have ever lived?

No. It resides on this page, right below this sentence I'm typing.

I think the only thing I know about this issue is that Betty and Glenn get their divorce sorted out - just in time for Betty to discover her dad's had some sort of breakdown and is now in a wheelchair.

Oh, and Glenn may be getting more and more unhinged, by the second.

Despite all his experiments always ending in disaster, Curt Connors has been at it again - and accidentally created a new reptilian menace to threaten all mankind.

What's Connors' response to this?

Does he swear never to experiment ever again?

No. He turns himself into the Lizard, so he can fight the new menace, thus doubling the number of menaces on the loose.

And they say Hank Pym's unstable.

Thor's hanging around with the Deviants and, by the looks of things, it's not going well.

Luckily, it seems that Kro is worthy of lifting the hammer.

Erm, what?

Arcade's captured the X-Men and brainwashed Colossus into turning against them.

Needless to say, it'll take more than mere brainwashing to make the Soviet scrapper murder his closest friends.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, this issue sees the 1950s Captain America blow himself up, having already shot dead the 1950s Bucky. Blimey, that's all a bit grim.

In other news, both Cap and Daredevil survive last issue's bi-plane flight and succeed in thwarting Dr Faustus' plan to drop mind-control gas all over New York.

Hooray! It's the moment we've all been waiting for, as HERBIE the robot makes his debut for the team.

Needless to say, it's not long before unexplained deaths start happening whenever he's around.

Ben spots that this is suspicious.

Reed doesn't.

Iron Man's killed some politician or other, thanks to his repulsor rays going out of control - and the increasingly boozetastic Tony Stark's out to find the people responsible.

But not until after Captain America's given him a three minute crash-course in how to be a human fighting-machine.

The Black Cat meets a watery grave.

Or does she?

But she's not the only one popping her clogs, because Aunt May joins her in the afterlife.

Or does she?

Who is the mysterious manager of her nursing home and what does the burglar who killed Uncle Ben want with the Parker residence?

This issue answers neither of those questions.

Conan gets over the death of Bêlit by murdering some bloke and killing a giant spider.

So, business as usual, really.

Some evil force has taken over the Scarlet Witch and turned her into a hyper-powerful menace, in a John Byrne drawn storyline which bears no resemblance at all to the Dark Phoenix saga.

August 8th, 1979 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

America. It has to be the most discovered continent in the history of the world. If it's not Columbus claiming to have discovered it, it's the Vikings. If it's not them, it's the Chinese. If it's not them, it's the Welsh. Then again, there are claims that the Romans, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Indonesians, and just about everyone else who ever built a boat, discovered it.

I'm amazed to discover that I didn't discover it too.

And then, of course, there are the ancestors of the people who were living in the Americas when Columbus arrived. They definitely discovered it, or their descendants wouldn't have been there when Columbus showed up.

Thus it is that, on this night of exactly forty years ago, a BBC documentary called Adventure: The Brendan Voyage was looking into the long-standing claims that the first European to set foot in America was actually the medieval Irish monk Saint Brendan, purported to have made the trip nearly a thousand years before Columbus.

Could such a man have possibly crossed the Atlantic, in just a small leather boat?

Commonsense would say no.

Fortunately, not everyone has common sense. Some have the far more valuable trait of get up and go - and a leather boat. Therefore, in the late 1970s, three men set out to cross that  sea, in a replica of the vessel that, legend says, Brendan used to make the voyage.

Did they make it?

Yes they did.

And BBC Two was telling us how.

I have even less idea what happens in this week's issue than I do normally. Clearly, the Guardians of the Galaxy are in it and so is Adam Warlock. Beyond that, I can say nothing.


No doubt, Luke and his droids are in the deadliest of peril, though.

Fortunately, when it comes to this comic, I have far more idea.

Having washed Taboo down the plug hole, the Hulk's up against Groot the talking tree, with not a trace of Rocket Raccoon in sight.

Egghead's out to avenge himself upon Ant-Man by capturing the Wasp. He aims to do this by using an exhibition about wasps as bait. As Egghead himself argues, how could a woman called the Wasp possibly turn down the chance to see an exhibition about wasps?

Clearly, he doesn't know much about Janet van Dyne.

Or perhaps he does, because she does indeed go to the exhibition!

The Black Knight's still in another dimension, trying to do something or other to help bring Captain Britain back to life.

Nick Fury's still tripping.

Rick Jones is in the Negative Zone, being attacked by Annihilus and trying to turn into the Hulk, in order to fight him, in the latest instalment of What If?

The Reject is still on the loose in the Deviants' underwater city.

And we're back to near-total ignorance because I don't know what's in this week's issue of Marvel's newest venture.

But I do know what's not in it.

And that's Conan and Dracula, who've been dropped in the great merger. Within week's, the Avengers will also be leaving, to claim a home in a new magazine.

There's no doubt about it, Marvel UK's centre of gravity's now tilting very heavily towards monthly mags, rather than weekly comics.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - August 1969.

August 1969 began with the Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women at Number One on the UK singles chart. That was soon dislodged from the top spot by the unique oddity that was In the Year 2525 by Zager and Evans, a dire prediction of what lay in store for mankind. The record itself had quite a good future, spending several weeks at Number One and holding off the challenge from Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising, along the way.

Sadly, the duo's future wasn't equally good. After topping the chart in both the US and UK, they've never made the Top 100 in either country since. A feat no other act has ever replicated.

No sign of them at the summit of the British album chart either. That month started with According to My Heart by Jim Reeves at Number One, which was soon deposed by Jethro Tull's Stand Up. The Tull were then removed from the throne by From Elvis in Memphis before fighting back to reclaim their crown and finish the month at Number One again.

It is surprising to look back and see how big Jethro Tull actually were. I always think of them as a two-hit wonder novelty act. I, clearly, think wrongly.

When it came to the cinema, that month saw the release of The Learning Tree, a film I've never seen nor even heard of but I refuse to believe a learning tree can be as awesome as a Singing Ringing Tree.

That month also saw the release of Alice's Restaurant and Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? The latter being from the same producer who gave us Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? It would appear the two Alices were not related.

Inter-galactic dimwit Captain Marvel finally starts asking questions of the all-powerful Zo, having previously vowed to do anything he wants, without first asking just what it is he actually wants.

It turns out that what he wants is to destroy the Kree homeworld, so that's OK then.

Needless to say, it's at this point Mar-Vell starts to suspect that mindlessly obeying Zo might not be a good thing after all.

But can Marvy thwart Zo's terrible plan?

Only time - and the next issue - will tell.

Inter-galactic dimwit the Silver Surfer allows Frankenstein's latest descendant to make an evil copy of him, so he can rule humanity.

Needless to say, this leads to a bucketful of whingeing from the Surfer, a big fight and an increase in the distrust between himself and humanity.

The Sub-Mariner enters the deadly Sargasso Sea, in order to prevent Tiger-Shark doing whatever it is he's doing, and then has to deal with a bunch of hostile sailors, from various points in humanity's past, who've been rendered immortal by the sea's strange mists and now want to take over the world, with the aid of an old U-Boat packed solid with germ warfareness.

Anyone who's ever seen She knows exactly how this story's going to end.

Fifty years ago this month - August 1969.

Mud. It's not just a band that wasn't as good as the Rubettes. It's also a concept. A concept they can fill entire fields with. And August 1969 was a great month for lovers of that substance  - and possibly others -  because it saw not one but two epic outdoor music festivals.

They were Woodstock and the second Isle of Wight Festival. Needless to say, both have gone down in the annals of legend.

And they're not the only musical things from that month to have done so, because the Abbey Road zebra crossing began its journey to greatness right then as well, thanks to the Beatles having their photograph taken on it, with the camera of Iain Macmillan.

Things, however, were were not so rosy for the the coin known as the halfpenny, which ceased to be legal tender that month, as the nation hurtled towards decimalisation.

It was madness. At this rate, even the mighty shilling would be scrapped. And, without the shilling, how were we ever going to pay for our comics?

Barry Smith bows out as Avengers artist - for now - as Ultron gives the team a good hiding then formulates his plot to kill the scientist who created the Adamantium from which he's currently constructed.

I believe this is officially Sal Buscema's first ever Avengers cover, although I suspect he may have had some involvement in brother John's cover for the previous issue.

Unless I miss my guess, Captain America and the Red Skull have swapped bodies, leading Cap to call on the Avengers for help.

Needless to say, they take one look at him, in the Red Skull's body and decide to beat the living daylights out of him.

For some reason, it didn't occur to him to take off his Red Skull mask before knocking on the front door.

I didn't only have a copy of this tale in The Mighty World of Marvel. I also had an Alan Class comic that reprinted it.

I do believe Mr Fear is back and causing our hero all kinds of problems.

I also think the phobic fiend has a flying disc similar in style to those used by the Trapster and Wizard. I'm not sure where he got that from.

Speaking of problems, the FF's new house causes nothing but trouble, as it turns out it's not a house at all. It's a machine for turning everyone in the world blind, so the Mole Man can invade it.

Even robbed of their sight, the FF prove too much for the subterranean schemer.

It's that tale which showed up in Origins of Marvel Comics. Lady Dorma rescues Bruce Banner from drowning and it all leads to a misunderstanding that can only be resolved by Subby and the Hulk bashing each other in the face.

Iron Man and the Unicorn team up to give the Red Ghost the punch in the gob, he so deserves.

I do believe the Ghost has a brand new army of super-apes who turn out to be too good for him. That does pose the question of whatever happened to the originals.

Maybe they were too good for him, as well.

The saga of the mysterious tablet finally comes to an end with the death of Silvermane.

And, of course, it all leads to the return of the Lizard.

I'm really not too sure what happens in this one.

Is it the story in which Don Blake needs to perform surgery on Sif but then has to run off to fight Loki, halfway through the operation, causing the other surgeons to think him a little irresponsible?

Then again, the last I heard, Don Blake was just a bog-standard GP. How on Earth is he allowed to do major surgery?

The X-Men are up against the Sentinels again.

I do believe this is the one in which the robots end up flying into the sun.

August 1st, 1979 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

This night in 1979 saw one of the oddest sporting clashes of all time, as BBC Two broadcast a football match between West Bromwich Albion and the People's Republic of China. As West Bromwich has a population of 78,000 and China is home to 1.4 billion people, this seems a somewhat unlikely fixture.

Admittedly, the game was in 1979 and the respective populations would have been different back then but I suspect that, even in 1979, West Bromwich didn't have a population the size of China's.

Anyway, West Bromwich Albion won 4-0. It's David and Goliath all over again.

But the big news is that, that morning, BBC One was broadcasting The Flashing Blade, a show I have spectacularly fond memories of, despite not being able to remember a thing about it. It's strange how you can love a show whose contents have totally faded from your consciousness.

I do recall there were Iberians in it and horses but that's about the limit of my recollection. Apparently, in today's episode, the Spanish commander holds the Duke responsible for Recci's escape.

I don't know what any of it means but it sounds like the Duke's in trouble.

Speaking of trouble, it looks like we're back in that cantina and it's no friendlier than it was the first time we entered it.

I wonder if the band have learnt a new song yet, or if they're still playing the same tune over and over again.

Elsewhere this issue, the Guardians of the Galaxy are up against that big space frog that eats planets at a voracious rate.

Warlock finds himself in a tale that introduces us to Constable Trueheart.

I say that but I don't have a clue who Constable Trueheart is.

This week's tale of the Watcher informs us of a world whose nearest neighbour is a prison planet - a prison planet which turns out to be Earth!

The Hulk's still fighting Diablo the smoke Monster but, no sooner has he sorted him out than he has to deal with Taboo the mud monster.

The Black Knight's gone into some magical kingdom or other to try and bring Captain Britain back from the dead.

Ant-Man and the Wasp complete their first mission together, thanks to getting ants to do all the work for them. I'm pleased to report that neither character comes across as being particularly sane in this tale.

Meanwhile, the Reject's still on the rampage in the Deviants' underwater city.

In the pages of What If?, cured of being the Hulk, Rick Jones teams up with Captain America, then stumbles across those pesky nega-bands that can only mean nothing but trouble.

And I do believe Nick Fury's still tripping on hallucinogens.

Here it is, the start of a brand new era for Marvel UK, as we get the birth of the catchily titled Spectacular Spider-Man Weekly and Marvel Comic. Not only is it a new title but it gives us a walloping nine strips. It's madness! Madness!

In the main strip, Carrion's on the rampage in the ESU library and out to kill Peter Parker, having already clobbered Hector Ayala.

And Reed Richards is on the rampage in Latveria. His powers restored, thanks to Dr Doom launching him into space, Reed launches a one-man attack on that villain's kingdom.

I know little of this issue but have no doubt Conan, Red Sonja and Solomon Kane are all up to the sort of thing they're always up to.

I'm pretty sure Jewels of Gwahlur is a Robert E Howard tale and that I've read it. I struggle, however, to recall anything about it.

I know the Red Sonja tales have now reached the Frank Thorne era.

I remember this one!

Or at least I remember the X-Men tale. It's that one where the demonic Kierrok's unleashed when Cyclops blows the lid off an obelisk, in a fit of temper over Thunderbird dying.

I do believe this is the tale in which we first learn that Storm has claustrophobia.

I also think it's the tale that introduces us to the X-Men's new housekeeper Moira Mac Taggert, and her machine gun.

As for Dr Strange, I don't have a clue who Xander the Merciless is. I have Googled him. He seems to look a bit like Omega the Unknown.

Britain's greatest sci-fi mag looks at probably my least favourite Bond movie - Moonraker. A film so bad that I can't even remember its theme tune.

We also get a look at The Spaceman and King Arthur, which was released in some territories as Unidentified Flying Oddball. I can't help feeling they were right to dump that title.

2000 AD - June 1981.

Have you ever found yourself being chased down a tunnel by a big ball of rock?

If so, June 1981 was a Godsend because you suddenly had the comfort of knowing you weren't alone in the universe.

That's right. It was the month in which movie history was made and Raiders of the Lost Ark hit the big screen.

Never before had archaeology seemed so exciting. And never again would it seem so exciting - not even when watching Channel Four's Time Team dig up yet another rusty Bronze Age pin in a muddy ditch in Shropshire, while Tony Robinson tries to pretend it's a great find.

Come to think  of it, the big ball of rock was in the second Indiana Jones film, wasn't it? So you were going to have to wait a couple more years yet before finally encountering a kindred spirit.

Still, if a daring archaeologist could offer you no relief, you could at least take comfort in the adventures of dandy highwaymen because the UK singles chart, that month, kicked off with Adam and the Ants' Stand and Deliver at Number One.

However, that was quickly deposed by Smokey Robinson's Being With You which was, in turn, dislodged by Michael Jackson's One Day in Your Life.

Over on the album chart, Starsound started the month at Number One with Stars on 45 but were soon removed by Motorhead's No Sleep 'til Hammersmith which was then usurped by Various Artists' Disco Daze and Disco Nites. It is hard to think of a bigger contrast than the one between Starsound and Motorhead.

When it came to sport, it was the month in which Shergar won the Epsom Derby and the first ever game of paintball was played, in New Hampshire.

"Well, that's all very well," I hear you cry, "But what of 2000 AD and its sci-fi happenings that I so love to hear about?"

I'm glad you asked.

Well, I'm not really because, as always, I have less of a clue than Jessica Fletcher has when suddenly finding herself in a town where no murders have been committed.

However, this is what I can share.

Clearly determined to give us maximum value for our 15 pence, the Galaxy's Greatest Comic was still feeding us Strontium Dog, Tharg's Future Shocks, The Mean Arena, Judge Dredd, Meltdown Man and Return to Armageddon. It's strange how Marvel UK giving us six strips in each weekly book felt like sacrilege, while 2000 AD doing the same was never a problem. I suppose it's just a question of context.

But it's an exciting day for me because, thanks to Prog 217, we've finally reached a Tharg's Future Shock I actually remember.

I'm pretty sure The Last Rumble of the Platinum Horde is the tale in which an army of Mongols from space set out to destroy everything in their path but fail to take into account that the Universe is round, and end up destroying their own planet, not realising they're back where they started from.

I like to think there's a lesson in there for all of us.

July 25th, 1979 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

This week in 1979 was a grim one indeed for readers who'd been with Marvel UK since the venture's launch, because it saw the demise of not one but two of its stalwart titles.

Which were those titles?

We'll find out in a moment but what else was going on around that time?

The Boomtown Rats were going on around that time. Their single I Don't Like Mondays hit the UK's Number One spot, giving them their second and final British Number One, with Bob Geldof's take on that year's Grover Cleveland Elementary School shooting.

Elsewhere, just a week after Chicago's Disco Demolition Night, the dance-orientated genre fought back by claiming the Number One spot on the UK album chart, thanks to The Best Disco Album in the World. Not only that but the art form hit its commercial peak in America by claiming the top six spots on that week's Billboard singles chart. Clearly, Disco was going to be around forever.

Unlike two particular comics.

One of those comics was not Star Wars Weekly. After all, nothing with the words, "Star Wars," on it was going to fail at that time and, so, Marvel UK's one remaining glossy-covered weekly carries right on, without a care in the world.

I haven't the slightest idea what happens in this issue, other than that Banthas are involved but I do note the Guardians of the Galaxy are back, presumably at the expense of the Micronauts.

From memory, I'm assuming we're launching into the Starhawk saga, as I remember reading it in the pages of Star Wars Weekly.

I could, of course, be totally wrong about that.

It's the start of the Sal Buscema drawn tale in which our favourite Gamma victim comes up against a whole host of Silver Age monsters conjured up by Xemnu.

Elsewhere, it's all gone mad, as Ant-Man turns Janet van Dyne into the Wasp, in order to avenge the murder of her father by a being from another world.

There is, of course, nothing abnormal about having a formula for turning people into human wasps in your lab and a wasp costume in your wardrobe, just in case a replica of your dead wife might turn up and need it.

It's bad news for all patriots, as the ever-useless Captain Britain's killed by a reanimated corpse posing as Death.

Meanwhile, the Reject's having a fight to the finish with Karkas and any other Deviant who gets in his way.

Nick Fury's on hallucinogens and the Watcher's still asking, "What if Rick Jones had become the Hulk, Daddy-O?"

But this is it, the end of an era. After nearly seven years, Marvel UK's flagship title - the one that launched the company on its way - kicks the bucket.

It'll be back later but, for now, it's as dead as a dodo.

As for the contents, I do believe DD's about to come up against Copperhead, while, the X-Men have been captured by Magneto in the tale in which the Angel first encounters Red Raven.

How ironic that the last issue of what was once Mighty World of Marvel should reprint one of the very first Marvel stories I ever read.

And it's the last issue of Marvel UK's second oldest book, despite it being billed as, "Britain's No. 1 Superhero Comic!" It doesn't suggest a very rosy future for the others if the Number One can't even survive.

Granted, it's not really doomed. It's just about to be relaunched under a different title, which isn't the first time it's been on the receiving end of such a fate.

Anyway, after what's seemed like an eternity, Spidey and Daredevil finally get to beat the Masked Marauder and his plan to terrorise New York City with his big metal bird.

But, judging by that cover, it looks like our hero now has even bigger things to worry about.