The Marvel Lucky Bag - November 1980.

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

 ***

Two films the world will never forget came out in November 1980.

One was Raging Bull, the story of middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, and the other was Heaven's Gate, the story of... ...well, I'm not sure what it's the story of but it infamously bankrupted the studio that made it, so I assume it must have been quite ambitious.

This post, however, is not ambitious.

Moon Knight gets his very own comic, as brought to us by daring Doug Moench and bashful Bill Sienkiewicz.

I don't think it's one I've ever read but it appears Bushman's returned and Moon Knight sets off to look for him.

Tragically, I don't have a clue who Bushman is. His name gives the impression he's an Australian gentleman with corks hanging from his hat but I suspect he's not, because that would make him an even worse villain than the Kangaroo.

I'm now just hoping there's a comic where the Kangaroo, Boomerang and Bushman team-up. What a thrillingly cliched collection of Antipodean antagonists that'd be.

Marvel Team-Up gets its third annual - but one that doesn't appear to star Spider-Man.

Never mind. We've got Machine Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and the Hulk, which does feel like over-egging your pudding somewhat.

I'm not sure what happens in this one but it all looks lively enough.

Having made his debut in The Micronauts, Captain Universe gets his own strip in Marvel Spotlight.

I'm not really familiar with the character but I am getting a very 1950s Charlton comics vibe from him, especially the vibe of Captain Atom.

Ghost Rider celebrates his 50th issue by teaming up with Night Rider.

I'm really only posting this one because the cover reminds me of that scene in the Nicolas Cage Ghost Rider movie where Johnny and the original Ghost Rider race at full pelt, for hundreds of miles, to intercept the latest supernatural threat to mankind and, when they finally get there, the original Ghost Rider promptly leaves, making you wonder just why he bothered to make the journey.

Anyway, in this one, Johnny's trapped in the Wild West and teams up with Night Rider to tackle some bandits before returning to the present to prevent an exploding dam from flooding a native American burial ground.

I don't know if the comic's any good but that's a cover that'd make me buy any book.

Our heroine encounters Marvel's werewolf in a tale written by Michael Fleisher.

I know not whether Michael's beloved trope of cannibalism makes an appearance but I would have thought a werewolf tale would give him plenty of opportunity to use it.

Not only do we get the X-Men teaming up with Dr Strange, we also have the origin of Nightcrawler, as his teammates try to rescue him from his foster mother's hell.

Unless I'm mistaken, Mystique makes no appearance in this tale. Clearly, it was too early for the truth to be told.

Marvel's attempts to make Jack of Hearts a thing now leads to him appearing in the pages of ROM.

This is all I know.

I am, however, confident that, by the end of this tale, Jack has still not become a thing.

It's bad news all round, as Hellcat's mother dies and Nighthawk's assets are frozen by the IRS.

This leads to the gang moving into a house in the suburbs where they experience a taste of suburban life.

We get a quick look at Hellcat's past in the fashion industry but the highlight of this issue is, of course, a brief appearance from Millie the Model.

Forty years ago today - November 1980.

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

***

Turn on your spotlights and fill up your tanks because we plunge, once more, into the Marianas Trench of History to see what strange fish we can encounter and annoy.

The team try to get things back to normal, after last issue's shenanigans with Ms Marvel and her brand new son/boyfriend.

Unfortunately, normal for the Avengers involves the Wasp getting abducted by a robot, and Wonder Man losing his job as Sideshow Bob.

As the cover suggests, however, the book's real highlight is Jarvis in solo action, sorting out riff-raff on the streets of New York.

Batroc breaks Mr Hyde out of prison and, now, the dastardly duo are planning to ram an oil tanker into New York and blow the place to smithereens unless the city pays them zillions of dollars.

Or are they?

It seems that, given the ruthlessness of his new partner, Batroc's already starting to have second thoughts about the whole thing...

The Fantastic Four have barely got back from the North Pole, in a previous issue, and now they're there again.

This time, they find themselves up against a bunch of giant sci-fi Vikings with a destructive blind god, in a style of tale that seems a not-totally-comfortable fit for their book.

After plenty of fighting, complaining and arguing, the dispute between the Hulk, Doc Samson, Betty, Rick, Woodgood and Thunderbolt Ross is finally settled, as the cloven-hoofed tamperer in genetics realises he's been tricked by his latest, blatantly evil, creations, and everybody gets to calm down and make friends.

Apart from Thunderbolt Ross who still hates the Hulk as much as ever.

Madame Web makes her sedentary debut and helps Spider-Man to deal with some crime or other.

If I remember correctly, I think it involves the kidnapping The New York Globe's owner who's been using a stand-in to attend board meetings, meaning no one will know when the real her's been murdered.

At last, Spidey thwarts Belladonna and her crimes against fashion, by doing something or other that I can't recall.

I do, though, recollect it involving him getting her and her sister mixed-up with each other.

And, also, getting the fake Prowler to shoot a dummy, in the belief that it's our hero.

Now the Celestials are out of the way, Thor sets about reviving Odin and the other Norse gods, which he achieves by getting all the other pantheons to donate a small portion of their life-force to the cause.

Unfortunately, one Indian god doesn't like the idea, so Thor has to fight him for it.

Kitty Pryde may join the X-Men this issue but the real news, for some of us, is Nightcrawler and Wolverine head off to Canada and find themselves having to deal with the nightmare menace of the Wendigo.

I've a feeling this may be the issue in which Nightcrawler first discovers Wolverine's real name, even though I think one of the leprechauns in that earlier story may have already mentioned it.

Daredevil encounters the Mauler who, despite that name, isn't a criminal wrestler but is an old man in a suit of armour, who's angry, with his former boss, that he's lost his company pension.

It's no hands on deck, as Tony Stark's latest girlfriend's kidnapped from a yacht, by Sub-Mariner foe-turned-pirate Force - and now only Iron Man can save her.

Assuming he can save himself.

It's a very strange tale, as Conan's captured by Arab slavers and ends up having to battle a pair of giant space-slugs to rescue one of them.

But it turns out he doesn't have to battle them at all, because they're not evil.

Sadly, he only discovers this after he's killed one of them.

November 5th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

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

***

Hooray! It's Guy Fawkes Night, the evening when we all celebrate attempts to blow up Parliament by a man who looked like Partick Stewart!

But you know what wasn't being blown up, this week in 1980?

El Salvador and Honduras.

That's right. It was the week in which the two nations signed a peace treaty, finally bringing an official end to the war - about qualification for the World Cup - which had broken out between them in 1969.

In the United States, that week, politics was being waged far less dramatically, as Ronald Reagan was elected the nation's 40th president.

I've no doubt that was all getting plenty of TV attention but also getting gogglebox coverage were the Goodies who, ten years after their first appearance, were still going and, on BBC One, on this very evening, conducted a satire of the UFO craze.

Meanwhile, BBC Two was celebrating Guy Fawkes Night by broadcasting a live fireworks display from Newcastle, staged to mark the city's 900th birthday.

Later that evening, the same channel treated us to a documentary about China's Terracotta Army and also broadcast the second part of its drama series about Robert Oppenheimer's quest to build an atomic bomb.

An atomic bomb? There was a man taking Guy Fawkes Night way too seriously.

The Micronauts are in Manhattan - and facing the deadly menace of the Toymaster.

To be frank, I don't have a clue who the Toymaster is but, from that name, he sounds like the kind of villain you don't want to bump into if you're a character based on a toy.

The Fantastic Four think they have problems when the Sandman tries to break free from the local jail but they don't know the half of it because, in Europe, Dr Doom's in his fortress and hatching a scheme to steal the Silver Surfer's powers and gain control of the whole world.

And it's not just the FF who have to worry about the tin-plated despot, because now Spider-Man's got to contend with him, as well.

Man-Thing, at least, doesn't have to contend with Doom but he does have other concerns, as, judging by that cover, a cop's threatening to shoot him!

Then again, thinking about it, that's no kind of threat at all for a creature made of mud.

That aside, all I know about this issue is its contents are drawn by Jim Starlin and inked by Herb Trimpe which is a combination that I don't think I've ever seen anywhere else.

The Beast discovers, to his consternation, that the New X-Men have been captured and put on display in a carnival.

If my memory serves me well, it turns out the bad guy behind it all is Mesmero who soon finds himself disposed of by a second, and far greater, threat.

Luke Cage is up against Dr Doom and, presumably, still trying to make the Teutonic troublemaker stump up the money he owes.

All I can say is Doom is very busy this week.

And, finally, the Thing meets Tigra to launch a, no-doubt, beautiful friendship.

Yet another of Marvel UK's weeklies goes monthly and, to celebrate, Luke battles a probe droid that's invaded a rebel transport ship.

We get more from Killraven's first-ever appearance. And, this time, the characters' heads haven't been redrawn as apes!

There's more from the reprint of Marvel's adaptation of the first Star Wars film.

And in this issue's tale of the Watcher, a genius, frustrated by how inferior the intellects of his fellow men are, flies to another planet, only to be locked up by that world's natives, on the grounds that he's too stupid to be allowed to roam around free.

It's nothing but trouble for the Avengers when a whole bunch of them go missing, thanks to the Collector. Meanwhile, Korvac's busy, scheming his latest schemings.

In the X-Men's strip, Cyclops, Marvel Girl and the Beast set out to rescue their captured team-mates from the Sentinels - a plan which involves dressing up as Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the Toad and getting the Sentinels to fly into the sun, where they'll never be seen again.

The Champions are still battling the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man and Griffin, after that villainous trio have gatecrashed the heroes' civic inauguration do.

Frantic is still going.

In a new strip adventure, the Fourth Doctor finds himself up against the menace of the Collector who I suspect has nothing to do with any other Marvel villains of the same name.

I do know the Doctor declares, "By Jove!" at one point in this tale. Clearly, the writer was mistaking him for Ken Dodd.

The Abslom Daak tale Star Tigers is still running.

We get a text adaptation of the First Doctor's final adventure The Tenth Planet, featuring the first-ever appearance of the Cybermen.

There's an interview with Ian Marter on his experience of writing Doctor Who novelisations.

Also, there's a feature on the serial Meglos from which I believe this month's cover image is sourced.

And there's a review of The Leisure Hive, which lavishes praise on new producer John Nathan-Turner.

The cover promises us a startling new direction for the magazine!

Exactly what that new direction is, is anybody's guess, as I detect no signs of this issue being any different to those that preceded it.

I do know that, thanks to the peerless pencils of Gil Kane, Conan finds himself up against a murderous gorilla. One he, needless to say, soon dispatches.

It seems Red Sonja may be finding herself up against Conan too, though the lack of punctuation in that sidebar blurb makes it difficult to be certain.

The UK's Number One sci-fi mag's still giving us all the latest news from Planet Speculative.

As well as a look at The Shining, it seems we're also supplied with info on the making of Starhunt, a film so awesome I can find no reference to it anywhere on the internet.

Hooray! The Titans makes its nostalgia-fulfilling return!

But not in landscape format.

Captain America finds himself in Vietnam and facing the deadly menace of The Sumo.

Even more excitingly, Iron Man has to thwart Gargantus, the deadly space Hypno-Neandertal.

And I would assume we're also getting one of Thor's very earliest adventures, to boot.

Marvel UK's clearly decided you just can't have too many comics with the Hulk in them.

Thus it is that we get a brand new book which reveals just how the mild-mannered Bruce Banner first became the Hulk.

We also get the terrifyingly magnetic terror of the Toad Men.

Just over a decade after the battling Cimmerian landed his own US mag, he lands his own UK pocket book which kicks off its run by reprinting his first three American issues.

Do you spend your evenings sobbing your eyes out over your love life?

Now you don't have to do it alone, as Young Romance pocket book is launched to give you a whole slew of females, who've been fools in love, to cry along with.

And we get the launch of yet another monthly. Ye Gods, do Marvel UK think we're made of money?

I believe that, this issue, we're given the origin of the Punisher who swears vengeance upon criminals, following the murder of his family. So, no resemblance to the plot of Death Wish at all, then.

Elsewhere, a rich woman hires Dominic Fortune to kidnap her husband who owes her a quarter of a million dollars.

And it seems that, on his night off, Moon Knight is called into action to protect his friend.

It is intriguing to think of super-heroes having nights off. I wonder if Batman has to notify Gotham City Police, in advance, when his nights off are?

What's this? Valour weekly has only just been launched and, already, it has a winter special?

Thor decides to get involved in the Trojan War. A decision that brings him into conflict with the Greek gods.

In other news, the demon N'Garai penetrates Dr Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, which sounds painful. You can probably get ointment for it.

We also get full colour pin-ups featuring Thor, Dr Strange, Conan, Red Sonja and even Devil Dinosaur.

And, as if that's not enough, there's even a one-page advert for Frantic magazine, presented to us by Batroc the Leaper.

And here is that very aforementioned Valour weekly, starring none other than that powerhouse driver of comicbook sales himself, Devil Dinosaur!

So awesome is he that we even get Part One of a jigsaw that's dedicated to him!

And that's not all, because there's also a Conan tale called The Devil Has Many Legs in which our hero's still mourning the loss of Bêlit.

In a surprise development, we're served a Wally Wood narrated tale called The Bold and the Brave in which a youth with a dodgy leg seems to become a John Carter style fantasy hero.

Elsewhere, Dr Strange is up to something in New York and there's an old Lee/Kirby Tales of Asgard reprint.

It's November 1980 and you know what we need more of?

The launch of another new comic.

Seriously, what's going on? Has Paul Neary gone completely mad?

So, as far as I can make out, purely from the cover blurb, we've got the Micronauts (even though they're already in Star Heroes pocket book), Seeker 3000, Starlord and Paladin.

I assume we also get Nick Fury, judging by that image.

And it seems we have the chance to build our own space-ship. Elon Musk can only watch and envy us.

Hooray! The comic that was only launched mere months ago celebrates its 400th anniversary, making it older than the United States itself.

And it does so with style, by introducing the menace of the Rapier, surely Spider-man's greatest ever foe who I'm sure we all remember so well.

With both this week's Hulk and Spidey stories being granted 14 pages each, I'm assuming She-Hulk and Spider-Woman have found themselves dropped.

Will they return?

Who can know?

Apparently, Kaballa summons the fire-demons against the Golem.

I don't have a clue who Kaballa is or who the fire-demons are but it can't be good news for our clay-bound battler of evil.

The rest of this week's contents are a mystery to me.

Spider-Man and Nighthawk are still in pursuit of the Meteor-Man who's stolen one of Nighthawk's meteors.

I can't say I recall Kyle ever expressing any interest in collecting meteors in the pages of The Defenders.

Team-Up may be just eight issues old but, already, it has its own winter special.

From that cover, I'm detecting this is the tale in which Mary Jane gets possessed by the spirit of Red Sonja and she and Spidey get to fight some ancient wizard or other.

Elsewhere, in another tale, it's Spider-Man's turn to be possessed, as he's taken over by a woman called Karma who gets him to fight the Fantastic Four.

And, finally, Storm and the Black Panther unite to tackle someone called De Ruyter.

I cannot say whether possession is involved.

And here's an oddity, a winter special for a comic that doesn't even exist yet.

As far as I can make out, Thor and Loki team-up to find a Crystal of Blood for Odin and, in a separate tale, we're introduced to Omega the Unknown.

So, there you go, twenty-four publications hitting your news rack, right now. I hope you've got a lot of money because you're going to need it to buy that lot.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - November 1970.

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

***

Dodecahedron.

There's only one reason I know that word.

And that's because it features in the book The Phantom Tollbooth.

But my first introduction to that tale wasn't via the book. It was via the film based on the book.

And that film came out this month in 1970.

However, it wasn't the only cinematic treat that escaped, there and then, because that November also saw the unleashing of Hammer's The Scars of Dracula.

That masterpiece, of course, starred the unlikely duo of singing TV cop Dennis Waterman and children's TV show presenter Jenny Hanley. Somehow, that oddness of casting makes it seem all the more memorable.

Second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton was also in it. Clearly, the film was the gift that kept giving.

I recall that, in it, Drac meets his fate by the same method the werewolf does in the Neal Adams drawn Batman story Moon of the Wolf. Coincidence? Who can know?

When it came to the UK singles chart, November kicked-off with Matthews' Southern Comfort's Woodstock at Number One. However, that was then displaced by Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile, while the month ended with the top spot being held by Dave Edmund's I Hear Your Knocking.

Over on the British album chart, Led Zeppelin III initially held the high ground before being knocked down a peg or two by Bob Dylan's New Morning. But even his Bobness ultimately had to make way, as November ended with Andy Williams' Greatest Hits achieving chart supremacy. 

The Inhumans find themselves up against the power of the Mandarin in what I can't imagine being anything other than a one-sided smackdown, bearing in mind they outnumber him heavily and he's never won a fight against anyone.

The Black Widow's up to something as well, and I don't know what but it seems to involve a man with a bag over his head.

Hooray! We get the launch of yet another Marvel monster mag!

And how better to do so than by giving us the exploits of a fiend who even has a name that's almost, "Monster?"

In the issue's second tale, an alien comes to Earth, to check out whether to invade it. In the end, he decides not to bother and, instead, settles down with a nice Earth girl.

Finally, a criminal discovers a genie and intends to use its powers for his own benefit.

I must confess I habitually ignore Sgt Fury's book in this feature but I feel I have to include this issue purely because of that cover.

However, I'm sensing, "The All-American," will turn out to be more trouble than he's worth.

Attuma captures Namor, Triton and Sting-Ray and orders them to fight each other or he'll put the kibosh on Diane Arliss.

Happily, Subby concocts a cunning plan which involves the trio swimming round and round and round in circles.

Issue #3 of Where Creatures Roam gives us the tale of Thorg who older readers will remember as Thorr, a villain bearing a noticeable resemblance to the mighty Thor's first foes the Stone Men from Saturn.

In our other tales, we get a man who declares himself to have been the victim of a sorcerer, a man who demands to be saved from the Mole Men and, finally, a man who declares that he lives again.

Hooray! Groot's on the loose!

Sadly, there's no sign of any of the other Guardians of the Galaxy and, in this tale, his attempts to abduct an entire town are thwarted by the unleashing of termites.

That's followed by the tale of a scientist, with a time machine, who's unable to distinguish between the past and future, a skill you'd have thought a prerequisite for anyone building a time machine.

Then we have the tale of a sculptor who falls in love with one of his creations and has himself turned into wood.

And, finally, none of a pilot's passengers believe him when he says they've just had a near-miss with a flying saucer.

But what he doesn't know is that one of those passengers is a Martian!

Fifty years ago this month - November 1970.

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

***

I don't normally associate Miss World with high drama but it certainly was in November 1970.

That's because it was stricken by not one but two setbacks.

The first was that, even as Bob Hope hosted it in London's Royal Albert Hall, the glitz and glamour was disrupted by Women's Lib protesters.

The second was The Angry Brigade lived up to their name by leaving a bomb outside the venue, in protest at separate black and white contestants having been chosen to represent South Africa.

But The Angry Brigade weren't the only ones who were fed up. For it was also the month in which The American Indian Movement seized a replica of The Mayflower in Boston.

Possibly not so irate were the people of the UK who were having to make sure they'd offloaded all their ten-shilling notes, as they ceased to be legal tender, in yet another move towards decimalisation.

I must confess I've no memory at all of the ten-shilling note and have no clue just how common or uncommon they were.

What I do have a memory of is The Goodies, that TV comedy show which was effectively Monty Python for kids. The series made its debut, on BBC Two, that month and quickly became a favourite with the public, even if it's not necessarily stood the test of time as well as it might have.

By means that are blurry to me, Aries has taken over New York City and sealed it off from the outside world.

Come to think of it, hasn't he done it by gassing everyone while they're asleep, so they've awoken to find their city occupied by his mercenary army?

Not that it matters, because Daredevil's on hand to help the Avengers deal with the fiend. Aries might fancy his chances against the world's mightiest super-team but what hope does he have against a blind acrobat?

That cad Baron Strucker finds an amnesiac youth, somewhere or other, and hypnotises him into thinking he's Bucky.

Strucker, of course, then uses this fake Bucky to lure Cap into a trap.

But is he a fake Bucky?

It would appear a movie mogul decides he needs to take violent action against those he deems un-American.

Apparently, that's what happens. I've no recall of this tale at all.

But it looks like it's bad news for DD.

The multi-part epic comes to its conclusion as Magneto seizes control of New York and...

...hold on a minute. Aries has also seized control of New York. How can they both have seized control of New York at the same time and why does neither seem to have noticed the presence of the other?

Anyway, this half of the New York Invasion Equation is thwarted by Reed Richards who invents a gun that turns Magneto's power against him.

Seemingly, Reed has no interest in doing anything about Aries' invasion.

It's one of my Hulk faves, as the green globetrotter finds himself having to play the part of a golem, in order to liberate a tiny country from the clutches of Draxon the dictator.

I have no recollection of this one at all but it sees the introduction of Kevin O'Brien, so it has some kind of historical significance.

I definitely have a recollection of this one. You'd need a heart of stone not to be traumatised by it, as George Stacy dies trying to save a child from a falling chimney stack.

And, now, more than ever, the world is convinced that Spider-Man is a menace.

Speaking of menaces, Dr Doom decides to hire the services of Donald Blake, in the belief the physician can perform the surgery needed to rebuild his face.

Of course, it's all a ruse by Thor to gain access to Latveria and rescue a scientist that Doom's holding prisoner.

Given Doom's Marvel ubiquity, it does seem amazing that it's taken this long for Thor to actually come up against him.