March 10th 1982 - 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. 

***

The solar system was suddenly looking a whole lot more lop-sided, tonight in 1982.

That's because it was the night on which all nine recognised planets found themselves aligned on the same side of the sun.

How could the galaxy survive such imbalance?

And just what did Counter-Earth make of it all?

Noticeably unperturbed by this cosmic action was the UK singles chart which showed no change at the top. Which meant Tight Fit's version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight was still sitting pretty at Number One.

And the UK LP chart was similarly unmoved, with Barbra Streisand's Love Songs retaining its iron grip on the summit.

Elsewhere on that week's singles chart, these are the songs I was approving of:

Town Called Malice/Precious - The Jam

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell

Golden Brown - The Stranglers

Head Over Heels - Abba

Layla - Derek and The Dominoes

The Model/Computer Love - Kraftwerk

Tainted Love - Soft Cell

and

The Land of Make Believe - Bucks Fizz.

For any who wish to pursue the matter further, that week's singles chart can be found here.

While the associated album chart may be unearthed here.

But we all know what everyone really came here for.

To find out what Scooby-Doo's up to.

And it would appear he's meeting Yogi Bear, though I'm not totally sure just what's going on on that cover.

Regardless, we also get the chance to win 10 Play School annuals.

Just as long as they don't have any photos of, nightmare terror doll from Hell, Hamble in them.

It's the team-up we all thought we'd never see.

Mostly because it makes no sense.

It's Spider-Man and King Kull.

I've not even read it and I know it's not going to work.

And it appears Dr Strange is mixed up in it, as well.

Just to keep us extra happy, we also get a free poster of Spider-Man vs the Mud Thing which I believe is the monster created when Sandman and Hydro-Man got accidentally combined.

It's Captain America vs Adonis.

Is Adonis the one who gets himself an unstoppable robot body?

The one that Cap very quickly stops?

Meanwhile, in his strip, Iron Man's having to deal with a fire at an offshore oil rig.

And, of Thor's activities, I can say nothing.

Wilkie Collins' classic The Moonstone gets the Marvel treatment.

And it's brought to us by Don McGregor and Dino Castrillo.

But, brace yourself. The big shock is that Dazzling Don's co-credited as penciller!

I don't know. Jim Shooter, Steve Englehart, Don McGregor. Are there any Marvel writers who haven't turned their hands to pencilling, at some point?

However, that's not even the most shocking news to impart about this publication, as I do believe this is the last-ever issue of this particular book.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - March 1982.

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

***

March 1982 was not blessed with a slew of great movie releases but the best-known of them bore such titles as Evil Under the Sun, Parasite, Victor/Victoria and Eating Raoul.

Even though I'm familiar with their titles, and some of their concepts, I don't believe I've seen any of them.

I shall, therefore, pass no judgement upon them, and leap straight into my look at what was happening with some of Marvel's less popular mags that bore that month upon their frontages.

From what I can gather, our hero gets the chance to expose Nimrod and his organisation - but refuses.

He then unrefuses when his friend's killed by a man known as, "The Master Sniper."

Which leads him to Israel and a journey into something or other.

A brand new comic's unleashed upon the world!

And, judging by that cover, so is a pterodactyl!

Or is it a pterodactyl?

It would seem Karl Lykos is alive and well in the Savage Land, and the Angel's on his tail.

But so's Peter Parker, sent there on behalf of the Daily Bugle.

However, once there, he and the Angel have to deal with the deadly menace of Brainchild.

As if that's not enough to keep us busy, we also get a back-up strip that features drug dealers and Daredevil.

Thor and Spidey find themselves confronting the menace of the Mind-Bender.

Tragically, that's all I know of this issue's contents.

I do believe Dennis the Menace already has two Marvel books of his own.

And, now, he has a third, so that we can relive his greatest adventures.

I must confess Dazzler's not a comic I feel habitually drawn towards. However, this issue features a gang of villains called The Grapplers and a name like that's enough to pique even my interest.

It seems she meets them on Ryker's Island, after turning herself in, for the death of Klaw.

Still, all's well that ends well and not only does our heroine defeat the felonious females, she also clears her name, as well!

I don't know what happens in this one but I know it's thirty-eight pages long.

People may not be shocked to discover it's drawn by John Buscema.

Fifty years ago today - March 1972.

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

***

Some like to declare that things are out of this world but some things really are out of this world.

One of them is the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. I don't have a clue where it is right now but I do know that in March 1972, it was at Cape Kennedy.

However, that didn't last long because, that very month, it was launched into outer space before going on to become the first man-made object to leave the solar system.

Resolutely refusing to leave the solar system were Jethro Tull who strayed right here and released their Thick as a Brick LP. I've never heard it but it would seem it was a concept album which pretended to have been written by an 8-year-old boy called Gerald Bostock. Sounds groovy.

Rather less groovy - because it didn't need to run on grooves, unlike those pesky trams - was the last trolleybus system in the United Kingdom, located in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Sadly, March 1972 saw it close, after over 60 years of operation.

Can it be? Has the devious Professor Smythe managed to uncover Spider-Man's true identity, by using his army of rooftop cameras?

Yes, it can.

Fortunately, Peter Parker's trip to the rubber mask factory soon thwarts the scientist's evil scheme.

The Kree/Skrull War reaches its awesome conclusion, as Neal Adams disappears without a trace, a load of Golden Age heroes reappear and Rick Jones becomes the most powerful sidekick in the universe!

At last, the true identity of the Supreme Hydra is revealed!

It's going to be the Red Skull, isn't it?

What's that, Skippy, Conan meets Elric of Melbourne, Australia's greatest Fantasy hero?

I do believe that Zukala and Zephra also return.

I must confess the exact plot of this tale escapes my recollection but if Ramsay Street doesn't feature, I'll be highly disappointed with them.

I know nothing of this tale but, from the title, it seems the Gladiator's causing no end of trouble on a plane.

I've no problems remembering this one, as Galactus' latest herald shows up to give the Fantastic Four plenty of trouble, before turning out to be a robot.

The Inheritor!

Who is he?

What is he?

He's a giant cockroach who needs fresh doses of radiation to prevent him reverting to his natural form.

And that can only lead him to Project Greenskin.

And that can only lead to a punch-up with the Hulk.

Thor and the Warriors Three battle Satrina and Kartag, as Mangog lays waste to Asgard. 

Can it be the end for the Norse Gods?

And, for that matter, the end for all of us?

I've no idea what happens in this tale but I do know I wrote a post about its cover once.

And here it is.

But that's enough about Marvel. We should never forget it has a rival. One that likes to churn out comics too.

That in mind, let's peruse a snatch of the more promising DC offerings which bear a March 1972 cover date.

It's a 100-page spectacular as Adventure Comics takes a look at the World's Greatest Super-Females.

And, so, we get a selection of tales starring Supergirl, Wonder Woman, the Black Canary, Phantom Lady and Merry the Gimmick Girl.

I don't have a clue who Merry the Gimmick Girl is.

Or just what her gimmick is.

DC's legendary team-up book hits its 100th issue and does so with a main story that involves Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Robin, while the back-up strip stars Deadman as presented to us by Jack Miller and Neal Adams.

What's? this? the old Flash fighting the new Flash? What kind of madness is this?

On top of that, we also get a breathless adventure called Fatal Fingers of the Flash!

But why are they fatal?

I dread to think.

We all know this feature wouldn't be complete without a spooky romance cover. And here's another one. This time, from George Ziel.

The main offering's a thing called Bride of the Falcon,  written by Frank Robbins and drawn by Alex Toth.

But there's also room for a secondary tale, Will I Ever See You Again? as brought to us by the pencil of Jack Sparling and the typewriter of an anonymous author.

March 3rd 1982 - 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. 

***

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.

If it does, it must be lost, as lions don't live in jungles. 

Still, that fact didn't stop Tight Fit, the loincloth-wearing funsters who managed to claim the Number One spot on the UK singles chart, this week in 1982.

How we thrilled as we sang along with that song.

Well, all right, we didn't. No one did. Everyone hated it. But, it being the British singles chart, a mere thing like no one liking it was never going to prevent it triumphing.

Over on the associated album chart, things were a whole lot soppier, as Barbra Streisand's Love Songs clung determinedly to its Number One perch. And not a loincloth in sight.

Not content with giving the nation's favourite Time Lord his own magazine, Marvel UK also gives him his own winter special.

And it seems to be making good use of the Zygons.

I'd say what else is in it but some clueless fool's decided to put yellow text over a yellow background, on the cover, which makes it next to impossible to read.

However, I gather it involves The War Machines, the Evil of the Daleks and a convention.

Also, it has Adric on the cover. So, who's going to turn that offer down?

Who doesn't like a bit of gun-slinging?

Probably the people who get on the wrong end of the heroes of Marvel UK's Western Gunfighters Winter Special. That's who.

And so it is that we're offered such majestic dramas as Call Them… Renegades, The Coming of Gunhawk, Tales of Fort Rango, The Man from Cheyenne and a whole bunch of other material reprinted from 1970 and 1956.

And now it's Spider-Man's turn to be granted a winter special. This time, reprinted from the pages of Marvel Team-Up #109.

According to the Grand Comics Database, in this one, Spidey and friends confront that dastardly creep Thermo who's now the leader of a Satanic cult.

It's billed as a Fantastic Four winter special but it's more a Dr Doom one, as the world asks what would have happened had Vic become a hero.

We already know that, don't we? The one on Counter-Earth was a good guy and we saw how that played out.

Howmsoever, this time we get a tale involving our own version of the good doctor and, it would appear, his struggle with Mephisto.

But, just to make sure they're not totally neglected, there's also a chance for us to relive the origin of the FF.

It's fun fun fun, as the Spider-Man Playtime Fun-Book hits a newsagent near you.

Dragonslayer. What is it? How is it? Where is it?

It's right here. In front of us. And we can experience the joy of Marvel's adaptation of it, as brought to us by someone or other.

Scooby-Doo, where are you?

He's right here.

And he's got a magic boomerang with him. Which is yours, if you buy this comic.

Marvel UK just can't stop flinging Dragonslayer at us. And so it is that we also get a poster magazine dedicated to the thing.

I don't think I've ever seen Dragonslayer but I highly doubt it can match the power and majesty of Krull.

Let's face it, nothing can match the power and majesty of Krull.

It's all kicking off in Captain Britainland where he and Saturnyne thwart the Status Crew by dousing them with a liquid that Luna plan on using to push the public into a new sense of enlightenment.

This makes the Crew stop fighting when they realise what a terrible country they inhabit.

The Avengers have plenty on their plate too. I think they're in that Russian power plant that's accidentally created a quintet of monsters called Carbon, Chlorine, Phosphorus, Radium and Vanadium.

Elsewhere, the Shroud finds he must Walk a Crooked Mile.

And we finish off with a three-page Paul Neary story called Death's Divide.

Our travels through the universe continue apace, with the mag supplying a preview of new serials The Visitation and Kinda. Which is good news for some of us because they're two of my favourite stories from the Peter Davison era.

Hooray! Paul Darrow writes for me... EXCLUSIVE!

I wonder if he writes the way he acts? That'll certainly be an experience.

But that's not all we're given this month because we're also in receipt of a full-colour poster of Glynis Barber. She who'll later go on to star in Dempsey and Makepeace.

The penultimate issue of Marvel Classics Comics gives us the company's adaptation of HG Wells' Food of the Gods, that tale of giant animals and giant children. All brought to us by the talents of Doug Moench and Sonny Trinidad.

I must confess I'd been under the impression the film version of it starred Joan Collins but it seems I was mixing it up with Empire of the Ants, the adaptation of the HG Wells tale, of that name, about giant insects. In all fairness, given their subject matter and authorship, I think that's a reasonable mistake for me to have made.

The magazine they said would never make ten issues has made its tenth issue - and does so by providing us with the side-splitting mirth of King Konk.

I'm going to take a wild guess that this one features the group's encounter with the Monocle, that ruthless but classy assassin who's out to bump-off some vital person or other, with his deadly camera.

This is exciting. We can win a Spidey speed boat!

We can also read the adventures of Devil-Slayer, the Defenders and, of course - because that's what we all care about - Jet Lagg.

Just what Spider-Man himself is up to, this week, I don't have a clue.

It looks highly likely to me that we're going to get the titanic epic in which John Jameson's astronautical activities lead to him gaining super-strength and losing his marbles.

What with this and him later turning into the Man-Wolf, he really doesn't have a lot of luck, does he?

Come to think of it, in his first-ever appearance, didn't his outer space return module spiral out of control?

But I do believe something else lurks within this issue. For, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't this the story in which Mary Jane Watson makes her first full appearance?

Thor becomes enmeshed in racial conflict between residents of the neighbourhood Don Blake is currently working in and the police.

We get a Wolverine poster and the chance to win yet more speed boats.

Iron Man's up to something or other.

And so is Captain America who's after a gang who've stolen some of SHIELD's Master Matrices, needed for creating Life Model Decoys.

Because you The Reader demanded it, Marvel's almost venerable Rampage merges with Blockbuster to bring us twice the thrills but the same number of pages.

I don't know what happens in the other strips, this month - or even what they are - but I do know that, in the main one, Proteus takes over the body of his father, in order to attack the X-Men.

There's a familiar cover.

I'm sure Marvel UK's used it about four times, now.

And who can blame it? It's a fabby cover by Boris Vallejo.

However, that doesn't mean this issue contains Shadows in the Moonlight, as one might assume.

Instead, it features Conan's A Dream of Blood Part 2 and Solomon Kane's Blades of the Brotherhood. Not to mention news of the Dino De Laurentis Conan movie we're all looking forward to.

The Super-Adaptoid strikes!

And it seems that only the identically-powered Mimic can stop him!

It's that one where a skeleton comes to life and blunders all around town, bumping people off for reasons I struggle to recall.

He's probably after whoever killed him. That seems the most obvious reason for a skeleton to blunder around town.

Or perhaps he's out to clear his name.

Anyway, it's not long before Dracula's on the case and thwarting things.

More thrills, spills and excitement from the nation's favourite scarecrow.

And we get a pin-up of John And Sue.

To be honest, I don't know who they are.

Probably his next victims.

It's a special issue, as the nation's favourite sci-fi mag lends us more insights into the making of Star Wars, with never-before-published photos, and an interview with Harrison Ford.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - March 1972.

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

***

I don't have a clue what they were putting in Hollywood's coffee in March 1972 but, whatever it was, it clearly worked.

It was, after all, a month that saw the release of such imperishable movies as Tales from the Crypt, Silent Running, What's Up, Doc?, Godzilla vs Gigan, The Godfather, Slaughterhouse-Five, Fist of Fury and The Concert for Bangladesh.

Granted, not all of those films were made by Hollywood but I'm too lazy to point out which ones weren't.

In fairness, I think it's obvious which ones weren't.

Over on the UK singles chart, that month, there was no stopping Harry Nilsson who spent the entire month at Number One with his legendary cover of Badfinger's Without You, fending off the likes of the New Seekers, Don McLean and Gilbert O'Sullivan, in the process.

Over on the British album chart, things were more volatile, with no fewer than three LPs claiming the top spot.

Those LPs were Neil Young's Harvest, Paul Simon's Paul Simon and Lindisfarne's Fog on the Tyne.

As a youth, it never struck me that Lindisfarne were a big albums band but it just goes to show how much I know.

And what do I know of the less popular comics Marvel published which bore a March 1972 cover date?

I know there weren't that many of them. Despite perceived wisdom insisting the recent switch to a thicker format and back again established Marvel as the biggest comics company in America, it produced surprisingly few books that month.

These, though, are what I feel are the pick of the Marvel makeweights.

The Inhumans disappear from the pages of Amazing Adventures and, in their place, appears a Beast!

Yes, it's true. Hank McCoy leaves the X-Men, to take a job at the Brand Corporation and, somehow, manages to turn himself into a furry monster.

Will the ex X-Man overcome this unfortunate turn of events?

And will he be able to thwart whatever evil lurks at that corporation, while he's at it?

And why's he grey on that cover, and not blue?

Move over, John Carter. It's Gullivar Jones' turn to conquer Mars!

From what I remember, isn't he a cop who gets waylaid by a sick man on a flying carpet on a one-way trip to the red planet?

Whatever the explanation, those Martian bad guys don't stand a chance with him around.

But that's not all, because this issue features two tales.

The second being The Impossible Tunnel in which Robert Saunders sets out to dig a tunnel from North America to Europe.

However, in the process, he discovers an underground civilization then destroys his tunnel to protect that realm from the people of the surface world.

It's another early adventure for the Defenders, as they visit Rutland, Vermont, to prevent a cult from bringing Dormammu into our dimension.

We're all excited about his reappearance, of course, but the real news is we get a guest appearance from Roy and Jeanie Thomas!

And there's more! Despite the main tale being 28 pages long, there's also a Sub-Mariner reprint called The Hidden World.

What it's about, I couldn't say.

Maybe it features that civilisation that bloke found with his tunnel.

Who can know?

It's time for yet more blubbing and regretting, as My Love continues its romantic flingings.

This time, we're offered such tales as As Time Goes By!, Loyalty... or Love!, Puppet on a String! and Formula for Love!

Far too many of those yarns have the word, "Love," in their title for my tastes. It is good, though, to see there's a story that can only be dedicated to Sandie Shaw.

Holy haddocks! Namor's lost his memory - thanks to the trauma of losing his dad - and doesn't know who he is.

Fortunately, he's got a friend who's all too willing to help him out.

That friend is Dr Doom.

What could possibly go wrong?

And how does it involve MODOK, AIM and a Cosmic Cube?

And why do I keep misreading Doomsmasque as, "Doomsquatch?"

I'd pay good movie to see a film called Doomsquatch.