February 17th, 1973 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

Rumour has it that, fifty years ago this week, big things were afoot in the world of Marvel UK

But what were they and shall we encounter them in this post?

What's this? The man without fear in The Mighty World of Marvel? How on Earth will one book be able to contain four heroes of the power and magnitude of the Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil and Fantastic Four?

It won't. But we'll come to that later.

In our first tale, the Hulk's in the Himalayas but becomes Puny Banner just in time to be menaced by a local bandit chief. It all climaxes with Bruce and Glenn Talbot, seemingly, plunging to their doom.

Elsewhere, in his sensational origin tale, Matt Murdock saves a blind man from a radioactive lorry but is blinded by it and gains super-senses. Can he use those senses to avenge his boxer father's death at the hands of The Fixer?

I suspect he can, even though, despite the cover hype, this tale only seems to have four pages devoted to it.

Even more elsewhere, Doctor Doom returns from space and drops in on Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He then goes on to swap bodies with Mr Fantastic.

But what a terrible plan. Just think how much damage he could have done if he'd swapped bodies with Stan Lee, instead.

And this is the reason for Spider-Man's absence from Marvel UK's flagship title.

It's because he now has a mag of his own.

And what a mag it is. Not only bringing us an entire Spidey story every week but also regaling us with a Thor one, as well.

Not only that but we get a free Spider-Man mask, to boot!

Granted, it's just a red paper bag with eye holes cut in it but who cares about that?

Well, I did, for a start. I thought it was rubbish, even at the age of eight.

Anyway, inside this book, Electro decides to bust some criminals out of jail so they can help him with his latest crime spree.

The truth of FOOM is, at last, revealed!

And in Norway, a lame doctor bumps into an alien invasion, finds a stick in a cave, hits it on a rock, and things will never be the same again... 

Forty years ago today - February 1983.

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

***

It's all kicking off in the skies above us. People seem to be shooting at UFOs, wherever you look.

But what of the contents of our Marvel comics, forty years ago?

Were they proving to be out of this world?

Or were they too coming crashing down to Earth?

As far as I can make out, this issue sees Conan almost tricked into being sacrificed to a dragon - and then having to conduct a huge barney with said dragon.

A barney that I predict the barbarian will win.

SHIELD helps Captain America escape Baron Zemo's lair, and our hero heads off to confront Primus who's determined to wreck Steve Rogers' private life - by pretending to be him!

Now Spider-Man's in trouble - because the Stilt Man's back.

And just as stilty as ever!

I must admit I'm struggling to remember just what his plan is. It probably just involves him striding around on his stilts until someone knocks him over.

Come to think of it, I think it might involve him trying to restore his sense of self-respect by defeating Spider-Man who is, seemingly, the only super-hero he's ever beaten in the past.

Exactly when that was, I have no idea.

There's nothing but action, this issue, as Doc Ock and the Owl have their big confrontation over which of them gets control of a nuclear device.

And, just to cloudy up the waters, the Black Cat's back from the dead, and doing her level best to get in the way of everyone concerned.

When the other gods return to Asgard, following their short sojourn in Don Blake's flat, Sif decides to stay behind on Earth but soon finds herself in physical conflict with brand-new villain Megatak. A menace blessed with the power of a video game!

I haven't read this one but, apparently, it's an issue in which Daredevil plays Russian Roulette with a hospitalised Bullseye.

Well, that sounds... ...great.

It almost makes me miss the days of Mike Murdock.

Things are looking bad for Tony Stark. Not only has Obadiah Stane hypnotised a group of international financiers, in a bid to drive Tony Stark out of business but our hero responds to it all by, once more, hitting the bottle.

The saga of the X-Men being infected by the Brood comes to a head, with the mighty mutants bumping off the Brood Queen. That'll teach her.

Hank Pym's life somehow manages to get even worse. No sooner is he put on trial for treason than he's "rescued" by the New New Masters of Evil - on behalf of Egghead who then convinces his emmet-loving enemy to join forces with him.

Grrr! Bruce Banner smash!

Actually, I know very little about this issue but, from that cover, it's obvious the Leader's back and making his latest bid for revenge against our hero.

Reed Richards still hasn't learnt to stop interfering in the Negative Zone.

And because of that, Annihilus manages to slip through the portal into our world and menace poor old Alicia.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - February 1973.

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

***

We may all know what it feels like to have our flesh crawl but do we know how it feels for that organ to actually creep?

We did in February 1973 because it was the month which first unleashed The Creeping Flesh, that film of terror starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as rival scientists who get more than they bargained for when a mysterious corpse is unearthed.

That film was, of course, brought to us by Tigon, the Hammer-like company which gave us those classic tales of dread Doomwatch, The Blood on Satan's Claw, The Beast in the Cellar, Curse of the Crimson Altar, Witchfinder General, The Blood Beast Terror and, er, Black Beauty.

This is it. After long months of teasing, FOOM #1 hits a letterbox near you!

I could give you a detailed rundown of what issue #1 contains but I refuse to do so. Mostly because I don't know what it contains.

It does, however, have a picture of Stan Lee on the front of it. And that's good enough for me!

No such ignorance with this one, though.

Thanks to that triumphal cover, I know the Valkyrie only goes and makes her ever-loving debut!

At least, the Barbara Norriss version of her does, as different incarnations of the character have already appeared in the Hulk and Avengers mags.

In all three cases, however, it's been down to the machinations of the Enchantress.

It would appear Luke Cage has to fight a bunch of suits of armour.

Why he has to do this, I can't recall.

Hooray! SHIELD gets its very own comic!

Granted, it comes purely in the form of reprints from 1966 issues of Strange Tales.

Also, it's destined to last for just five issues before disappearing.

As for the plot, it would appear Nick Fury blasts his way into an underwater base but is trapped by energy waves. Somehow, AIM and androids are also mixed up in all this.

Vault of Evil makes its nerve-shredding debut.

And does so by bringing us nightmares that bear such titles as The Thing that Grew!, The Withered Hand, The Man in the Box! and Poor Mister Watkins. All of them reprinted from the 1950s.

And here's yet another new comic for us to spend our money on, as Crazy #1 hits us in the funny bones.

All of this issue's tales are reprinted from 1968's Not Brand Echh #8 but this book won't replicate the success of that mag and will disappear after just three months.

Someone who could teach Crazy a thing or two about longevity is Millie the Model who celebrates her 200th issue, this month!

Having said that, her book will only survive for another seven issues before it too folds.

I know little about Li'l Kids but I do know that someone called Calvin makes his debut.

That red face can only mean one thing. Aquatic space alien Tamara makes her first-ever appearance and is out for revenge upon the people of Atlantis for massacring her people when they went to the city, in search of help.

Can Subby convince her to see there's good in the people of Atlantis as well as bad?

And is there actually any good in the people of Atlantis?

More urgently, can he prevent her from blowing the entire place up before we even get the chance to find out?

February 10th, 1973 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

If I said the words, "Power to all our friends," you'd, no doubt, know exactly what I was alluding to.

Too right you would because February 10th, 1973, saw Cliff Richard unveil that very song on BBC One's Cilla Black show, in his bid to be selected the UK's entry for that year's Eurovision Song Contest.

I don't think I'm giving anything away by pointing out the bid succeeded. Though, sadly, he'd go on to only finish third in the actual contest itself. Still, he was only six points off winning it.

Eurovision is one home of all that's great in music but what about that other home of banging tunes, the UK singles chart?

As it turns out, there was no change at Number One, with top spot still being held by the Sweet's Blockbuster.

However, on the album chart, Elton John had now seized the pinnacle, thanks to his LP Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player.

I, of course, thoroughly approved of Blockbuster - the best song ever to be named after a home video rental store - and these are the other tracks I approved of on that singles chart.

You're So Vain - Carly Simon

Daniel - Elton John

Papa Was a Rollin' Stone - the Temptations

Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy

Superstition - Stevie Wonder

C. Moon -Wings

Crazy Horses - the Osmonds

Gudbuy T'Jane - Slade

and

Nights in White Satin - the Moody Blues.

Should you wish to explore that singles chart further, it can be found right here.

While the accompanying album chart resides here.

I do believe the Hulk escapes his Russian captors, thanks to a fellow fugitive sacrificing himself to spare him a blast from a deadly proton gun.

Back in America, Spider-Man gatecrashes Dorrie Evans' party. An act that brings him into conflict with her boyfriend the Human Torch.

Apart from guesting in other characters' stories, it's Spidey's last appearance in The Mighty World of Marvel - and possibly not the most classy way to leave.

Speaking of the Torch, he and the rest of his team are still broke and being forced, by circumstance, to star in a movie produced by their new employer the Sub-Mariner.

Fifty years ago today - February 1973.

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

***

Time. I hear it goes well with parsley. But here's where we have to be sage, as we cast our eyes back through the years, to 1973, and decide just which Marvel issues would have been worth handing over 20 cents for.

"You'll kill him! And if you do--!" says Cap but I've never read the tale and may, thus, never know to what grim fate he alludes.

Whatever it is, it would appear to be bad news for the Viper.

The Disruptor demonstrates his own brand of bringing politics to the masses, as Richard Raleigh continues his terrible attempt to become Mayor of New York.

Or is he trying to become President? I can never remember.

It's the long-awaited return of the Space Phantom!

I say long-awaited but, when I first read this tale, as a youth, I got the Space Phantom mixed up with the Space Parasite and was highly confused as to why he'd so dramatically changed appearance.

I struggle to remember just how the Grim Reaper ties into all this.

At last, the Vulture finally shows up!

As mentioned last month, his arrival was delayed by the trials and tribulations of the postal service but it's worth the wait, as Conan and Red Sonja ensure the villain suffers a fate that shall live long in the recall of all who read this tale.

It's a magnificently melodramatic cover from Gil Kane when the Man-Bull starts turning San Francisco's residents into monsters.

With DD in hospital, can a solo Black Widow hope to succeed where he failed, and thwart the Taurean terror?

As it turns out, the answer's, "No."

It's another classic, as the Hulk meets Tiger-Shark.

It's all because Bruce Banner's discovered Betty and Glenn have got married. And that means his alter-ego's headed to Niagra Falls, in a bid to wreck their honeymoon.

Unfortunately, the fishy fiend thinks the Hulk's come looking for him, on behalf of the Sub-Mariner, and the inevitable fight breaks out.

Hooray! No doubt, tired of drawing Mighty World of Marvel covers, Jim Starlin shows up on Iron Man!

And, no sooner has he arrived than so have Thanos, Drax, Mentor, Eros, Kronos and I.S.A.A.C.

Jim isn't exactly wasting time, is he? It's a miracle he didn't throw in Moondragon, Gamora and Pip the Troll while he was at it.

Jim Steranko gives us the outside but Ross Andru gives us the insides, as the Human Torch gets a little miffed upon discovering his beloved Crystal is to marry no one's beloved Quicksilver.

Next, we'll be discovering Dorrie Evans is marrying Sunfire.

Thor must defeat the hot and cold menace of Mercurio, the Fourth-Dimensional Man. All while whittling over the disappearance of Sif and feeling guilty about having snapped at Jarvis the butler.

I don't have a clue what happens in this one, other than knowing that both the Juggernaut and Factor Three put in an appearance.

That's Marvel accounted for but what of DC?

Just what was happening in a random assortment of its books that bear the same cover date?

This is what's happening.

It's the clash we've all been waiting for, when Superman must find a way to defeat Popeye!

Or, at least, Captain Strong who bears no resemblance to the cartoon sailor man and has gained super-strength after eating too much seaweed.

In the book's other strip, the Green Arrow can be found in solo action.

Possibly the first issue of The Brave and the Bold I ever owned, and one that sports a cracking cover by Jim Aparo.

It's a shame, really, that I can't remember anything about the plot. I do know Diana Prince's Amazonian guardian angel shows up, at one point, in order to save her life.

I do believe offshore gambling ships may also be involved but don't quote me on that.

Here's a surprise for some of us. I never knew the Legion of Super-Heroes had their own book so shortly before they became a regular back-up strip in Superboy's comic.

However, there's not that much to get excited about because this publication will only manage to last for four issues before folding.

In this one, Command Kid joins the Legion but his arrogance alienates his teammates. I'm not sure what any of that has to do with the front cover.

We also get a Tommy Tomorrow adventure that goes by the title The Riddle of the Space Rainbow.

I've no idea who Tommy Tomorrow is but he sounds like he might be the sort of kid who hangs around with Joe 90.

DC finally notices it has the rights to the original Captain Marvel, and gives him his own comic.

However, thanks to legalities involving Marvel now having a character of the same name, that new book must be called Shazam.

In this issue, we're regaled with the good Captain's origin, followed by a battle with Dr Sivana.

Jack Sparling  gives us an attention-grabbing cover, and the Secrets of Sinister House offers up such tales as Rub a Witch the Wrong Way!, The Dance of the Damned and The Abominable Snowman.

A brand new book arrives to rock us all when 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-14 hits the racks. Why it's labelled #DC-14 if it's the first issue, I've no idea.

Anyway, its senses-shattering pages feature action from Batman, the Atom, Blackhawk, Wonder Woman, Dollman and Wildcat, in a string of elderly reprints that can't fail to hook the discerning and undiscerning reader alike.

January 1983 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

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

***

Hold on to your hat, World, because it's 1983 and a whole new sensation is about to hit you!

It's true. January of that year saw a thing called the internet arrive to punch us in the eyeballs with a level of worldwide webbiness that even Spider-Man could only watch and envy.

That's because, as I often ruminate upon, it was the month in which the migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP was officially completed. An event now seen as the birth of the true Internet.

Quite what the False Internet was, I dread to think but I'm certainly glad I never lived to encounter it.

And it wasn't the only thing occurring that month. After all, in the United Kingdom, red rain was falling, due to sand from the Sahara being contained within its droplets. Whether that event inspired the Peter Gabriel song of the same name, I could not say.

Rather more prosaically, it was also the month in which seatbelt use for UK drivers and front seat passengers became mandatory, eleven years after inclusion of the device became compulsory in new cars.

While all this was going on, the British singles chart gave us no less than three Number Ones.

The first was Save Your Love by Renee and Renato which was followed by Phil Collins' You Can't Hurry Love which, itself, was then deposed by Men at Work's Down Under.

Over on the British albums chart, the month began with The John Lennon Collection on top. That was then replaced by Various Artists' Raiders of The Pop Charts before that was forced to make way for the rise to supremacy of Men at Work's Business As Usual.

And the exciting news is a brand new mag hits the nation's spinner racks.

It's true. Daredevil gets himself a book of his own!

And he's not the only star of it. For, it also stars Captain Britain and Spider-Man!

In Captain Britain's tale, the Fury's killed our hero but Merlyn and Roma resurrect him and send him back home.

And Daredevil's got problems, as well, because Bullseye's decided to strike at him, through the Black Widow.

Meanwhile, the Spider-Man tale's from the 1960s and features the death of Fred Foswell, as he attempts to save J Jonah Jameson from the clutches of the Kingpin.

But it's not all good news for the company.

After all, with the demise of Rampage, Marvel UK finds itself down to just seven magazines a month.

Still, not to despair. Their slot in that mag may be gone but the X-Men barely break stride by transferring straight over to Marvel Super-Heroes.

And they do so in style, with the grand conclusion of the Phoenix Saga in which Jean Grey tragically corks it.

The Avengers, meanwhile, find themselves battling a slightly less stellar threat when the giant robot Red Ronin goes on the loose in the streets of New York.

And we finish with a four-page Night-Raven tale called White Hopes, Red Nightmares.

The Doctor's old ally the Brigadier makes the front cover thanks to an interview with actor Nicholas Courtney.

And, for those still not satisfied, we also get a look at the 3rd Doctor serial Planet of the Daleks and at the ever-popular Target novels.

Other mags may have fallen by the wayside but the one based on the galaxy's greatest outlaws is still going strong.

I know little of the contents of this month's offering but I do know it contains a Blake's 7 picture strip that's called Debris and is brought to us by the powerhouse pairing of Paul Neary and Phil Gascoine.

The Savage Sword of Conan, too, is still going strong.

In this one, something is happening. I don't know what it is but I reckon it's bound to involve at least one sorcerer, at least one monster, and an endangered damsel who is at least one in number.

The word "Crom" will probably also feature.

C-3PO and R2-D2 make the cover of this one but, other than that, I can shed little light upon this month's activities in the Star Wars universe.

The nation's top sci-fi mag goes Spielberg crazy as it gives us an interview with the man himself and looks toward the arrival on our planet of his diminutive friend ET.

There's also an interview with Harrison Ford and a look at the brand-new film that's wowing the world's horror fans. That film is known as The Evil Dead.

February 3rd, 1973 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

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

***

It is time to once more climb into our Time Submersible and discover just what nightmare horrors swim within the trenches and reefs of that ocean we know as, "The Past."

As far as I can make out, during a fight with the Leader's humanoids, the Hulk falls into the sea, reverts to Bruce Banner and gets captured by a Russian sub.

Except it's not a Russian sub because I do believe that, as so often with Marvel UK, all references to both Russia and communism have been excised for the benefit of UK readers.

Back in the Land of the Free, Spider-Man must defeat the high school menace of the Living Brain, a robot that not only has fists of steel and castors of chaos but may possess the means to calculate his secret identity!

I do believe it's in this story that Peter Parker discovers he no longer needs to wear spectacles.

This week's letters page contains a missive from an Allan Moore but not the Alan Moore.

And, finally, it's one of my early Marvel faves, as, thanks to Reed Richards' financial incompetence, the Fantastic Four go bust and have to pay the bills by starring in a movie produced by the now mega-rich Sub-Mariner who's determined to milk the situation for all it's worth.

And, of course, there's yet more mystery and mischief being woven around the subject of FOOM.