Fifty years ago this month - April 1968.

April of 1968 was a big month for more people than you can shake a stick at.

For a start, it was a big one for those of us who have ten fingers and not twelve, as it was the month in which five and ten pence coins were introduced in the run-up to Decimalisation. Soon would the nightmare curse of Old Money be eradicated from our society.

It was also a big month for Arizonans who like to cross bodies of water without getting their feet wet, as London Bridge was sold to American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch who rebuilt it in that very state. Popular mythology has it that he thought he was buying Tower Bridge and only discovered his mistake after it was too late. However, there appears to be nothing to back up that particular piece of mythology.

It was also a big month for people who don't like to be shot by gorillas, as it was the month in which Planet of the Apes was released.

It was an even bigger month for those who don't like songs with lots of words in them, as La La La by Massiel won the Eurovision Song Contest, for Spain, in London.

It was also a big month for May Parker, as her favourite musical Hair opened on Broadway.

But what about people who loved comics that bore that cover date? Did they have grounds for excitement too?

Too right they did - because, freed from its previous distribution deal, the House of Ideas had been able to launch two brand-new super-hero comics upon the world.

Hooray! Goliath gets his powers back.

Even more thrillingly, Thor and Iron Man make their senses-shattering return to the comic, if only for one issue.

If I remember rightly, it has something to do with the Collector gaining control of Thor and making him do bad things, including beating up Iron Man.

I don't recall what the Collector's actual plan was but I suspect it might have had something to do with collecting things.

Cap gets his own mag at last, as the Marvel Explosion gets into full swing.

I say that but, as far as I can make out, the company actually produced less titles this month than they had the month before.

Still, in a major shock, this issue retells Captain America's origin.

Well, you can't blame them. It must be all of three issues since they last retold it.

From the depths of Daredevil history, the Unholy Three return, although I prefer to know them as, "The Ani-Men."

I seem to recall that, this time, the perpetual stooges are working for a criminal mastermind who owns a gun that can send people out of sync with everyone else, which must play havoc with your social life.

But does the Unholy Three's return mean that this is the issue in which we get the return of Debbie Harris? Or had she already been back for a while by this point?

The Daredevil/Doc Doom body-swap drama gets its epilogue, as, thanks to their own stupidity, the FF find themselves tangling with not only DD but also Thor and Spider-Man. If only Marvel heroes were in the habit of actually talking to each other.

Clearly determined to not be outdone by Captain America, the Hulk also gets his own comic.

In this one, he comes up against the High Evolutionary who's created a new Wundagore in space, in order to continue his previously disastrous genetic experiments.

Needless to say, it all goes just as wrong this time round as it did last time. You do get the feeling he's a man who never learns from experience.

Mary Jane gets her first ever cover appearance.

And what a thrilling appearance it is, as she becomes an unknowing employee of the Kingpin and causes all kinds of trouble with her brainwashing camera.

Others may be getting their own comic this month but Nick Fury is going to have to wait a little while longer.

Interesting to see Clay Quartemain on the cover. I really did hate him.

I suspect this might be the one in which, in order to help Thor, Sif does a deal with Karnilla and takes possession of the Destroyer, in order to dispatch the Wrecker but then finds she can't prevent her new body from attacking Thor.

In retrospect, unleashing an unstoppable destructive force upon the planet Earth wasn't the best thought-out rescue plan of all time.

A very dramatic John Buscema cover hints that we're heading towards an Avengers/X-Men crossover, as Magneto turns up at Professor X's funeral, in order to initiate all kinds of mischief.

More interestingly for me, the issue also features that back-up feature in which Cyclops explains his powers and we're officially told that, despite appearances, his eye blasts give off no heat.

March 29th, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Well, this is all a huge disappointment to me. I went to the official UK charts website, in the expectation that I would see that Brian and Michael had ascended to the Number One spot on the UK singles chart in this week of 1978, only to discover that, like a vengeful ghost, Kate Bush was still clinging on in there, her fingers gripping on to that top slot, like the grim talons of a bird of prey.

And so, in order to flee the disappointment of having to wait yet another week for the flat cap bothering twosome to achieve immortality, I shall instead fling myself into seeing what I can recall of the masterpieces that Marvel UK were giving us in that very week.

Hold on! What? Would Medusa really attack Spider-Man while he's trying to save the occupants of a roller coaster, from instant death? I can forgive the woman many things but I don't think even I could make excuses for an action like that.

Interesting to see that we're told that, this issue, Darth Vader is battling Ben Kenobi. It's a reminder that it was so early in the franchise's history that people still couldn't make up their minds what to call him.

Apparently, Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars and Sword in the Star are still the back-up strips.

I do wonder if the Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars ever bumped into It! The Terror From Beyond Space, which, as we all know, was ripped-off senseless by Ridley Scott's Alien.

Good grief. The Defenders' battle with the Sons of the Serpent is STILL going on!

I mean, seriously, I know I keep going on about it (I've been going on about it for about two months now) but how can it possibly be lasting this long? They're just fighting some blokes.

More importantly, in this issue, the Elf kills Tom and Linda Pritchett. I don't have a clue who Tom and Linda Pritchett are but I suspect they could probably make a better fist of fighting the Sons of the Serpent than the Defenders are.

Everyone's favourite Conan knock-off turns up in the pages of the Fantastic Four - as does an alternate world version of the Thing.

Is this the alternate Thing from Fantastic Four #118, or is this another one? And, if so, just how many alternate Things are there out there?

Elsewhere, Reed sells his stake in the Fantastic Four to someone called Interlocking Technologies.

Why do I get a feeling that it's a decision that won't turn out to have been a wise one?

I do believe that those two gentlemen are part of the Ringmaster's Circus of Crime and they're looking for new recruits.

I always had a liking for the Circus of Crime. They may not have been very good at crime - to a degree that made you wonder why they didn't just try to make a living out of circusing - but they had a certain style and a breezy but bolshie self-confidence that appealed to me.

Get ready to hide behind your settee because, at last, we tackle the best horror films of all time.

At last, this blog's author shows his true face to the world.

This site's recent talk of what are the greatest science fiction films of all time - and whether the form always benefits from a dose of added horror - inevitably turns the conversation to horror itself and, through that, to just what are the finest films of that genre.

And that's all for the good because I must confess that, even more than sci-fi, I do love a good horror film.

When it comes to the golden oldies, my favourites list will always include Quatermass and the Pit, Night of the Demon and The Innocents, while, from more modern times, I have a serious liking for Let the Right One In and Ginger Snaps.

Leaving Quatermass and the Pit aside, my favourite Hammer productions would have to be The Devil Rides Out, The Plague of the Zombies and Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde. The latter of  those films clearly should be a right load of old cobblers, a film built around a joke of a title, and yet it does what it does with a style that makes it impossible not to love it.

Talk of Hammer inevitably brings me to a curious subgenre, which is movies that aren't by Hammer but are clearly pretending to be. My favourites from that frequently strange movement have to be Horror Express, a somewhat unhinged look at what happens when Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas and a space alien all find themselves on the same train together, and The Creeping Flesh, in which Peter Cushing experiments with a mysterious skeleton he's uncovered, and then lives to regret it.

Although I love Hammer films, I must confess I'm not so fussed about their predecessors, the old Universal horror movies. They're good fun but I generally don't find them very compelling. My favourite of them would probably have to be Bride of Frankenstein, if only for Elsa Lanchester's hair.

When it comes to science fiction tales with a horror angle, who can beat the first two Alien offerings and the first two versions of The Thing From Another World? Not to mention the first two versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers? With its monster from the id, Forbidden Planet also makes effective use of its horror dimension.

I must confess I'm not a huge fan of slasher movies, as they all blur into one for me, which is probably why the cliché-mocking Scream is easily my favourite of that genre.

Other than the aforementioned The Plague of the Zombies, zombie movies also mostly leave me cold. I generally find the zombies in them to be poor conversationalists.

Anyway, I'm sure I've missed out a million and one great films and, if I have, you're free to say so in the comments section below. Then again, if I haven't, you are, of course, free to agree with me. Then again, you're also free to disagree with me. That's how liberated the internet is these days.

March 22nd, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Being the great art lover that I am, I remember once asking Pablo Picasso, "Pabs, how do you do so many paintings?"

And he replied, "Easelly."

All of which reminds me that, on this night in 1978, the bizarre mishmash of national politics, tittle tattle and skateboarding ducks that was Nationwide was telling us the story of Luiz Antonio Gasparetto, a youthful South American who couldn't paint - except when he was possessed by the spirits of dead artists. Once under the mental control of such deceased luminaries as Renoir, van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci and others, he would then bang out twenty paintings an hour, in their style.

I don't know if he was really possessed by the spirits of the great masters but, if he was banging out twenty paintings an hour, it sounds like Marvel should have hired him. They could have doubled their output overnight.

Speaking of Marvel...

It's issue #7 and, already, our heroes are stuck in the legendary waste disposal unit of doom.

Thinking about it, this was probably my favourite scene in the whole film. I'm not sure what that says about me. Probably it says that I'm a horror fan.

Thinking about it, that's probably why Star Wars didn't grab me as much as it did other people. There just wasn't enough horror in it for my liking. If only there'd been a man in it,  killing people with a chainsaw, it would have been much better.

Regardless, probably even more worrying for our heroes than those tentacles is that werewolf that's sneaking up behind them. Now they're in trouble.

Can the Hulk, Power Man, Son of Satan and Daredevil possibly defeat the Sons of the Serpent?

Of course they can. They're the Hulk, Power Man, Son of Satan and Daredevil. They could beat just about anyone.

What's going on with this story? We've now got Dr Strange, Valkyrie, Yellowjacket, Nighthawk, the Hulk, Power Man, Son of Satan and Daredevil up against a handful of delusional morons. How can they be making such a meal of beating them?

The FF are still up against Xemu and his evil plan to make Black Bolt talk.

I am at a loss why whoever was in charge of cover choices at Marvel UK decided to dump Rich Buckler's perfectly good original cover to this tale and replace it with something that looks like Ron Wilson had challenged himself to draw a picture with his feet.

No such problems with this comic. We get the proper, original cover - and the Hulk is still tangling with the Bi-Beast.

I seem to recall that, in this battle, two of the Helicarrier's rotor blades are destroyed and, despite weighing a zillion tons, it still stays up in the air. They knew how to build helicarriers, in those days.

I think that both the monsters may end up dumped into the sea, at the end of the tale. What happens to the Bi-Beast after that, I have no idea. I like to think he returned to cause more mischief in the years ahead.

I do believe that Spidey and Medusa both need some sort of medicine, in order to deal with an emergency.

Needless to say, like adults, they work together to make sure it's administered in double-quick time and no lives are lost.

Oh, no, that's right, they don't. Instead, they have a fight over it, endangering the people they're supposed to be saving. Those Marvel heroes, they really do know how to turn any crisis into a catastrophe.

Having said that, Medusa was always one of my favourite heroines, so it's nice to see her getting screen time.

2000 AD - February 1980.

Once more, winter has descended upon us and, once more, snow is piling up all around me. Shall I survive this latest bout of climatic hostility?

Aw, who cares? Let's see what 2000 AD was up to, thirty eight years and one month ago.

Looking at the cover of Prog 151 really does rub it in just how much 2000 AD based their version of the Stainless Steel Rat on James Coburn. It's much he didn't demand royalties.

Interesting that Prog 152 would appear to feature the arrival of Fiends of the Eastern Front, oft mentioned in the comments section of this blog but a strip that I still only recall very very vaguely.

Also interesting to see that the issue also launches a feature that will, week by week, list the ten greatest sci-fi movies of all time. It seems that this week's instalment is dedicated to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Prog 153, meanwhile, concentrates on H.G. Wells' Things to Come. I approve of  the inclusion of those films and do tend to lump both movies in together.

It does raise the question, though, of what I'd put on my own list of the Top Ten sci-fi movies of all time. Needless to say, Quatermass and the Pit, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet and Aliens would be on it. I have yet to decide what else would make it. As for you, should you feel so inclined, feel free to list your own Top Ten, in the comments section below.

I see the cover of Prog 153 features a reference to Satanus. Wasn't Satanus related to one of the dinosaurs in Flesh? If so, this officially makes Judge Dredd a sequel to that earlier strip. For some reason, this Marvelesque bout of universe building makes me feel strangely excited, even though I can think of no real reason why it should.

March 15th, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Once more, the sun has fallen out of the sky and plummeted towards the good people of Australia, leaving the streets beyond my window dark and cold. In my quest for illumination, I have no choice but to turn my back on those streets and, as so often before, focus upon the far corner of my room, and upon what our favourite comics company was up to forty years ago.

Only six issues in and the Marvel UK version of the comic has almost caught up with its US equivalent. What hope is there for its future? What?

Despite such concerns, I do, though, bring exciting news. For once, I happen to know what this issue's back-up strips are.

They are Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars and The Sword in the Star. My razor-sharp intellect tells me that Marvel UK was choosing back-up strips purely because they had the word, "Star," in their titles.

I had previously read the first of those two strips in Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes comic and the other strip never did anything for me. So, despite my love for Man-Gods, I probably wasn't that gripped by the comic at this stage.

The Defenders are still having trouble with the Sons of the Serpent.

From what I can remember, they don't fare very well, even with the awesome power of Yellowjacket on their side.

A tale and a villain I know nothing of.

I do spot that Quicksilver is in it. Given that, by this point, he's married to Crystal, this does make me wonder if the Inhumans are involved.

In the back-up tale, the FF are still having their first encounter with the Hulk, which I vaguely recall being down to the machinations of an evil spy of possibly Eastern European origins.

The Hulk's battle with the Bi-Beast - and SHIELD's doors - continues.

Spidey's still up against the White Tiger, for what seems like the five millionth week running.

Meanwhile, Captain America is startled by the return of Bucky.

Why do I get the feeling there's going to be a flashback to the War in it? Did any character ever flashback as much as Cap did?

But, apparently, it's not the real Bucky. It's all a plot by Baron Zemo, using an amnesiac boy he's found in a gym.

I'm not sure if Zemo himself found him in the gym. Somehow, Zemo never struck me as the kind to hang around in gyms.

I am not aware if we ever learn the boy's true identity or if it's left mysterious so that we - and Cap - might ponder forever over the possibility that he really is Bucky.

Although I have no doubt that I must have read it, I genuinely have no memory of ever having encountered this tale at all.

Elsewhere, more memorably, the Avengers are taking on the Titanic Three, in Vietnam, and Thor is tangling with Mercurio and a giant space crystal that's holding Sif and Karnilla captive.

"Karnilla," is such a great name. If I ever have a pet rabbit, I'm going to call it Karnilla.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - March 1978.

Mere days after I looked at what Marvel's major characters were up to forty years ago, it's time to investigate what their less high-profile colleagues were doing. With Marvel publishing around forty titles a month in that era, I can't look at all of them but I can at least peruse a selection of the more promising ones.

I have a copy of this issue. From what I can remember, Howard gets attacked by a pickled vegetable and this somehow leads to him being stranded in another dimension, with various misfits and a threat to all of existence, or something.

But don't take my word for it, you can read my review of the comic by clicking on this here link, right here.

I don't know much about Agent Axis but he clearly visits the same gentlemen's outfitters as the Shadow and Death-Stalker.

I do believe this tale is drawn by Frank Robbins, as was the first issue of The Shadow I ever read. No doubt, this means that, when I first encountered this tale in the pages of Marvel UK, it would have made it even harder for me not to see the wrong-doer as a Shadow knock-off.

I've always liked Tiger Shark, possibly because the Sub-Mariner had such a mediocre villain's gallery, that any ne'er-do-well who wasn't totally forgettable was likely to seem ten times more memorable than he actually was.

On the other hand, I suspect it was really down to the fin. Not enough villains have fins

I have a copy of this one too. Pestered by a buzzing in his ear, the Thing takes to demolishing chunks of New York. Fortunately for him, the world's greatest lawyer is on the case.

Granted, the fact that, if the cover is to be believed, our hero is the first man ever to be sentenced to twenty years in jail for vandalism, suggests Murdock may not be quite as good a lawyer as we're always told he is.

Either way, you can read my blink-and-you'll-miss-it look at this issue, by clicking on this link.

I haven't read this one - but I feel like I have. I'm pretty sure Red Sonja came up against a giant snake in every single tale I ever read that featured her.

I assume that's not Conan in the background because, presumably, the blurb would have mentioned him, if it was.

Clearly, it's a bad day for Dracula when it comes to father/son relations.

I have no idea what's going on with all the tentacles in the background, though.

I think I've read this one.

Sadly, you won't find a review of it anywhere on this site because I haven't encountered it since I was at school and, strangely enough, nothing about it has lodged in my memory.

You can, however, discover my general thoughts about the Human Fly, by clicking on this particular link.

It's all getting exciting - because Marvel's adaptation of the original movie is over and we're now getting the adventures of a talking space-rabbit.

While I vaguely remember the existence of the talking space-rabbit, I can remember nothing about him or what he got up to. He does feel more like a 2000 AD character than a Marvel one.