The Marvel Lucky Bag - April 1971.

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

***

Have you ever found a suspicious hand in a field?

I haven't but some English villagers have.

Or, at least, they did in the outstanding movie that was released in April 1971.

That film was The Blood on Satan's Claw which was a Tigon production. Tigon was the company which also gave us The Creeping Flesh, The Blood Beast Terror, Witchfinder General, Curse of the Crimson Altar and Doomwatch, suggesting the spirit of Hammer was strong with them.

Over on the UK singles chart, April was dominated by T.Rex's Hot Love but, right at the end of the month, the Rex were finally dislodged by a classic dose of reggae, thanks to Dave and Ansell Collins' instrumental Double Barrel. 

Over on the LP chart, Andy Williams initially held sway with Home Lovin' Man but was soon forced to lose his top spot to Motown Chartbusters Vol 5, for the rest of the month.

It's the one we've all been crying out for, as Dr Doom takes on the Red Skull - with the winner getting to rule Latveria!

I can't help feeling this is all a bit of a comedown for the Red Skull. Once upon a time, he wanted to rule the world. Now, he'll risk it all to gain control of a kingdom the size of Wath upon Dearne.

I mean, it's not like he's trying to take over the vast realm that is Northumbria.

I note the Exiles are also in this tale. Perhaps the man with the scarf will prove pivotal to this epic clash.

In the Savage Land, Ka-Zar finally sees off the threat of Garokk the petrified man, by flinging him into the pool which gave him immortality in the first place. It's an act that robs Garokk of that immortality and, no doubt, sorts out all the jungle lord's problems, for him.

It looks like we're getting a reprint of Crusher Creel's second-ever adventure. The one in which he decides it'd be a good idea to try and take over Asgard by beating up Odin.

Needless to say, that turns out not to be such a good idea.

We also get a tale of Asgard in which Thor has to take on Sigurd who gains his strength from being in contact with the ground.

Obviously, Thor thwarts him by picking him up and flinging him into outer space.

The Absorbing Man's also sent flying into outer space, in his tale, and also gains his strength by touching things.

Call me wrong but I think I'm spotting a certain amount of repetition.

Hooray! It's Namor and Dorma's big wedding day!

Not that everyone's celebrating. Attuma decides it's the perfect opportunity to attack Atlantis.

Inevitably, the Avenging Son puts paid to that plan - only to discover he's not married Dorma at all.

He's accidentally married his deadly enemy Llyra!

Now how's he going to get out of this mess?

And how's he going to explain it all to Dorma?

Somebody call for Sinbad because the Roc's on the loose!

And he's in Egypt!

I'm not sure how he got there.

Anyway, two newly-weds find themselves having to thwart whatever it is he's up to.

In the issue's only other story, we get a "borrowing" of part of W W Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw, the part in which two parents wish their dead son would come back to life.

I assume it goes as badly for them as it did the parents in the original tale.

My first-ever exposure to The Monkey's Paw was in that TV series which always began with Orson Welles emerging from the fog to lecture us before disappearing again to get drunk. I mention this for no reason other than that I can.

It's a pretty thin month for unglamorous Marvel comics of interest, so I'll throw in an issue of Millie the Model, purely because there's a gorilla on the cover and, as we've mentioned before, nothing sells comics like gorillas.

Fifty years ago this month - April 1971.

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

***

How good a month was April 1971 for UK lovers of gold?

It was a great one. Suddenly, after five years of restrictions, it was now legal to own as much of the stuff as you liked.

Since 1966, United Kingdomonians had been banned, by law, from holding more than four gold coins or from buying any new ones, unless they held a licence.

But, now, that was all in the bin and, since then, the people of Britain have been bathing, every day, in a bathful of melted gold.

Or, at least, I have. 

I'm assuming I'm typical.

It seems unlikely that I'm not.

It wasn't such a good month for the Brythonic tongues, as eight members of the Welsh Language Society went on trial for destroying English language road signs in their country.

And it was an even worse one for Charles Manson because the homicidal cultist was sentenced to death in the United States.

Then again, it turned out not to be that bad for him, as he didn't actually die until 2017 - and that was from natural causes.

This month, we get an X-Men double bill, as, first, the misfit mutants find themselves battling the Sentinels and their deadly leader the Master Mold.

Not content with that, they must then deal with the Mimic and his uncanny ability to ape their powers.

It's a thrill for all British readers, as the Amazing Spider-Man finds himself visiting London, in a bid to retrieve the heart and mind of Gwen Stacy.

Needless to say, it's a city which bears no resemblance to any London anyone from Britain will ever recognise. Just how long has Tower Bridge been next to the Houses of Parliament?

Sadly, it's also a London teeming with terrorists who've planted a time bomb.

But where have they planted it? Where?

The Avengers take a break from foiling world-threatening menaces, to listen to T'Challa recount the tale of his origin.

It probably makes a nice change for them to escape from Captain America boring them with endless retellings of his origin.

This cover promises us a mystery villain, though, looking at that profile and the mention of, "The World Below," I'm betting it might just be the Mole Man.

For some of us, the main mystery is why Marvel keeps bringing the Mole Man back when it has the far more stylish Tyrannus available.

There is also, of course, a super-intelligent gorilla to be dealt with.

Barry Smith's art develops apace, as our hero discovers he must thwart a giant spider.

Matt and Foggy find themselves enmeshed in the revolutionary activities of El Condor, a South American villain of whom I have very limited memories.

Hooray! The Fantastic Four enter the Negative Zone to have another punch-up with Annihilus!

From what I can remember, they're really after Janus the Nega-Man who's managed to get himself stranded there and has, no doubt, plans to take the place over.

I suspect a certain evil grasshopper'll have something to say about that.

It's yet another stunner when the Sandman decides the cure for his problem of having been turned into glass is to turn Betty Ross into glass, instead.

No wonder the woman had a nervous breakdown.

It's another of those Iron Man tales I must have read but have no memory of, though I do recall the name, "Ramrod."

Looking at that picture, even though the cover's by Sal Buscema, Ramrod himself looks very much like he's a Don Heck creation.

Who'd win a fight between Thor and Odin?

The reader would!

It's true. Odin's managed the unique feat of being taken over by himself and is now a threat to all who live.

Happily, his son's around to give him the punch in the teeth he's asking for.

That's what Marvel's up to but what of its biggest rival?

Of DC's output, this month, just two books leap off the spinner rack at me.

The first is Green Lantern #83.

The Lantern and the Green Arrow investigate a school that plans to use a psychic child to control the other students.

I've never read this tale but it's by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, so, I shall assume it's fully socially relevant and will teach us - and the Green Lantern - a valuable life lesson we'll never forget.

Jack Kirby continues to make his mark on Superman's best pal.

And, thanks to it, the world's mightiest mortal must confront a clone created by Simyan and Mokkari.

I don't have a clue who Simyan and Mokkari are or why their clone seems to have four arms.

I do know that cover's inked by Neal Adams, though.

April 1st, 1981 - 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.

***

Here in Blighty, we've just, this week, turned our clocks forward for the summer but, on this day in 1981, the Russians were doing it for the very first time.

Yes. Incredible as it may seem, it wasn't until then that daylight-saving time was first introduced in the Soviet Union.

I have no word on whether the Russians have spent every change of the clocks, since then, complaining that the whole thing should be scrapped, as happens every single year in Britain.

I like to imagine they have, as it'd be nice to think that, even in the depths of the Cold War, there were some things that united us all.

Mere days before that, in the UK, the first London Marathon began, with a whopping total of 7,500 runners.

In the world of politics, the week also saw the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan who was shot in the chest by John Hinckley Jr in a perfectly logical attempt to impress Jodie Foster.

Rather less dramatically, the world of UK politics also experienced a historic event, as that week saw the launch of the Social Democratic Party, thanks to Labour Party defectors Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen. Jodie Foster's view of that is not known.

A brand new comic smashes its way into your local newsagents, featuring the characters whose presence totally failed to save the weeklies they were previously in. Having failed before, can they triumph this time?

I cannot say but I do know this issue features a whole 17 pages of Thor, suggesting the other strips may find themselves a little squeezed.

I also know that cover's by Alan Davis and may, possibly, be his first work for Marvel UK.

Thor, by the way, is up against the return of the Stone Men from Saturn, and their deadly weapon the Gravitron.

The Fantastic Four, meanwhile, are battling those space parasites that revert their hosts to the form of their prehistoric ancestors.

Sadly, I can shed no light upon what Dr Strange is up to.

It's bad news for the White Tiger when Gideon Mace and his men pump him so full of holes you could use him as a tea strainer.

My information on the rest of this issue's sparse but, if the cover's to be believed, the other strips feature the Hulk, Wonder Man and Hercules.

I would assume the Hulk tale's still the one where he's in Siberia, having to combat the renewed peril of the Presence and Red Guardian while the Soviet Super-Soldiers get in everyone's way.

It's a thrilling day for us all, as Captain America manages to make the cover of his own comic.

This time, he's up against the return of Joe from the final days of Steve Ditko's Spider-Man. A man so destabilised by the death of his son that he goes on a super-powered rampage.

The Dazzler's having serious problems with the Enchantress. But not to worry, because Spider-Man, the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men are all on hand to help her!

I can't help feeling that's a slightly overcrowded story. Is there actually any room in it for the main character?

I would assume the Defenders are still in Asgard, trying to thwart the deadly schemes of Hela.

And I would also suspect Tony Stark's out to solve the mystery of why his armour's turned homicidal.

The contents of this one are none too clear to me.

I do know we get the origin of Baron Karza, which I know is something we've all been screaming out for.

From the looks of it, ROM's dealing with some sort of robot or other.

But what's occurring in the Star Trek strip, I couldn't say.

It's the issue where Rick Jones reveals to the world that Bruce Banner's the Hulk.

I've a feeling he does it because he thinks Bruce is dead.

Bruce, however, is not dead.

Rick probably will be, though, once Bruce gets his hands on him.

It's the big one! Conan meets Elric!

Is this the tale that sees the return of Zukala and his famous daughter, or am I thinking of a totally different adventure?

The Mad Thinker's latest android's on the loose.

And nothing can stop it!

Not even Sue waving her arms around!

Fortunately, the Fantastic Four don't have to stop it. They just need to dump it in the Negative Zone and let the people there worry about it.

So, that's exactly what they do.

Doesn't it reappear, several years later, armed with a beard, the Cosmic Control Rod and a dramatic increase in size?

The Sandman makes his grip-defying debut.

And is promptly defeated by a vacuum cleaner.

Fair play to Sandy. Most people would give up on trying to be a super-villain after a setback like that but not him. He still goes on to have a lengthy career in crime.

We also get the tale that features the second-ever appearance of the Green Goblin. The one where he and the Human Torch gatecrash Flash Thompson's inaugural meeting of the Spider-Man Fan Club, endangering everyone present.

I do believe both tales feature Spider-Man refusing to fight that issue's foe, due to concern for the welfare of Aunt May, leading to everyone assuming he's a coward.

This month's issue boasts a cover that's an odd amalgamation of work by Neal Adams and John Romita; two artists whose styles are not exactly natural bedfellows.

Other than Dracula being in it, I would struggle to say what happens inside this book.

It's time for yet more sobbing, self-recrimination and lesson-learning, as love destroys yet more innocent lives.

I do believe Captain America's been captured by some Germans who put him on a rocket. No doubt, with the intention of firing him at somewhere he'll do maximum damage, such as France or London.

I also believe Iron Man's about to have his first-ever encounter with the Mandarin.

When it comes to the cover story, I have childhood memories of Thor escaping his concrete prison by summoning Asgardian pixies to give him a belt of strength, which seems a bit of a cheat. I mean, even I could be a super-hero if Asgardian pixies gave me a belt of strength.

With one mighty bound, Star Heroes pocket book becomes The X-Men pocket book.

And it looks like the titanic teens have their hands full with the return of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Not only that but they have to face it, even though Professor X has lost the use of his powers!

Doctor Who Monthly says goodbye to Tom Baker, now that a fall from a radio telescope's left him a changed man.

We also get a look back at his companions, an article about his final story Logopolis and an interview with the show's producer John Nathan-Turner.

We also get a picture of a Zygon on the front cover, which is easily my favourite monster design in Doctor Who history.

You really don't know how much I wish I were covered in suckers.

This month, we're treated to a re-telling of the origin of the Punisher.

You know, the one that bears a remarkable resemblance to the plot of Death Wish?

Some might start to wonder whether the massacre of Frank Castle's family ever happened or whether he saw the film and, in his mentally unbalanced state, somehow convinced himself it had happened to him.

Elsewhere, Blade seems to be laying siege to a house in Mayfair. One that's filled with vampires.

And I'm sure Night Raven's also being thrilling.

At last, after what seems an eternity, The Hour of the Dragon finally reaches its senses-shattering conclusion.

Even though I've read the Robert E Howard original, I've no recollection of how it actually ends. I shall, therefore, guess that it involves the slaying of a sorcerer and the rescuing of a beautiful woman. The stabbing of a monster may also be involved.

Don't ask me how I know these things. I must just have the gift of clairvoyance.

This week's Avengers tale sees the Beast in solo action against someone called the Manipulator - and Hank McCoy seems to be in a very bad mood.

He also gets into a fight with a knife-wielding villain called Perry who I suspect is not the Manipulator.

The Champions are after the Runestaff of Kamo Tharn in their bid to prevent the Stranger's out-of-control expandy-shrinky bomb from destroying the solar system.

And the original X-Men are up against the Creator. A villain I can't claim to have any knowledge of.

The cover boasts this is the, "New Look," Rampage Magazine, although I struggle to see in what way it looks any different from how it always has.

Regardless, Garokk and Zaladane are in danger of blowing-up not only the Savage Land but, also, the whole planet.

And only the X-Men (and, possibly, Sauron, Ka-Zar and Zabu) can stop them!

Elsewhere, the Thing and Nick Fury team-up to tackle Mentallo and the Fixer.

Even more elsewhere, Senor Muerte thinks he's put paid to Luke Cage.

I suspect Senor Muerte urgently needs to reappraise the situation.

My mastery of all Earth's languages tells me, "Senor Muerte," translates as, "Mr Death." The villain I remember mentioning in last month's summary.

Hooray! We can win 85 prizes in Starburst's Monster Club competition!

Not only that but we get an interview with Servalan herself, Jacqueline Pearce.

And a review of Superman II.

What more could we ask for?

We could ask for a feature on the 1931 Frankenstein movie.

And we get one.

The Shadow #7 - The Night of the Beast.

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

***

I admit it. I've always wanted to live on the 51st floor of a skyscraper that, officially, has only 50 floors.

That's because I want to be like the Shadow, and that's the sort of thing the Shadow would do.

Sadly, there are no 50 storey buildings in my native city. So, I shall have to settle for living on the first and second floors of a building that only officially has two floors. Surely such a ruse cannot fail to fool the dregs of the criminal underworld.

But that brings me back to the Shadow's short-lived 1970s DC series.

As we all know, it started off being drawn, with great style, by Mike Kaluta. However, after less than half-dozen issues, Michael Wm left the strip and it was handed over, for three issues, to the ever-popular Frank Robbins before ER Cruz was set loose on it.

There's one thing we know about Frank Robbins and that's that his style always made everything look like it was set in the 1930s, even when a story was set in the 1970s. So, just how did that style cope with drawing the 1930s themselves?

Lamont Cranston and his lady friend Margo Lane are watching a play starring Broadway goddess Morag Mayne who bears no resemblance at all to Katharine Hepburn, when who should appear but a malformed simpleton called Pile?

Before anyone can react, Pile swings in on a rope and makes off with the lovely Morag.

But it's mere moments before Cranston's transformed himself into the Shadow and gives chase.

Sadly, Shads isn't the only one giving chase, because so are a couple of hoods who see-off Pile, in the street outside, before the Shadow shows up and sees them off.

That excitement over, the man of mystery sets about his investigations, discovering Morag was, until recently, the girlfriend of local mobster Joey Lyce. Now, it's clear Lyce wants her rubbed out before she can tell the feds all the dirt she has on him, while Pile was out to save her from the wrath of Joey.

Thus it is that, while the Shadow and Morag are snogging in her apartment, the still-living Pile reappears, sends the Shadow flying and, again, abducts Morag, this time heading for his former home in an abandoned brewery.

But the Shadow's not the only one in hot pursuit, as Joey and his men also descend upon the site.

Obviously, this results in plenty of shooting, punching and needless laughing and, at the end of it all, Joey's been decked by the Shadow, while Pile, already mortally wounded by Joey's men, is accidentally killed by Morag, using the gun Pile himself gave her. Oh, the bitter irony of it all.

Denny O'Neil's tale's not a complex one. In fact, it's basically a hodgepodge of 1930s cliches, with a large chunk of The Hunchback of Notre Dame flung in but it has an irresistible sense of style, keeps moving and is a painless read which allows Robbins to do what he does best, which is avoiding drawing things that look new.

The reality is that, when I first encountered the pair's take on the strip, in the summer of 1975, I was very taken with it, to the degree that I felt compelled to buy their other issues of it. From this, I can only conclude the duo must have got something right and I will still contend that that's a great cover by Frank.

So, yes, it's true. Under the right circumstances, even Frank Robbins' work can appeal to me.

But a thought's just re-entered my head. One which struck me, way back then. The Shadow wears a scarf and a hat and has a sidekick called Harry.

When he first appeared, Tom Baker's Doctor also wore a scarf and a hat and had a sidekick called Harry.

Was this pure coincidence or was there a long-unacknowledged influence going on?

I don't know.

But the Shadow probably does.

March 25th, 1981 - 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. 

***

Tragedy struck the world, this week in 1981, when Doctor Who fell off a radio telescope and turned into Peter Davison.

That's right. It was the week in which Tom Baker's final episode on the show was broadcast, ending his seven-year run in the part, thanks to the serial Logopolis.

40 years later and I still defy anyone to explain that regeneration to me.

In the real world, things also got decidedly surreal, as Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs was rescued by Barbados police, following his kidnapping in Brazil.

On the UK singles chart, the 1950s returned with a vengeance, as Shakin' Stevens' This Ole House hit the top spot, forcing Kim Wilde's uber-1980s smash Kids in America to settle for being Number Two.

Meanwhile, the UK album listings saw no change at their summit, thanks to Adam and the Ants' Kings of the Wild Frontier fending off a strong challenge from Status Quo's Never Too Late and the Who's Face Dances which entered the chart at Two and Three, respectively.

Spider-Man's having to contend with a Kraven who's out to prove to his girlfriend that he's still a man.

The dinosaur skeletons on that cover tell me this tale takes place in a museum.

Either that or Stegron's back.

The Hulk's currently being attacked by Russian fighter jets. Jets which he's in the process of destroying.

And it looks like the White Tiger's getting seriously perforated by Gideon Mace and his men.

I think this is the one in which Tony Stark receives a full five minutes of self-defence training from Captain America which enables him to launch a James Bond style raid on somewhere or other.

I assume this is to do with Justin Hammer having sabotaged his armour to make it kill a visiting dignitary.

The Defenders are still in Asgard, and the Dazzler's still heading towards her major singing conflict with the Enchantress.

I know not what Captain America's up to in his own strip but I do know the tale's called The Sins of the Fathers.

I've no idea what's going on on that cover but I suspect it's Star Trek related, as I'm moderately confident it's not connected to either Conan or Weirdworld.

However, I'm afraid that's all the light I can shed upon this issue, as the internet's woefully short on info about it.

2000 AD - February 1983.

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

***

February 1983 seems to have been, mostly, a month of massacres in various parts of the world. Being the peace-loving soul I am, I was, therefore, clearly, going to have to seek refuge in the world of television.

And it was within that cathode ray wonderland that we found a historic moment unfolding, as US comedy-drama M*A*S*H reached its last-ever episode. One which set a record, as that land's most-watched TV episode of all time, thanks to an audience of 125 million people.

With viewing figures like that, the cinemas were probably empty but, still, the silver screen soldiered on and gave us such fare as Videodrome, Local Hero, The King of Comedy and The Sting II.

Of those movies, I've only ever seen Videodrome and Local Hero, neither of which hugely floated my boat although Local Hero did, at least, have a catchy theme tune, even if I did have to sit all the way through the entire film to finally hear it.

On the UK singles chart, Men at Work kicked-off February at Number One with Down Under but, soon, they were displaced by Kajagoogoo's Too Shy which then had to make way for Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, the song which finally cleared up all misunderstandings, by making it clear the chair was not his son. I don't know about you but hearing that was certainly a load off my mind. 

When it came to UK album performances, the first three-quarters of the month were dominated by Men at Work's Business as Usual, until the last week of February saw Michael Jackson's Thriller hit the top spot after already having spent 13 weeks on the chart.

No doubt, the galaxy's greatest comic was getting an audience of comparable size to that of M*A*S*H but just what was that audience being served up?

It was, as usual, being served up Robo-Hunter, Harry Twenty on the High Rock, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper and Tharg's Time Twisters.

It seems someone was a Steely Dan fan, as one of the Dredd episodes was called Pretzel Logic.

Then again, one of the Robo-Hunter tales was called Play it Again, Sam.

But, even more then-again, you probably didn't need to be psychic to have already spotted the adventures of Sam Slade might owe more than a little to the cinematic career of Humphrey Bogart.

For nostalgia buffs, it appears that pages from the comic's very first issue were reproduced in shrunken form.

And, as if that wasn't enough, we even got the chance to win a trip to Disney World!