April 7th, 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. 

***

Nowadays, a man like me can create a blog post by using just his phone and the awesome power of his intellect.

But, once upon a time, such pleasures were denied a young gentleman.

And that time was April 6th, 1973.

However, the very next day, we were well on the way to that glorious future. Thanks to Martin Cooper of Motorola, it was the day on which the first-ever handheld mobile phone call was made.

How little Martin could have guessed, when he made the call, that that one small event would trigger a sequence of occurrences that would snowball until they culminated in the glory and grandeur that is Steve Does Comics.

It wasn't such a good week for skinflints, however, as it was the week in which the UK government introduced Value Added Tax to the items we bought in the shops.

I'm sure most everyone's aware that April 7th was the date of that year's Eurovision Song Contest which was won by Tu Te Teconnaîtras by Anne-Marie David, for Luxembourg. As myth and legend can attest, our own Cliff Richard came third with Power to All Our Friends, reminding us that there was a time when coming third was a disappointment for this land.

From one singing superstar to another, as that week's UK singles chart had a brand new Number One.

And that Number One was Get Down by Gilbert O'Sullivan, a track that, surely, found Gilbert at his most Elton-ish.

Over on the associated album chart, the top spot was still gripped by 20 Flashback Greats of the Sixties as presented by those ever-popular Various Artists.

Judo Jim Starlin and Amazing Al Migrom give us not-their-finest cover, as the Hulk has his first meeting with the Watcher.

After defeating the galaxy's mightiest warrior, in order to get his hands on the Watcher's Ultimate Machine, our hero's teleported back to the Leader's lair.

But when the villain tries to use it, he quickly learns that even his giant brain can't handle the level of knowledge the Watcher possesses.

On an altogether more mundane level, Daredevil runs up against the Purple Man.

But what's this? The Watcher's back already? In the Fantastic Four's strip where he explains who he is and why he can't take sides in the battle between the team and the Mad Ghost and his super-apes? Truly, we're going to feel all Watchered out, this weekend.

Who doesn't love the circus?

Spider-Man doesn't.

And neither does Daredevil.

He likes it even less when the Ringmaster hypnotises Spidey, along with the rest of the audience, in order to steal all their belongings

Fortunately, the man without fear's lack of eyesight proves to be a priceless weapon against the mesmeric mischief-maker.

But he must feel like he's trapped in Groundhog Day. After all, what with the Ringmaster in this strip, and the Purple Man in his own, Daredevil's up against two foes with the ability to control people,  this week.

In Thor's strip, as a rite of passage, the heir to the throne of a race of shape-shifting aliens leads an attack on Earth, which involves them replacing government officials in New York.

Happily, Thor uncovers their plan and quickly thwarts them.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - April 1973.

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

***

If there's anything you don't want in your food, it's people.

And that made April 1973 bad news for all lovers of fine cuisine. After all, it was the month which saw the release of Charlton Heston's classic slab of dystopian sci-fi Soylent Green.

But it wasn't alone. That April also saw the unleashing of And Now the Screaming Starts! an Amicus film about a killer hand going on the rampage.

The month also saw the release of Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, a film about which I know nothing other than that it had nothing to do with the later Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, even though, from the titles alone, you feel like they should be part of the same series.

Then again, I feel like And Now the Screaming Starts and Scream and Scream Again should be part of the same series but they also have nothing in common, apart from both being produced by Amicus.

So awesome is the power of Ka-Zar that Marvel has him up against a bit-part player from Zodiac, one of the company's less impressive evil organisations.

Still, the tale does feature a fight on a jump jet and leads to the reintroduction of Kraven's giant pet space monster Gog.

Unless I miss my ever-loving guess, this is the one in which Dr Doom hires Luke Cage to track down some thieves but then refuses to stump up the money, which seems a very un-Doom-like thing to do.

I do believe this is the first Ghost Rider tale I ever read. Sadly, all I recall of it is there's a villain called Snake-Dance and an attempt to sacrifice Roxanne Simpson.

Marvel's determined to shine as much attention as possible upon its latest super-heroine. And, so she gets to team up with Spider-Man himself, as they tackle the ultra-feminist cyborg threat the world knows as Man-Killer.

Speaking of new Marvel heroines, the third issue of Shanna's mag sees her doing something or other but I'm not sure what.

Whatever it is, it seems to involve wrestling with bulls.

In a stunning twist to the norm, Namor decides to invade the surface world. Or, at least, New York but then changes his mind and declares yet another truce.

This time, it's all done in order to rescue Tamara from the clutches of the United Nations which is holding her captive.

Heads up, sword and sorcery fans, because Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gil Kane give us their adaptation of Robert E Howard's The Valley of the Worm.

Is it as good as the company's Conan book?

I can't say, as I've read neither the adaptation nor the original tale.

Luke Cage isn't the only one having an encounter with an out-of-character Dr Doom, this month. So is Adam Warlock.

Admittedly, in his case, there's a reason Doomie's acting strangely. And that's because he's the Counter-Earth version of the scientist. Which means he's a good guy. As opposed to Reed Richards who's a bad guy.

Fifty years ago today - April 1973.

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

***

A brave new month is upon us.

Just as it was fifty years ago.

But just how brave?

And was anyone in the mood for hiding?

Spidey must visit Canada, for reasons that escape me but may have something to do with a will or something.

But, while he's there, the Hulk shows up and the inevitable fight breaks out. This time, at the site of Montreal's Expo '67 in the tale that first introduced me to the word, "Geodesic."

Magneto shows up in a tale I've never found overly involving. Don't the gang arrive at the X-Men's house, and Magneto's there, disguised as the Angel?

I think it all ends with the villain demonstrating his ability to control people's minds, thanks to his powers of magnetism, although I don't see how that could possibly work in practice.

How can the patriotic pair possibly stand up to the awesome power of Solar?

I've no idea. Mostly because I don't recall anything that happens in this one.

It's time to get sad because Barry's no longer drawing Conan.

But it's time to get glad because Big John Buscema steps in to complete the saga of the Living Tarim.

Unless I miss my guess, DD and the Widow have to battle the Dark Messiah and his psychedelic ways.

And, in my head, I'm still getting him mixed up with Angar the Screamer.

The Mandarin shows off his new, bare-chested look which, frankly, is not one that suits him.

Of the story itself, I can claim to have little knowledge.

The Hulk's keeping busy while he's in Canada. Not only does he have to fight Spider-Man but also has to survive the nightmarish menace of the Wendigo, as the mountie-munching monster makes its Marvel debut.

Thundra returns, determined to have a scrap with the Thing.

And she's perfectly happy to threaten Alicia, in order to make him fight!

My razor-sharp senses tell me the Juggernaut may be involved.

They also tell me the cover's a visible collision of Gil Kane, John Romita and Werner Roth.

Sadly, they don't tell me what happens inside the book.

While searching for Sif, Thor's attacked by Ulik who separates him from his hammer and it ends up in a flaming pit.

Can The thunder god possibly retrieve it before he transforms into Don Blake?

That's Marvel sorted out.

But what of its biggest rival? What's DC up to in its issues that also bear an April 1973 cover date?

To be truthful, not much of the company's output this month catches my eye but these are the books most likely to draw my attention toward the spinner rack.

In our main tale, the Phantom Stranger travels to Rio De Janeiro, in search of the Dark Circle - where he finds its leader is about to summon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

And, of course, there's also back-up strip action from the Spawn of Frankenstein.

The original Captain Marvel hits his second issue, with a photo cover. I'll let you be the judge of whether it's a gimmick that succeeds or not.

Inside, Mr Mind plans to destroy the United States but is stopped, with the assistance of the Saint Louis Arch.

Hooray! I had this one!

And I loved it.

An Atlantean scientist transforms Superboy into a water-breathing merman, which also removes his usual super-powers.

However, he does gain telepathy and telekinesis.

According to this issue's Sales Statement, the average number of copies of this title sold during the preceding 12 months has been 265,874.

It's a cover designed to pass into the annals of legend, as Wonder Woman's tied to a nuclear missile and fired at New York.

It's all down to the dotty menace of Dr Domino, a villain who, to my knowledge, has never been seen again since.

Possibly because he has a domino for a head and, thus, looks silly.

But that's not all. After all, in this issue we also get a second story, titled The Mystery of Nubia!

And the average circulation for this book is listed as 133,918.

March 31st, 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. 

***

I'm not going to make you an offer you can't refuse.

But I know a man who is.

That man's the Godfather and, this week in 1973, he was feeling mighty proud of himself, as the movie named after him collected the Best Picture Oscar at the 45th Academy Awards.

Others who were celebrating, that week, were women.

That's because they were admitted into the London Stock Exchange for the first time.

I can't help suspecting women had been allowed in before, in order to clean the place but it seems those women didn't count.

But you know what did count? Red Rum. He could count to three. That's the number of times the horse won the Grand National - and the first time he did so was during this week in 1973. He also finished second on two other occasions, making him the most successful horse in the event's history.

On the UK singles chart, we had a brand new Number One, thanks to The Twelfth of Never by Donny Osmond - a track I must confess to having no memory of.

On the associated album chart, 20 Flashback Greats of the Sixties by those ever-popular Various Artists smashed straight in at Number One.

The Hulk finally loses the bullet that's been lodged in his brain, thanks to the Leader zapping it with a laser beam.

Indebted to the villain, the Hulk agrees to visit the Watcher's planet, in order to steal the Ultimate Machine.

But, to do so, he must first defeat the, "Most powerful creature in the galaxy!"

On a slightly lower power level, Daredevil finds himself confronting the mauve menace of the Purple Man.

Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four must stop the Mad Ghost and his super-apes.

The keen-eyed reader will have noticed Marvel UK's changed the name of the Red Ghost in its latest bid to expunge evil commies from Marvel history.

But doesn't this tale also feature the Watcher?

If so, UK readers are being introduced to the Watcher in both the Hulk and Fantastic Four strips at the same time.

It's bad news for Spider-Man when the Chameleon hires his old friend Kraven to hunt our hero down.

Elsewhere, a seriously wounded gangster has his men kidnap Don Blake to make him operate.

Needless to say, things don't go the gangster's way, thanks to Blake turning himself into Thor and then bringing the baddie to justice.

And, as with the Mighty World of Marvel, we can win a free Spider-Man LP!

Speak Your Brain! Part 50. Familiarity breeds contempt?

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Holy smokes! The internet's greatest feature has somehow managed to hit its senses-shattering 50th-anniversary issue!

It seems like mere weeks since I launched it into space and those dread cosmic rays transformed it into the most hyper-powered feature on the internet! Truly this is the Steve Does Comics Age of letting the people speak.

And speak you must. For, that's the only way in which the discussion can begin. By you - or someone very like you - suggesting today's topic, in the comments section below.

So, tiger, get that keyboard rattling and unleash a veritable smorgasbord of chat upon the World Wide Web, you World Wide Web-Spinner, you.

March 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. 

***

We all know there's no technology more state-of-the-art and of-the-now than a 3D printer.

Except it turns out there is because that particular device was invented a whopping 40 years ago this month, by someone called Chuck Hull, a man who sounds like the offshoot of a nightmare union between Chuck Norris and Rod Hull.

But that wasn't the only technology of the future to hit us that month because it was also then that the compact disc first went on sale in the UK. Truly, we were living in a veritable sci-fi wonderland.

The UK singles chart was, no doubt, filled with artists who couldn't wait to take advantage of the new recording format. And, at the top of it, March launched with Bonnie Tyler reigning supreme, thanks to her power ballad Total Eclipse of The Heart. However, even Wales' gravelliest tonsils couldn't forever hold off the challenge of Duran Duran who, in the month's second half, dethroned her with their noticeably less grandiose single Is There Something I Should Know?

Meanwhile, things were highly lively on the British album chart, with U2's War winning the month's first week. The second week was won by Michael Jackson's, Thriller. The third was won by Tears For Fears' The Hurting. And the month's final week was won by Pink Floyd's The Final Cut.

Captain Britain gets a call from his sister Betsy. It seems she's been working for the British version of SHIELD but agents of the Vixen have taken over the organisation and are in the process of killing all her friends.

And she's not even had the chance to turn into a Japanese psychic ninja-mutant yet!

In New York, Ben Urich continues to dig into Matt Murdock's past while Daredevil takes on Bullseye and friends, in order to rescue the Black Widow.

And your friendly neighbourhood web-slinger finds himself up against Doc Ock in a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #53.

Great news, fashion fans, because the magazine dedicated to the show that refuses to die gives us a look at the cast's thrilling new costumes!

There's also a look back at the 2nd Doctor's Cyberman-packed thrill-ride The Wheel in Space.

And, for those less nostalgically inclined, there's a look forward to what the brand-new season will offer.

Hooray! Marvel Super-Heroes celebrates its 200th issue!

At least, you could be forgiven for thinking so, thanks to the cover image.

In fact, this is issue #395 which is an impressive feat for a book that's only been running for 42 issues.

Inside, during Jean Grey's funeral, Cyclops gives a potted history of the X-Men. He then quits the band, only to be replaced by Kitty Pryde.

Meanwhile, at the Avengers Mansion, Ms Marvel gives birth to the son of Immortus...

The mag obsessed with the universe's ruthlessest heroes is still with us and giving us a cover confrontation between Del Tarrant and arch-villain Servalan.

I know little of this issue's contents but I can say it contains the eye of Erlic and the fangs of the serpent.

And the body and mind of Conan, I have no doubt.

Star Wars Monthly's back!

And we can tell that because Indiana Jones is on the front cover!

What nightmare shenanigans are these?

Elsewhere, R2-D2 meets The Darker. Whoever he/she or it might be.

The nation's top sci-fi mag scrutinises the new, Muppet-related, blockbuster The Dark Crystal.

While we look forward to that, there's also a chance to vote in the Starburst Fantasy Awards.

And see these eyes so blue? The mag anticipates the arrival of the movie the world can only know as Cat People.

March 24th, 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. 

***

We all know there's only one album to play if you want to watch the first half of Wizard of Oz with the sound turned down.

And that album is Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.

Sadly, for many decades, that wasn't possible, as the album didn't yet exist.

However, this week in 1973, Judy Garland fans' suffering was finally brought to an end and that seminal album was released in the UK.

The Dark Side of the Moon may have been highly soothing but rather more raucous fare held sway on that week's UK singles chart, as Slade's Cum on Feel the Noize clung tightly onto the top spot.

While, over on the associated album chart, Alice Cooper's  Billion Dollar Babies smashed straight in at Number One.

The Hulk's still a guest of the Leader and still trying not to turn back into Puny Banner, what with him having a bullet in his head, which would be more than enough to kill his scientist alter-ego.

Back in New York, a wealthy and ruthless financier begins his reign of terror as the Owl. 

And then hires Matt Murdock to represent him.

Clearly, this can only lead to a clash between the villain and Daredevil.

Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four attend a military briefing in New Mexico, aimed at working out how to tackle the Hulk.

Fortunately, while there, they meet Bruce Banner and his assistant Karl Kort. Both of whom will, no doubt, prove invaluable in stopping the gamma-spawned monster.

Interesting to see both Marvel UK mags sporting very similar covers, this week. And, as is the norm, both laid out by Judo Jim.

Inside, a brand new villain hits our eyeballs, as the Green Goblin hires the Enforcers to help him defeat Spider-Man. He then sets out to make a movie of the scrap.

Unfortunately, for all concerned, that's when the Hulk shows up.

Elsewhere, Loki discovers Thor’s secret identity and separates him from his hammer, trapping him in human form. Now, the powerless Don Blake can only watch, as the god of mischief torments humanity, right in front of him.