The Marvel Lucky Bag - March 1970.

In this month of 1970, the hangar doors parted and a momentous movie emerged to roll down the runway of Expectation before cruising to the upper levels of stratospheric success, with epic ramifications.

That film was Airport, the movie which launched what felt like a billion sequels and, without which, Airplane would never have existed.

But, over on the British LP chart, people were flying high in a far more serene manner because Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water spent the whole of that month at Number One, successfully seeing-off such challengers as the soundtracks of Easy Rider and Paint Your Wagon.

And it was also a battle between Simon and Garfunkel and Paint Your Wagon on the UK singles chart, as the month kicked off with Lee Marvin's Wand'rin' Star hogging the top spot before it was deposed by the single release of Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Amazingly, that Lee Marvin record kept the Beatles' final UK single Let it Be off the top spot, meaning that, in their time, the Beatles had been denied the British summit by both Lee Marvin and Engelbert Humperdinck. Oh, the indignity.

It's a rare appearance for Sgt Fury in this feature and I must confess the only reason I'm including him now is because the issue features him fighting the Red Baron.

Well, no, not really. As far as I can make out, it features Nick Fury's dad fighting the Red Baron.

If the cover's to be believed, Fury just knelt there, with his eyes closed, smoking a cigar, while the action was going on.

I wonder if the Red Baron ever tangled with the Phantom Eagle?

It's the question we've all asked; "Who'd win a fight between Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer?"

And I think we've all answered it instantly.

Obviously, the Silver Surfer would win. He'd bore Spidey to death, complaining about everything.

I have read this one but I can't recall how the pair come to be in conflict.

However, the internet tells me the duo battle it out while a young boy's life hangs in the balance.

I do believe it's the first-ever appearance of Orka the human killer whale.

And, by the looks of it, it could be the last-ever appearance by the Sub-Mariner.

Hooray! Sporr makes his tentacular debut!

I'm including this one because I had this issue.

And what an issue it is, with the Earth being threatened in three tales, which feature a giant amoeba, a fire monster and a mud monster.

Needless to say, despite their seeming invincibility, the trio are all quickly defeated by wily Earthmen.

Still, that didn't prevent Taboo the mud monster returning, years later, to battle the Hulk on behalf of Xemnu the Titan.

Sporr, of course, returned to fight Thor.

I have no knowledge of whether Dragoom the fire monster was ever seen again.

But, hold on. If Xemnu's a Titan, does that mean he's related to Thanos?

Fifty years ago this month - March 1970.

Like a bus that I urgently need, March has arrived a day late.

That must mean we're behind schedule.

That means I must dive straight into my look at the Marvel comics which bore the month of March 1970 upon their front covers.

The Black Panther's been kidnapped by the Sons of the Serpent, while one of their operatives runs around town committing crimes, in order to make him look bad in the eyes of the nation.

Obviously, that's all well and good but what's even more important is I believe this is the first issue to feature the artistic team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer which became positively legendary.

From what I can remember, a woman gains the power to control men's minds and, not content with just robbing banks, decides to use it to take over SHIELD.

Quite how Captain America proves to be immune to her charms, I cannot recall.

Then again, how she gets her power in the first place is also a mystery to me.

When we read that Avengers' Grandmaster tale a few months ago, we may have thought we'd never see Nighthawk again but here he is, back in town and trying to steal Daredevil's spotlight.

But - gasp - it turns out the villain has ulterior motives!

The Mad Thinker decides to defeat the FF by creating robot duplicates of them.

My memories of this issue are fuzzy but I'd assume that, at some point, at least one member of the FF fools the Thinker by pretending to be one of his robots.

It's the clash that had to happen!

The Absorbing Man takes on the Hulk - and wins!

He then gets crushed by the mountain he's holding up.

He never was the sharpest knife in the drawer, was he?

Even more excitingly, this issue leads into the introduction of Jack Norriss.

I've read this story and have no recollection of what happens in it.

However, I believe the Crimson Dynamo or Titanium Man may be involved.

I also believe this is an experiment which involves the cover acting as the first panel of the story within.

Spidey decides to go on a chat show.

And, wouldn't you know it, the studio's resident sparky is Electro who decides the hero's guest slot is the perfect chance to give him a shock.

I must confess I'm having trouble distinguishing between Crypto-Man and Thermal Man.

Isn't Crypto-Man created by a scientist who sets it loose in New York and then realises it might kill his mother, or something?

Then again, I might be mixing it up with Replicus, and Slugger Sykes' concern for Granny Gardenia.

In their last appearance for several months, the X-Men take on the Incredible Hulk!

Apparently, our heroes seek out the aid of Bruce Banner to help them treat Professor X who's feeling under the weather at the moment.

I think we can all guess how long it takes for a fight to break out.

February 27th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Do you remember the British Rock and Pop Awards?

I do.

Admittedly, I remember them as being the original incarnation of the BRIT Awards before their name got shortened to its current form. However, in a shock revelation, heavy research has told me there was no connection at all between the two ceremonies and that the pair of them co-existed for several years, one broadcast on the BBC and the other on ITV.

All of which brings us to this night in 1980, when the second-ever British Rock and Pop Awards took place.

Information about them is difficult to find but I can reveal that, amongst those handing out trophies were the Barron Knights, Kate Bush, Marianne Faithfull, Andy Gibb and Leo Sayer. I know that, if I were an international superstar, I'd love to receive an award from the Barron Knights.

Details of the winners are sketchy but it's known the main recipients that evening were Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, Gary Numan, the Police and Jerry Dammers of the Specials.

Those people were all basking in the glow of triumph but, over on the UK singles chart, there was only one winner, that week. And that was Blondie, the band who ascended to claim the Number One slot, with Atomic.

Over on the LP chart, a far more venerable act was stealing centre stage, as the Shadows claimed the top spot with their collection of covers A String of Hits.

I must confess I know nothing of this week's contents.

I'm certain there's a Star Wars story in it and I assume there's a tale of the Watcher and yet more thrills and spills from Deathlok, as he continues trying to find whoever it is he's trying to find.

Happily, I know far more about this comic's contents.

In the main story, The Star Beast, the Doctor's about to be on the receiving end of surgery from a bunch of aliens who want to hide a bomb in his stomach. God alone knows how they got a license to practise medicine.

We also get an article looking back at the careers of some of the Doctor's deadliest monsters, including the Cybermen.

Elsewhere, we get more of Marvel's adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a text adaptation of the insane William Hartnell serial The Chase and more from Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer.

And it's another one whose contents are a mystery to me.

I don't even know what the Spidey story is this week, other than that it contains the multi-armed menace of Dr Octopus.

Personally, I don't recall any Doc Ock tales from this period and, so, I can't even say what the villain's up to. Is the gallivanting gastropod going to be making yet another attempt to marry Aunt May?

Who can know?

In this issue's main story, the Fantastic Four are gearing up for their first-ever encounter with the Hulk in a tale from so early in the Marvel era that they're not even convinced the monster really exists.

The Black Knight's still helping elves fight the forces of evil. That's Elves, not Elvis. I would personally pay good money to watch the Black Knight help Elvis battle the forces of evil.

Elsewhere, the Beast clashes with Iron Man - and, thanks to the brain-bending machinations of Mastermind, thinks he's killed him!

In his own strip, the Hulk's crash-landed in somewhere or other, for the start of yet another tale.

And the Defenders are still trying to rescue Jack Norriss from Scorpio, all while trying to avoid being killed by the Hulk, after having done everything they can to get the brute fighting-mad.

2000 AD - January 1982.

How safe do you feel online?

If you were living in December 1981, you probably felt extremely safe - because the computer virus hadn't yet been invented.

Sadly, a month later and you were already in deadly peril.

That's because January 1982 was the month in which the very first computer virus, the Elk Cloner, created by 15-year old Rich Skrenta, was discovered after it had started infecting Apple II computers, via floppy disk.

Then again, you probably still felt pretty safe online because online wasn't really a thing back then.

But that wasn't the only significant computer news that month. Mere days earlier, the Commodore 64 home computer had been launched in Las Vegas and quickly went on to become the World's best-selling personal computer.

As far as I remember, if you wanted to load a program on the Commodore 64, you had to do it via a cassette tape.

Cassettes back then were, of course, all the rage and that realisation can only lead us to one place.

The Pop charts.

The month began with the Human League at Number One on the British Hit Parade with their massive smash Don't You Want Me? That was, though, soon deposed by Bucks Fizz's The Land of Make Believe which, in turn, lost its top slot to Oh Julie by Shakin' Stevens before The Model by Kraftwerk seized the summit right at the end of the month. Five Number Ones in a month? What a strangely turbulent period it was.

And, if I'm honest, I have a soft spot for all those songs.

Over on the UK album chart, things were somewhat calmer, with the month kicking off with the Human League's Dare at Number One before that was dethroned by Barbra Streisand's Love Songs.

"But what of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, in that period?" I hear you ask?

You'll be excited to know it was still giving us The Ace Trucking Co, Nemesis the Warlock, Tharg's Future Shocks, The Mean Arena and Rogue Trooper.

Prog 245 saw the launch of Judge Dredd's Apocalypse War and, also, what appear to have been a pair of one-off strips called Abelard Snazz and Superbean. Needless to say, I have no memory of either of these.

I also have no recollection of Tharg's 1982 calendar, which was given away in Progs 245-246. I have no doubt it was highly useful, though.

Possible further reading:

February 20th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

If you sometimes feel like you're being kept in the dark, fear not, you're not alone because, in this week of 1980, so were the people of North Africa and West Asia, as those regions were treated to a total solar eclipse. According to Wikipedia, it was the 50th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.

Frankly, I don't have a clue what that last bit means.

Rather less thrillingly, three days later, AC/DC frontman Bon Scott died, following a night of heavy drinking in London.

Despite the cover, the issue kicks off with a reprint of the Fantastic Four's first-ever encounter with the Hulk.

The Black Knight finds his way to Camelot.

The Defenders are still out to rescue Jack Norriss from Scorpio but are having trouble giving the Hulk the necessary motivation to fight.

In the Silver Surfer's strip, the Stranger's planted a bomb designed to destroy the Human Race.

The Beast is still grumpy about being furry.

And now he has Iron Man to contend with!

And the Hulk's still polishing off Tyrannus in the Andes.

In this sensational issue, Luke's impressed that Leia's so good at fighting and she tells him of how and where she learned her epic combat skills.

We get a 6-page article about Harrison Ford. I have no doubt it includes the story of how he was fitting a door for George Lucas when he was cast as Han Solo.

Elsewhere, Deathlok's after a mobster who knows the identity of the doctor who turned him into a cyborg.

In this week's Tales of the Watcher, a man becomes famous for writing articles complaining about how a robot replaced him in his old job at a factory.

He then realises that, if it hadn't, he wouldn't have become a famous writer and he, therefore, owes his entire success to that machine.

I can exclusively reveal Spider-Man's up against Swarm who's on the rampage at Empire State University.

I can exclusively reveal nothing else about this issue.

However, it is surely enough to know that our hero's facing imminent doom at the hands of a flock of Nazi bees, as they set about trying to sting him to death!

My information about this issue is also limited. However, even I can spot that Romana 2 is on the cover.

I must confess I prefer Romana 1. Her imperiousness seemed far more appropriate for a Time Lord.

As far as I can make out, the issue kicks off with the Doctor in a brand new tale called The Star Beast.

We also get what I suspect is a text adaptation of The Space Museum and a feature on Katy Manning, the only companion I can think of who's ever posed nude with a Dalek.

At least, I hope she is. Please tell me the Brigadier never posed nude with a Dalek.

I suspect we also have more from a man who would never pose nude with a Dalek - and that's Abslom Daak, the man who hates the creatures far too much to even contemplate such a thing.

Savage She-Hulk #1. The She-Hulk Lives!

If there's anything I love to do on a Sunday night, it's picking up furniture and flinging it around.

That's why I've such a deep affection for the Savage She-Hulk.

OK, admittedly, I don't.

To be honest, when I first read her adventures in whichever Marvel UK book it was that reprinted them, I thought she was as dull as ditchwater and not a patch on Spider-Woman who, at least, had a hint of mystery and trauma about her.

However, as we're somewhere around the fortieth anniversary of the green gal's gamma-spawned debut, that's not going to stop me reviewing the story which introduced her to an awestruck world.

Because he's in LA, and actually has some clothes on, for once, Bruce Banner decides to drop in on his cousin the criminal lawyer Jen Walters because, as we're told, he and she have always been so close they're practically like brother and sister.

That's right. That's the woman he's never mentioned in any story, ever, in his near-two-decade history.

Not only that but, when he shows up, it quickly emerges that Jen doesn't even know he's the Hulk, which you would have thought everyone on Earth would be aware of by now. We're also told he's not seen her since he was a student.

Some observers might think they're starting to look suspiciously like total strangers.

Anyway, it turns out Jen's representing a mobster who's been framed by another mobster and, to flush the other mobster out, she's started a rumour that she has evidence against him.

Needless to say, the other mobster's not standing for that kind of thing, so he's sent his men to kill her.

And that's what they do, gunning her down in the street, outside her home.

Except, it's not what they do, because Bruce just happens to be there and, after defeating the would-be assassins, with a garden hose, he eschews the idea of calling an ambulance and, instead, carries the wounded woman around the streets until he just happens to blunder across a doctor's house.

Thereupon, he breaks in and proceeds to give her a transfusion of his own radioactive blood.

When the police show up to investigate, he turns into the Hulk, off-screen, and smashes out through the wall, never to be seen again in this issue, leaving Jen to the care of the local hospital.

Unfortunately, the other mobster didn't get where he is by giving up just because his men can't cope with a garden hose, and he sends them to the hospital to have another go at killing Jen.

And this attempt's no more successful than the last because, no sooner have they started trying to drug her, than she turns green and starts throwing her weight around.

The crooks flee but she pursues them into the street, forces them to confess their wrongdoings and then hands them over to the police before returning to the hospital to plan her future in crime-fighting.

It has to be said, it's not a comic that feels like a huge amount of care's been put into it. The artwork by John Buscema is not his best. It doesn't look as attractive as we're used to. Nor does it have the energy and dynamism we associate with him. A suspicious man might say it feels suspiciously like it's something he's knocked out on auto-pilot.

Likewise, Stan Lee's script doesn't feel like a labour of love either. For the first part of the tale, despite it being her comic, Jen's a supporting character, with the story focusing entirely on Bruce Banner and his concerns. Jen's only allowed to take over as central character once Bruce has fled.

And she doesn't get to be that for long because, within a few panels of it, the She-Hulk arrives and takes over as protagonist. The truth is Stan doesn't seem very interested in Jen, a fault that possibly we might be able to level at The Man when it came to female characters in general, over the course of his writing career.

Bruce and Jen's clear lack of familiarity with each other, despite us being told they're incredibly close is jarring and yanks you out of the tale, while Bruce carrying Jen around the street, in the hopes he'll just happen to blunder across a doctor's house doesn't seem the best thought-out plan ever.

It does also strike you that the tale seems aimed at fans of the Hulk TV show, rather than those of his comics. The portrayal of Banner here, as a fugitive, fearful of the authorities unearthing his true identity, feels more in line with the Bill Bixby incarnation of the character. He's also never referred to as Bruce in the story, just, "Doc," with Lee claiming, on the splash page, that it doesn't matter what his first name is.

So, overall, it's not a great story - which is to be expected, as it was, reportedly, created for legal reasons, rather than anything else.

However, the one good thing about it is that, thanks to Lee's involvement, its second half does have the feel of a 1960s Marvel super-hero origin tale and, so, it does, at least, bring back warm and fuzzy memories of the Silver Age and the first time we met all those 1960s Marvel characters who so enchanted our childhoods.

Potential further reading:

 

February 13th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

There are times in life when a man has to do what a man has to do.

And that, no doubt, is why this week in 1980 saw Kenny Rogers ascend to the top of the UK singles chart with his track Coward of the County, that homespun tale of violence and vengeance which somehow managed to convince us it was family-friendly fare.

Happily, elsewhere, people were taking in lighter entertainment as, on this night in that year, the Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York.

I wish I could claim to have strong memories of it but winter sports aren't that huge a deal in the UK.

I do, though, have a feeling this may have been the year in which Robin Cousins won a gold medal for skating around stylishly.

A Russian military officer's still trying to blow up America, with a brand new anti-matter bomb.

Fortunately, Spider-Man's around to trick the Hulk into flinging that bomb into Outer Space, for us all.

The Black Knight still has a magic pearl that's sending him power mad.

The Defenders head for the Avengers Mansion and get into a fight with Wonder Man before it dawns on them that they're all on the same side and that stopping Scorpio and Evil Nick Fury might be a good idea.

The Hulk finally defeats Tyrannus in the Andes.

The Silver Surfer's still trying to raise the money to build a machine which can get him through Galactus' space barrier.

And the Beast is still adjusting to being covered in fur and no longer having a $500 vocabulary.

I do believe that's a Walt Simonson cover.

I also believe that, inside, Princess Leia's fighting a cat man, for some reason.

I also believe Deathlok's chasing around after a helicopter.

When it comes to this week's tale of the Watcher, it tells of a rich man obsessed with launching a successful mission to a distant planet, until it costs the life of his daughter and he's forced to concede that it was foolish of him to ever dream of reaching that distant world...

...the world known as Earth!

Hooray! The Mandrells make the front cover!

The main thought I have about the Mandrells is they always remind me of Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, a nigh-unwatchable Country Music show which used to be on ITV in the 1980s and made you lose the will to live within five seconds of it starting.

As Barbara Mandrell was totally unknown in Britain, it was always a mystery why ITV seemed so remorselessly keen on inflicting her on us all.

Elsewhere, the Doctor is still involved in the adventure known as Timeslip.

We get more of Marvel's Adaptation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and we get a text story based on the 1960s Doctor Who serial The Crusade.

On top of all that awesomeness, we get more from Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer.

But, suddenly, we're back into the realms of mystery because all I know of this issue is that Spider-Man's up against the Mindworm who's using his mental battle with the hero as therapy.