Sunday 24 January 2016

January 24th, 1976 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Holy Heliospheres, Batman! It's been an exciting week for all lovers of infamous planets, with the claim that somebody or other's finally discovered the mysterious Planet X that's long been rumoured to orbit the outer fringes of our solar system. This is good news for all fans of Kurrgo, who know him to be ruler of that dread globe.

But what of the heroes of our favourite mags in this week of 1976?

Were they feeling spaced out?

Or were they simply out of this world?

Marvel UK, Avengers #123

The Lethal Legion might be doing their best to get all the attention but I'm more intrigued by the claim that Dr Strange is meeting the greatest star of all.

Just who could this mystery person be?

Please tell me it's Elvis Presley. The thought of Dr Strange teaming up with Elvis Presley to fight the Chthonic Forces gives me far more pleasure than it every rightly should.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #154

It's that one where Flash's Vietnam experiences come back to haunt him, and Dr Strange somehow gets dragged into it all.

And where Dr Strange is, can Elvis be far behind?

Marvel UK, Planet of the Apes #66

It's a dramatic cover.

But a more militarily-minded man than me might point out that that gorilla's pointing his gun above his intended victim's head, therefore making him yet another of those terrible aimers who seem to exclusively inhabit Planet of the Apes covers.

I'm starting to wonder if there was some sort of rule that they weren't allowed to show someone pointing a gun at someone on a cover and they therefore had to contrive ways to avoid it while still trying to create a sense of impending doom.

Mighty World of Marvel #173, Hulk vs Bi-Beast

Hooray! The Bi-Beast makes his Hulk debut! And what a fab cover that is.

I missed this issue but was fortunately already familiar with him thanks to the book The Horrific World of Monsters which I got one Christmas in the early 1970s.

You can read my thoughts on that mighty tome by clicking on this very link.

Marvel UK, The Titans #14, the New Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel's still making his transformation into the New Captain Marvel.

Marvel UK, Dracula Lives #66

If you ever had any doubts that Dracula's a cad and a bounder, now you have your proof.

Marvel UK,  The Super-Heroes #47, Thing and Iron Man vs Thanos

I suspect this may be the first appearance of Thanos in a Marvel UK comic.

Come to think of it, he seems to be holding the Cosmic Cube. Does that mean it's also the first Marvel UK appearance of that object as well?

The Cosmic Cube was always a baffling thing to me. I only found out where it came from a few years ago when I finally got to read the Captain America tale in which it made its debut.

Come to think if it, Modok was a mystery to me too and I only got to find out where he came from at the same time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve, actually there were numerous POTA covers where somebody is pointing a gun at somebody else (usually it's an ape pointing the gun but on the cover of POTA #32 it's a man pointing a gun at an ape) - and on the cover of POTA #53 one of the apes is shown being shot while the cover of POTA #80 shows the Lawgiver being hit in the chest by an arrow so it seems there was no rule forbidding anybody being hit by a bullet (or arrow). But most of the covers do indeed show the bullets missing their target - maybe that seemed more dramatic ?

Dougie said...

I think you're absolutely right about Thanos.

Suddenly, the Titans started coming back to my area with this issue. I had been waiting to read the Kukulca'an/X-Men story for about 8 years, since a reference in Fantastic.

It was a bit disappointing.

Wasn't the greatest star of all, er, God? I think the Sise-Neg/Genesis story was being reprinted around then...