Sunday 6 July 2014

Forty Years ago today - July 1974.

Zut alors, mes amis! What an exciting day it's been here in my native Sheffield, with the Tour de France arriving in town. Local alpacas were painted with pink spots, the Arts Tower was recoloured bright yellow and the normally humble Jenkin Road was suddenly talked about as though the stuff of legends.

But were things equally exciting for our favourite Marvel heroes exactly forty years ago this month?

Were they riding on a wave of Triumph?

Did they go behind, only to manage a late Raleigh?

Were they caught in an endless cycle of violence?

Or were they just feeling a little tyred?

Only a journey on my Mysterious Bicyclette of Time can tell us.


Avengers #125, Thanos

The Avengers take a break from the Celestial Madonna Saga, in order to come up against Thanos.
Conan #40

You do wonder if Conan ever wishes he could just have a nice quiet day for once.
Captain America and the Falcon #175

Cap is still having conspiratorial problems.
Daredevil #111, Silver Samurai

Shanna the She-Devil takes the Black Widow's slot on the masthead. Does this mean there were plans for her to take that place permanently? If so, it seems the idea was quickly dropped, as Natasha was back the very next issue.

I am slightly baffled as to why the Silver Samurai thinks the sky is his element. Since when is dangling from a ladder with one hand and and both feet occupied  hanging on for dear life a good thing for a swordsman?
Fantastic Four #148, Frightful Four

The Frightful Four are back - and out to cause trouble, with the aid of Thundra.

Is that a Rich Buckler cover I detect?
Hulk #177, Warlock

The Hulk gets caught up in the Warlock saga.
Amazing Spider-Man #134, The Tarantula

After umpteen years, it finally occurs to someone at Marvel to give Spidey a foe called the Tarantula.

Not that I'm slow on the uptake but it'd never struck me before now just how much the cover to Spectacular Spider-Man #1 owed to this image.
Thor #225, Firelord

Firelord shows up.

And we all know what that means...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've got zero interest in the Tour De France but I'm baffled as to why it's starting in Yorkshire - do they all cycle through the Channel Tunnel to get back to France? Does it even end in France?! That FF cover is indeed by Rich Buckler - I remember it from the cover of Complete FF #16 in January 1978 and it comes from the time just after John Buscema had ended his run. His replacement was Rich Buckler who blatantly copied the style of Jack Kirby and it was just a sad reminder that the King had left the FF forever.

Steve W. said...

Colin, it'd be great if they did cycle through the Channel Tunnel but it doesn't seem like it occurred to the organisers to do so. So, I assume they'll be flying back to France. Personally, I think they should be forced to cycle directly across the Channel, with floats attached to their bicycles.