The Marvel annuals from the previous year return, again published by World Distributors (Manchester) Limited under license from Marvel Comics International Limited, following their success and the success of British Marvel Comics the Mighty World of Marvel, Spider-man Comics Weekly and the Avengers weekly. These volumes are all cover dated 1976 and released in the winter of 1975 in time for Christmas, with a copyright date of MCMLXXV. Where as last years (cover dated 1975, published 1974,) annuals contained eighty pages this years tomes where reduced to just sixty-four pages for the increased price from ninety pence to the price of one pound. A sign of the country's growing inflation problem. Next year's annuals would see another price of ten pence to justify and increase in pages, but that's a story for next year. The inside front and inside back pages of all three of this year's annuals sported a colossal collage of Marvel's mightiest heroes.
The list of heroes and artists are, Goliath, the Human Torch, Iron Man, the Hulk, Mister Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Spider-man, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Vision, Captain America, the Black Panther, Thor, Invisible Girl, the Thing and Shang-Chi. The artists included John Romita Sr., John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Herb Trimpe, Frank Brunner, Paul Gulacy and Dave Cockrum. With inkers. John Romita Sr., Dave Cockrum, Joe Sinnott and Ernie Chan. You can spend your week between Christmas and the New Year matching the super-hero pose with the cover or inside art from various US Marvel mags.
This incredible cover by Herb Trimpe adorns the front and back covers of the Marvel Annual, making many readers see this book as a Hulk Annual. But that for many would inspire them to pick it up.
Page four of this volume features the contents page, using the Marvel font at the top, taken from the original Mighty World of Marvel logo from
of the weekly, with Marvel resplendent in red and blue, the best colour combo. The artwork of the Hulk is taken from the inside of the Marvel 1975 calendar, which also featured on the back cover of the
, but here the Hulk's right arm has been redrawn to make it look like he's holding up the contents list. As most of the promotion art from the calendar was drawn by Marvel's art director at that time, John Romita Sr., its a good chance that this was one of his pieces. This version also was used to hold the
that was advertised in the British Marvel weeklies in the summer of 1975. The contents includes a Marvel Team-up tale featuring Spider-man and the Hulk, "A friend in need" and two Namor, the Sub-Mariner strips, "Titans Three!" and "Confrontation!" which starred the Hulk and the Silver Surfer along side Namor, as well a guest appearance from the Avengers.
Marvel Team-up was in general a Spider-man team-up comic, but this annual, although titled Marvel Annual, was to all intended purposes a Hulk annual, granted none of the strips where titled under his name, he did feature in every strip. But just to outline that this page left the reader in no doubt it was a "Double dynamite" opening strip. In 1974 British Marvel would use the "Double Dynamite" logo to advertise two of either the Mighty World of Marvel, Spider-man Comics Weekly or the Avengers weekly in the third comic.
Spidey and the Hulk..together “A friend in need!”
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Jim Mooney
Inker: Frank Giacoia and David Hunt
Originally published in Marvel Team-Up #27
Cover date November 1974
(Published in August 1974)
This story would eventually get printed in the UK issue 298 of Super Spider-man, from the week ending the 25th October 1978. Continuity wise this adventure takes place after the death of Gwen Stacy and the apparent demise of Norman Osborn, which British Marvel have yet to print, so here the police consider Spider-man important in their investigation and is wanted for questioning, so when the web-slinger makes an attempt to break in to New York's men's detention centre they open fire on him. The attempt fails and the web-slinger swings away, but it isn't the real web-slinger, it was the Chameleon in disguise.
When reports about "Spider-man's" break in to the prison gets the attention of Peter Parker, he decides to investigate using his press credentials to try and get the story. When he arrives there, he finds himself stuck with J Jonah Jameson and Ned Leeds, who have also come to cover the story. Meanwhile, the Hulk is bounding through the city following his last adventure with the Defenders, which would continuity wise would be told in the Defenders story printed in Rampage Weekly #16, which will debut on the 1st February 1978. The Chameleon crashes his get-away vehicle into the Hulk, but seeing that as an advantage the master of disguise puts on a Rick Jones mask, hoping to trick the Hulk into breaking his friend Joe Cord out of prison after his initial attempted failed. The Hulk, believing that the Chameleon is really his friend Rick Jones agrees to help him break in to prison.
Peter manages to slip away to change into Spider-man and attempt to stop the Hulk from carrying out the prison break out. However, the Hulk proves to be too strong for the wall-crawler and he eventually succeeds in freeing Joe Cord. Spider-man follows the Hulk to the Chameleon, where the web-spinner rips off the "Rick Jones" mask to reveal his old foe's true identity. The Hulk violently attacks the Chameleon, but Spider-man fights him off. Then the Chameleon tries to escape, Spidey stops his getaway car with a web net. A police officer tries to shoot the villain, but Joe takes the bullet instead and dies. After, the Chameleon turns himself over to the police. The police radio reports that Doctor Strange and Night Hawk are involved in a battle with the Wrecking Crew, which gives the heroes the distraction they need to split. The Hulk will team-up with the Defenders again to fight the Wrecking Crew in Rampage Weekly issue 17, that will debut on the week ending the 8th February 1978. Spider-man leaves the scene, leaving J Jonah Jameson with a parting gift of a web-gag when Jameson orders the police to arrest Spider-man.
Namor the Sub-Mariner “Titans Three!”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Jim Mooney
Originally published in Sub-Mariner #34
Cover date February 1971
(Published in November 1970)
It would be a strange choice to pick Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner as the next strip, but as it guest stars the Hulk and the Silver Surfer it becomes an ideal choice. The Titans Three would become Roy Thomas's prototype for the Defenders. This and the follow up would never get printed in any British Marvel comic. The Hulk trespasses on the fortified island of San Pablo, where he attracts attention of country's dictator "El General" and his army. Namor monitors the conflict, in the hopes that he can enlist the brute to aid him in destroying a device that poses a threat to the entire world.
Namor also detects the presence of the Silver Surfer in the area, who he decides he should enlist as well. He encounters the Surfer first, but his actions are misinterpreted as aggression and the two engage in a brief battle, until the Sub-Mariner can finally explain the situation and the two agree to work together to stop the humans from destroying themselves. With the Surfer on side the two go to recruit the Hulk. But as is the way in many Hulk tales the green giant thinks they are attacking him. Then their squabble is interrupted by military shelling from El General's army. With a common enemy the "Titans Three" smash apart the General's troop's weapons and defeating them, thus allowing the people of San Pablo to revolt and oust their leader. In the aftermath of the battle Namor, the Silver Surfer, and the Hulk fly off to deal with the menace which Namor had gathered them all to oppose. The story continues right away in the next strip.
Namor the Sub-Mariner “Confrontation!”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Jim Mooney
Originally published in Sub-Mariner #35
Cover date March 1971
(Published in December 1970)
The Sub-Mariner has gathered the Hulk and the Silver Surfer to aid him in stopping a global disaster. The United Nations scientists have designed and built a Nuclear Powered Weather Control station which the Atlantean scientist, Ikthon, believes will play havoc with the weather and endanger the planet. Poised to stop the activation of an experimental device, Namor, the Hulk, and the Silver Surfer confront the US military guarding the installation.
When the commanding officer refuses to allow Namor's scientist to check out the device to insure it doesn't pose any threat, Namor decides to secure the land by force. As that happens the United Nations call the Avengers defend the facility. At the Avengers mansion a meeting is called and the assemblers send Thor, Iron Man and Goliath to stop the Titans Three. Meanwhile, Ikthon and Dorma arrive on the island and quickly head to the device while Namor, Hulk, and the Surfer confront the arriving Avengers. While the superheroes battle, Dorma manages to convince the officials to allow Ikthon to examine the device, which he does. Ikthon proves that the device is flawed and is allowed to make the repairs necessary to prevent any threat to the world, the Avengers stop fighting the Titans Three realising their error. The Hulk is fed up with having to wait and threatens to smash up the machine, which would be dangerous, Namor and the Silver Surfer stop him and allow him to leave. The Surfer is also fed up with how humans race to their own destruction in the name of progress and he too departs. The Avengers pay their respects to the monarch of the sea. Namor considers that the Titans Three may have altered the course of history and maybe one day they will do so again.
Herb Trimpe's front page is reused as the back cover with the logo removed. The International Standard Book Number 0-7235-0287-0 is printed on the top left corner.
Spider-man Annual 1976
The original art for this annual was painted by Harry Rosenbaurn from layouts by John Romita Sr. and featured on the Spectacular Spider-man magazine issue one, cover dated July 1968, published April 1968. This version obviously isn't painted, so it might have been a redrawn version of Harry Rosenbaum's painted art.
Again page four features the annual's contents page. The Spider-man artwork was by John Romita Sr. and originally from the 1972 album the Amazing Spider-man A Rockomic record sleeve cover. The only difference is that Spidey's left hand on the LP sleeve had his pinky and pointing finger stretch out in readiness to spin a web, here the pinky finger is held back to make it look like he's pointing to the contents. The three stories in this annual are "Ship of fiends!", "Spider-man tackles the Torch!" and "Dinosaurs on Broadway!" There are also two Spider-man pin-ups featured in this annual, listed on page 35 and 42.
Spidey and Dracula..together! “Ship of fiends!”
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Ross Andre
Inker: Don Heck
Originally published in Giant-Size Spider-man #1
Cover date July 1974
(Published in April 1974)
This year's second annual also starts with a Marvel Team-up story this time with the web-slinger teaming up with of all people Dracula Lord of the Vampires, taken from the first issue of Giant-size Spider-man issue one, which was an extra size story that was split into two parts, so I've kind of let it stay split into two parts. Spider-man is web-swinging through the city when he spots a jewellery store being broken into, instinctively he tries to stop the crook.
The mystery attacker escapes when Spider-man slips on a patch of ice. The crook, whose identity remains in the shadows, will turn out to be the villain Equinox. The villains next appearance would be in Marvel Team-Up #23, cover dated July 1974, published in April 1974, which never got re-printed in Britain. After giving up his chase Spider-man goes to visit his Aunt May as soon as he changes back into Peter Parker. When Anne Watson opens the door he finds out that Aunt May is ill with what she believes is the flu. However, her doctor tells Peter that she is suffering from an illness that requires a special vaccine. However, the inventor of the vaccine is the eccentric A J Maxfield, who is coming to America with the vaccine. The research scientist refuses to travel by airplane and is due to arrive in New York aboard the SS Wendell, but the doctor may arrive too late to treat May. Wanting to do everything possible for May, Peter goes to visit the Human Torch at the Baxter Building as Spider-man. There he tells Johnny that he needs fast transportation, the Torch lends Spidey a new experimental one-man jet that Reed Richards had recently invented.
Before going, Spider-man tells the Torch about the weird robbery and advises him to check it out if he wants some action. That leads right into the Human Torch picking up the trail of the mysterious jewellery store robber in the before mentioned Marvel Team-Up #23. As Spider-man reaches the ship he resumes his civilian identity to search the ship for Maxfield, he would have had an easier time finding the doctor if he had stayed in costume as the ship's passengers where having a costume party. Also arriving on the ship is Count Dracula who has heard that the new vaccine may one day interfere with his own well-laid plans, so he intends to kill Maxfield and destroy the vaccine. Dracula sees a red-haired woman, dressed in a fancy dress costume and tries to quench his blood thirst, but he is interrupted by another costumed party goer. Also on board is ex-Maggia big-shot Anthony Cavelli, also known as the Whisperer, who plans to kidnap Maxfield and steel the vaccine as his way of getting a passport and a pardon so he can return to the US. He sends his men, all dressed as toy solders to get Maxfield. They stumbled across the path of Dracula and ends up taking a walk into the sea. Peter finds a passenger who had become Dracula's victim. The ship's Captain finds Peter with her and calls for Maxfield to examine the unconscious victim. The man and woman that Dracula meet earlier enter the cabin, followed by more of Cavelli's men who have come to take Maxfield. The woman knocks one of the men out but she is also knocked unconscious while her friend is taken, Peter uses the confusion to slips away.
Spidey and Dracula..together! “The Masque of the black death!”
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Ross Andre
Inker: Don Heck
Originally published in Giant-Size Spider-man #1
Cover date July 1974
(Published in April 1974)
All three parties have confused the young man as Maxfield, and when the Maggia thugs kidnaps him, Peter changes into Spider-man and chases after the criminals and their hostage. Spidey defeats the thugs, which creates the distraction for their hostage to escape. Dracula is constantly confronted by the Maggia men who are eliminated one by one by the lord of the Vampires. Cavelli sees Maxfield and pretends to need medical aid. The young man takes Cavelli to sick bay, but on the way they meet Dracula who mistakes the man for Doctor A J Maxfield.
Cavelli pulls a knife on the vampire lord but this angers Dracula who kills the Maggia leader. Then turning his attention to the man who he believes to be Maxfield, he tosses him overboard to his death. Dracula transforms into a bat and leaves the ship to return to Europe. "Maxfield" doesn't die at all, as he lands on Spider-man who had been searching for Maxwell by walking along the side of the ships hull, as you would? Saving the man, he brings him back to the deck. There he finds the only surviving Maggia man, who had become a victim of Dracula's hypnotic gaze, threatening to shoot everyone. Spider-man stops the thug saving the day.
With the danger over Spidey learns that the man he had saved was actually Doctor Hennessy, the ship's doctor and in fact Doctor A J Maxfield is really a woman named Doctor Alice Joyce Maxfield. Spider-man tells the real Maxwell that he has come to find her and her vaccine to save the life of a friend. Maxfield agrees to leave with Spider-man aboard the Fantastic Four ship and they head off back to New York in order to save Aunt May. In a mini epilogue Dracula arrives at his coffin just before sunrise, little knowing that Doctor A J Maxfield still lives and so for one of those rare occasions in the centuries of his life the Lord of the Undead has failed. This story does get reprinted in Super Spider-man issue 295 to 297, published on the week's ending the 4th to the 18th October 1978.
This Spider-man pin-up features the web-slinger fighting some of his deadliest foes. This piece of art featured on the front cover of
Spider-man Comics Weekly issue 100 and was drawn by John Romita Sr. with inks from Mike Esposito, this time the back ground is coloured in, instead of a pure white background it previously sported.
Spider-man “Spider-man tackles the Torch!”
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inker: Steve Ditko
Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #8
Cover date January 1964
(Published in October 1963)
British readers may well remember this short Spider-man tale from the early days of British Marvel Comics when it featured in the
Mighty World of Marvel #19, from the week ending the 10th February 1973. This vintage tales starts when Spider-man happens upon a party thrown by the Human Torch's then girlfriend Dorrie Evans. Seeing Johnny as a "flaming phony" Spidey decides to crash the party and embarrass his teenage super-hero rival by showing off his own super-powers.
As Johnny is performing tricks with his flame powers, like lighting up the teenage girls as they dance Spider-man webs together a giant bat and throws it into the party. As the girls panic Johnny heroically tries to swat it away but ends up getting tangled up in it. Spider-man reveals himself to be the culprit but Johnny doesn't see the funny side of it. After burning himself free from the webbing the Torch and Spidey start to fight. Their fight takes them to a nearby beach where they can't endanger the other teenagers. Also relaxing on the beach are the rest of the Fantastic Four. When the Torch manages to knock Spider-man flat on his face, Mister Fantastic offers the web-slinger his hand to pull him up. Believing that the other members of the Fantastic Four have come to mock him, the wall-crawler lashes out against them. While trying to fly away on webbed bat wings the Invisible Girl grabs the loose webbing and ends the fight. She calls a truce between the teenagers and makes them agree to let bygones be bygones. Spider-man leaves, but not before giving the Invisible Girl a heart made out of his webbing.
This Spider-man pin-up titled "Spidey goes wild!" was drawn by Ron Wilson and inked by Mike Esposito was commissioned for the front cover of Spider-man Comics Weekly issue 103. However Ron Wilson's signature cover caricature of a character ignoring the action and looking towards the reader has been edited out. A gangster with a gun can be seen looking at the reader in the bottom right-hand corner of the original. I have to admit this pin-up wouldn't be one that I'd want to look at every day on my wall.
Spider-man “Dinosaurs on Broadway!”
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Ross Andre
Inker: Don Heck
Originally published in Marvel Team-Up #20
Cover date April 1974
(Published in January 1974)
It's another Spider-man team-up, this time with the Black Panther, but its a shame that the issue before this strip wasn't printed as well as that one saw Spider-man teaming up with Ka-Zar to stop Doctor Vincent Stegron, who had gone crazy after working in the Savage Land for SHIELD on a project to extract dinosaur tissue. Spider-man had agreed to help Doctor Curtis Connors find his colleague. With help from SHIELD Spidey Travels to the Savage Land and with Ka-Zar he finds that Stegron has transformed into a Dinosaur man. That story would later be printed in the UK in Spider-man Pocket Book #3 from June 1980.
Stegron had collected dinosaurs from the Savage Land with an insane plan to unleash them on the civilised world to bring about a new world order. Spider-man clings to the side of Stegron's ark as it flies from the Savage Land to New York City with his dinosaurs payload. As they approach the city, Spider-man recounts events seen in the previous issue of Marvel Team-up filling in the annual's readers of how he and Ka-Zar failed to stop Stegron from escaping from the Savage Land. The web-slinger tries a sneak attack on Stegron, but his dinosaurs raise the alarm, allowing the man-monster to strike the wall-crawler with his tail. Spider-man tries to gain the upper hand by webbing Stegron's tail to the floor. However, the dinosaur man rips it free, knocking Spider-man out cold with another blow, then tosses him over the side of the ship to fall through the sky down to the waters below.
Moments earlier, at Avengers Mansion, butler Edwin Jarvis alerts the only Avenger present, the Black Panther, of the approach of Stegron's ship. Instinctively he decides to investigate, taking an Avengers Quinjet to intercept the strange craft. His arrival coincides with Stegron's disposal of Spider-man. Setting the Quinjet on auto pilot the Panther performs a daring midair rescue, saving the wall-crawler from a fatal fall. When Spider-man recovers he takes the Black Panther to see Curt Connors and gets everyone up to date on the threat of Stegron. Connors blames himself for allowing this to happen and begins working on a cure for Stegron as soon as possible. Since both the Panther and Spider-man have backgrounds in science, they aid Connors on finding a cure.
Meanwhile, Stegron and his dinosaur army lands in New York City's Central Park where they interrupt a mugging of two old ladies before setting off on a rampage. Soon, Spider-man and Black Panther are forced to go out into the city and handle the creatures while Connors carries on working alone. By this point, Stegron and his dinosaurs are rampaging through Times Square. As Spider-man begins webbing up the dinosaurs while the Black Panther takes on Stegron. At that moment while looking for Peter Parker, Mary Jane arrives at the Daily Bugle, She asks Joe Robertson if he's seen Peter, he hasn't, just then J Jonah Jameson enters to tell them about the dinosaurs rampaging on Broadway, Mary Jane knows exactly where to find Parker and heads off to see if Peter is taking pictures of the stampede. She leaves despite warnings from the two newspapermen.
When Mary Jane arrives on the scene, she manages to slip past the police blockade to get closer to the action. Which puts her in danger as she narrowly avoids being crushed by a toppled dinosaur, thanks to Spider-man's rapid rescue. To preserve his identity he gives her a good scolding for putting herself in danger. With most of the dinosaurs wrapped up, Spider-man joins the Black Panther in trying to stop Stegron. Just then Curt Connors arrives, telling the heroes and Stegron that there is no cure for his condition. With the realisation that he will stay like that for the rest of his life Stegron lashes out with violent abandonment at Connors and then makes an attempt to escape on a pterodactyl that knocks the Panther and Spidey down.
Spider-man recovers quickly and attempts to stop him. The two begin fighting high above the Statue of Liberty. During the fight, Stegron loses his balance and falls into the water below. There, much to his horror, Stegron realises his new body is not buoyant like his human form and doesn't have the ability to swim. His struggles only end up with him quickly sinking to the bottom, seemingly drowning.
Later, Curt Connors and the Black Panther find Spider-man on the docks. The wall-crawler is distraught for not being able to save Curt's former colleague and friend. However, Connors points out that Vincent Stegron was doomed before he ingested the serum that turned him into the Dinosaur Man. Even though Connors is right, it still doesn't make Spider-man feel any better.
The title-less front cover artwork is reproduced for the back page cover. With only the International Standard Book Number, 7235-0288-9, added to spoil a text less page.
Avengers Annual 1976
This cover was drawn by Ron Wilson with inks by Frank Giacoia. If your a regular reader on any of my weekly Power of the Beesting Week Ending... blogs you'll be aware that each week I pick my favourite or most interesting "Cover of the Week" from that week's selection. Well for this festive post it doesn't make sense to have a CotW, but it's Christmas, good will to all men and all covers. But if I had to pick a Cover of the Festive Few I'd pick this one. Granted Hercules and that version of the Goliath aren't members of the Avengers in any of the stories inside, but I love the Avengers an this line-up is super cool. So this can be my CotFF!
This contents page features artwork from the Avengers Annual (US edition) issue 2, cover dated September 1968, published July 1968, as drawn by John Buscema with inks by Frank Giacoia. The Black Panther and the Hulk have been removed from the bottom of the page, while a second Wasp and Giant Man from above Iron Man has also been removed to allow room for the contents box and also not confuse readers who wouldn't have known about that annual's Avengers taken from various time-lines cross-over. The contents lists three Avengers stories "The revolution's fine!", "The sword and the sorceress!" and "The world is not for burning!"
The Avengers “Come on in, the revolution's fine”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: John Buscema
Inker: Tom Palmer
Originally published in The Avengers #83
Cover date December 1970
(Published in October 1970)
This tale would be new to British readers of Marvel Comics who hadn't pick up the imported copies of the American mag. But regular readers of the Avengers weekly might be disappointed when they on the week ending the 13th March 1976 they pick up their beloved Avengers weekly, issue 130 and find this story printed in black and white. Still it's nice to enjoy it earlier in glorious full colour. Fluttering on gossamer wings in the light of a full moon the wondrous Wasp returns to the Avengers mansion, Upon entering the meeting room she is startled to be welcomed in by...
... a warrior woman who calls herself the Valkyrie and a gathering of a new all-female group called the Liberators! Whose members consist of the Black Widow, Medusa, the newcomer Valkyrie and the Scarlet Witch, who have united to battle male oppression. Valkyrie explains that she was a scientist at a male-dominated science lab, when attempting to prove that she was a capable scientist to her chauvinist co-workers, she exposed herself to a chemical that gave her superhuman strength, so she decided to form this female super-hero group, by convincing each of her recruits to join her by pointing out how badly treated by their male super-hero colleagues they where. How Yellowjacket would grab all the attention and glory from the Wasp, how Wanda's arrogant brother, Pietro, took the credit in the papers when they stopped some Maggia crooks and she was only name checked as his sister. The Black Widow had been rejected for Avengers membership many times in the past and as for Medusa, her lover does not speak, yet she hangs on his every non-syllable. With all of them siding with her, Valkyrie takes them aboard her chariot and heads off to Rutland, Vermont.
Meanwhile in Rutland Tom Fagan is the organiser and host of the annual Halloween festivities which are attended this year by the guests of honour, the Avengers. It's an annual event where the townspeople all dress up as super-heroes or super-villains. Other noticeable guests are Roy and Jeanie Thomas, who have come to watch the eleventh Halloween parade, Jeanie is excited to meet the Avengers and asks her husband which one is Mrs Peel? The revellers are completely unaware that the Klaw, the Melter, the Whirlwind and the Radioactive-Man have escaped from prison and reformed the Masters of Evil, who are also in attendance, seeking to capture Doctor T W Erwin, an eminent mathematician, who brought fame to the Miskatonic University, Vermont, with his theories and research in to parallel time, and steel his strange apparatus that never leaves his side to use him and it in a plot to get revenge on the Avengers for their previous incarceration.
Foolishly they mistook the Avengers to be cosplayers and the Avengers jump into action. As the battle between the two groups starts, the Masters manage to get the upper hand over the Avengers, that is until the Liberators show up. The newly formed group makes short work of the Masters of Evil and when the male Avengers thank the women for saving them, they are shocked to be attacked by the ladies who easily defeat them as well. The Valkyrie takes the Liberators, the captured Avengers and Doctor Erwin to the university to look for the device the Masters of Evil were after, the Doctor's experimental parallel-time projector. Suddenly, Valkyrie knocks out all her comrades and reveals that she is really the Enchantress in disguise, who goes on to explain that after her last attempt at taking over Asgard failed, as seen in
MWOM #45, she and the Executioner were banished to a barren netherworld.
There, the Executioner had abandoned her for a mysterious woman who appeared to offer the Executioner her love. Feeling betrayed, the Enchantress vowed revenge on all men and used the Valkyrie disguise to form the Liberators, who she had held under a spell to gain her trust, to meet this end. The Scarlet Witch frees herself and battles the Enchantress, defeating her by using a hex bolt that redirected the Enchantress' magic back at her which causes an explosion. After the smoke clears she is gone as if blasted to atoms. Wanda then frees her fellow Avengers, revealing to them that she had earlier realised that they were really facing the Enchantress when she had called the Wasp a "wench" in a tone that as the Enchantress had done in an earlier battle with the Scarlet Witch. When Goliath questions Wands's feelings about that "woman's lib bull" the Scarlet Witch calls him a chauvinistic pig and threatens him that one of these days the Liberators will stage a comeback.
The Avengers “The Sword and the Sorceress!”
Writer: Roy ThomasArtist: John Buscema
Inker: Tom Palmer
Originally published in The Avengers #84
Cover date January 1971
(Published in November 1970)
The next tale follows on from the first and if this opening splash page is anything to go by it's going to be another magnificent read. We witness the Black Knight on his winged horse Aragorn, as they race through a nightmare landscape with his soul in grievous torment. His quest is to find the Well at the Centre of Time, where he plans to dispose of the ebony blade, that has started to control his life. Yet he cannot do it, indeed the sword rules his actions not his own mind.
He then finds himself attacked by scavengers also on winged steeds. He valiantly he defeats them but no sooner than he does he is attacked and captured by Arkon the Magnificent. Those events are seen in a dream by the Scarlet Witch who wakes up screaming, telling her fellow Avengers of her nightmare, they decide to investigate further to make sure that the Black Knight is all right, by calling his estate in Britain, only to they find out from his butler that he is no longer home. The Avengers then decide to pay a visit to Arkon's home world. British readers will recall that Arkon appeared recently in the
Avengers weekly #117, not many week's ago. This story follow-up will appear in issue 132 of the Avengers weekly on the week ending the 27th Marche 1976. The Black Knight is brought before Arkon and his new consort, the Enchantress, who suggests that she uses her powers of seduction in order to manipulate the Black Knight and plot revenge against her and Arkon's mutual enemies.
The Knight is asked how he appeared on Arkon's world, to which he explains that after fighting some criminals in London, where he almost killed two of them, he sort advice from the ghost of his ancestor Sir Percy of Scandia, the original Black Knight, who tells him the only way to be free of his ebony blade's blood lust curse is to destroy it through magical means. In order to do that he tells him to go to Stonehenge, there, he was confronted by an old woman who suddenly transported him to Arkon's world to find an enchanted well to destroy his sword. The Enchantress convinces her new partner that it is all a trick orchestrated by the Avengers to dethrone Arkon. Enraged, the barbarian king orders a preemptive strike on the Avengers. On Earth, Thor and the Black Panther are on their way to the Avengers mansion when it suddenly vanishes, an image of the Enchantress informs Thor that it is her doing and the Avengers are her prisoners.
The Avengers inside the mansion soon find themselves, with the whole mansion, transported to Arkon's world where they must battle Arkon's army. During the battle, all the Avengers are captured and taken before the Enchantress and Arkon. Arkon requests that the Scarlet Witch renounce the Avengers and become his Queen, but again she refuses. He orders them to be locked away. Thor and Black Panther soon arrive, traveling to Arkon's dimension via the power of Mjolnir and begin to fight their way to Arkon's castle to free their comrades. The battle soon ends up in a fever pitched clash between them against Arkon, the Enchantress, and the Black Knight, who is still under the Enchantress' spell. During the battle the Scarlet Witch and the Enchantress exchange a spell and a hex bolt, which in a blinding flash causes the Asgardian sorceress's hold over the Black Knight to fade. Then one of Arkon's thunderbolts knocks the Black Knight's ebony sword into the Enchanted Well that was said to be able to destroy his sword. With that Akron learns that the Knight had told the truth and the Enchantress had lied to him, so the battle ends. Off panel she escapes. Arkon stands amidst the ruins of a land laid waste by a needless war and for a time gains wisdom.
The Avengers “The World is not for burning!”
Writer: Roy Thomas and Len Wein
Artist: John Buscema
Inker: Frank Giacoia
Originally published in The Avengers #85
Cover date February 1971
(Published in December 1970)
Continuing on from the previous adventure the Avengers stand ready to leave Arkon's world as Thor begins to use his hammer to send them back to their own. While the Black Knight is returned to Britain, only Thor and Black Panther appear in New York City. Before the two heroes can begin searching for their missing friends, they end up getting stuck helping Captain America and Spider-man in a Toys For Tots campaign. That's a weird turn of events but as it's Christmas as no doubt you read this I'll let that go.
Elsewhere, the other Avengers appear on Earth as ghost-like wraiths and witness the entire world set ablaze from the increasing heat of the sun. Finding a newspaper, they notice that the date is a month into the future from the time they left Earth. Wanda attempts to free them from this mad world with the use of her hex powers. The group then finds themselves transported back to their proper point in time. As they walk to the Avengers Mansion they get some strange looks, what's even stranger as they enter the Mansion its security systems attack them and they are then greeted by Nighthawk. Thinking he is the Nighthawk of the Squadron Sinister, the Avengers attack him, but Nighthawk manages to getaway. Finding the whole situation suspicious, the Avengers decide to proceed with caution.
As they enter the meeting room of the mansion they are greeted by other members of the Squadron Supreme, Lady Lark, Hawkeye, Tom Thumb, and American Eagle. After a brief battle, the Avengers soon realise they aren't on their own world when the Squadron gets a message from their other teammates Doctor Spectrum, Hyperion, and the Whizzer, who explain that they are launching a satellite called "Brain-Child One" into space. The Squadron call the city Cosmopous, not New York making the Vision realise that they have returned to a parallel world and that the satellite is possibly what will doom this world. Try as they might the Avengers explain the situation but find themselves in yet another battle with the Squadron, one which they quickly win. With the unconscious Nighthawk they take one of the Squadron's ships and set off to warn the other Squadron members at the launch site, of the danger that the satellite may pose their world. Sadly the story for this annual ends there.
But for British readers the next part will see print in the Avengers weekly issue 136 on the week ending the 24th April 1976. This story would obviously be repeated in the two issues before that. I wonder would it have been better to feature this full two part story with another Avengers tale in this annual? But I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed all the adventures in this annual and I can look forward to this story's conclusion in the British weekly. Keep reading the Power of the Beesting's weekly history of British Marvel Comics and by the week ending the 24th April 2026 you can find out what happens, whether it be for the first time or as a nostalgic reminder of glory days fifty years ago.
I hope you've enjoyed this festive treat and you had a great Christmas with all your loved ones. There's more stuff and nonsense to come with one more Week Ending... blog this year and loads more throughout 2026. So keep reading comics and...
Make Mine Marvel.
Moments earlier, at Avengers Mansion, butler Edwin Jarvis alerts the only Avenger present, the Black Panther, of the approach of Stegron's ship. Instinctively he decides to investigate, taking an Avengers Quinjet to intercept the strange craft. His arrival coincides with Stegron's disposal of Spider-man. Setting the Quinjet on auto pilot the Panther performs a daring midair rescue, saving the wall-crawler from a fatal fall. When Spider-man recovers he takes the Black Panther to see Curt Connors and gets everyone up to date on the threat of Stegron. Connors blames himself for allowing this to happen and begins working on a cure for Stegron as soon as possible. Since both the Panther and Spider-man have backgrounds in science, they aid Connors on finding a cure.
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