Weaving a tangled web!

Week Ending 6th April 1974

Well Shang-Chi certainly got people talking and not all of it bad, a small amount had some good things to say, like Gary Bell via the Mighty World of British Comics Facebook group who really likes Ron Wilson's Avengers cover that featured the kung fu master, Lee Mason via UK Marvel in the Seventies Facebook group, loved the arrival of Shang-Chi adding the stories got better and but not everyone from that group agreed. Derek Eaton felt robbed after a great run of Avengers covers when Shang-Chi arrived, although he does admit issue 28 was a good cover. Alan Russell, also from UK Marvel in the Seventies Facebook group was a bit unhappy with Kung Fu (and later Conan,) intruding on the Avengers. Mike Teague was gutted when Shang-Chi arrived because he wasn't interested in Master of Kung Fu, it also halved the Avengers material per week and lost them the cover spot in their own title. He does admit he loves those stories now though. Mike also wondered was it selling badly? Mark Lotinga commented on last week's blog that "Shang-Chi was more ham-fisted than iron-fisted" adding for him "this is the first clearly identifiable miss-step from Marvel UK". Also in the comments Rod Tough wondered was the Avengers selling poorly in comparison to the other comics and drastic action was needed to rapidly push up sales? Well that's a very good point, Let's have a look.

Well I tried to get some sales figures for the Avengers weekly, I really did, but I came up with zero results for that year. What I did come across was an article from the DownTheTubes.net, a fantastic site for those of you who are interested in old and new British comics, run by one time Marvel UK editor, John Freeman. The article looks at sales figures for various vintage British comics, sadly no data on 70's UK Marvel comics was released but as a comparison it might be interesting to look at the figures for popular 70's "Boys" comic Lion published by  International Publishing Company or IPC Magazines Ltd if you like. In 1974 the average weekly sales would be 144, 908 comics, which sounds pretty impressive but let's take it back to 1970 then it was merged with the Eagle it had figures of 236,714. The next year it did less well with 205,766, but still pretty good. In 1972 Lion merged again but this time with  another IPC "boys" comic, Thunder. Together they pull in an average 237, 354 readers, a jump back to figures seen in 1970. Lion and Thunder figures dropped again in 1973 to 180, 950, so 1974's figures meant that Lion would merge with Valiant to become Valiant and Lion. That's pretty much the way of life for British comics, "Hatch, Match and Dispatch." So how does that relate to the Avengers? Well after half a year or around issue 25, the powers that be may have looked at the sales figures and compared them to MWOM and SMCW and thought that the Avengers weekly needed a soft reboot to keep readers interested. It must have worked or may be the figures stayed pretty constant anyway because the comic lasted till July 1976 when it reached issue 148 before merging with the Mighty World of Marvel, granted the Avengers did merge with the Savage Sword of Conan in July 1975 after Conan's own comic had only lasted 18 issues. While looking for British Marvel sale figures I came across the US sale figures for 1973-1974, which you might say is irrelevant for British figures but it was quite interesting anyway. The Amazing Spider-man averaged 288,232 per issue the second best for that year behind Mad magazine whose average was an incredible 2,132,655 copies. Third was Super-man with 285,634, yeah I don't know who he is neither. The Fantastic Four came in 9th with 218,330, Thor was 11th with 205,838, the Hulk was 14th with 202,592 and the Avengers were 24th with 188,084. I must admit that Britain's Lion comic does seem to have pretty good figures for a country with a smaller population. Maybe the Brits let their kids read more. More on that kind of thing can be found at R S Martin's blog.

I like to thank all of those who expressed an opinion, as ever all are welcome. The final word, at least for this week, on Master of Kung Fu comes from Stephen Roddam from the Make Mine Marvel UK Facebook group, who commented "MOKF became one of my top 3 titles alongside the Byrne X-Men run and Tomb Of Dracula but when it took over The Avengers I was horrified. Issue 29 was even worse, Shang-Chi took over the corner box! Heresy!" Well we'll take a look at issue 29 in a minute or two, but first...

The Mighty World of Marvel #79

This Herb Trimpe cover, originally from the Incredible Hulk #122, is going to be my Cover of the Week. Not because it's the best drawn cover, no this cover is functional and has a reasonable amount of action, suspense and drama but it isn't one of Trimpe's greatest triumphs. It's better than this week's other covers and I'll give you reasons why they don't win the CotW award elsewhere. Anyway I'm a sucker for artwork that see's my favourite heroes in action against each other. There is one alteration on this cover from the original one, Johnny Storm's girlfriend, the Inhuman Crystal has been removed from the window in which Sue Storm and herself viewed the testosterone fuelled battle. I have to be honest maybe Trimpe should have left them both out of the cover, it almost feels like they had to be squeezed in to make them relevant. 

This advert was placed on the inside front page of MWOM and the Avengers weekly amongst the adverts for Airfix construction kits and Charles Atlas's "Dynamic-Tension" book. Its target audience would probably be considerably younger than the general age group of a Marvel comic, which I imagine would fall anywhere between 7 years old and a teenager but maybe this was a tactical placing. If older siblings  became tired of their younger brother or sister reading their cherished Marvel comic they could encourage their parents to buy this toddlers comic. I can't remember reading Tom & Jerry Weekly as a child but I do remember getting TV Comic that featured the two cartoon favourites. I was happy with it at the time but I still desperately wanted to read my older brother's mags. Tom & Jerry Weekly merged with TV Comic on the 10th August 1974 after 43 issues. Another case of "Hatch, Match and Dispatch!" 

The Incredible Hulk "The Hulk's last fight!"

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: Herb Trimpe

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #122

Cover date December 1969

(Published in September 1969)

Couple of things worth noting with this story's inclusion in this weekly is that it is mostly a complete story with only panels 4 to 6 from the original page ten deleted together with panels 1 and 2 deleted from the following page, a sub-plot that saw a USAF spotter plane reviewing the train wreckage and General Ross, Major Talbot and Betty Ross discussing events that occurred in last week's issue, so no real loss. What the UK readers did lose was a Fantastic Four story, that was removed to fit the "full length" Hulk tale, as they would be guest starring in the Hulk strip anyway, having a second FF story in the same issue would cause some confusion. 

The second thing worth noting is Artie Simek is given credit as inking this story, which wasn't true, he had lettered the comic. Herb Trimpe had inked his own artwork. The confusion may have come from the original credits that read "with the ink-splattering aid of Artie Simek, letterer." An in-joke that held no malice as Simek's lettering was always neat and tidy. 

At my age I do have a love for Herb Trimpe's artwork but that does have its limits. He must have been having an off week as I think some of this week's work to be at a lower standard than his best. Most obvious in that comes from his rendition of the Fantastic Four. To be fair he can't compete with Kirby's own version of the FF. Another curious anomaly as mentioned in my review of this week's cover, is Johnny Storm's girlfriend Crystal. She does appear but is only given one line to say and is never named by any other character. I did think that her presence had been edited down to the bare minimum by the UK editors as she had yet to make her first chronological appearance in the FF stories but that wasn't the case. Her appearance and input to this story is exactly the same in the original US version.

Reed Richards believes he has discovered a way to cure Bruce Banner of his Hulk infliction. Seeing the breakthrough in a newspaper headline Banner travels to New York with his own notes on a possible cure tied to his waist. At the Baxter Building an overzealous security guard who had been hired to replace a guard whose wife had just given birth and so hadn't been briefed that Bruce Banner should be let in, stops the unshaven Banner. The tension and argument sets off the inevitable transformation, beautifully illustrated in the seven parallel panels by Trimpe showing the man turning into monster bit by bit.

As you would expect we get a clash of super-strong super-heroes as the Thing and the Hulk clash for the first time since they last battled in MWOM #50, which for British readers was five and a half months ago, for US readers they had to wait five years and seven months between the those two adventures in the original US editions. Sue Storm (although this story takes place after the wedding of Reed and Sue which UK readers haven't seen yet, so technically she should be called Sue Richards,) find the fallen notes from Banner with a possible cure, to Reed. While the Thing keeps the Hulk busy Richards loads a "sonic blaster" with both his and Banner's formulas, taking the shot the Hulk falls into unconsciousness. Would the cure work? Find out next week.

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

Paul Hurt from Surrey spotted that the names of Doctor Strange and the Sub-Mariner on the cover of MWOM #57 but neither featured inside. Ian Rushbury from Birmingham would pay a bit extra for colour inside the weeklies and considers merging all three mags together to a make a giant comic called the Mighty World of Marvel, in full colour and priced at 25 pence. I'm not sure how that would go down with readers. Peter Yallea from Cardiff thinks MWOM is fantastic as the Hulk isn't afraid of anything. Stuart Riley from Oldham thinks that the weeklies are good but could be better if each story was given 20 pages per week. David Woodhouse KOF, RFO, QNS, PMM, FFF, from Notts thinks that the X-Men should get their own comic with Iron Man and another Marvel feature as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were first introduced in an early X-Men story and it would save a lot of explaining when they join the Avengers. Yeah it would have, but it's a little too late now. 

Stephen Halliday from Scotland says he heard on TV that Marvel Comics were going to be banned! Goodness knows where he got that from, the editor says not to believe everything you see on television, Marvel is here to stay. Mervyn Down from County Armagh questions why every time Spider-man clenches his fist it doesn't shoot webbing. Johathan James from Carms asks does the Hulk fight on the side of good or evil? Well JJ the Hulk doesn't consciously fight on either side, he just fights. Fredrick Hayes from Swansea wants to know are there really such things as gamma rays and could they transform a person into a being like the Hulk? Yep gamma rays are real but what effect they have on individual people is impossible to say. Tom Proudfoot wants to tell all that Marvel mags are great, adding may we have some more pin-ups in colour? Well if he reads the back page of any of this week's mags he would get a nice surprise. 

 A page full of in-house ads for this week's Avengers weekly and Spider-man Comics Weekly. They might look great when you see them on your computer/tablet/phone screen but on the printed page they looked a little dark. The toner was very heavy with the tones again. Take a closer look at the bottom of the Avengers cover in this advert, you can only just make out the Avengers, compare it to the in-house advert in this weeks Spider-man Comics Weekly shown later. We'll get to that soon.

Daredevil "Among us...a betrayer!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Bob Powell 

Inker: Wally Wood

Originally published in Daredevil #11

Cover date November 1965

(Published in September 1965)

The original title for this story was "A time to unmask!" But that would be used as next issues title instead. Stan Lee returns as writer with a text box that states that "now it's sly ol' Stan to put all the pieces together" which pretty much sums up how writing for Marvel worked. Wally Wood stayed on as inker. The style of the story continues with a recount of the Organizer's real identity potential suspects. Naming Milton Monroe, Abner Jones and Barnerd Harris as your choices. Daredevil frees the kidnapped Deborah Harris knowing full well that she was working for the Organizer all the time so that she will lead him the fiends real identity. Confronting her of the truth he sets up a trap with her aid to capture the Frog-Man and take his place. 

Using the Organization's own equipment DD broadcasts to the nation the live footage of the Organizer berating his men for the bundled explosion at the headquarters of the reform party. It goes a little meta for a second as in one household a man reading a newspaper comments that it's too early for "Agent of SHEILD!" Stan intended in that Marvel Universe there was a TV show about a possible agent of SHEILD based on the Nick Fury agent of Shield strip in Strange Tales. I did reading it again this week think of the Agents of SHEILD series that had been broadcast on Channel 4 and can currently be found on Disney+. May be they had Disney+ in that Universe back in 1965, or 1974 if you were a UK viewer. 

British Marvel had been promising readers for ages that a fistful of posters were soon up for grabs. Teasers for them appeared in all the weeklies dated week ending 2rd March that suggested that more details would be revealed next week. No such details came. The teaser in SMCW listed the Silver Surfer with Spider-man and the Hulk amongst the featured posters, although as you can see there is no poster of Norrin Radd on offer. but for some reason readers had to wait over a month to get the offer. Two weeks before that teaser the image from the Hulk poster had been used to advertise "Marvel" (MWOM,) in SMCW #53. Six posters for 90 pence even by 1974 standards was a bargain as each was 22 x 16.5 inches and in full colour with postage, packing and VAT included. The artwork is by the incredibly talented Spanish artist Rafael Lopez Espi who began his career in 1953 drawing war stories for Spanish company Simbolo. Later on he drew romance strips for Britain's Glamour Magazine and later in the 60's he worked for Fleetway producing Western, War and Romance stories. I have to say his style was a head of its time, decades before Alex Ross became king of the painted comic character cover. The figure and form of each character is beautiful. I wish I had a set. Do any POTB readers still own a copy of them?

Spider-man Comics Weekly #60

This pantomime of a cover by Ron Wilson and Mike Esposito won't be winning any Cover of the Week awards any time soon. Fan's might have been shouting "He's behind you!" at the web-slinger as he asks "But where's the Kingpin?" but that doesn't make the cover anymore engaging. The Kingpin himself looks like someone who the Chuckle Brothers would be hiding from. All in all this cover keeps the comic together and nothing more.

Spider-man "What a tangled web we weave..!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: John Romita Sr and Don Heck

Inker: Mike Esposito

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #61

Cover date June 1968

(Published in March 1968)

The opening splash page would have been better used as the cover, it's a belter by John Romita Sr. It's near perfect, apart from a little bit of Don Heck's influence on Harry Osborn's face. but I can forgive that. Peter has got troubles after confronting the brainwashed Captain Stacy over his part in a Police data theft and then selling the photographic evidence of that crime to the Daily Bugle, he's not in Gwen's good books, or the Kingpin's for that matter. Gwen helps her confused father get to the bottom of it all. The Kingpin's men turn up to silence Stacy but unlucky for them the Stacy's are gone but Spidey turns up to make their visit worthwhile. 

It is a tangled web this week as we find out that the scientist and equipment used to brainwash the Kingpin's victims came from Norman Osborn's research facility. Osborn confronts his chief research man, Doctor Winkler (who we've seen before operating the brainwashing machine under the Kingpin's orders but here named for the first time,) about the delivery of expensive equipment. Osborn has no knowledge of his Green Goblin identity, but if he did what a smart twist of fate if he discovered that the Kingpin was using his company as a cover for his operations and it started a turf war between the two criminals. So much continuity would get changed, it would make a fun What If plot. But this universe's adventure ends with an angry Kingpin calling for Peter Parker to be eliminated, the mind-staggering conclusion next week.

Not a Marvel competition but an advert for Scalecraft model kits in the form of a competition with its star prize a Bush 20 inch colour television worth £230. The next 50 runner ups have a choice of one of three Catajets models prizes and a further 50 Scalecraft model kits for the next 50 runners ups, with 17 models to choose from. All you had to do is find the opposite word to each of the words that they used to spell out SCALECRAFT. The competition was free provided you sent in the word Scalecraft cut out from a Scalecraft kit or flying model with your answers or if you where already a member of the Scalecraft club in which case all you need to do was send in your membership number with your answers. Rules and regs in the small print and the closing date was the 28th June 1974. Damn I've missed another one.

Iron Man "A day in the life!"

Writer: Stan Lee and Robert Bernstein

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #45

Cover date September 1963

(Published in June 1963)

The original splash page that opened this story hasn't been used as I assume it will get used next week together with the original title "The icy fingers of Jack Frost!" Instead the new splash page uses the third panel from the tenth page of Tales of Suspense #46, cover dated October 1963, published July 1963. The blown up panel looks a little strange on the printed page but in fairness together with the new text it does work really well and it makes sense not to show the new villain till next week.

We are introduced to two new characters to fill out Tony Starks civilian life. Both of which will be very familiar to fans of the MCU Iron Man films but they don't come across like Jon Favreau and Gwyneth Paltrow in these comics. So first as you've no doubt already guessed comes Happy Hogan, an ex-boxer with a hart of gold but a grumpy disposition who pulls Tony from a crashed sports car he was driving. At Starks request he takes him to a motel so that he can secretly recharge his chest plate rather than take him to hospital. When Happy refuses any kind of reward Tony offers him a job as his chauffeur. 

Next is Pepper Potts Starks new secretary who looks and acts nothing like Ms Paltrow. Pepper is more like a young but sweet personal assistant. Pepper and Happy don't quite hit it off, like they will do in the future, after Pepper calls Happy a battle scarred ex-pug who looks more like Bela Lugosi than Rock Hudson. Pepper sees herself as the next Mrs. Anthony Stark, but at one point Stark refers to her as Kitty. This was a mistake in the original writing but I like to see it as Stark being uninterested in the names of his secretaries. Also introduced in this tale is Stark Industries, and its  primary location in the Long Island area. The story unfolds next week as a villain breaks into the factory's vault that contains vital materials and Tony's cash reserves. I could say things really hot up next week but it'll definitely get colder.

The Web and the Hammer

Sue Tudor reads his copy of SMCW to her brother every week and she really enjoys it very much. David Van Eyssen from London loves both SMCW and MWOM and asks does the Hulk know Thor's secret identity? As he says they used to be "Defenders" together. I think David meant to write Avengers but the answer is no he doesn't. Adrian Sandback says "Hip Hip Hooray" that Iron Man has joined the line up in SMCW. Pier Galilee from London offers some words of praise for SMCW #43  which he thought was fab especially Spidey triumphing over the Vulture and Kraven the hunter. Next to write is a mysterious writer who titles themselves as "an eternal fan of Marvel" from Sunderland who is very pleased that Iron Man is now in SMCW as he is their favourite super-hero. Next is a letter from Andrew Grandfield from Middlesex asks in SMCW #33 the Green Goblin says about Spider-man that "the gas he just inhaled will weaken all his senses including his Spider Sense." but how does he know he's has a Spider Sense? The editor say the Goblin is a very shrewd character but maybe he just guessed.

The mighty Thor "The Power of Pluto!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Mighty Thor #128

Cover date May 1966

(Published in March 1966)

Lee and Kirby are proper reaching their grandiose heights on the Thor adventures, probably driven more so by Kirby's storytelling and crazy imagination. Luckily for Thor fans they would stay at that height for years to come. You can see the lavish artwork straight from the opening page as Thor recoups his powers in a regal bedchamber, guarded by noble warriors and a royal physician tending to his needs. In truth Thor's bed looks like a giant-sized themed bed frame you could get from Toys-R-Us for your children, but this is Kirby artwork, so let's allow his imagination run with it so that readers of all ages can enjoy the splendour. 

 

I must admit on Good Friday I re-read the entire Thor/Hercules/Pluto saga, or the slightly edited highlights of it, in the Marvel Treasury Edition #3, published November 1974. My copy is a pence edition, sorry I couldn't find an image of a UK version. The size of my copy makes it impossible to fit in my scanner, but you get the idea of what it looks like. It cost a mere 50 pence back in 1974, I bought mine over seven years ago at a considerably excellent price through the wonderful world of eBay, more than the original price granted but practically a steal for the giant sized deluxe pages that showed off Kirby's beautiful art in full colour.

 The British weekly version doesn't let any of the artwork down, even with its grey tones the artwork pulls the imagination of a young reader into a world of wonder. Even the film set scene of Hercules entering Stardust studios, makes what Olympus would look like to the imagination of a modern set designer, gives the reader lots to look out for. I love the minor detail of a set builder at the bottom of the page telling his co-workers "Okay you guys--let's knock off! It's time for our coffee break!" The magnificent and the every day in one splash page, that's partly why Kirby was the king of comics.

Hercules meets the actress (more on her next week,) from last week who will play the Amazon Queen and a creature of some strange design who he is told is an expensive robot, but still he doesn't see any connection to his home dimension, even when the head of studio production enters and tells him all about the film project, Hercules still doesn't cotton on that there is danger ahead. Either it's an Olympian spell, Pluto's cunning disguise of a suit and dark sunglasses or Hercules own stupidity, but I won't let any of it get in the way of a enjoyable setting up for a clash of good and evil that is to come.

"The fatal words!"

Writer: Unknown

Artist: Howard O'Donnell

Inker: Howard O'Donnell

Originally published in Mystic #59

Cover date May 1957

(Published in January 1957)

I'm not sure who wrote this short story that first appeared in the pre-Marvel, Atlas Comics series called Mystic. Maybe it was the artist Howard O'Donnell or maybe it was the comic book's editor Stan Lee but I don't get any enjoyment out of it, there's no way that I would call it a classic. Henry Ramsey talks to his dog and cat as he finds them better company than humans. One day his dog talks back and he sees this as a way to make money. When he tries to make the dog talk in front of the TV cameras the canine refuses as Henry's only incentive was his own personal gain. Henry is called a cheat and an imposter and is taken to court by the companies he had signed business contracts with. Now he's penniless and broken is dog leaves him to learn a lesson on the way he treats others. As Henry sits raging, his cat presses up against his legs and says the fatal words "Y'know you're a lucky guy!" Well there's a moral in there somewhere, but I've read better.

The inside back page of this week's Spider-man Comics Weekly features an in-house advert for this week's Double Dynamite from magnificent Marvel. It uses the covers from both this week's Mighty World of Marvel and the Avengers weekly. Notice how the cover of MWOM overlaps the corner box of the Avengers mag, obscuring the Avengers replacement and the cover of that mag shown here uses the full Master of Kung Fu artwork to fill the page, unlike the final cover. More on that next.

The Avengers Weekly #29

Well this cover is probably the final straw that sent Avengers fans screaming and putting their thoughts down on paper to be sent off to 120 Newgate Street London. Not only does the Master of Kung Fu share the mags title and hog the cover artwork but now Shang-Chi has taken the corner box too! That's a strange decision, even if I had chosen Shang-Chi as the cover star I would still keep the Avengers in the corner box. I can easy see why many people believed it was an aggressive take over by the Kung Fu master. To be fair to the main artwork by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom it's a really, really good piece of art, that was originally used as the cover for Special Marvel Edition #15. The Yin and Yang symbol as been removed from that cover and also the "Gemini" signature too, which was how Starlin and Milgrom signed their combined artwork. By rights the artwork alone would have made my choice for the Cover of the Week award if not for the mess that surrounds the art. 

It does have a feel of the Oldhams Press, Power Comics, 60's Fantastic comic issue 1, which may well be a classic but does seem to be a case of throwing everything at it. The four Avengers heads, drawn by Don Heck and inked by Frank Giocoia, on the lower line seems to be an after thought to please Avengers fans, I think it probably did the oppose of what it was intended to do. Personally I would enjoy this cover more if the Avengers had stayed in the corner box as I accept that the new Master of Kung Fu strip would have needed the promotion and the artwork was too good to have not used. I also accept that last week's artwork and this week's are good enough for the covers, but maybe after the Avengers and MOKF should share the covers with alternating weeks. Let's see how that one goes.

Master of Kung Fu "The sins of the father!"

Writer: Steve Englehart 

Artist: Jim Starlin

Inker: Al Milgrom

Originally published in Special Marvel Edition #15

Cover date December 1973

(Published in September 1973)

You know I should leave my feelings about the cover alone now but one last thing, the Avengers could have been used as the cover stars and that Starlin/Milgrom artwork could have been used to fantastic effect as the opening splash page for this week's second half of the MOKF story. The artwork for this splash page comes from panels six and seven from the third page of last week's story.

Well before legendary artist Frank Miller was using silent artwork for fight scenes, Jim Starlin had perfected it. After last week's tale set up and plot driven story, the second part of that story plays out with an all out action extravaganza. Many might not like Shang-Chi but you do have to marvel at the beauty of the artwork as the action flows with an orchestrated dance of body and form. I'm not sure the Chinese symbols around the page mean any thing but they look great too. I did do a Google search and did find that the symbol to the left of the sumo's pony tail in the second panel does translate to the word "you" and the symbol above the sumo's head in the third panel means "world". Maybe Starlin just copied them or it was an accident, but any way it does look great.

After the match with the Tak the sumo, Shang-Chi discovers his father's laboratory is filled with weird apparatus for inhuman experimentation, Englehart uses this scene to expand on the reasons why Shang-Chi had no knowledge of this father's evil ambitions. Shang-Chi next opponent is a rabid gorilla, who the readers find out has been experimented on by Doctor Fu Manchu through psychological torture to induce humanlike schizophrenia in the beast, with the intention of the creature becoming a superlative final guard for his headquarters.

After supreme effort Shang-Chi defeats the beast and is finally confronted by his father, who has been informed that his son has learned of details of his father's work. Fu Manchu states his initial goal was the restoration of China to its former glory before the communist revolution had changed that country's destiny and the intervention of Sir Nayland Smith who fought against the would be Emperor. Fu Manchu offers Shang-Chi a place at his side a Manchu dynasty. To which his son replies "Father...you speak with absolute assurance, completely convinced that your vision is the only proper way...and like all men who speak thus, you are mad." He turns to go. "When next we meet, it will be as implacable enemies." Fu Manchu allows him to go but as the evil Doctor slips into the shadows he warns his son that he has every evil on the planet at is command and he will direct them towards his doom! Stepping into the New York fresh morning air Shang-Chi contemplates that he has become fortunate enough to learn of the deception that had been practiced on him, but which has lead to him divorcing himself from his father's evil empire and a world he once knew. That will the new world have install for him next? Find out next week.

The Avengers "Flames of destruction!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in The Avengers #31

Cover date August 1966

(Published in June 1966)

The opening splash page for this conclusion to this "Never bug a giant!" story line uses the cover of the Avengers issue 31 US edition to good effect, although it doesn't match up with the continued story just yet. Don Heck's artwork does need to be seen so it's a pity that it couldn't be used for the cover of this mag, but I'll leave that bone of contention alone for now. Goliath is making an attempt to stop the crazy Keeper of the Flame's intention to rule or destroy the world by harnessing the power of the flame. 

With the aid of his fellow teammates they unite against the Keeper and his army. The male Avengers are captured by metal tentacles powered by the cobalt flame and controlled by the Keeper, with only the Wasp free to release her teammates. Prince Rey's forces attack the Keeper. Hawkeye uses a arrow to destroy the flame's control panel but the cobalt power reachs a critical mass, becoming almost like a living thing itself, it uses the powerful rays to protect itself. Luckily the Wasp has spotted a weakness in the flames containment  vessel. By carefully aiming an explosive arrow into the giant idol's upper area the explosion smothers the flame, destroying it.

With the Flame destroyed the Avengers leave with the freed Doctor Anton, who when asked by Goliath if his work might help him in anyway to restore him to his normal height the Doctor replies that he is sorry he cannot offer him any cure but the only other person he believes can is a brilliant biochemist by the name of Henry Pym. The Avengers return home in silence. So ends a brilliant Avengers tale and next week brings us another blockbuster where we'll find out what "the sign of the Serpent" means. Can't wait!

Avengers readers assemble

Michael Eastgate admits that he is someone who hasn't been reading Marvel comics for long, but thinks that the Avengers are super. Richard Fenner from London has noticed two mistakes which to be fair have been noticed before. Paul Charles from London congratulates British Marvel on publishing over 100 comics. He wonders what the initials TM stand for. Well Paul as many readers know TM stands for Trade Mark. Finally for this week Kevin Woodhouse from Buckinghamshire asks three questions, 1) How long does it take Jack Kirby to draw a Thor strip? 2) will the Vision join the Avengers and 3) Will Flash Thompson return. The editor says that Kirby can take a whole week to complete the artwork for a Thor strip, the Vision will indeed join the Avengers with a cryptic "Very Soon" reply. As for Flash he'll be back in Spider-man's page before long. Kevin also says in his letter that he thinks that Spider-man is getting along fine with John Romita Sr handling the art and that Steve Ditko is doing a great job on the Doctor Strange art. Paul likes Baron Mordo and thinks that he should be featured more. Personally I would have liked to see less of the evil Baron. 

Another in-house advertisement for the Avengers "newsagent shelf" brothers, the Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-man Comics Weekly. Both images look a little dark, but to be fair the tones aren't has heavy as they have been.

Doctor Strange "Let there be victory!"

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Steve Ditko

Inker: Steve Ditko 

Originally published in Strange Tales #141

Cover date February 1966

(Published in November1965)

The dramatic conclusion to this epic saga that Doctor Strange has fought in as Baron Mordo has interfered in the battle between Strange and the Dreaded Dormammu, robbing his master of any chance of a clean victory. Furious with his minion's meddling  Dormammu banishes the Baron to a Dimension of Demons. The duel resumes with the Doctor regaining his second wind and eventually humbling the lord of darkness in their contest with his power pincers. 

Dormammu begrudgingly accepts to make a vow to never direct his power against the Earth again. Once Strange and his mentor the Ancient One return to Earth Dormammu sends them a message that the girl who had tried to aid Strange while he was searching for Eternity, would be punished for her act of treason by banishing her to another dimension. Strange wishes to help her but the Ancient One reminds his disciple that she is merely bait and there are other evils scattered around the world by Mordo that need attending to. Strange returns to his Greenwich Village retreat unaware that three of Mordo's followers have hidden a bomb that can't be detected by mystical means inside his sanctorum. You can bet your amulet that this story comes back with a bang next week.

And so ends another eclectic collection of Marvel masterpieces, that give something for everyone. I'll tuck into my Easter egg now while I start looking for the bonus easter eggs and fun facts that can be found in next week's British Marvel mags. 

See you in seven. 

Make Mine Marvel.