The power and the plan!

 Week Ending 5th October 1974

The Mighty World of Marvel #105

This piece of artwork by Jim Starlin has been taken from cover of Marvel Super-Heroes #47, cover dated November 1974, but it would have been released on the 6th August 1974, some four weeks before it was used for the cover of MWOM #105. Marvel Super-Heroes #47 featured reprints of the old Hulk story "Turning Point!" (seen in MWOM#39) and the Sub-Mariner tale "It Walks Like a Man!" Both originally from Tales to Astonish #92, cover dated June 1967. I must admit that the UK version of this cover looks better to me due to darker back ground colouring that creates more atmosphere. Got to admit that I'm always a sucker for Starlin's art so this week's Cover of the Week has got to be this beauty. 

 

The Incredible Hulk “...Sincerely, the Sandman!”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: Sam Grainger

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #138

Cover date April 1971

(Published in January 1971)

Thomas and Trimpe cut straight to the chase this issue after last week's ending where the Hulk and the Abomination fall to Earth. We only find out the Hulk's fate as his landing was slightly cushioned in a comic book style by landing in the sea. So I guess as the world strongest creature it's no worse than slipping off a log. All that is conveyed with Thomas's poetic text and Trimpe's captivating image of the Hulk's head raising from the briny waters. 

It's a real pity that the second page from the original US version was removed from the UK mag, as it continued in a sensitive way a the Hulk makes his way to the shore with the dim memories of Betty Ross settling like grief in the Hulk's mind. That is always forgotten about when remembering these classic Hulk strips, there was a lot of heart and heartache. Even though I have a passion for these old UK versions of Marvel classics, I do think it's good to seek out the originals if you can, for a complete story, from time to time. For those of you who've never seen the original page as Thomas and Trimpe intended it to be read, here's what it looked like. 

But before I get too emotional let's get on with the story as UK readers would have read it in 1974. Betty Ross is recovering from a breakdown at an upstate private hospital, The same hospital that a mysterious figure is visiting In hope of a cure for a strange skin ailment. That stranger turns out to be the Sandman whose skin has been turned to glass after his last encounter with the Hulk and the Mandarin as seen in MWOM #66. We learn that the Wizard made a temporary cure for him but an experimental total blood transfusion pioneered by Dr Marquand would be needed to complete the treatment because of the high levels of radiation in the Sandman's blood. Banner had also arrived secretly at the same hospital to visit Betty. I really like the way Thomas and Trimpe mix the two storylines together in a smart artistic way. Anyway the blood transfusion needs a special type of blood and Betty Ross is the closest person with it. Bruce hides when the Doctor, nurse and the Sandman take Betty away to take part in the transferral, only witnessing too late the unethical operation that starts his own blood racing ending in the expected outcome that we'll have to complete next week.

Daredevil “The trap is sprung”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Gene Colan

Inker: Frank Giacoia, Dick Ayers and Bill Everett

Originally published in Daredevil #21

Cover date October 1966

(Published in August 1966)

This Daredevil story doesn't have one inker, or two, but three inkers, credited as Fearless Frank, Darlin' Dick and Wild Bill. Who to fans of the artists who use a brush and a pot of ink are Frank Giacoia, Dick Ayers and Bill Everett. Daredevil is all caged up after the Owl's trap was sprung and the bird inspired fiend isn't going to give the man without fear time to escape before that cage is winched over a deep pit in readiness for a big drop. Of course that cliffhanger won't stop ol' DD. With his trusty Billy Club he swings out of danger and right into a no holds bard fight with the Owl and his gang.

As much as I enjoy a super-hero adventure with a crime-lord villain with street level intension of ruling the criminal underworld so that they can make an ill-gotten living out of crime this strip goes full-on "Batman", when the Owl reveals an "electronic owl"! As much as I'm a Marvel fanboy, I understand why some DC fanboys get a little hot under their geek t-shirts at the similarities between the Dark Knight and the Man without Fear. It's the penguin with all the serial numbers filed off. But saying all that I am a Marvel old-man-fan and I do quite enjoy this strip. So I'll come back for more next week as the Owl tries to "Escape! On the wings of a bird!"   

Marvel-Meccano Bonanza

Last week 12 runner-ups to this competition were listed in Spider-man Comics Weekly and the Avengers weekly, this week 24 runner-ups are listed, of which the six that have already been listed last week are marked with a * and five of the various age groups winners from last week are listed as runner-ups this week have been marked with a **. There are 15 new runner-ups in this week's 24. Here we go, so strap in. 

"Space Hopper" by Darren Docherty of Newcastle, age 5. "Scanner Car" by Neil Thraves of Telford, age 5. "Doomcracker"** by Mark Playle of Edenbridge, age 7. "The Crawler"* by Andrew Dring of Staffordshire, age 8. "The Mole"** by Tony Atahasio of Portsmouth, age 8. "Hyperdrive Mason-Electron Capsule"* by Peter Hogarth, age 10. "Gizmotron Gun"** by Steven Stokes of Plaistow, age 11. "Mobile base" by John Finch, age 11. "Double Purpose Craft" by Jame Doherty of Londonderry, age 11. Weight "Increasing Machine (WIM)"* by Roy McLeish, age 12. "Magnetic Probe Factory"* by Andrew S. Mynheer, age 13. "Ambush Boo-boo Gun"* by Richard Vincent of Kings Langley, age 6. "Flying Linda"** by Mathew Wells of Langford, age 6. "Hypotherma Space Traveller"** by Brian Dudgeon, age 10. "Moon Jet" by Paul Reeves, age 9. "Solar Energy Converter" by Marcus McConnell of London, age 11. "Proton Bombarder" by Stuart Watson of County Cleveland, age 11. "Explorer" by Paul Littlefair, age 12. "Solar Welder" by Jeffrey King, age 12. "Transportation Seat" by Peter Elespe of Watford, age 12. "Searcher and Tracer Detector (STD)" by Mark Goulden of Warrington, age 15. "Multi-role Support Vehicle (MRSV)" by John Crean of Salford, age 15. And finally "Surf APTJ2" by Richard Owusu of London, age 15. All those runner-ups win a Dicky Car. 

The outright winner will be revealed later. 

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

Hamir Rashid Darr from Yorkshire has been a Marvel fan since MWOM #36 when he saw Hulk vs. Hulk-Killer duke it out. His ideal formate would see a price increase to 8 pence for a 45-50 pages with two full stories per mag. His example would be MWOM-Hulk and the FF, SMCW-Spider-man and Thor, Avengers- Avengers and Silver Surfer, then a new mag with the Defenders and Captain America. Mark O'Manlon collects both Marvel and DC mags as well as British Marvel comics and was surprised to see Jack Kirby referenced in a DC comic letter page, he wonders is he "a freelance artist or a spy, and I doubt if there are two Jack Kirbys" There's only one Jack Kirby! Paul Despins London spotted the same Stan Lee Soapbox in both MWOM #39 and MWOM #89 and asks does this win him a No-Prize? M. Sheriff from Perthshire thinks that the inclusion of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos in the weeklies could improve them no end.

The Fantastic Four “If this be doomsday!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Joe Sinnott 

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #49

Cover date April 1966

(Published in January 1966)

Now this is a classic tale, one of Stan and Jack's finest! Galactus has landed on Earth and Humanity totters on the brink of doomsday! I love how the King starts the strip off with a splash page looking at the shock and awe in the faces of the Fantastic Four as they witness the astonishing conversation between the two giant aliens in front of them. Then he flips the perspective to reveal the two god-like beings as they discuss matters of planet annihilation as if humanity is unimportant to them. 

Kirby has a way of taking the incredible unworldly and placing it in our world, by giving it scale and grander. To Galactus the Earth is nothing but a source of energy that he needs to consume to survive. The Watcher has seen the good in humanity, a wondrous gift that needs preserving. The two beings debate the cosmic morality of it all, while Galactus sees humanity nothing but inconsequential bystanders to his needs. When the Thing attacks Galactus with his best Sunday punch and his battle cry of "It's clobbering' time!" To which the destroyer of worlds just swipes the Fantastic Four away as if they are nothing more than irritating ants to him. 

With all the cosmic calamity that is about to befall the world Stan and Jack take time out to load "Chekhov's revolver" as to show that the Marvel Universe is more than Super-powered gods. That this point in the story many British readers may have only heard about the Silver Surfer and not discovered his importance on a cosmic scale. So I imagine that the strange cosmic creature who stumbles into the studio of Alicia Masters, would have been a charming twist in the understanding and advancement of his character. It's a meeting of the best of humanity with a noble stranger from other worlds. The sadness of this "Jesus Christ" figure kickstarted a whole new era for Marvel Comics. Alicia senses that there is an unimaginable loneliness in this being and offers him food and compassion.

Galactus himself hungers, but he plans to feed himself with the abundant energies of the Earth with an incredible machine build to siphon the energy from the planet, by converting the oceans into pure energy, then the relentless search for energy will continue as the machine's ray will draw from the planets cities until the globe itself will be reduced to nothing but a lifeless empty husk. The apparatus that the destroyer of worlds constructs straight from the mind of Jack Kirby. It looks spectacular as the powers of Galactus move the components around with the power of his mind in a futuristic Marvel inspired Fantasia. The Fantastic Four must find a way to stop him, luckily the Watcher has a plan and with the loop-holes he's found in his oath of none interference and the Fantastic Four's help, they might just have "The power and the plan" to do it. Back for more next week? Hell yeah!

Marvel-Meccano Bonanza- the winner.

The Thing reveals that Sam Williams from Cornwall, age 12, is the overall Marvel-Meccano Bonanza winner, whose original design of a "Biological Transceiver" wins him a mighty Meccano Set No.9! With this he can literally talk to the trees! Sam lists its specifications as "Research is showing a link between all planet life. This machine tunes-in to a bonsai tree's communication with the world's growing things and so can instantly report on world happenings. The series of membranes act like a prism and slight variations are transmitted to a specially programmed computer. The report is typed out. Questions are answered by simply touching the tree and concentrating!" I wonder did Sam Williams grow up to be a scientist or a hippy or  both. I have to admit he had a very creative imagination and his design was well deserving of being the winner.

Spider-man Comics Weekly #86

This cover came very close to being my choice for the Cover of the Week. Originally the cover of the Amazing Spider-man #73. Like this week's Mighty World of Marvel cover the UK version's back ground has been changed and the brighter colours enhances John Romita Sr's sharp original art. Can I have two CotW? Or is that cheating?  

Bold, bright and beautiful!!! That's how this in-house ad described the 1975 annuals from Marvel, simply because that's what they were. The Thing is quite a busy hero these days, not only was he responsible for revealing the winners of the Marvel-Meccano Bonanza in last week's SMCW and the Avengers weekly and the outright winner in this week's mags, he's also letting readers know that there are three Marvel Annuals out in time for Christmas 1974. Marvel, the Avengers and a Spider-man annuals with 80 pages each of full colour Marvel action can be picked up from your friendly neighbourhood newsagent or bookshop for the bargain price of 90 pence per hard covered classic. You could have ordered them directly from British Marvel with prices that include the annual/s with postage and packaging costs of £1.15 for one annual, or two annuals for £2, or all three for £2.75.    

Spider-man “The web closes!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: John Buscema and John Romita Sr

Inker: Jim Mooney

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #73

Cover date June 1969

(Published in March 1969)

It's pretty much suggested from the credits that Buscema drew the layouts and Romita sharpened the artwork before Jim Mooney completed it all with his inks. Either way it looks perfect for a strip of this kind. One of the best. Spider-Man has managed to get inside Captain Stacy's home without alerting the retired Police officer or his daughter Gwen, to ask him if he can provide any clues to where the Shocker may have taken the stolen ancient tablet. After overhearing Gwen talking to her father about Peter,  Spider-Man waits until she leaves before he makes his presence known to Stacy. After some consideration Captain Stacy gives Spider-Man the only lead he can think of. The Shocker had an ex-girlfriend, who was an "exotic dancer", which might have gone over many young Marvelytes but I can't think of many mainstream super-hero comics that have a villains girlfriend as a stripper! Stacy gives Spidey her address. By the way I'm presuming that George Stacy has kept that information as a retire police officer who has interest in "cold-cases" and not for personal reasons. 

Spidey swings to her apartment  but he's been beaten to it by a Maggia mob enforcer know as Man-Mountain Marko. The big brute has turned her flat upside down in his search for the tablet. Marko has no super-powers but his brute-strength evens up with Spider-man powers, may be Spidey was having a bad day. Meanwhile another member of the Maggia crime family, Caesar Cicero, has bailed the Kingpin's aide Wilson from jail, hoping that he has some information on the tablets and their worth. Back at the Shocker's ex-girlfriend's apartment Marko has discovered a hidden wall safe behind a painting. He's about to open it but Spidey recovers and the two resume their brawl. I quite like where Stan Lee and John Romita Sr are taking this current story line, there's a nice mixture of Super-powered foes and more street level criminals. I got a pile of these old Spider-man Comics Weekly as back-issue in my teens and I eat them up, getting completely into the story and the art, they are classics.  

Bullpen Bulletins

The Bulletin page offers up "Instant info insanely inspired by irrelevant items of incredible inconsequence!", I'll start with the Stan's Soapbox. Stan asks has any one noticed the new logo on the cover of Spider-man Comics Weekly? He points that across the land the voice of Marveldom Assembled could be heard shouting "why? Why? WHY?" Well his reason for change is that the fame and growth of Marvel have been unbelievable. They've outsold every other comic-book publisher in America, and throughout the world! But they aren't going to sit on their laurels, there's a never-ending effort to satisfy the greatest, most loyal legion of fans anyone ever had, we were in danger of sacrificing quality for quantity. Not only are they importing the American Mags because of demand, they are working to improve the stories, artwork and presentation of the US and UK mags. His point in this particular column to me is directed to the fact that the weeklies are there as a cost-friendly alternative to the American mags, which I think comes through with the lines "we wouldn't want you to give up such frivolous luxuries as food or housing in order to keep up with us. In other words, we decided to make it easier on your wallet, at the same time as we make it easier for us to polish every gleaming jewel in the Marvel crown of creativity!" Nuff said! The Bombastic Bullpen Bio Dept. all about Roy Thomas feels more fitting to be discussed in the Avengers weekly Bullpen Bulletin page, so I'lll get back to that later.

This Marvel Masterwork Pin-up is taken from the cover of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #13, cover dated December 1964, published October 1964, by Jack Kirby. With it featuring Captain America it makes a nice warm up for the following Iron Man strip. I'm not sure what British readers made of Bucky, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, of the World War Two back drop as I imagine that many British readers wouldn't associate the shield slinging hero with the Second World War until his adventures got printed in the Titans comic starting in October 1975.

Iron Man “In mortal combat with Captain America!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #58

Cover date October 1964

(Published in July 1964)

It's quite an interesting open splash as Iron Man is seen testing out how his armour works under water by having a piggy-back ride on a killer shark. Then returning to Stark Industries he flies over a mysterious ship that happens to be smuggling Kraven the Hunter and the Chameleon back into the country after events seen in the Spider-man strip from SMCW #7. 

Crawling up a cliff Kraven is spotted and captured by Iron Man as the Chameleon hides out of view. A plan forms that if the master of disguise can defeat Iron Man it will prove him superior to Kraven. Later a wounded Captain America arrives at Stark's office, demanding to see Iron Man. Cap tells Iron Man that he has just escaped from the Chameleon who plans to impersonate him. Iron Man heads off to find the imposter leading to a fight between him and the real Cap. It's a basic "Marvel" mistaken identity/heroes fight plot, even as a child I always wondered why don't the Avengers have a secret password they could use to reveal they are who they say they are. OK they've not yet battled the Skrulls but they have encountered the Space Phantom. But I have to say I am a sucker for that old plot line. Making this story a guilty pleasure.  

The Web and the Hammer

Chris Pender RFO, KOF, QNS, from Merseyside wants to see Steve Ditko return to the art chores on Spider-man, even though he thinks that John Romita Sr's Spider-man is OK. John Jenkins RFO, KOF also from Liverpool thinks that Romita's artwork is terrific. An-unsigned writer has pestered his dad, who's a newsagent, to get some American Marvel monthlies. He managed to get eighteen of the nineteen issues. L.D. from Surrey has picked up the Tomb of Dracula and calls it the finest mag he's ever read. He goes on to say that "Marv Wolfman has done a great job in using Bram Stoker's Count along with ancient vampire folk lore, which makes the tales realistic and interesting to read." He praises Gene Colan's artwork with the incredible detail that makes the whole story realistic. He picks Tomb of Dracula his favourite comic book apart from Spider-man. He might be pleased with what's coming from British Marvel in October.

D. Crozier from Wiltshire has a "gripe" about that it is wrong that Spider-man is great because it reflects reality, pointing out that Peter's super-powers give him a bigger advantage over his foes. I'll advise you to read his letter to get exactly what he means. Christopher Bryan RFO, another reader from Liverpool praises Jack Kirby artwork in both the Fantastic Four and Thor strips adding that the Diablo and Dragon Man story was a masterpiece. On to the subject of Don Heck on the Avengers, he thought that Heck's early attempts where the worse drawing he's seen on the strip, but now viewing the Power Man, Swordsman and Black Widow story line he thinks that no-one else could draw the strip better. Kevin Clarke RFO, KOF, FOOMer from Shropshire has all nineteen of the current US Monthlies and thinks that the Marvel weeklies should have a section in the UK weeklies letter pages devoted to the US comics. Paul Crowe from London has made himself a web shooter! He plans to start on a Spider-man costume soon. 

The Mighty Thor “To die like a God!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Mighty Thor #139

Cover date April 1967

(Published in February 1967)

Thor's hammer has been stolen right from under his grasp by a speedy departed army of trolls, who are on their was to join their brothers in the invasion of Asgard, leaving the son of Odin meagre sixty seconds before he would transform back into the mortal Donald Blake. Or at least he would have if not for Stan and Jack's sneaky "get-out-of-jail"/plot fix plan, Sif calls upon her power to bypass space and time to transport them both to Asgard. Which is a better plan than the one Thor was prepared to try. He was going to step in front of a sub-way train at the moment he transforms into Blake, with the hope might end up in Valhalla as Thor. That's really dark for a kids comic, how did that pass the Comics Code Authority in 1967, There would be serious questions if someone used that idea today. 

Suicide is painful so between Sif, Stan and Jack the two Gods take the painless route to Asgard so that they can help defend the Golden Realm. Odin and his forces continue to defend the city. However the Rock Trolls with their advanced weaponry, built by Orikal force them back. Believing that Thor has abandoned him Odin enters the fray with his Scepter of Power but finds out with considerable displeasure that the Rock Trolls can counter his weapon's power with an Orikal created Ulti-Force Cannon that drains the scepter of its power, rending it useless. Next week the fate of the Universe hangs in the balance.

As shown on the back page of this week's Spider-man Comics Weekly and the Mighty World of Marvel in full colour and the inside of the Avengers weekly in fine black and white, Sam Williams won the overall Marvel-Meccano Bonanza prize, meaning that the 12-14 age group winner becomes Rory McLeish from Glasgow, age 12, with his "Weight Increasing Machine (WIM)". It kind of looks like a toy pistol to me.

Avengers Weekly #55

The original cover of Marvel Premiere #16 is used for this week's Avengers weekly as it's Iron Fist's turn to take the spotlight. I like this Gil Kane action cover, I'm slightly surprised at the level of violence involving Scythe strangling Iron Fist with his weapons chain getting the green light on a young boys comic. Still it's a pretty cool cover. It could even be my choice for the Cover of the Week. But I can't have three CotW winners, can I? 

The Avengers “Captain America unleashed!”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: John Buscema

Inker: George Roussos

Originally published in The Avengers #44

Cover date September 1967

(Published in July 1967)

The fourth panel from last week's first half final page is enlarged slightly and sees Captain America smashing his way out of his containment tube and leap straight into action against the Red Guardian. A new title and credits are added with only some of Cap's original dialogue used with a new speech bubble from one of the villainous characters of panel, possibly from General Brushov himself, saying "Don't worry Colonel the Red Guardian will protect us!"

We're treated to a duel between the two countries symbolic heroes, beautifully drawn by John Buscema. They are prettily well matched but even after Cap loses his shield he gains the upper hand. That is until Colonel Ling electrocutes him, causing the Red Guardian to feel cheated from victory as Captain America was defeated so dishonourably. During all that distraction, the Black Widow tries to disable the Psychotron, but is caught in the act and  would have been shot at by the Colonel if not for the Red Guardian leaping in front of the near fatal blast. The Black Widow disables the Psychotron but she too is shot at, causing her to fall from the machinery just as Hawkeye rushes to catch her.

Hercules breaks free from the Pyshotron, so that he, with the injured Cap and Hawkeye carrying an injured Black Widow, can escape to a hovering Avengers aircraft. Colonel Ling tries to kill the Avengers one last time with a rocket launcher but is stopped again by the Red Guardian who would not want to see the woman he loved and the noble Avengers killed in such a craven way. The rocket blows up the base and the Avengers barely escape. The Black Widow is rushed to a US hospital, where after her recovery she reveals that she had been working for Nick Fury and SHIELD all along and that the KGB had lied to her about her husbands death as a test pilot so that they could train him to become the Red Guardian and train her in the memory of her husband to become the Black Widow. The depiction of Communist characters in the mid-60's Marvel Comics were usually depicted as either an unwilling pawn or a cowardly, craven and thoroughly disreputable villain, here's a rare representation of a somewhat sympathetic Russian. Roy Thomas has chosen to show the Guardian a true believer in Soviet communism who turns against his allies at a crucial moment because of his sense of honour and integrity. Roy was happy to introduce characters with differing points of view and political opinions. 

Bullpen Bulletin

It's a bit of a super-Bombastic Bullpen Bio this week as Roy Thomas, in is own words takes us from a comics fan to comics pro in only few short decades. As a 4 and a half years old he first discovered those strange colourful picture-books called comics in a local drugstore in Jackson Missouri. "Something clicked, and I was never the same again!" he said. His earliest favourite was the Sub-Mariner, which he would read between swimming lessons. When he started grade school, he was writing and drawing his own comics, which he would share with indulgent parents and thrill-starved friends. The name of his first venture into the field was ALL-GIANT COMICS, which contained such immortal, unforgettable characters as "Elephant Giant"! During the 50's his attention turned to more intellectual activities. Reading Edgar RiceBurroughs and a smattering of science-fiction. Graduating from college in 1961 he spent four years as a high school English teacher but in the teachers' lounge, he would avidly read about the ever-multiplying creations of Lee and Kirby. During that time he took an important step towards becoming a comics pro. Jerry Bails, a Detroit college professor, and Thomas started the first super-hero comic-book fanzine, titled ALTER EGO. He then took the next logical step and entered the wonderful world of Marvel by walking into the Bullpen offices and casually mentioned that he was looking for a job, he's been kept busy ever since. 

Doctor Strange “This dream...this doom!”

Writer: Denny O'Neil

Artist: Dan Adkins

Inker: Joe Sinnott

Originally published in Strange Tales #167

Cover date April 1968

(Published in January 1968)

Doctor Strange has returned to Stonehenge to discover that the Ancient One was able to free himself from the stone prison in which he was trapped in following the defeat of Zom. Master and pupil travel together to the Ancient One's Sanctum in the hope that with the Book of the Vishanti they might find a spell to locate Yandroth and his hostage Victoria Bentley. With the book's spell they learn that Yandroth had transported the two of them to the Dimension of Dreams. 

Using a magic gem to transport himself there, Strange finds Yandroth and Victoria. Yandroth unleashes beings from his dreams, barbarians on horse back and sea monsters, to keep Doctor Strange at bay, while he prepares to shoot Strange with a laser.

The story has vastly improved from last week with the re-introduction of Denny O'Neil, replacing Jim Lawrence as writer. Although one line slips through when Doctor Strange mentions "Yandroth's magic", despite Yandorth insisting that he despises magic and only uses science. The return of Dan Adkins to the art chores as penciler is also a bonus. There's no mention of who the inker was in the first page credits, however the marvel.fandom.com wiki page for Strange Tales #167 states that Joe Sinnott inked this strip. They could have got it wrong and Adkins inked his own artwork, as Sinnott did ink Jim Steranko's Nick Fury strip in the same comic. Either inker, the artwork has improved from George Tuska's work last week. 

Avengers Readers Assemble

The first writer of the Avengers mailbag wished to remain anonymous. They really enjoyed the Master of Kung Fu strip but would like to see the Avengers on the front cover. They also spotted a continuity mistake in the Fantastic Four strip from MWOM #92 involving Reed and Sue's wedding guest Tony Stark and Iron Man. It was due to the heavily edited strip. But the editor glosses over that and makes up the behind the scenes reason why it wouldn't be worth a No-Prize. S. Horllery from Wigan is another reader who really likes the Master of Kung Fu strip but would also like to see the Avengers once again on the cover. S. questions how much strength the Hulk really has and asks a few questions about Daredevil and his radar sense. The editor does go into great detail with his answer. Martin Chaplin from Coventry has just read the letter page from the US edition of the Amazing Spider-man issue 87 when he noticed a letter from one Douglas Moench, which cause him to think "Where have I seen that name before?" That issue would have been published in 1969 and it was indeed from John Romita Sr fan Doug Moench the writer of the recent Master of Kung Fu strip.

Iron Fist “The sound of the Scythe!”

Writer: Roy Thomas and Len Wein

Artist: Larry Hama

Inker: Dick Giordano

Originally published in Marvel Premiere #16

Cover date July 1974

(Published in April 1974)

Iron Fist recalls the moments he gained his Iron Fist powers but reflection on those memories is broken as an assassin named Scythe, who uses the weapon of his namesake, arrives informing Iron Fist that there is a 10 million dollar bounty on his head and he means to collect it. The two fight, with Iron Fist again recalling his time in K'un-Lun when how he bested Shu-Hu, which readers will easily remember from three and two week's ago. What's new for readers is how he was offered the chance of gaining immortality from the Tree of Immortality. Iron Fist declines this offer, opting instead to be allowed to leave K'un-Lun to get revenge on his parents killer, Harold Meachum.

Iron Fists finishes his flashback and easily defeats Scythe, using the power of the iron-fist attack to destroy Scythe's weapon. Iron Fist demands to know who put the bounty on his head, with Scythe cowering and begging for mercy, he names a guy called Meachum, directing Iron Fist towards an ugly skyscraper a few blocks over. The kung fu hero leaves the assassin a broken husk as he strides towards an imposing building to face the killer of his parents in next week's "The Citadel" 

Come back for more action and adventure in the Marvel style next week. 

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.