The Return of the Magnificent Seven!

 Week Ending 18th October 1975

On the week ending the 8th March 1975 British Marvel Comics release seven magnificent mags and for eighteen weeks Marvel fans were spoiled for choice. That is until the week ending the 12th July 1975 when the number of weeklies fell to six. Sixteen weeks later the line up was joined by a seventh mag. And this time it was bigger than the comics that came before, doubling the content and more than doubling the Savage Sword of Conan's run. So this week feast your eyes on a selection of seven superb comics. No time to waste, lets go...    

The Mighty World of Marvel #160

Now you might think you've seen this cover artwork before, possibly in earlier blogs and you'll be right. The majority of it was used in the advert for the 1976 Annuals as seen on the back of MWOM, SMCW, Dracula Lives, POTA and the Super-Heroes last week. On that advertisement Daredevil was removed and replaced by Spider-man to help promote the Spider-man, Marvel and Avengers annuals. Not sure where the Fantastic Four fit into those annuals. The artwork was drawn by Jim Starlin with inks by Al Milgrom, the artwork is signed Gemini, a pseudonym the pair used sometimes when working together. This cover would be a great shout for the Cover of the Week, but it's a tough group this week.

The inside front page features a full page in-house advert for the Super-Heroes, biggin' up the two "great" new features, the Cat and Giant Man. I imagine that with the Silver Surfer ending, this comic would need some serious promotion. The Cat artwork was by Marie Severin and Wally Wood from her opening splash page  as seen in Super-Heroes #31, the two Giant Man panels were taken from his adventure in the same issue, drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Don Heck. 

The Incredible Hulk “Spawn of the flesh-eater”

Writer: Steve Englehart

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: Sal Trapani

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #162

Cover date April 1973

(Published in January 1973)

This week sees a Hulk story set in Canada featuring the Wendigo, but possibly not the "Hulk story set in Canada featuring the Wendigo" you're looking for. This a prequel to that one and just as important. But before we get unto the details I have to mention the jump in stories that most British readers probably never noticed. The story from the Incredible Hulk #161, "Beyond the Border Lurks Death!" wasn't printed and hasn't to the best of my knowledge been reprinted in the UK. That story featured the blue furred Beast and Calvin Rankin also known as the Mimic, at the time both characters were appearing in this week's Super-Heroes X-Men strip, set way later than the Hulk story. Its inclusion would mess up so many future strip that the editor couldn't hide. The Beast had left the X-Men and had in the US his own strip in the second volume of Amazing Adventures, but was replaced in issue 18 with War of the Worlds, a re-imagination/continunation of the classic HG Wells novel of the same name, starring Killraven. POTA readers may have read the "ape-ified" version called the Apeslayer. "Beyond the Border Lurks Death!" would have tied up some lose ends. What that missing story did do in the UK was to push the US/UK catch-up closer to eventual conclusion. 

The Hulk rampages through Canada in search of Betty, leading the Canadian military to call in General Ross to allow the Hulkbusters to operate in Canada, to capture the Hulk. In the Canadian wilderness the Hulk becoming muddled and confused, then begins to throw a tantrum until he hears a voice begging for help. Then out of nowhere a group of hunters attack. He easily swats them away when a girl named Marie attacks him, calling him the Wendigo, a creature who has supposedly killed her brother, Paul Cartier. Touched by the woman's sadness the Hulk promises to go looking for the creature and her brother. The giant creature finds him first and attacks. Apparently, the Hulk has stumbled upon the creature just as it was about to feed on a man. The man begs the Hulk to save him from the Wendigo's cannibalistic hunger. Thinking this man is Paul Cartier, the Hulk attacks the Wendigo. 

This Titan's in-house advert promotes the shape of things to come, with the dramatic new concept in comic mags that only mighty Marvel could create. In truth the promo art showing the comic's unique design doesn't inspire me to give it a go, it must have been knocked up with little use of the actual stories that feature. And showing the positives of a landscape format on a portrait shaped comic doesn't help. The heavy amount of text does help though. Five great stories for nine pence every week works, even the increase in cover price is soften by the increase in content. Double story content with 64 pages in a 36 page comic, sounds like great value and it is, although many readers wouldn't see it that way. All that plus a free colour poster with the first issue! A new shape with more super star heroes than ever before, Marvel was shaping up to be a power house of comics. The Sub-Mariner, Captain Marvel, the Inhumans, Captain America and Nick Fury, agent of SHIELD, all in one mag! Plus the promise of a centre spread in every issue, as you've never seen it before! Keep reading to find out if it delivered. 

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

Stephen Holt from Yorkshire writes in to give his opinion on the state of British Marvel Comics, first up he's pleased with the blending of "Savage Sword of Conan" and "The Avengers" was the best move since Marvel gave us the Silver Surfer, with it's mix of Sword and Sorcery, super-heroes, kung-fu or black magic in every issue. In MWOM the Hulk has maintained the high standard set by the Jarella and courtroom stories, however this will catch up to the US edition's soon. Adrain Webb from Coventry is offering to sell much of his US comic collection. Pail Donnachie from Ross-Shire writes in with an attempt at winning a No-Prize, which deals with Daredevil not being able to catch up to the Owl because of the noise from a speed boat muffles his radar sense, yet later Daredevil fights the Frogman underwater. Graeme Murray from Dundee wants to thank Marvel for MWOM #138. He also thinks that the X-Men story from Super-Heroes #12 was better because there wasn't any shading. 

Anthony Harries RFO, KOF, from Dyfed takes it upon himself to create some rules to the awarding of No-Prizes with the following manner. 1) Outstanding criticism of a Marvel work. The candidate must find at least five valid boners in one Marvel epic. 2) Outstanding praise of a Marvel work. The candidate must praise the Marvel in question to a sufficient degree so as to inflate Bullpen ego to an outstanding degree. 3) Outstanding pleading by a Marvel madman. The candidate must make an outstanding plea for a No-Prize so as to make a total fool of himself before Marveldom Assembled. 4) Outstanding service to Marveldom Assembled. The candidate must make an outstanding contribution to the cause. Andy Williams RFO from Blackpool has been taken aback with MWOM #112 where in the Daredevil story "The Power of The Plunderer" two British soldiers and a certain Lord Mayor Honeywell spout the sort of English you would expect to hear only in Hollywood films of wartime Britain. Andy expected Marvel comics to write better than that sort of stuff. The Trapster writes in in-between committing crimes to say that he with his teammates Medusa, Wizard and the Sandman have agreed Marvel should give them more stories.

Another Marvel Masterwork chosen by the Bullpen in a series of favourite artworks. It is the opening splash page of "The Coming of the Controller" from Iron Man issue 12, cover dated April 1969, published January 1969, drawn by George Tuska and inked by Johnny Craig. Spoilers! Iron Man is comforting Janice Cord as an ambulance is driving off with the seriously injured Tony Stark. However it wasn't Tony Stark in the ambulance, it was a Life Model Decoy. 

Daredevil “Daredevil drops out”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Gene Colan

Inker: George Klein

Originally published in Daredevil #49

Cover date February 1969

(Published in December 1968)

I've been saying for quite a while that Daredevil was going to get really good, well this week's story is the start of that fantastic run. Gene Colan is the main reason for this vast improvement, as much as I respect Stan Lee, he will always be "The Man" to me, The inspirational leader and innovator, but his Daredevil stories have only been generic superhero fodder. Roy Thomas is coming soon and that'll really send the strip from a great strip to an absolutely tremendous superhero strip. But the main driving force is Colan whose best artwork ever is on Daredevil.

After last week's rebuke by Foggy Nelson when ask if Matt Murdock would be part of his District Attorney team. Matt returns home, deciding that he is sick of being Daredevil, considering his own foolish decision that he wasn't satisfied to live out his life as Matt Murdock, counsellor at law with Karen at his side, yet he wanted more excitement, glamour and adventure of a superhero's life. Feeling that there was a glut of do-gooders around he decides to quit his costumed adventuring because the cost of losing his best friend and the girl that he loves. However while he's lamenting about his troubles his super-senses detect a strange noise coming from inside his closet, a sound of moving gears, which when he opens the door he's faced with a giant sized armoured robot who attacks instantly. Its strength and massive plastic body withstands all the blows that Daredevil can throw. The more punishment  it takes the level indicator on its chest increases to level ten, until Murdock can't take anymore and loses consciousness. With that the robot moves to the second phase of his instructions an take Daredevil to it's master.

The Fantastic Four “The flames of battle..”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Joe Sinnott 

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #73

Cover date April 1968

(Published in January 1968)

The Fantastic Four are under attack by their nemesis Doctor Doom, who has taken the form of their one time ally, Daredevil... Wait a minute haven't we done this before? Yeah we have, this story was originally printed in the Mighty World of Marvel issue 138, just twenty-two week's ago! It was taken out of continuity to follow on from the Daredevil story that appeared the week before. Here it slots back into continuity, but surely it was too soon, wouldn't readers notice? To be honest this Fantastic Four story is one of my favourite Stan Lee/Jack Kirby collaborations, I could and did read it again and again. But for those who missed it Reed, Johnny and Ben prepare for Doom's arrival, in reality the real Daredevil, with warnings of Doctor Doom's latest scheme. The Human Torch attacks Daredevil first, but the blind hero tricks the Torch into crashing into a water tower, dousing his flame.

As Daredevil recovers Johnny from the water Spider-man approaches, who believes Daredevils explanation. Spider-man decides that they'll need more help and goes looking for someone who fits that bill. Stumbling across Thor's path Spidey tries to convince him to help. Initially he denies the request, as this story takes place somewhere around events from SMCW #105. In the version seen in MWOM #138 the editor quoted the wrong issue, in this version all references by the editor were removed. Thor's attention is more likely be towards battling the Wrecker, but when Spider-man questions his bravery he changes his mind. It's worth noting that Thor's powers are weaker and his hammer has lost the power of flight due to Odin removing them in SMCW #96, which explains why the web-slinger has to help the Thunder God get to the Baxter Building. Meanwhile, Daredevil having reached the Baxter Building, is attacked by the Thing and Mister Fantastic. In the struggle Daredevil activates the "Demolo-gun" that Reed had set up on the roof, which weakens the Thing. Seeing the devastation below, Spider-man and Thor rush to the scene, arriving just as the Torch revives to rejoin his teammates. As Daredevil battles Mister Fantastic, Spider-man clashes with the Torch while Thor struggles with the Thing. The action continues next week.

Spider-man Comics Weekly #141

Here's another top shout for the Cover of the Week award, for me it just edges out this week's MWOM cover. It's a great design having the two Avengers facing an off-page Spider-man as they're spot-lighted by Spidey's Spider-signal. Keith Pollard penciled it and Duffy Vohland inked it, their signatures can be seen in the Spider-signal. Is it my Cover of the Week? It's close but there's another which I think is better. 

Spider-man “Vampire at large!”

Writer: Roy Thomas 

Artist: Gil Kane

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #102

Cover date November 1971

(Published in August 1971)

The six-armed Spider-man is caught between the Lizard and Morbius, the living vampire. With both monster foes fighting for their right to destroy the wall-crawler. However, during the fight, the Lizard is knocked into an electrical panel, and Morbius manages to bite him, but Spider-man fights him off before he can get away. To Spider-man's surprise, something in Morbius's bite has caused the Lizard to partially revert back to Curt Connors. 

Conners looses his right arm and a human faces appears all be it with scales of a reptile. The effect of the bite is only temporary, as Connors struggles to maintain his mind as the Lizard's evil persona fights for control, but there is enough of Conners mind remains and he agrees to help Spider-man find a cure for his many handed problem. The two of them  work together to try to find a cure for themselves and deduce that something in Morbius's blood could possibly cure them both. Working together they reach a conclusion  that an enzyme had acted as a catalyst, when Morbius's bite had affected the Lizards metabolism. Spider-man needs to combine the enzyme with the formula he had been working on so they begin to search for the vampire. Meanwhile, Morbius retires to an abandoned apartment and falls asleep while he reflects on the events that lead him to become a living vampire. Next week "the origin of Morbius!" 

Iron Man “Enter...the Demolisher!”

Writer: Archie Goodwin

Artist: Johnny Craig

Inker: Johnny Craig

Originally published in Iron Man #2

Cover date June 1968

(Published in February 1968)

Johnny Craig's cover from Iron Man issue 2 is repurposed as this week's second part opening splash page. The title from the cover is used as this week's story title with a credit box added with two catch-up boxes. After the symbolic opening that foreshadows this week's events Iron Man is attacked by the Demolisher. In an attempt to stop the killer robot the armoured Avenger dives down into the ocean with the robot. This doesn't shake off its attack, it blasts at Iron Man who fakes unconsciousness so that the Demolisher will take him to its master.

Meanwhile, Janice Cord has gone with Jasper Sitwell, who takes her to her father's, Drexel Cord, laboratory, a medieval castle. Sitwell breaks into the lab by cutting through the main door with a SHIELD issue laser ray that is disguised as a fountain pen. With bluster Jasper demands that Cord hand over the control of the Demolisher so that he can cease it's actions, but Drexel Cord activates the control rooms auto-destruct so they can't stop his creation by using the controls. Just then the Demolisher crashes in with Iron Man. Jasper makes an attempt to stop the robot by throwing a SHIELD thermo blast pellet at it. But that isn't enough to stop the Demolisher who is about to blast the SHIELD agent as it seems the auto-destruct destroyed something in the Demolisher robot itself causing it to attack anything in its way, even Cord's daughter. Luckily enough Iron Man is still conscious and finally defeats the robot by attacking the Demolisher's insides through an open plate on its back after Drexel Cord distracts the robot to save his daughter's life at the cost of his own. On that sad note, next issue sees "My friend, my foe...the freak!".

The Mighty Thor “This world renounced!”

 Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Mighty Thor #167

Cover date August 1969

(Published in June 1969)

Following last week's battle with Him where the Thunder God gave into the Warriors Madness, Thor is recalled to Asgard to face his father's punishment. Sif pleads Thor's case with Odin, because the Thunder God gave into the madness in order to save her. The All-Father refuses to grant Thor any leniency and tells all gathered that his son must pay a sacrifice for his crime. Balder offers to go to Earth and defend Midgard in the Thunder God's absence while Thor fulfils his penance. Balder leaves for the Bifrost Bridge. Odin comes to a decision over Thor's punishment, which is to sentence him to seek out Galactus and learn his secrets.

Jack Kirby is the King of the splendid splash page, especially these two godly pages, Thor comforting the Lady Sif under his father's watchful eye and Loki plotting some devious plan with Karnilla the Norn Queen. Karnilla looks sensational, an evil femme fatale always look sexy.

Meanwhile, Loki is once more in the company of Karnilla and the two are plotting once again against Asgard. Although the God of Mischief is at a loss to understand why Karnilla is wasting her time on trying to win Balder's affections. Haag enters and presents the enchanted doll of Balder to the two evil Asgardians. Loki grabs the doll and strikes it as hard as he can. On Earth Balder collapses just as he arrives on Earth. Meanwhile in Asgard, Thor is shown the ship designed to take him on his quest to find Galactus. Odin allows Thor to take a short leave of absence before the mission, so the God of Thunder return to Earth. Next week finds out who is "Exiled on Earth!"

Avengers Weekly #110

Arvell Jones pencilled this cover with a little help from John Romita Sr. who assisted him with the women's faces. The Grand Comics Database lists Mike Esposito or Frank Giacoia as the inkers of this piece. The design is very similar to Marie Severin's cover for the Avengers (US edition,) issue 73, which will be adapted for next week's British edition. The bottom right corner features Conan with a blonde woman who might have been Suwaan, a female supporting character from this week's barbarian's strip, but she was dark haired. Their image is seen in a red jewel from the strip held in the fingers of Skol Abdhur, this image is based on Gil Kane's cover from Conan the Barbarian issue 27, more on those characters up next. One thing I have to point out is the headline says "The exciting conclusion to the wildest Shang-Chi tale yet!" but in truth it wasn't concluded this week.

Conan the Barbarian “The blood of Bel-Hissar!”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: John Buscema

Inker: Ernie Chua

Originally published in Conan the Barbarian #27

Cover date June 1973

(Published in March 1973)

This week's Conan tale is freely adapted from the Robert E Howard story “The blood of Belshazzar!” which was originally published in the Oriental Stories volume 1 issue 6, an American pulp magazine published by Popular Fiction Publishing Company in the Autumn of 1931. The "hero" of the original piece was Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, a knight fighting in the Crusades. In a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith in November 1931 Howard wrote that he thought the story was in his own words "pretty rotten in spots, particularly towards the conclusion when I had to drag in so blasted much explanation." "The blood of Belshazzar!" was the second story Howard had published in Oriental Stories, the first, Hawks of Outremer earned in $120 while the Belshazzar earned him $115.

John Buscema's beautiful opening splash page sees Conan who had journeyed away from Makkalet and crossed the Zaporoska river southeast of the Vilayet sea when he hears a woman's scream for help. Racing towards the cry he comes across a Khitai woman who is being attacked by a mute Khitai man. Conan leaps to her rescue and fights the Khitai warrior, but the battle is interrupted by Yezdigerd's men, who after the Tarim War are spreading across Hyrkania, conquering all in their path. Conan jumps on to his horse, grabbing  the girl they flee, with the desert man riding behind him. The Turanian riders catch up just as Conan nears the fortress Bab-El-Shaithan. With luck the gates open to let them in, slamming shut behind them. Inside the fortress a horde of armed men greet Conan, who wisely follows his mute companion lead and surrenders to the greater numbered rescuers. Conan, the mute Khitai Turghol and Suwaan, who says she is Turghol's slave, are taken to a feast hall where they discovers that the outcasts and bandits are ruled by the outlaw Skol Abdhur, who has turned the fortress, Bab-El-Shaithan in a haven for bandits, who are divided in two factions, the Hyrkanian bandits under Khai Shaah and the non-Hyrkanian under Kadhra Mahmed. Amongst the bandits there are no women and Suwaan's presence ignites passions, as one dimwitted giant desires Suwaan, Conan defends her but it is Abdhur who fatally ends the skirmish. Abdhur offers Conan a seat so that he can answer all the Cimmerian's questions and for us those answers will have to wait till next week. 

Avengers Assemble

Michael Ivangelska from Manchester spotted the mistake in the Avengers #99 where Razor-Fist's broken sword arm moved from his right arm to his left. Andrew Baggott RFO, KOF, writing in claiming a No-Prize offered in Avengers #79 with another explanation of why Captain Marvel didn't fight against the Scarlet Centurion's Avengers. Captain Marvel, was a warrior of the Kree. sent to spy on Earth at that time and Rick Jones had nothing to do with him then. Warren Parker RFO, from the West Midlands writes that the letter from Avengers #98 telling of an Irishman possessing Conan's name. Later he bought a joke book on the Irish, in which one jokes had a Conan in it. The joke story goes, The Civic Guard was very anxious to discover where the poteen was being made, so he kept after Conan, who was known to carry out repairs to whiskey stills. "Come on, Conan." he pleaded. "Just tell me where it was you repaired the still." "I will, Guard Clancy," said Conan. "I will." "Where then? Tell me." "To tell you the living truth, Guard. I mended it where the hole was." Yeah, not really funny. Graham McKillop from Scotland considers that art comes in three degrees-good, bad or indifferent. To him Barry Smith is a good artist. His two favourite Savage Sword of Conan were issues 15 and 16, because he's a bit of a Micheal Moorcock freak!

The Avengers “The Sting of the Serpent”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Frank Giacoia

Inker: Sam Grainger

Originally published in The Avengers #73

Cover date February 1970

(Published in December 1969)

Like the Hulk story from this week's MWOM, the Avengers story jumps forward one issue and misses out "Did You Hear the One About Scorpio?" from the Avengers (US edition) #72, probably because that tale featured Captain Marvel and Rick Jones. Who would both be appearing in the Titans, the Captain in his own strip and in future issues joined by Rick Jones. Their appearances at this point would spoil continuity with those stories. Scorpio would also appear in Nick Fury, but at a much later point when the Agent of SHIELD appeared in the Captain Britain comic. This week's story had a fill-in penciler, Frank Giacoia, well known as a fantastic inker Giacoia wanted to try his hand at pencilling. That never took off as by his own admission he was too slow and meticulous. Also in this issue the fourth page of the story, page 18, was penciled by Herb Trimpe.

T'Challa returns from Wakanda to New York City believing little has changed in his adopted home. But things have started to turn insidious, the Sons of the Serpent have returned with a new brand of hatred as they start targeting prominent black people in the city. Montague Hale, an Afro-American advocate for civil rights survives an attack by the racist group. Hale later guests on Dan Dunn's talk show, which causes a public debate when the show's host Dunn, with his right-wing views clash with Hale. Also guest own that show is Monica Lynne, a black singer who prefers to entertain people rather than telling them what to believe. Later Hale tries to convince Lynne that her platform could be used to help the black cause. But she chooses to concentrate on her own career. The Sons of the Serpent pick Lynne as their next target. The Serpents activities attract the attention of the Avengers, who recount their previous encounter with the group to the Vision. Their first run-in with the Serpents was when they attacked Henry Pym's friend and work colleague Bill Foster, back in Avengers weekly #30. The Serpents' leader was unmasked as the Chinese delegate General Chen, who had planned on causing racist anarchy on the streets of America, in Avengers weekly #33. Monica Lynne returns home and is about to be shot by the Serpents when the Black Panther arrives like "jet-black lightning". Continued next week.

Master of Kung Fu “The way of the Tiger: A movement in blood”

Writer: Doug Moench

Artist: Keith Pollard

Inker: Sal Trapani

Originally published in Giant-size Master of Kung Fu #4

Cover date June 1975

(Published in March 1975)

This week's Master of Kung Fu fourth part opens with the second chapter of "Why a Tiger-Claw?!" storyline in which Shang-Chi recalls when he was ten years old and spied on his father's court to see for the first time Tiger-Claw. The warrior demanded that Fu Manchu make him a lodge master of the Si-Fan. To test his mantle Fu ordered three assassins to kill Tiger-Claw. Even at that age, Shang-Chi quickly saw that the three were outmatched, but Fu did not stop the conflict to save the assassins. who died at the Tiger-Claw's hands to become a lodge master.

Back in the present, Sir Denis Naylor Smith and Black Jack Tarr had found the truck that the thief's had stashed their get-away car. Shang-Chi and Hackstabber, with the robbers arrive to compare notes on the day's events. The police almost arrest Hackstabber, Shang-Chi vouches for him and Smith vouches for Shang-Chi. Hackstabber sneaks off in his taxi to where the robbers let slip they would meet with the rest of the gang. Shang-Chi, Sir Denis and Black Jack head for the same lumberyard in Brooklyn where the rendezvous will take place. When they arrive, Hackstabber has been captured and the money is gone again, but he knows it has gone to the Rockefeller Center. Shang-Chi and Rufus set off to intercept the money handover. While Rufus distracts the courier while Shang-Chi knocks him out. Tiger-Claw arrives to pick up the money and so does Fu Manchu's Si-Fan assassins, who have orders to kill the Tiger-Claw. Continued next week.  

It's that time of year again, when the days get shorter, the leafs fall from the trees and the weather get's colder, but all that pales into nothing with the joy of a home made firework display with a box of Standard fireworks on Bonfire Night. So as it nears November the fifth it's tradition there's an advert to promote the Firework Code. Stay safe kids and don't throw fireworks. This advert also appeared on the back of this week's Super-Heroes.

Dracula Lives #53

"Terror over the Towers of London!" is the title of this week's Dracula Lives cover, drawn by Ed Hannigan with inks by Mike Esposito. The American owner of the original art has listed it on ComicArtFan.com as "not for sale" and I wouldn't blame him either.

Dracula “A night for the living... ...a morning for the dead!”

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Gene Colan

Inker: Tom Palmer

Originally published in Tomb of Dracula #24

Cover date September 1974

(Published in June 1974)

Standing on Westminster bridge in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament, Frank Drake reflects with Rachel van Helsing about how three years ago he attempted to commit suicide on the very same bridge they now stand on. Still believing that Dracula is dead he wonders what to do with his life. Should he be relieved that Rachel and Taj save him all those years ago? Unknown to Drake and van Helsing, Dracula is alive and well searching the streets of London for another fresh victim.

Dracula's new familiar, Shiela Whittier, completely unaware of Dracula's true nature, waits for him in her manor estate. Elsewhere in London, Blade the vampire hunter returns to his apartment to find a vampire has somehow managed to break in and attempt to feed on his girlfriend, Saffron. The vampire holds a knife at Saffron's neck, Blade pretends to turn away but quickly swings round to throw a wooden knife into the vampire's heart. Shortly thereafter, they are visited by Trudy, a female friend of Saffron who works as a showgirl with her. Trudy needs to talk to Blade about an earlier night when in the audience Dracula had watched her performance. Dracula would seduce her and attempt to feed upon her. She manages to escape by holding a crucifix on the vampires forehead, causing him to blister and burn in pain. She flees the scene only to be stalked by Dracula in his bat form, the police refuse to help her, so the only other person she thinks could help her was Saffron's boyfriend, Blade.

This in-house advert for the Avengers weekly features a number of covers from the weekly, including the cover of Avengers weekly issue 106, featuring Goliath, Yellowjacket and the Vision, artwork by Keith Pollard (pencils,) and Duffy Vohland (inks,) Conan from the cover of Avengers weekly issue 95, by John Buscema (pencils,) and Dan Adkins (inks,) as well as Thor and Captain America from the cover of the Avengers weekly 105, artwork by Arvell Jones (pencils,) with Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito (inks). The Avengers and Conan now in one great exciting mag. The half seen comic at the bottom is of the Avengers weekly issue 96 with artwork by Keith Pollard (pencils,) and Dan Adkins (inks,). 

The Living Mummy “When strikes the Asp!”

Writer: Tony Isabella

Artist: Val Mayerik

Inker: Val Mayerik

Originally published in Supernatural Thrillers #11

Cover date February 1975

(Published in November 1974)

The cover of Supernatural Thrillers issues 11 by Frank Brunner, as signed, is repurposed as this second part opening splash page. The cover's title is moved to the right and enlarged, with a credit box and a group of catch-up boxes added. Asp and Olddan have sold the Scarab to Doctor Skarab at his Cairo hotel room. Skarab explains his ancestor's relationship with N'Kantu and how the Living Mummy was in some way connected to the Egyptology professor. 

Zephyr had arrived in Cairo, to find the Living Mummy in the mud and heal the creature's burns. When Olddan and Asp return to their room, they are confronted by Zephyr and their exit is blocked by the Living Mummy. Zephyr forces Asp to take the Mummy with him to retrieve the Ruby Scarab from Skarab. However, the Mummy's less than graceful gait causes enough noise when they enter Alexi Skarab's room through the window, awaking him from his sleep. He shoots the Asp in the arm, but his next bullet bounces off the Mummy, who starts to converse with N'Kantu in ancient Egyptian. Doctor Skarab learns of the Elementals's plot to obtain the Scarab and again take over Earth. The Asp how if the Mummy is under Zephyr's control why is he willing to help stop the Elementals. Skarab confirms that the Mummy isn't the only one on the human's side as Zephyr is also helping them. The only thing is that the Elementals have also deduced  that Zephyr has betrayed them in order to save Earth. Elementals suddenly appear before them with Zephyr and Olddan as their prisoners. Next week "the origin of the Elementals!"

Letters to the House of Dracula

It's a double page of letters to the House of Dracula this week and the first one up is from serial letter writer Jim Ivers from Dublin. He starts with reference to a very controversial message from Cryptic Correspondence #36, in which Mike Griggs criticises the efforts of Marv Wolfman and Ploog with Chua in Dracula. Jim thinks that Marv Wolfman is the best writer for Dracula. In contrast Conway handled the Werewolf series better than Wolfman. He is baffled by the lack of comic book greats from Britain. Besides Barry Smith and Paul Neary, there aren't any talented contributors. John Scott from London agrees with Dave Woodcock's suggestion from Dracula Lives #37 that Morbius the Living Vampire should feature in the weekly. Steven Dawson from County Durham says he's a close friend of The Frankenstein Monster, who told him that he was very upset about issue 34 of Dracula Lives, as on the back page of issue 33 there was a great picture of the Monster that said he would return in the next issue.He returned all right, but on the cover the headline read "Also starring WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and BROTHER VOODOO!". Another point Steven has is he doesn't like Val Mayerik's artwork on Frankenstein's Monster, he much prefers Mike Ploog. Personally for me they are both great and I have a lot of love for Mayerik's art.

Werewolf by Night “One wolf's cure...another's poison!”

Writer: Mike Friedrich

Artist: Don Perlin

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in Werewolf by Night #21

Cover date September 1974

(Published in June 1974)

First night of the full moon Jack Russell changes into the Werewolf and rips off the bars from his window to prowl the night. Elsewhere Lieutenant Hackett goes to Geraldo Kabal to find some answers about the mysterious ring he was given from Joshua Kane's estate. Kabal reveals that Kane's trunk and everything in it had originally belonged to the Mad Monk Aelfric. The only thing missing from it was a copy of the Darkhold. 

Kane suggested that Hackett should get one of the two rings from the trunk because it suited his nature. When Hackett learns that Jack took the other ring, he puts his on, transforms into a werewolf, killing Kabal, before he runs off to find the other ring's owner. Jack's neighbour Paul Coker uses magic to stop his curse that transforms him into a werewolf, but the effectiveness of the spell doesn't last long enough and the call of the wild from Jack's Werewolf is too much to resist. Hackett finds the two werewolf's and blocks them in a blind alley with his car. Using the werewolf ring he transforms into another werewolf and attacks Jack. Their fight could lead to a "death of a werewolf.!" next week. 

Planet of the Apes #53

Another Ron Wilson Planet of the Apes cover, that depicts an event based on the Escape from the Planet of the Apes story, although it shows three gorillas fleeing the authorities. It was three chimpanzees not gorillas, that were found by the authorities in the story and later only Cornelius and Zira are chased by the human police, but I get the idea. 

Planet of the Apes “Strangers in a stranger land”

Writer: Doug Moench

Artist: Rico Rival

Inker: Rico Rival

Originally published in Planet of the Apes (US) #13

Cover date October 1975

(Published in August 1975)

After testing the intelligence of the three ape astronauts the animal psychologist Doctor Lewis Dixon and Doctor Stephanie Branton are shocked that the female chimpanzee speaks, to tell them that "they loathe and detest bananas". The humans retreat from the zoo infirmary cell, as Doctor Milo schools Zira for breaking their silence, when they had decided to remain quiet while they learn more about this strange world of humans. 

 As the chimpanzees argue amongst themselves the gorilla in the neighbouring cage gets agitated, as Doctor Milo moves in range of the primate's reach. It grabs the chimpanzee by the neck, squeezing the life out of him. Later Doctor Dixon apologises for the death of their friend. At first his discussions with Zira bring out a frosty side of the female ape, but later her cold front melts. Elsewhere a meeting of officials discuss the talking apes and they decide to question the chimpanzees in person. News of the talking apes breaks out around the world. The apes are lead to the congressional meeting in chains to face their "judgement day" next week. 

Apes Forum 

David Layton from Gwent lists the Planet of the Apes merchandise in his town, which include the movies at his Cinema, the US version of POTA monthly, the novel of "Planet of The Apes. authorised edition" by Brown Watson, five action figures of Cornelius, Zira, Zaius, Julius and Taylor, a set of POTA series cards and every issue of the weekly. Glen Paterson from Warwickshire is mad keen on Marvel mags especially the Planet of the Apes, with Mike Ploog being his favourite artist. Glen was unhappy when he missed a few Planet of The Apes mags, but he's since placed a regular order. Don Scully from London is a self confessed Planet of the Apes maniac who has been a devotee since the initiation of the splendid mag back in October and has accumulated a mini library of apes data after being the proud possessor of every issue of the weekly including two copies of number one and no less than six Planet of the Apes novels. Don still scours the bookstalls for more comics, books and movies, because he finds the concept behind the Planet of the Apes intriguing in that it has been probed from almost every justifiable angle and yet still survives as a work of art.

The people who are the Planet of the Apes. Part 1

This text article is written by Jim Whitmore for the Marvel/Curtis magazine Planet of the Apes magazine issue 12, cover dated September 1975, published July 1975. It was part one of a pair of interviews with actor Paula Crist who was an actress and stuntwoman and William Blake, a makeup artist and actor, who respectively play Doctor Zira and Doctor Cornelius, as part of a touring company that engaged in promoting the Planet of the Apes movie franchise with their 'Zira and Cornelius' live show performances in the middle 1970s. The interview gives details of how the pair got to create the show and took it on the road. There are some articles that I quite like and there are those that I'd flick past without reading, this is one of them. I'd rather have had a comic strip instead.

“Kick the can”

Writer: Bruce Jones

Artist: Bruce Jones

Inker: Bruce Jones

Originally published in Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #4

Cover date July 1975

(Published in April 1975)

Bruce Jones does an excellent job with this short sci-fi tale. In it an unnamed narrator is hiding from an aggressive enemy on an alien world. His aim is to get back to his ship before he gets killed. As he's negotiating the terrain he recalls how as a kid he played a similar game of "kick the can", where the price was the same, a girl called Ronnie. His opponent on this strange world was also his childhood friend and rival from that time, Rhetic. 

As children Rhetic would win the "kick the can", which to British readers is known as hide and seek and the prize at the time would be a kiss from Ronnie. Rhetic and Ronnie's relationship would grow, leaving the narrator out as a spare wheel. Heartbroken he wonders through life eventually becoming a guide for tourists on planet safaris. Ronnie had called him in tears, her relationship with Rhetic had soured and she arranged to meet him. The narrator had waited but the girl never turned up. Later his boss had introduced him to his next clients, Rhetic and Ronnie. They travelled to this strange planet. During a quiet moment he managed to get Ronnie alone to find out if she was ok. She broke down and opened up about the details of her life. The narrator told her he would sort out her problem with a plan that would mean Rhetic would never touch her again. But the fear filled her eyes and she insisted that she couldn't go through with it as she loved him, even after all the violence that the story hinted at, she would die without him. The tables were turned and its the narrator who becomes the hunted. Thinking that Rhetic was sneaking up on him he shoots, hitting and killing Ronnie. With grief he holds her in his arms as Rhetic takes aim with his rifle. The gun jams and as both men's air supply begins to run out they race back to the safety of the ship with Rhetic getting a head start. Without the childhood tactics of "kick the can" it becomes a simple running race that the fitter narrator wins. At the ship he watches his rival suffocate and later with a fresh air supply the narrator recovers Ronnie's body, knowing that the journey to his home planet, where he grew up and fell in love with her would be a long one.

The Super-heroes #34

Keith Pollard drew this Giant-Man versus the Human Top cover with Don Vaughn applying the inks. It's quite an interesting piece of art even though the subject characters are a bit bland. The X-Men also feature as a line of floating heads, Pollard doesn't bother with the Cat though. 

Giant-Man and the Wasp “The Human Top triumphs!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #50

Cover date December 1963

(Published in September 1963)

The Jack Kirby cover from Tales to Astonish issue 50 is used as this week's second part opening splash page, with all the usual extras added. With only eleven of this week's twenty-two strips coming from the sixties, British readers have been given the modernest strips possible at that time. The majority of those sixties strips come from the late sixties, with only three coming from around the mid sixties. This one is the oldest and by far the poorest. I'll let the quality go a little as Stan and Jack, even though both would be very experienced at the time, were finding their feet in the new comic universe that they were building. But as a reader it does feel very dated compared to the rest.

When the Human Top steals the payroll from Danly's Department store Giant-Man and the Wasp spring their trap. However the Human Top is too fast for them. Even after the Wasp instructs an army of ants to chew through the pavement, Giant-Man is still incapable of capturing the villain due to his large size becoming an hinderance and his opponent's fast speed loses Giant-Man through the subway. The next day the Top gloats over his victory against Giant-Man. Meanwhile, Giant-Man puts himself through a barrage of physical and chemical tests to increase his speed and agility to improve his chances of capturing the Human Top. He feels more confident, but he is unaware that the Wasp had really put his device on at half-speed. Janet doesn't have the heart to tell him. While Giant-Man continues to prepare for his next battle, the Human Top himself is stalking through the city with a bundle of dynamite. Come back next week for an explosive battle.

Communications Room

Mike Mittelstadt's letter in Super-Heroes #17 on the subject of Fantastic and the X-Men, has prompted Ray Pinder FRO, QNS from Hertfordshire to write in to discuss the young mutants. He goes into great detail about the X-Men's time in the Power Comics Fantastic, listing most of their appearances between issue one and issue 66. He tells the readers that there is a fantastic group of artists to come to the X-Men's strip, particularly Jim Steranko, Barry Windsor-Smith, Neal Adams and Sal Buscema. Matthew Hastings from Cornwall started to buy Marvel comics on the 8th of June 1974 and his favourites are the X-Men. Steven May from Neasden also writes in about Mike Mittelstadt's letter where he bigs up future X-Men classics from Roy Thomas and Neal Adams, taking the opposite opinion from Mike who described them as having "flashy art" and a story that was far too "heavy and literary!" Steven thinks that those Adams/Thomas mags are classics. ranking alongside the Steranko "SHIELD" and "Captain America"', the Thomas/Colan "Doctor Strange" and the Lee/Buscema "Silver Surfer" as the truly great comics of the sixties.

The Cat “Up above the world so high!”

 Writer: Linda Fite

Artist: Marie Severin 

Inker: Jin Mooney

Originally published in The Cat #2

Cover date January 1973

(Published in October 1972)

The cover of The Cat issue 2 by John Romita Sr. is repurposed as this week's second part opening splash page with a new title and credit box added. However that credit box states that Jim Mooney is the artist, which is only half true, as he was the inker that embellished Marie Severin's pencils. The next day Greer arrives at the hospital where she meets Doctor Tumulo's attorney, Ben Richards and the doctor's nephew, Arthur Tumulo. While Arthur excuses himself, the attorney tells Greer he'd never heard the doctor mention a nephew. In fact Greer had been named her sole beneficiary. 

While they speak, Doctor Tumulo is abducted. Greer jumps in her convertible to follow them, but loses them in the warehouse district. Inside one of the buildings Arthur Tumulo, who in reality is Mr. Broussard orders his men to kidnap Greer too. At gunpoint she is taken to meet one of Daredevil's rogues gallery, the Owl. Greer demands to know what's going on. The Owl explains he has been gathering the wisdom of businessmen, artists, and scientists on tape for his own use. Doctor Tumulo's mind was about to join the others. One of the Owl's henchmen escorts Greer out. She is knocked unconscious and locked in a closet. When she awakes, she put on the Cat uniform and escapes by using her super sensitivity to pick the lock. Then she knocks out a goon and takes her mentor back to the ambulance. While attempting to drive away, the Owl and his henchmen emerge to stop her. She pulls a fire alarm to bring help, then battles the villains. When the fire engine arrives, with a police car in support, the Owl retreated to his building. He found Broussard attempting to feed the contents of the tapes into his own brain. The attempt to download all the information at once overloaded Broussard's mind, leaving him comatose. The Owl heads to the rooftop heliport, but the Cat was waiting for him. He escapes by leaping over the edge. The Cat was surprised to see him fly away, leaving her to deal with Doctor Tumulo and the police.

The X-Men “The challenge of the Mimic!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Werner Roth

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in The X-Men #19

Cover date April 1966

(Published in February 1966)

Werner Roth and Dick Ayers' cover from the X-Men issue 19 is used as this week's second part conclusion. With credits, a new story title and the smallest of catch-up boxes added. After last week's lukewarm reception Calvin realises that the X-Men don't trust him. While he changes upstairs, the Professor tells the X-Men to change into their costumes and prepare for an attack as he suspects that Rankin is up to no good. Calvin returns now calling himself Mimic, with intention of defeating the group using their own powers. 

Mimic takes on the X-Men defeating each member with combinations of their own abilities. With Marvel girl as his hostage the Mimic flees in a car. With only Marvel Girl's telekinetic power remaining he takes Jean to an abandoned mine, hidden inside living space and laboratory. There he tells Jean his startling origin. His father was a scientist and one day Calvin accidentally knocked over some chemicals his father was working on that covered him in a strange gas. At first he was OK but soon realised that the exposure to the chemicals had changed him. He somehow developed skills of those around him. School friend started to shun him due to his strange behaviour. Calvin's father relocated them to an abandoned mine in the hopes of protecting his son against the hatred of others. He began working on a way to make his son's powers permanent. The experiments required a heavy use of power. The locals learned about the power drain and converged on the cave in a mob. Warned of their coming by his alarm system, Calvin's father attempted to bar their attack by sealing the cave at the cost of his own life. Jean deduces that Mimic intends to use the X-Men's powers in order to clear the rubble and free the machine that could make Mimic unbeatable. Mimic detects the arrival of the X-Men when Angel's wings begin to sprout. Using his returning optic blast he clears through the debris. The X-Men catch up, but the Mimic fights them off, Calvin grabs the Professor to keep the X-Men at bay while he uses his father’s machine. However, instead of making his mimicking powers permanent, the device actually strips him of this ability. The machine overloads. The Professor and Rankin are carried to safety before it explodes, destroying the entire lab. The Professor had realise that Calvin's father had planned that the machine would remove his son powers so he would have a normal life, so he removes all memory of his identity as Mimic to give him a fresh new start.

Last week the advert to promote the 1976 Annuals appeared in colour on the back page of most of the weeklies, sometimes the Thing would tell readers that an order form could be found on page ten, but in some cases this was wrong. That colour advert also appeared on Dracula Lives and Planet of the Apes this week, with the incorrect page listed. The original version without the Thing's word balloon appeared on the back page of this week's MWOM and Spider-man Comics weekly. A black and white version appeared in the Avengers weekly with the Thing directing readers to page fourteen and here in the Super-Heroes readers were directed to page thirty-four, where they would not only find an Annual order form but also another in-house advert for the newest comic the Titans. Now's the perfect time to take a gander at the tremendous treat that the mighty men of Marvel have named the Titans.  

The Titans #1

Keith Pollard creates his third British Marvel comics cover this week with this landmark piece. Frank Giacoia inked it. The images of Captain America and Namor on the right hand column are taken from the July pin-up drawn by John Romita Sr. from The Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar from 1976 and the cover of Sub-Mariner issue 63, by John Romita Sr. (pencils,) and Joe Sinnott (inks,) cover dated July 1973, published April 1973. This first issue sets up how a landscape cover should be drawn, keeping the superstar, Captain America, front and centre and surrounding him by very cool characters with strips that will, may be in a few issues time, blossom into some great strips by fantastic artists and writers. All that's needed is time.

The promotions for the new weekly read that it would feature a double landscape page centre spread in each issue, the first it didn't have one but instead boasted a giant-sized colour poster, which lets be honest was so much better. Originally it was created for the 1975 Marvel Convention that was held over the weekend of the 22rd of March to the 24th of March at the Hotel Commodore on Park Avenue and 42rd street, New York. This gorgeous 15.8×18.4 inch poster was pencilled by John Buscema and inked by Joe Sinnott. I've nicked the image from Rusty Staples himself, sorry Michael, who digitally cleaned up the scan to remove the folds, creases, and thumb-tack holes, mainly because my second hand copy of issue one no longer contained the free poster. Please check out Michael's blog, he's got some lovely images of the original Titans poster, Buscema's pencils and Sinnott's inks and the original convention poster. They truly are gorgeous. Check out his blog anyway it's always brilliant.  

The Inhumans “The Inhumans!”

Writer: Jack Kirby

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Chick Stone

Originally published in Amazing Adventures Volume 2 #1

Cover date August 1970

(Published in May 1970)

The first story in this new mag is Jack Kirby's first, (in the Marvel super-hero age of comics anyway,) that Jack was given full credit as writer and artist, without Stan Lee adding his name to it. Although if you look at the credits Stan's name is mentioned first as editor. It was from Amazing Adventures volume two, where the Inhumans shared the title with the Black Widow, as Marvel stretched out it's output when a deal with the distributor allowed Marvel a bigger share of the newsstand. It came just before Kirby left for DC as he became unhappy with the way he had been treated at Marvel. It's well documented that during that period his relationship with Lee had become tense and was failing.

The offer of his own strip to work on without interference was dangled but I wonder at only ten pages in a comic that was really a "tryout" might have felt a little disrespectful. I think Jack was at his peak, but soon he would move to DC, where, in my opinion he churned out rehashes of his greatest hits from his Marvel days. Many would disagree with me and I'll accept their comments. But for me at this period other artists produced better work, John Romita Sr., John and Sal Buscema to name just three. When Jack returned to the Marvel fold he did some good stuff, but to me it was a nostalgia tour. Anyway in this strip the Great Refuge is nearly discovered by a platoon of Chinese soldiers but the Inhuman Royal family frighten them away. Later a missile is fired at the Refuge but Black Bolt deflects it away. We discover that a second is fired by Maximus who is in exile with a group of evil Inhumans, who were last seen in the Silver Surfer strip from the Super-Heroes #16. Which was also drawn by Kirby and in its way a prequel to this plot. Again the missile is destroyed by Black Bolt but when the wreckage is searched through a shard of metal with a "Made in the USA" and a "Four" symbol on it is found, leading Black Bolt to declare war on the Fantastic Four. Next week "Friend against friend!"

Captain America “The origin of Captain America!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #63

Cover date March 1965

(Published in December 1964)

My taste might have wondered away from Jack Kirby, but still to me at his best he will always be the King, even if other artists are more to my liking. Here's one of his best stories, even though it's a retelling of Captain America's origin it's still a bench mark strip. So much so that even Roger Stern and John Byrne virtually copied it panel for panel in their version seen in "The Living Legend" that was published in Captain America #255, cover dated March 1981, published December 1980 and reprinted in the Marvel UK, Captain America Summer Special in the summer of 1981. 

It's the retelling of Captain America's origins from Captain America Comics #1, cover dated March 1941, published December 1940, however due to the Comics Code, several particulars from the original story have been omitted or changed. One case in point is when Doctor Erskine injected the Super-Soldier Serum into Steve Rogers' body, however here Steve drinks an oral form of the formula. In the 1940's Steve Rogers was rejected from military service due of his frail body. However he is chosen for a top secret project to create the perfect soldier. Given a formula by Doctor Erskine he is transformed into a super-soldier. Erskine is killed by a Nazi spy, who in turn is killed when he flees into a machine that explodes. As Captain America he would bust up Nazi spy rings, but in his civilian guise he'd pretend to be a bumbling soldier under the command of Sergeant Duffy and became the mentor for his units mascot Bucky Barnes. Bucky would stumble upon Steve's secret identity. He would convince Cap to let him become his sidekick. Their first mission together would be to break up some Nazi's sneaking into the country by using the Nazi's own explosives to destroy the submarine they arrived in.

Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD “The man for the job!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Strange Tales #135

Cover date August 1965

(Published in May 1965)

Colonel Nick Fury reports to the Pentagon where Life Model Decoys are cloned from him. Full of unanswered questions he is then escorted to the street where the clones have been positioned to protect Fury from hidden assassins. The LMDs are assassinated and Fury is shoved into a car. The car is attacked from above by a plane that drops a fire bomb on the road, but the car coasts through the flames without and damage, the driver tells Fury that the sports car is made out of the same material as the outer hull of a space capsule. 

The plane returns for another attack but this time it is thwarted by two sidewinder missiles, fired from the sports car boot hit the plane blasting it to pieces. The driver tells Colonel Fury that he works for an organisation called the Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division, or SHIELD for short. Suddenly the wheels on the Porsche 904 that they are driving in swing outwards and the car rises into the air as each wheel houses a "Mach-pressure fan" and they continue their journey through the sky. Fury is told that the assassins sent to kill him were from a dangerous group of fanatics known as HYDRA, a rival group whose objective is the complete and unchallenged mastery of the world. Fury's escape is watch by an agent of Hydra who reports back to his superior, who then has to daunting privilege of telling their master, the Supreme Hydra that the mission to capture Nick Fury has failed. The penalty for failure is he must defeat his replacement in combat on "the pendulum of doom!" 

The return of the bombastic Bullpens!

The new weekly welcomes the return of the Bullpen page which has been absent for quite a while. The majority of the items deal with the people behind the British mags. Co-Editors Duffy Vohland and John David Warner are the two guys who run around trying to get the weeklies co-ordinated and out to the UK before the printer's deadline. Another member of the Bullpen is Howard Bender, who does loads of tasks behind the scenes, like a sort of a one-man production team. Howard's main job is to do all of the lettering corrections that John and Duff find in the process of proof-reading the books each week! The fourth crew member on the list at the American end is Mike Esposito, a name familiar as one of Marvel's top inkers as seen in issues of SMCW and Dracula Lives, but he's also the one responsible for doing all the art corrections on these mags. More "Behind-the-Scenes" Bullpeners will be revealed in future issues. The second to last item is a big promotion for the new Titans comic telling readers how much of a bargain it is when you get the fantastic adventures of Captain America, the Inhumans, the Sub-Mariner, Captain Marvel and Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, which is twice the amount of action and excitement for just nine pence.

The Sub-Mariner “The start of the quest!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Gene Colan

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #70

Cover date August 1965

(Published in May 1965)

This tale actually follows on from the events in the Daredevil story seen in MWOM #76. Returning to Atlantis Namor is stopped by Lady Dorma, who warns him that Warlord Krang has seized his throne of Atlantis. Angered at the news he rejects her, she calls the guards, who capture Namor. She hopes that seeing Krang on his throne will make him give up his royal status and finally marry her. Krang gloats at Namor's loss of power and orders the fallen prince to be locked in the dungeons. 

Namor hopes to seek out Neptune's Trident so that he may rightfully regain the throne of Atlantis, recounting how long ago Neptune ruled over Atlantis and had hid the trident someplace under the oceans. Only the one truly worthy might reclaim it by finding the trident. Consumed with guilt, Dorma frees him from his cell so that Namor can begin his quest to find the trident. Dorma watches as the Prince swims away only to be suddenly intruded upon by Krang, who gloats that this is exactly what he had planned all along, so that Namor would be destroyed while trying to find Neptune's trident. Namor heads to the location of the first clue, which is defended by a giant killer squid. Spotting a shell that has Neptune's mark on it, Namor attempts to battle the squid to slip past the monster to grab the shell. But he isn't fast enough as the squid approaches. Continued next week!

Captain Marvel “The mark of the Metazoid”

Writer: Arnold Drake

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: John Tartaglione

Originally published in Captain Marvel #5

Cover date September 1968

(Published in June 1968)

This story follows on from Captain Marvel's adventure seen in last week's Planet of the Apes. Aboard a Kree vessel Yon-Rogg places Mar-Vell on trial for being "Un-Kree" and allowing the Sub-Mariner to prevent the people of Earth from being infected with bacteria. After much consideration, Ronan the Accuser decides to judge Mar-Vell based on his future actions in being able to carry out his mission. He orders Mar-Vell to kill Jeremy Logan the one man who might reveal Mar-Vell's identity. The Captain suggests that killing Logan would attract too much unwanted attention, erasing his memory would work better to which Ronan agrees.

Back on Earth, Communist agents are plotting to capture Walter Lawson by sending their latest super-powered agent the Metazoid, a mutated being with the metabolism of 50 men. Returning to the Cape Mar-Vell assumes his identity as Lawson, he has to deflect questions from the suspicious Carol Danvers about "Lawson's" activities. Then traveling to Logan's hospital Mar-Vell is attacked by the Metazoid before he can erase Logan's memories. Changing into his Kree armour, Mar-Vell battles the creature. His physical might and Uni-Beam prove useless against the Metazoid, Mar-Vell is forced to expose the Metazoid to an x-ray machine which proves to be lethal to the creature. Using a Kree memory eraser on Logan his mission is completed but the doctors spot him as he quickly flees.

These two pages of in-house adverts showcase the variety of British Marvel mags before you include the Titans weekly. The covers featured are of the Super-Heroes #32, from two week's ago, Spider-man Comics Weekly #145, from four weeks time, the Mighty World of Marvel #162, from two week's time, Planet of the Apes #52 from last week, Dracula Lives #54, from next week's issue and the Avengers weekly #109, an unused cover that features Kang attacking the Avengers as the Black Knight charges in to save them. That cover was drawn by Arvell Jones. I've traced the original pencil and ink art to Jeff Jaworski. The final in-house ad has news of a competition in next week's Titans of a chance to be a great artist and win one of two first prizes of £50 or one of a hundred consolation gifts. To find out what that is all about come back next week for more stuff and nonsense. I can't lie, this week's been a bit of a slog with seven weeklies, I need to go and have a lie down with a copy of a good Fantastic Four comic. But never fear I'll be back next week. (I hope,) Till then... 

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.