January 11th, 1978 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Nothing too exciting seemed to be happening in the world, in this week of forty years ago. I shall, therefore, get stuck straight into looking at the activities of the comics that were about to be removed from the newsagents just as that week was departing.

The Hulk is still battling against the nightmarish horror of the Quintronic Man. A fight that, in all honesty, should have lasted barely more than two panels.

Then again, it'd help if the Hulk ever learnt to hold his breath.

It did always seem strange that he could speak underwater and survive happily in the vacuum of space but he was always clobbered by gas.

Elsewhere, despite the claims on the cover, I have reason to believe that Daredevil isn't up against a villain called the Night-Stalker but is, instead, battling the Blue Talon and is in danger of having his secret identity revealed by an intrepid reporter.

I detect that we're about to get one of those stories where he gets the Black Panther to stand in for him, so that Matt Murdock and Daredevil can be seen in the same place at the same time.

Captain Marvel, meanwhile, attempts to free Rick Jones from the Zone of Negativity. I suspect the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building portal may provide the answer to the problem.

Not satisfied with that, Marv also has to tangle with the Sentry who, if memory serves me well, is causing trouble in Mexico, after having been possessed by the mind of someone who's either a rebel, a farmer or a dictator. Possibly, he's all three. I forget.

Isn't it around this time that Doctor Minerva first shows up?

It's the Sub-Mariner's last issue in the strip, as Nebulon reveals his true form.

Didn't he turn out to be some sort of giant space mollusc? I must confess I prefer him in his usual guise.

From what I can make out, it would seem the cunning plan to reunite Reed and Sue by getting the Sub-Mariner involved has backfired spectacularly and that she and he are now preparing to launch his annual war on humanity.

And they thought they had it bad with the Frightful Four showing up.

Not content with taking over Morbius, in order to force him to fight Spider-Man, now the emphatic Empathoid is taking over Spider-Man to make him battle Morbius.

In my experience, you don't really need to force either of them to fight the other, which makes me wonder just why the Empathoid is going to all that trouble.

Come to think of it, you don't really need to do anything to make Spider-Man fight anyone. He'll happily launch into a punch-up with anybody he meets.