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Visions of Death!

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THE UNCANNY X-MEN — Issue no. 115, August 1978 / The bad guy at the start of this book is Sauron the dinosaur man (he looks like a pterosaur). On top of being a dinosaur man, Sauron can drain the life force of humans and other animals, and he can bend the will of people just by looking into their eyes. And if all of that isn’t enough, Sauron is a Jekyll-and-Hyde type. His alter ego, Karl Lykos, is a good guy. Sauron and the rest of the X-Men are hanging out in the Savage Land, Marvel’s lost-world-with-dinosaurs hidden in Antarctica. Fans of Marvel comics might know that you can’t spend much time in the Savage Land without running into Ka-Zar the jungle guy and his awesome saber-toothed tiger Zabu. Book: The Uncanny X-Men Issue No.: 115 Published: August 15, 1978 Title: “Visions of Death!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Digital scan The bad guy at the start of this book is Sauron the dinosaur man (he looks like a pterosaur). On top of being a dinosaur man, Sauron ca
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The Thing in the Crypt!

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CONAN THE BARBARIAN — Issue no. 92, August 1978 / A problem with reading all of the Marvel comic books from 1978 is that, after a few hundred books, I sometimes forget which books I’ve read. When I saw the cover of this issue, hyping “The Thing in the Crypt” and featuring an illustration of Conan fighting a giant skeleton, I was thinking, “didn’t I read this one already?” I checked my Marvel Time Warp spreadsheet (like I said, it’s a big reading list I’m keeping up with) and did a search of my old articles and didn’t find any specific listing for “thing in the crypt.” But I did find “Cavern of the Giant-Kings,” and... Book: Conan the Barbarian Issue No.: 92 Published: August 15, 1978 Title: “The Thing in the Crypt!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original paper copy A problem with reading all of the Marvel comic books from 1978 is that, after a few hundred books, I sometimes forget which books I’ve read. When I saw the cover of this issue, hyping “The Thing in
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This Deadly Gauntlet!

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CAPTAIN AMERICA — Issue no. 227, August 1978 / Sometimes the setup is better than the payoff. And that’s OK! The setup here, established in the previous issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, is that the Red Skull (he’s a Nazi super-villain who has been hounding Captain America since the Second World War) has somehow turned all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents aboard a helicarrier into an army of Red Skulls (or at least stooges who look like the original Red Skull). That is admittedly a fun setup. Book: Captain America Issue No.: 227 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “This Deadly Gauntlet!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original paper copy Sometimes the setup is better than the payoff. And that’s OK! The setup here, established in the previous issue of Captain America , is that the Red Skull (he’s a Nazi super-villain who has been hounding Captain America since the Second World War) has somehow turned all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents aboard a helicarrier into an army of Red Skulls
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Chaos Is — the Chameleon!

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THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN — Issue no. 186, August 1978 / One of the fun things about reading all the comic books Marvel published in 1978, basically in order, is being in on the continuity in-jokes. If you’re reading HOWARD THE DUCK and there’s an editor’s note that refers to the (then) current issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, you’ve either read that issue of CAP, or you will read it soon. So imagine my surprise when an editor’s note in this issue of Amazing Spider-Man mentioned “MAYHEM IN MANHATTAN… the Spidey novel.” I was vaguely aware there was a Spider-Man novel published in the 1970s, but I didn’t know it came out in 1978. And I certainly didn’t know it was an in-continuity story! All that is to say, my reading of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN no. 186 was interrupted by me going out to eBay to look for an affordable copy of a 45-year-old Spider-Man paperback. Book: The Amazing Spider-Man Issue No.: 186 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “Chaos Is — the Chameleon!” Cover Price:
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Alice in Wonderland

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MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS — Issue no. 35, August 1978 / Welcome to another post about another issue of TALES FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN! Actually, this is a post about issue no. 35 of MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS. But any time I see a new movie or book about Robin Hood or King Arthur or whatever, I imagine somebody with a booming announcer voice saying “TALES FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN!” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Disney basically built a whole film catalog making animated movies about famous public domain characters. And I suspect this Marvel adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND owes a little to Disney’s 1951 ALICE film. But just a little — nothing that Disney could sue Marvel over, of course. (Disney wouldn’t have any reason to sue Marvel now since they’re part of the same mega-corporation. That wasn’t the case in 1978, though.) Book: Marvel Classics Comics Issue No.: 35 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “Alice in Wonderland” Cover Pr
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The Silver Surfer

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THE SILVER SURFER Graphic Novel — August 1978 / When I first started MARVEL TIME WARP, my approach was to just read the comic books and not do any additional research. So if there was some context that wasn’t in the books themselves, I wouldn’t know about it. This approach went by the wayside pretty quickly, probably when I started trying to figure out how “real” the stuntman character the Human Fly was. I realized that, aside from having fun reading fun comic books, MARVEL TIME WARP was an opportunity for me to do a deep-ish dive into a very specific period of comic book history. And that’s its own kind of fun. Book: The Silver Surfer Graphic Novel Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “The Silver Surfer” Cover Price: $4.95 Format: Digital scan When I first started Marvel Time Warp , my approach was to just read the comic books and not do any additional research. So if there was some context that wasn’t in the books themselves, I wouldn’t know about it. This a
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The Business Typhoon!

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YOGI BEAR — Issue no. 7, August 1978 / At this point I’ve covered several of Marvel’s licensed Hanna-Barbera comics of the late 1970s. And I think I might have been approaching these books unfairly. Since the Hanna-Barbera characters (including Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, and Yogi Bear, the star of this book) originated in the TV animation world, I’ve been comparing the comic books to the cartoons. And I do have a soft spot for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, especially SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU! and JONNY QUEST. (Young Mister Quest, unfortunately, didn’t have a Marvel comic book.) But it probably makes more sense to compare these books to other comics based on cartoon characters. Book: Yogi Bear Issue No.: 7 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “The Business Typhoon!” (plus another story) Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Digital scan At this point I’ve covered several of Marvel’s licensed Hanna-Barbera comics of the late 1970s. And I think I might have been approaching thes
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