This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at the Marvel publications from January of 1975, excluding reprints.
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #20 (January 1975)
Title: Batroc and Other Assassins
Villains: Batroc and the Cult of Kara-Kai
Comment: Iron Fist got well and truly integrated into the Marvel Comics universe with this battle against Captain America’s frequent supervillain Batroc the Leaper.
Synopsis: It’s a day after the previous issue. Iron Fist is involved in another battle against four or five members of the Cult of Kara-Kai who have come to try killing Professor Wing yet again so they can steal The Book of Many Things. That mystic tome includes arcane information about how to destroy the enchanted city of K’un-Lun. Our hero defeats all the cultists.
Iron Fist grows annoyed with the Professor’s flippant attitude toward the murder attempts and informs Colleen about how her father claims the Cult has tried to kill him over 40 times in the years since he started trying to translate The Book of Many Things. Colleen tells her father that she has agreed to guard him alone while her partner Misty Knight runs their business herself for a while longer. Continue reading
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam.
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #39 (February 1948) 
THE AVENGERS Vol 1 #119 (January 1974) 
The crazed, uncomprehending Loki is kept in custody at Avengers Mansion because this is set during a period when Odin had forbidden him to return to Asgard under any circumstances. Time passes, and at one point the Black Panther pursues with Mantis his wish to learn some of her other-worldly martial arts. T’Challa first got the idea when he saw how well 
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam. 
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #33 (February 1947) 
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW Vol 1 #95 (January 1973) 
When the Man-Bull begins rampaging through Frisco in order to flush out our hero, the Black Widow and Daredevil swing into action against him. Eventually the villain renders Daredevil unconscious, leaving the Black Widow alone against him for the cliffhanger ending. 
ADVENTURE COMICS VOL 1 #352 (January 1967) 
The Fatal Five are Tharok, a cyborg whose cybernetic brain makes him more intelligent than Brainiac 5; Validus, a huge purple monstrosity whose insanity drives it to perpetual violence; the Emerald Empress, evil ruler of an entire planet whose populace recently won a war to overthrow her; the Persuader, a killer and plunderer whose armor and Atomic Axe make him unstoppable; and Mano, a mutant whose hand wields energies so powerful that the hand destroyed his entire home planet. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #104 (January 1972) 
Back to the story, Spider-Man is saved from the quicksand by the timely arrival of 
LEGION OF SUPERHEROES (Superboy starring the …) Vol 1 #203 (August 1974) 
Eventually, Dream Girl has a dream foretelling an imminent attack by Validus – the huge, mindless monster who is strong enough to take on entire teams of Legionnaires at once. Because Validus is usually harmless unless controlled psychically by its fellow Fatal Five member Tharok, the Legion makes sure that the cyborg Tharok is still safely incarcerated at Space Prison Complex X33. 
When Validus ultimately attacks Legion headquarters in future Metropolis, he is routing the heroes while withstanding all their counterattacks. Invisible Kid at first seems to have abandoned his post to dally with Myla but it turns out he actually solved the problem at hand. 
AVENGERS Vol 1 #84 (January 1971) 
While searching for the Well at the Center of Time, the only safe place to hide the Ebony Blade, the Black Knight is captured by Arkon and his new consort – 
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam. Years ago, I covered the early years of the JSA, from their first appearance in 
ALL-STAR COMICS Vol 1 #28 (April 1946) 
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