This weekend’s escapist, lighthearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at all the Marvel Comics publications for January of 1972, excluding reprints.
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #104 (January 1972)
Title: The Beauty and the Brute
Villains: Kraven the Hunter and Gog
Synopsis: This issue picks up from the previous issue’s cliffhanger ending – Spider-Man is sinking in quicksand in the hidden Antarctic realm called the Savage Land.
NOTE: Introduced in X-Men #10, the Savage Land was a “lost world” in Antarctica. Geothermal heat kept the place a tropical rainforest year-round, and the Savage Land was home to countless species of dinosaurs, primitive humans and monstrous creatures. The U.N. looked after the Savage Land to preserve it.
Vibranium was plentiful in the Savage Land and it was depicted there even before its presence was mentioned in Wakanda.
Back to the story, Spider-Man is saved from the quicksand by the timely arrival of Ka-Zar, the blonde Tarzan-like hero of the Savage Land, and his sabretooth tiger companion Zabu. Soon, Spider-Man, Ka-Zar and Zabu are attacked by Kraven the Hunter and his enormous creature Gog. Continue reading
A HONEYMOON IN SPACE (1900) – Written by George Chetwyn Griffith- Jones under the pseudonym George Griffith. Jones had worked as a sailor, a journalist and a teacher before writing a series of novels covering a broad range of topics. 
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Republican office holders who are descended from slave owners include some of my frequent targets for bashing over present-day corruption like Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush and Lindsey Graham.
THE MAN FROM PAINTED POST (1917) – Here is another Douglas Fairbanks movie from the years before he became the film world’s premier swashbuckler. Unlike the pure comedy of Fairbanks’ 
OCTOBER 24th – Near Sandy Hook, NJ American rebel Captain Adam Hyler leads an unknown number of men in a clash with an unknown number of British Loyalists. Hyler takes 6 prisoners during the action.
NOVEMBER 1st-6th – At Gowen’s Fort, SC, Roebuck’s Battalion and civilian non-combatants were attacked and besieged by a combined force of British Loyalists and Chickamauga Indian allies of the British. On November 6th, the Americans surrendered after the Loyalist Captain William Bates guaranteed their safety. 
THE PURPLE DEATH (1895) – Written by William Livingston Alden. Presented in the first person this story is narrated by a British gentleman staying in Italy. He becomes friendly with his neighbor, a German M.D. and bacteriologist named Dr Schmidt. 
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. 
FIVE TOMORROWS – On February 5th 1970, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. hosted an NET Playhouse presentation of five short films which presented grim visions of the future. Vonnegut was interviewed and offered comments on the international shorts from the high flux beam reactor in Brookhaven (NY) National Laboratories’ center for advanced experimental research.
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