Most of the main books (Spider-Man, FF, Avengers, Hulk, Thor) seem to be just sort of going through the motions. There's some really cheesy concepts, too, like the Spider-Mobile, Spidey bad guys like the Jackal, the Mindworm, and Grizzly, and Thundra's counterpart Mahkizmo in the FF. The Avengers at least have the Celestial Madonna saga, which is an unreadable nightmare but gets points for going big.

The more interesting things are happening in some of the lesser known books. Daredevil (which was nearly cancelled and on a bi-monthly schedule for much of this year), under Englehart, at least attempts to tackle some political issues. Gerber's Man-Thing has its ups and downs but is at least striving to be something different. Don McGregor's Jungle Action, supported by Klaus Janson's inks, is a fabulous book that is completely underrated. Morbius' adventures in Fear is certainly unusual, if nothing else. The Moench (and on-again-off-again Gulacy) run of Master of Kung Fu starts this year, and it's actually very good if you can get past the stereotypes and awful racist coloring.

Of course there are plenty of crappy second tier books as well. Ka-Zar is just junk, although it gets better when Buscema takes over on art at the end of the year. Ghost Rider, and Brother Voodoo, while at least being interesting concepts, fail to deliver. Marvel Team-Up is pure exploitation.

There's not a lot of major creative talent at Marvel at this time. The Buscema brothers are both still here and doing well, ensuring a consistent look. Rich Buckler is reasonably good, working in a style similar to John Buscema. Ross Andru, on Spider-Man, also continues along in the house style, and Herb Trimpe does his thing in the Hulk and actually improves as he goes. Billy Graham looks good in Jungle Action, especially with Janson's inks. Frank Brunner has a good run on Dr. Strange that borrows heavily from Gene Colan (who is also still around), and Frank Robbins comes to Marvel to do some heavily stylized work on Captain America.

One the writing side we still have Englehart as the edgy guy on the more mainstream books and Gerber starting to do more unusual stuff on the second tier books. Doug Moench arrives at Marvel and shows a lot of potential, mainly on the kung fu books. Tony Isabella and Len Wein are picking up more books. Conway is still on Spider-Man.

There's a fair amount of creative switch-ups, possibly due to deadline issues and a lack of strong editorial staff.

The price of regular sized issues goes up 5 cents, to 25 cents an issue. Paper shortages and labor settlements are the given cause. Marvel's magazines and giant-size issues were also an attempt to cut costs and find new formats that were more profitable but they really didn't catch on. The Giant-Size issues are annoying because in many cases they continue directly from the regular issues, leading to weird gaps in stories if you haven't picked them all up. The magazines, which were in B&W format, are not well represented in my collection, but they were the starting points of the careers of several creators who became regulars at Marvel, including Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo (although Mantlo had previously worked as a colorist in their standard format comics).

Other notable events:

• Steve Rogers gives up being Captain America. The book essentially becomes a Falcon solo book for a few issues and then Cap becomes Nomad.
• Dr. Strange becomese Sorcerer Supreme with the death of the Ancient One.
• The Cat (Pam Greer) becomes Tigra
• Marriage of Crystal and Quicksilver
• The Defenders sort of solidify as a real super-hero team consisting of Dr. Strange, Hulk, Valkyrie, and Nighthawk
• Harry Osborn very briefly (two issues) becomes the second Green Goblin
• The Wrecker forms a very durable super-villain team called the Wrecking Crew. The new members are Piledriver, Bulldozer, and Thunderball.

Ka-Zar #1-2  
Marvel Premiere #9-10
Marvel Premiere #12-14
Dr. Strange #1-2
Dr. Strange #4-5  
Tomb of Dracula #16-17  
Fear #19 / Man-Thing #1  
Power Man #17  
Ghost Rider #4-5  
Iron Man annual #4 (Midnight)  
Defenders #12  
Fantastic Four #143  
Hulk #172  
Captain America #169-176 Steve Rogers gives up being Captain America. 
Amazing Spider-Man #129 1st Punisher & Jackal 
Special Marvel Edition #16 1st Midnight 
Daredevil #108-109  
Man-Thing #3-4 1st Foolkiller 
Amazing Spider-Man #130-131  
Tomb of Dracula #18
Werewolf By Night #15
Tomb of Dracula #19-21  
Strange Tales #173  
Marvel Team-Up #20  
Astonishing Tales #23-24  
Jungle Action #6-8  
Jungle Action #9  
Marvel Premiere #15-16 1st Iron Fist 
Hulk #175  
Ka-Zar #3-5  
Amazing Spider-Man #132-133  
Hulk #176-178  
Ghost Rider #6-7  
Power Man #19-20  
Daredevil #110  
Giant-Size Spider-Man #1  
Jungle Action #10  
Thor #225-228 1st Firelord 
Fantastic Four #148-149  
Defenders #14  
Giant-Size Creatures #1 The Cat becomes Tigra 
Amazing Spider-Man #134-135 1st Tarantula 
Tomb of Dracula #22  
Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2  
Marvel Team-Up #24  
Daredevil #112  
Marvel Two-In-One #4-5  
Giant-Size Chillers #1
Tomb of Dracula #23-25 1st Lilith & Hannibal King 
Giant-Size Avengers #1  
Jungle Action #11  
Avengers #127  
Fantastic Four #150 Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver 
Defenders #15-16  
Amazing Spider-Man #136  
Marvel Premiere #17-19 1st Colleen Wing 
Man-Thing #9  
Daredevil #113  
Amazing Spider-Man #137  
Hulk #180-181 1st Wolverine 
Marvel Team-Up #26  
Fear #24  
Power Man #21  
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu: Special Album Edition #1  
Jungle Action #12  
Captain America #177-186  
Avengers #128  
Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 Celestial Madonna saga. Death of the Swordsman. 
Fantastic Four #151-153  
Master of Kung Fu #22  
Defenders #17-19  
Amazing Spider-Man #138  
Man-Thing #11  
Ka-Zar #6  
Marvel Team-Up #28  
Master of Kung Fu #23  
Amazing Spider-Man #139-140  
Marvel Spotlight #19  
Fear #25-26  
Ghost Rider #9