Redartz: Back in the Bronze age, specifically two memorable years in the mid 1970's, Marvel Comics engaged in a noble experiment in four color entertainment. 1974 and 1975 saw the publication of the Giant-Size Marvels! Extra-sized editions of many of Marvel's most popular titles, each appearing on a quarterly basis. Granted, Marvel had published bonus-sized Annuals in the past, and DC had been doing giants for some time; but this was still a leap of faith for Marvel.
Although that 'leap of faith' lasted only about two years, it produced quite a few great stories, and one truly monumental one. Marvel's 'Giant Size' era began with "Giant Size Super Stars", a 35 cent gem featuring the Fantastic Four. This was immediately followed by "Giant Size Super Heroes" with Spider-man; both of these books hold fond memories for me. I'd just started collecting, and these two seemed like a reward for taking that 'leap' of my own!
Marvel had originally planned to release books at the 35 cent level as well as a series of "Super Giant" titles, but apparently that all got too confusing; starting the next month the Giant Size titles all cost 50 cents for 68 pages. The format was a new 'novel length' lead story, followed by a reprint of a classic Marvel tale appropriate to the particular title. All the 'big guns' had Giant-Size editions: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Defenders. Additionally, numerous other Marvel books got the Giant treatment: Master of Kung Fu, Dracula, Man-Thing. Even an attempt was made at another horror anthology with new stories: Giant-Size Chillers!
As the months went on, Marvel made the Giant format a means to debut new features: Super-Villian Team Up, with Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner; and Invaders- telling WWII stories of Marvel's Golden Age Captain America, Sub-Mariner and Human Torch. Then of course, the most monumental of all was the return and reboot of the X-Men by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum; a book that launched one of the most successful franchises in comic book history.
But as 1975 wore on, it looked like the days of the Giants were numbered. The last round of Giants were all reprints, adding such titles as "Giant Size Thor" and "Giant Size Dr. Strange" in a sort of revival of the old Annuals. Those Annuals, incidentally, would return the next year in 1976, which helped offset the sting of losing those monthly Giants.
My personal favorites? I mentioned the Spidey and FF issues above, another huge favorite was Giant Size Avengers 2: with the "Celestial Madonna" and Kang, it was one of the best Bronze age Avengers tales ever. Then there was Giant Size Defenders 3, with Daredevil guest starring; a cool story with the Grand Master. Yet another that I loved was Giant Size Man-Thing (you knew I'd fit that in somewhere, didn't you?) 4: a particularly intense Manny story by Steve Gerber, and the first solo story for Howard the Duck. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. It was a huge treat to see these big editions supplementing the regular four color fun we got in the 32 pagers.
In conclusion, here's a selection of covers to prompt your memory and excite your eyeballs. What Giants were your favorites? How did they compare to DC's giants? What other characters should have had Gant sized books? For our UK contingent, did those stories ever see print across the pond? Were you ever fortunate enough to encounter any of the US Giants? This week, we're all Giants...
22 comments:
I never saw any of the Giant-Size Marvels on sale unfortunately but I do recognise three of the issues shown because they were reprinted by Marvel UK in different formats:
1) Giant-Size Superstars #1 (Hulk vs. The Thing) was reprinted as a Fantastic Four Summer Special in 1979.
2) Giant-Size X-Men #1 was reprinted in 'Rampage' monthly #8 and #9 (dated February and March 1979).
3) Giant-Size Spider-Man vs. Dracula was reprinted across several issues of the UK Spidey weekly in 1978.
(All the reprints were in black & white so no "four color" for us).
Red, you put it into words perfectly, what it was like to get those first few GIANT-SIZE titles, GS SUPER STARS, GS SUPER-HEROES (and GS CHILLERS and GS CREATURES too). Like you, I’d only been collecting comics for a few short months when the GIANT-SIZE and SUPER-GIANT titles were announced, and it felt like I’d gotten into the hobby at just the right time.
In retrospect, it’s interesting to see which books followed the continuity of their parent titles, and which ones didn’t. Most of the GS books were simply extra-long, stand-alone adventures, about half of them done by creative teams who weren’t doing the monthly books. GS AVENGERS 2 thru 4, with regular Avengers scripter Steve Englehart at the helm, are the most deeply embedded in ongoing continuity. Each issue was, in effect, an jumbo-sized extra issue of the monthly title. Major, pivotal events in the serialized storyline took place place in #2 and #4, which definitely added to the ‘Special’ feeling of those books — but it must have been frustrating as hell for fans whose local magazine distributors didn’t carry the oversized comics.
Two of my favorites were GS CONAN and GS MASTER OF KUNG FU. Roy Thomas wisely used the GS CONAN book to adapt REH’s only long-form Conan novel, ‘The Hour of the Dragon’, which takes place 15 or 20 years later than the stories that were currently running in the monthly, with Gil Kane and Tom Sutton handling the (stunning) art. Reprints of early Barry Smith stories (several newly re-colored by Smith himself) filled the back pages. One of the most consistently excellent GS books, front to back. Only problem : the GS books were cancelled before the adaptation was complete, forcing Thomas to finish it off in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. Ah well.
Back later, with my thoughts on GS MOKF (and other GS goodies) ….
b.t.
Echoing Colin's remarks, I saw GS Super Stars #1 reprinted in the UK. In summer 1979 I'd been collecting for less than a year but I'd already seen Hulk and Thing throw down more than once! The mind swap element of the story featured here blew my young mind!
Hiya,
A very welcomed subject and I am certain that I had/have almost all of the issues that covers are reproduced here.
I just have one problem.
Even at my advanced years I can't think of "Giant Size Man-Thing" without giggling.
Seeya,
pfgavigan
Three Giant-Size Man-Thing (ho, ho) covers and yet you managed to miss out issue #3, Redartz - thats the best one!
Marvel-type horror meets sword & sorcery by Steve Gerber and the mighty Alfredo Alcala, both doing some of their best work. It reads more like an early 90s Neil Gaiman-era Vertigo comic, which is impressive going for the mid-70s.
The giant-size mags were pretty hard to find as imports, and the only others I recall were a couple of the Conans, although I read a few more serialized in British reprints. Most notably GS X-Men #1 - I expect everyone's read that in some form - in issues of Rampage monthly.
-sean
Boy, I LOVED these-!
What was murder, of course, was that extra squeeze it put on an already meager allowance-- even supplemented by lawn-mowing, leaf-raking, and/or snow-shoveling cash (when it was available---). My personal favorite? Probably GS DEFENDERS ovarall (even though the first issue was basically a clip-story--). . . with that Grandmaster story being a high-point. Even knowing that the heroes who "died" couldn't possibly stay that way didn't do much to lessen the impact of their sacrifice in the course of the story. Man, when Subby's life-sustaining water-suit got wrecked. . . and he knew he wasn't gonna make it. . . One of those Perfect Moments in comics.
The GS AVENGERS issues were an extremely close second, though-- and probably would've been first if the art in the MUCH-anticipated fourth issue had been even halfway up to the house standard of that time. It was an unfortunate disappointment to say the least.
Wow-- GS DOC SAVAGE--??? They even HAD that?? I guess it would have to have been new material at least, yeah?
I still have that GS X-MEN #1 that I bought off the magazine rack during a lunch-break during my freshman year of HS, IIRC. Which came as the whole era was winding to a close. You guys remember what a surprise that was? I feel like there was almost zero marketing or fanfare-- it just popped up one Wednesday, fully formed. . . . Then #2 had me utterly confused, as I didn't clock that it was a reprint at first. And now even that book has a surprisingly elevated value.
One of the last ones I recall purchasing was GS HULK #1. . . which was simply a re-print of Hulk Annual #1. And it was so far down the road that I think it, too, was a harbinger of the re-start of Marvel Annuals.
And the DR STRANGE issue, there? I would highly recommend it to anyone who wasn't a regular Dr Strange reader. (Like, myself for instance--) It is visually striking, and doesn't have any of the expected veneer of hokiness that usually comes with older reprints like that.
Splash page of GS MAN-THING #2? John Buscema-- OF COURSE-- creates one of the best portraits of Manny I can think of. Even though it's not a character he's associated with at all. . . He must've made other artists nuts. . .
And them's me bullet-point random thoughts on one of my absolute favorite experiments of the Bronze Age---!
Giant Size HB
Colin- you may have had an advantage in seeing those stories only in black and white! It seemed that the Giant Size books had a tendency to suffer from rather muddy printing; more so than the regular 32 page books. At least that was my experience. So seeing the art in sharp b/w might have been helpful...
b.t.- 1974, what a year for comics, eh? Couldn't have picked a better year. Good point about the continuity of the Giants; Avengers did tie in pretty tightly. Gerry Conway also made some attempts to integrate GSSM with Amazing, particularly during the Gwen clone / Jackal story arc.
Anthony- indeed, that Thing / Hulk story was a blast. Actually, it was the first such battle that I ever was exposed to. It was a mind-bender; literally...
PFG- heh, heh. Embarrassingly, that now-famous joke was totally lost on me as a kid. Only years later did I 'get it'. Yeah, I was rather naive...
Sean- Thanks for the reminder about GSMT 3. Haven't seen that in decades; and scarcely recall the story. Should remedy that!
HB- quite so, the Giants did add to the 'must save up' totals; and resulted in more time spent doing lawns as you did.
Totally agree about GS Avengers 4; it was...disappointing. Especially after the gorgeous work by Cockrum in number 2 (number 3 wasn't bad, but Joe Giella isn't the inker I'd pick for Cockrum).
Glad to hear you kept your GS X-Men; it might help cover your retirement one day!
Wow Red!
You went all out for us! Much obliged!
I look at this posting with awe and a touch of bittersweet...
Had many of these of the spinner notably FF, XMEN, Avengers, and Invaders #1. I still have the FF#1 and consider it one of the best Marvel covers of the 70s.
As a Golden Age fanboy, the introduction of the Invaders was a real "wow!"
The bittersweet is it really shows how much the industry was changing: rapid price increases; increasing numbers of non-superhero titles; a whole lot of Gil Kane art which as much as I like it, became too much; and the notion that those glorious annuals of the 60s were returning petered out all too soon.
Oh! I do recall a Luke Cage Giant Size, though not pictured. IIRC it was a Gil Kane cover, lol.
Red: -sigh-
My Artistic Director never misses an opportunity to remind me that I cannot retire. He doesn't even like it if I talk to extra people. . . on the off-chance they might have Covid. . . and if I get sick "We are totally F^^^ed!!"
(Even my WIFE is starting to push me to retire!)
Ollllllld HB
The Marvel Giant Sizes really allowed me to get into the Marvel Universe. Where I lived, it was difficult to get into multi part stories because distribution was so spotty, so a lot of these were one and done efforts that I could get into more easily.
Some of my favorites were Fantastic Four #3, Master of Kung Fu #2 and 3, Avengers #2, and all of the later editions that featured all reprints…..I bought SO many of those and learned so much about what I’d missed.
Red - News Flash! And totally aside the Giant Size subject!
Feast of the Hunters Moon in Tippecanoe County is next weekend! Oct 9 - 10!
GS MOKF 1 was a fairly slapdash affair, with three fairly simplistic stories by Doug Moench, obviously banged out in a hurry. The lead story at least was drawn splendidly by Paul Gulacy, who was still kinda raw but bursting with youthful enthusiasm. There flashes of brilliance throughout, hinting at the wonders to come from his pencil.
GS MOKF 2 was a major improvement, with one of Moench’s better early MOKF stories and a knockout art job by Gulacy. It has a memorable gut-punch of a downbeat ending. To this day, still one of my favorite single issues of the entire Moench / Gulacy run.
#3 had a decent story, good Gulacy art (not TOTALLY ruined by Vince Colletta inks, but a shame someone more appropriate couldn’t have inked it) and the introduction of Clive Reston, who became a major supporting character in the series. #4 is disposable — Keith Pollard / Sal Trapani art on the lead story a big letdown after 3 Giant Size Gulacy epics.
b.t
Like Colin I didn't see any of these Giant Size Marvels at the time in the shops but a couple of years later I picked up Giant Size Man-Thing issue 4 (mostly for the brilliant Frank Brunner Howard the Duck strip) the GS Invaders issue 1 and GS Chillers 3.
Chillers 3 is a cracker with Bernie Wrightson, Barry (before he added Windsor to his name) Smith, Kirby and Gene Colan art with a nice Marie Severin cartoon framing sequence. I also liked the DC Giants (Batman Family etc) from the 70s as I preferred their golden age reprints to the Marvel ones that appeared in many of their GS issue..
I came to comics in the late winter/early spring of 1975, when the giant-size line was pretty much on the way out. The only two I recall reading at the time are GS Iron Man #1 and GS Fantastic Four #6, both of which contain all reprints (and both of which I borrowed from a friend). The latter is interesting because it reprints FF Annual #6, in which Franklin is born and the rest of the FF have this epic adventure in the Negative Zone. The Iron Man book has the more memorable cover, though - I love that high-flying Gil Kane battle scene. I only vaguely recall the main story; I know Ditko did the art, and it involves the X-man Angel somehow kicking Iron Man's butt.
I later read quite a few of the giant-sizes, though: Avengers, Defenders, a few of the Spider-mans, Chillers and Man-Things (and although the story in #3 is quite good, I also prefer the main feature in #4). Most of those I've read in reprint books. Currently I only own two actual giant-sizes: Power Man and Fantastic Four #3.
I started reading in early '75 so got in on some of the fun.
The memorable ones like Avengers #4, X-Men #1, FF #6 (I know, a reprint but such a great example of Kirby art) really solidified my early preference towards team books.
I do have to mention that Man-Thing #4 really freaked my 10 year old self out, "The Book of Edmond" and all that. Plus Manny fused some guys hands together which was unsettling. Also that book gave me my first glimpse of Howard The Duck.
Hiya,
Looking back it's really interesting to see just how the writers of these books saw the relationship between this stories and the regular monthly titles.
Roy Thomas's sole Giant Size Avengers was completely removed from the continuity of the primary book, which made sense as he had handed it over to Englehart by this time. Englehart used the remaining three issues in tight continuity with the primary to advance his 'Celestial Madonna' story-line. Which I would presume got very confusing if one couldn't find the Giant Size at their local comic spot.
Conway's Spiderman should really have been titled 'Giant Size Marvel Team-Up' for both it's constant guest stars (or guest fiends in the case of Dracula).
Steve Gerber's Defenders had a similar relationship with the primary title, but I really think Gerber was the superior story teller in this format. His stories seemed more complete and thus more satisfying than Conway or Thomas.
As I recall an on-line conversation, the driving force behind these titles was to provide more work for the writers involved. Page rates were low and the number were decreasing from twenty to eventually seventeen pages per issue and there were more writers in the Bull Pen.
Actually have heard a few more behind the scene stories regarding this era of the House of Ideas. While I would like to pontificate more about this subject I can hear the Celestial Madonna admonishing me with a simple phrase.
"Papa, Don't Preach."
Seeya
pfg
Ah pfg-- you've touched on a particular Bronze Age element that ya don't hear us waxing on nostalgically about 'round here: Marvel's maddening drop to (eventually) that 17-page count for story content. Also frequently jettisoning the letters pages, iirc. Right at the time that cover prices were being raised with alarming (and dismaying) regularity.
I seem to recall that "rising costs of paper and materials" was the go-to explanation for years and years. Which truly didn't make sense even then. Yes, inflation was charging ahead on all fronts-- but OTHER print/paper products weren't seeing the same astonishing leaps in retail price. . . heh. . .
HB
pfg:
Oh, I imagine it would have royally SUCKED to have missed GS AVENGERS 2, pick up the next issue of the monthly (AVENGERS 130) and find out that Kang was Rama-Tut in a previous life and will become Immortus sometime in the far future and The Swordsman died while saving the life of Mantis who suddenly realizes she’s been a fool to trying to steal the Vision away from the Scarlet Witch for the past several issues, and oh, incidentally, she’s now the Celestial Madonna, whatever the eff THAT is :)
Also, they were pretty up-front about GS SPIDER-MAN being, in essence, more like a jumbo-sized MARVEL TEAM-UP, all the way back when it was first announced as the 100-page SUPER-GIANT SPIDER-MAN. And here’s a fun bit of Mighty Marvel Minutiae: in the original printing of GS SPIDEY #1, there is a type-set header that clearly reads “SUPER-GIANT SPIDER-MAN” in the upper margin of page 26 — the switch in format from SUPER-GIANT to GIANT-SIZE must have been pretty last-minute. As Redartz mentioned earlier, Conway did throw in an occasional reference to the ongoing events of the monthly Spidey book, but yes, for the most part the stories in GS SPIDEY were fairly self-contained.
I’d be curious to hear more about this idea that a major impetus for the GIANT-SIZE line was to create more jobs for the writers. I’ve always thought the opposite — Marvel was constantly expanding the number of titles, with all the B/W magazines and the GS books etc, and the Bullpen had a hard time keeping up with all the work. Thus, new writers like Doug Moench, Chris Claremont, Tony Isabella, David Kraft and lots of Filipino artists like Sonny Trinidad, Yong Montano and Rico Rival pressed into service to crank out the pages. Also, I’ve read that it was economics that drove the oversized books — regular monthly floppies were cheap, and many distributors chose not to even bother with them because the profit margins were so low. The idea was to create a heftier, more expensive package, but one that was also more profitable for the publisher because half the content was made up of already-paid-for reprints.
b.t.
Hiya,
Having touched on a painful memory regarding the number of pages per comic going down at Marvel during this period, I will, of course, demonstrate the utmost of restraint and sensitivity of feeling by exasperating the collective agony and ask if anybody remembers if DC was doing the same thing at the time?
Another way of slipping a few more bucks to certain writers of this period was the creation of the title 'Writer/Editor'. The 'il'logic behind this move was the notion that if one had served as the Editor in Chief then one most certainly should be able to edit thine own work.
Results were pretty much to be expected, in my opinion. In reality most of the editing, in reality proof-reading, was done by assistants or interns and the true purpose was to slip the writer another hundred or so dollars a month.
Gerber got the title in compensation for having the Defenders taken away from him to fill Conway's demand of having nine or ten books to script a month during his tenure as Editor in Chief, a role that he filled for some six weeks before resigning and becoming a Writer/Editor.
Does anybody else remember the Marvel Classics Illustrated that were coming out around the same time? I think this was another attempt to create work.
Well, I've been trying so hard remember these bits and pieces that I can hear Jerry Orbach singing so I'm gonna finish my morning coffee.
Seeya,
pfg
pfg:
I just checked out a random DC comic from 1977, RICHARD DRAGON, KUNG FU FIGHTER #18 at tge GCD— yep, likewise down to a measly 17 pages.
b.t.
Hiya,
Hey b.t., thanks for the information. I guess it was an industry wide effort to save on costs and expand revenue. Although how cutting back on new material and raising the price wouldn't be perceived as a sure fire way of driving away potential customers is beyond my comprehension.
This wasn't an unique tactic in American Business practices. I remember when Al Dunlap was put in charge of some paper company. He and his minions immediately began to come up with ways to reduce product and increase revenue by confusing labeling.
The executives, all male, were convinced that they were much, much smarter than the women who made up the majority of their customer, and, thus, could get away with murder.
Sales plummeted and only the buyout of the company by its major competitor saved Dunlap and gave him the opportunity to destroy Sunbeam.
Back to comics. The worst aspect of the new seventeen page limit was, for me, the fact that it was also applied to the reprint books that Marvell had left. Missing pages or re edited ones were readily apparent and painfully obvious. This was especially galling because the one featuring the Fantastic Four had reached an era of original publication that had been hard for me to locate when it had occurred.
Seeya
pfg
One GS book that made a huge impression on me was GSFF #2. Specifically the reprint in the back, of FF# 13, first appearance of the Red Ghost, his Super Apes, and the Watcher.
I had seen sixties reprints in Marvel's Greatest Comics of more recent Kirby issues around issue 53-65 or so, but this older reprint was freaky.
The Kirby/Chic Stone art seemed so primitive yet so intensely vital, Ben Grimm was a revelation. It somehow seemed so much more alive than the current 1974 stories, and it created an instant appetite for early Marvels that I was soon able to indulge when our local Comicshop opened.
The giant-sized issues appeared for me at the end of grade eight, just as I started my first after-school paper route. I had money in my pocket and was eager to buy.
And the single best Marvel Giant-Size? will forever be Giant-Sized Man-Thing # 4.
Accept nothing else.
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