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BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive,Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE,c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email:[email protected]. Six-issue subscriptions: $67 Standard US, $85 Canada, $104 SurfaceInternational. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office.Cover art by John Romita, Sr. Avengers, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, and related characters TM & © MarvelCharacters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © theircreators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2016 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing.BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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Volume 1,Number 86February 2016

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFMichael Eury

PUBLISHERJohn Morrow

DESIGNERRich Fowlks

COVER ARTISTJohn Romita, Sr.(Artwork originallyappeared as the coverof Giant-Size MarvelTriple Action #1.)

COVER DESIGNERMichael Kronenberg

COVER COLORISTGlenn Whitmore

PROOFREADERRob Smentek

SPECIAL THANKSNeal AdamsRichard J. ArndtMark ArnoldTerry AustinAl BigleyEliot R. BrownRich BucklerBob BudianskySal BuscemaKurt BusiekJarrod ButteryNick CaputoLex CarsonPaty CockrumGerry ConwayStephen CurielTom DeFalcoJo DuffyScott EdelmanKayla EllingsworthSteve EnglehartJohn S. EuryAndrew FaragoDanny FingerothIrving Forbush

Stephan FriedtMichael GallagherGrand Comics

Database Heritage Comics

AuctionsTony IsabellaRob KellyDavid Anthony KraftJames Heath LantzChris MarshallAl MilgromBarry PearlCarl PottsKen QuattroJim SalicrupAnthony SnyderRoger SternLinda SunshineRoy ThomasJohn TrumbullIrene VartanoffLen Wein

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

FLASHBACK: The House of Recycled Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Bullpen veterans recall the tales behind the Marvel’s Bronze Age reprint titles, with a mega-index ofsuperhero and adventure titles

BACK IN PRINT: X-Men Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35A look at the reprint years of Marvel’s Mighty Mutants

FLASHBACK: When Giants Ruled the Spin Racks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39An in-depth look at Marvel’s Giant-Size project of the 1970s

FANTASY COVER GALLERY: The Marvel Giant-Sizes That Weren’t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58Make-believe Marvel covers, including Giant-Size Giant-Man and Giant-Size Warlock

FLASHBACK: The Other Marvel Team-Up: Fireside and Marvel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61With bombastic Stan Lee intros, these collected editions brought Marvel to the masses

BACK IN PRINT: Following Fireside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71The post-Simon & Schuster Marvel collected editions

FLASHBACK: Marvel’s Bronze Age Reprint Paperbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73The birth of the “mini-Masterworks”

BACK IN PRINT: Marvel Digests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79From ALF to Spider-Man, Marvel’s mini-editions

BACK IN PRINT: Marvel Special Edition Reprints, 1982 to 1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85A deluxe presentation for Marvel Silver and Bronze Age classics

BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93Reader reactions

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Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

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Almost as soon as its Universe had started, Marvel began reprintingsome of its earliest stories for fans that had missed the low-key launches.Appropriately, the granddaddy of the modern reprint titles was Marvel Tales.Marvel can trace its origins to Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), featuring thedebut of the Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and others. The title changedto Marvel Mystery Comics with issue #2 (Dec. 1939) and to Marvel Taleswith issue #93 (Aug. 1949). Marvel—originally Timely, and then Atlas—ended its longest-running series with issue #159 (Aug. 1957).

Resurrecting the name, Marvel Tales #1 (1964) was a 72-page Annualreprinting the first appearances of Spider-Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man,Giant-Man, Sgt. Fury, Iron Man, and Thor. (The first appearance ofthe FF had been reprinted previously in Fantastic Four Annual #1, 1963.)A year later, Marvel Tales #2—another giant Annual—reprinted the originsof the X-Men, Avengers, Dr. Strange, and more. In 1966, Marvel Talesbecame a bimonthly title, reprinting Spider-Man, Thor, Human Torch,and Ant-Man stories. It alternated with Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics,which reprinted Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, and Hulk adventures.Fantasy Masterpieces also debuted, reprinting fantasy stories and WWIIsuperheroes. Tales of Asgard #1 (Oct. 1968) collected and reprinted thefirst ten of the backup stories from Journey into Mystery.

THE FLOODGATES OPENIn 1968, Marvel’s publisher—Martin Goodman—sold the company.Finding a new distributor, Marvel was no longer constrained to publishingeight titles per month. Not only could Marvel publish as many comicsas it liked, but there was a warehouse of previous material to drawupon—and not just superheroes.

Romance comics were revived with My Love #1 (Sept. 1969) andOur Love Story #1 (Oct. 1969). Both titles presented new material,but after six issues each, both included reprinted stories from the ’50sand ’60s from such long-defunct titles as Teen-Age Romance, Lovers,and Love Romances. By 1973, both books featured reprints only—bothoften reprinting stories (and covers!) from earlier in their runs. In justone example, My Love #34 (May 1975) simply reused the cover andone of the stories from issue #16 (Mar. 1972).

Regardless, the artwork was almost universally beautiful. With JohnRomita, Sr. and John Buscema handling many of the issues, one couldexpect nothing less. One would be hard-pressed to dispute that it’sGwen Stacy on the cover to Our Love Story #11 (June 1971), NatashaRomanoff on My Love #6 (July 1970), and Janet Van Dyne on My Love#24 (July 1973). There is, however, no truth to the rumor that MichaelEury modelled for the cover of My Love #11 (May 1971).

The late ’60s also saw a few rare comics for kids. Peter the Little Pest #1(Nov. 1969) reworked strips from Melvin the Monster (Atlas Comics, 1956)—itself an imitation of Dennis the Menace (who first appeared in 1951).Homer the Happy Ghost #1 (Nov. 1969) didn’t even bother renamingthe character from the 1955 series. If imitation is indeed the sincerestform of flattery, Casper the Friendly Ghost should have been delighted.

Alongside romance and humor, Westerns surged back onto thestands toward the end of the ’60s. Mighty Marvel Western #1 (Oct. 1968)collected reprints from the Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, and Kid Colt Outlaw.Rawhide Kid was in continuous publication but the others were onhiatus at the time. After a 20-month break, Kid Colt Outlaw returned tothe stands with issue #140 (Nov. 1969), containing a couple of newstories, but becoming a full-reprint title two issues later (except forissue #201, Dec. 1975).

Maintaining its status as a 64-page book, Marvel Collectors’ ItemClassics was renamed as Marvel’s Greatest Comics with issue #23 (Oct. 1969).The title eventually became a standard 32-page comic, reprintingFantastic Four stories until its cancellation in 1981.

1970The reprint books of the time never credited a reprint editor.Stewardship is usually attributed to Stan Lee, and then Roy Thomas.As the superhero, Western, and romance reprints continued,Thomas recalls of the era, “Yes, the reprints were increasingly onsomething resembling ‘automatic pilot’… although in the early


by J a r r o d B u t t e r y

days of Fantasy Masterpieces, Stan selected thematerial (including which Golden Age storiesto reprint) himself … and I suspect [Martin]Goodman took an interest in the earliest ones,because he wanted to enforce his claim onCap, Torch, and Sub-Mariner … also on otherthings like the name ‘Marvel’ (hence reprintsof Black Marvel and Marvel Boy, though I’dhave wanted to reprint the latter myself whenI found B&W Photostats of them). After awhile, I chose the Golden Age material,including the All Winners Squad reprints, thereprints in the Human Torch reprint book,occasionally others.”

One of the Marvel Age’s earliest titles, Sgt. Fury,debuted before Avengers or X-Men, with aMay 1963 cover date. Issue #80 (Sept. 1970)started reprinting stories. With #121 (Sept.1974) it became an all-reprint book.Nevertheless, Sgt. Fury outlasted almost allthe other reprint titles. In comparison, Ka-Zar#1 (Aug. 1970) was the first of only threeissues, reprinting encounters with Daredevil,Spider-Man, and the X-Men—and includingsome inventory stories featuring Hercules andthe Angel.

But 1970 was the year of the Westerns.Ringo Kid #1 (Jan. 1970) commenced reprints ofthe eponymous cowboy from the 1950s. After a27-month holiday, Two-Gun Kid returned as areprint title with issue #93 (July 1970).Interestingly, issues #99–103 featured stories ofthe 1950s Kid (Clay Harder) retouched in theoutfit of the 1960s character (Matt Hawk).

Western Gunfighters #1 (Aug. 1970) told newstories of the original Ghost Rider (Carter Slade)alongside various Western reprints. It was in thisseries that Carter met his end, whereupon hisless-honorable brother, Lincoln, adopted themantle (issue #7, Jan. 1972). Western Gunfightersbecame an all-reprint title with issue #8.

Also beginning with an August 1970 coverdate, Rawhide Kid started including reprintedstories with issue #79. Issue #86 (Apr. 1971)reprinted the story from issue #17 (Aug. 1960)describing how Johnny Bart became theRawhide Kid to avenge the shooting death ofhis Uncle Ben. The title became all reprintswith issue #116 (Oct. 1973). Outlaw Kid #1(Aug. 1970) initiated reprints of that character’s1950s exploits.

But it wasn’t just cowboys. The first—andperhaps the best—of Marvel’s “horror” reprintsappeared with Where Monsters Dwell #1 (Jan.1970). Issue #6 (Nov. 1970) reprints the firstappearance of “Groot! The Monster fromPlanet X!” and issue #21 (May 1973) reprints“Fin Fang Foom!” Issue #38 (Oct. 1975)—thefinal issue—reprints “No Human Can Beat Me!”featuring a green, savage, fin-headed, dragon-

like alien conqueror single-handedly bestingEarth’s greatest combatants.

Where Creatures Roam #1 (July 1970) andFear #1 (Nov. 1970) followed in the same vein,reprinting Marvelous 1960s monster/fantasy storiesfrom Lee/Kirby/Ditko/Heck. Perhaps realizingthat the well had been visited too often, WhereCreatures Roam lasted eight issues. Fear #10(Oct. 1972) began publishing original Man-Thingstories while continuing short horror backuptales. The Muck Monster was replaced with theLiving Vampire, Morbius, in issue #20 (Feb. 1974),who headlined all-new tales until the final issue#31 (Dec. 1975).

The period was also right for some originalhorror. Tower of Shadows #1 (Sept. 1969) is asbeautiful a book as you will ever find, featuringoriginal work by Jim Steranko, John Romita, andJohn Buscema. Issues #6–9 contained increasingamounts of reprints. Tower of Shadows King-SizeSpecial #1 (Dec. 1971) reprinted some of theseries’ finest stories. Chamber of Darkness #1(Oct. 1969) followed a similar pattern, commencingwith original material but gradually cedingto reprints.

We can imagine that someone found randomissues of Little Lennie, Little Lizzie, and Li’l Williefrom the 1940s. And that’s probably how wegot Li’l Kids #1 (July 1970).

THE WAREHOUSEAfter Thomas, Irene Vartanoff became Marvel’sreprint editor. Irene grew up reading DCcomics and penned numerous fan letters. She wasinvited to DC’s offices and took the DC tourmany times. After graduating college sheapproached DC for a job, but [editor] “JulieSchwartz broke my heart by telling me to gohome and get married.” However, a couple ofyears later, Roy Thomas—whom she had metseveral times—needed a new Gal Friday. “I startedin April 1974,” Vartanoff tells BACK ISSUE. “I wasnot Roy’s secretary—Roy needed someone whocould handle all the art and story submissioncorrespondence that had piled up on his assistant’sdesk, and proofread the reprints, and do anythingelse editorially anyone came up with. At thetime, we had a huge lineup of comics and notenough people to write, draw, or edit them.We’d hire anyone who came to us with a fanbackground, because there was no time totrain anyone.”

We may never know who chose each individualstory to be reprinted, but Tony Isabella con-ducted some research for his blog (reprinted—appropriately—in BACK ISSUE #79, Apr. 2015).Isabella found that the most likely suspect wasTony Mortellaro. Vartanoff supports this: “TonyMortellaro was the reprint production managerand had an office down the hall in production.

Moonlighting Maids of Marvel?(top) Hey, is that the bombastic Black Widow belting out a ballad on theBuscema/Romita cover of My Love #6? (middle) A groovy Gwen Stacydoppelganger on Jazzy Johnny’s Our Love Story #11 cover. (bottom) Nice dayfor a Wasp wedding? Romita cover to My Love #24.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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He was also in charge of the warehouse. Like someother redoubtable individuals of the older generation atMarvel, he was not a personality that one questioned.That’s why I have no idea on what basis the oldhorror comics were chosen. He merely deliveredthem to be proofread, already pasted up. When heencountered a serious family health situation andhad to resign, I boldly went to Sol Brodsky andtold him I wanted that job. I got it, and then fairlysoon after, Sol, Barry Kaplan (the controller), and Itook a tour of the Marvel warehouse and they asked me to clean itup and inventory it.

“It was a mess. The brown paper envelopes containing original artsent back to Marvel were in piles on the floor or in leaning shippingcrates. The warehouse itself was merely a room in an industrial building.We got in new lighting (the building was so old that it was wired forDC lighting, not AC), and new shelving, and I hired various peoplewho were interns or otherwise employed at Marvel to work extra hoursthere with me to sort through everything and put the artwork in newenvelopes. I have no idea if the envelopes we used did anything moreto preserve the original art than the brown paper wrappers had, butat least now there was some order out of the chaos. And I did theinventory. In an un-air-conditioned building during the summer of 1976.Not much fun.”

Thomas contributes: “Tony Mortellaro has been dead for some yearsnow. He had his whole family engaged in pasting up material, and I thinkthat at some stage Goodman or someone decided he was feathering hisown nest too much … that may have been when he had to leave. I don’tknow the ins and outs of it, really. There may well have been a ‘seriousfamily health situation’… I just don’t recall knowing about it.”

Back in theSaddle Again(left) Ringo Kid #1(Jan. 1970) helpedkick off Marvel’sBronze Age reprintseries. Cover by JoeManeely. (right)A gaggle ofgunslingers inWestern Gunfighters#1 (Aug. 1970).Cover by Dick Ayers.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.


Shame on You, Zabu!The Marie Severin/John Verpoorten cover of Ka-Zar #1(Aug. 1970) has become infamous among fandom for

its hidden expletive.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

sol brodsky© Marvel.

[Editor’s note: The sheer volume ofreprint series published by MightyMarvel during the Bronze Age pro-hibits their indexes from appearing ina single issue of BACK ISSUE, even anextra-sized edition like this one. Joltin’Jarrod Buttery has indexed them all,however, and those non-superheroand adventure Marvel reprint titles’indexes will be serialized in futureissues, beginning in BI #92 with thehorror anthologies.]

ADVENTURES ON THEPLANET OF THE APES

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #1Oct. 1975Cover artists: Rich Buckler andJoe SinnottEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Planet of the Apes” from Planet of

the Apes (magazine) #1 (Aug. 1974)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #2Nov. 1975Cover artists: Rich Buckler andDan AdkinsEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “World of Captive Humans” from

Planet of the Apes (magazine) #2(Oct. 1974)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #3Dec. 1975Cover artists: Ron Wilson andVince CollettaEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Manhunt!” from Planet of the

Apes (magazine) #3 (Dec. 1974)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #4Feb. 1976Cover artists: Gil Kane andFrank GiacoiaEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Trial” from Planet of the Apes

(magazine) #4 (Jan. 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #5Apr. 1976Cover artists: Rich Buckler andKlaus JansonEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Into the Forbidden Zone” from

Planet of the Apes (magazine) #5(Feb. 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #6June 1976Cover artists: Jim Starlin andKlaus JansonEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “The Secret” from Planet of the

Apes (magazine) #6 (Mar. 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #7Aug. 1976Cover artists: Michael Nasser (Netzer)and Klaus JansonEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”

from Planet of the Apes (magazine)#7 (Apr. 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #8Sept. 1976Cover artists: Gil Kane andMike EspositoEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Enslaved!” from Planet of the Apes

(magazine) #7 (Apr. 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #9Oct. 1976Cover artist: Alfredo AlcalaEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “The Warhead Messiah” from

Planet of the Apes (magazine) #8(May 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #10Nov. 1976Cover artists: Paty Anderson andKlaus JansonEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “Children of the Bomb” condensed

from Planet of the Apes (magazine)#9 and 10 (June and July 1975)

ADVENTURES ON THE PLANET OFTHE APES #11Dec. 1976Cover artist: unknownEditor: Tony IsabellaReprints:• “The Hell of Holocaust” condensed

from Planet of the Apes (magazine)#10 and 11 (July and Aug. 1975)

AMAZING ADVENTURES

AMAZING ADVENTURES #1Dec. 1979Cover artists: Jack Kirby andSol BrodskyEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “X-Men [Part 1]” from

X-Men #1 (Sept. 1963)• Professor X in “A Man Called …

X” from X-Men #38 (Nov. 1967)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #2Jan. 1980Cover artists: Bob Budiansky andDanny VillamonteEditor: Danny FingerothSpecial features: Beast and Cyclopspinups by Jack KirbyReprints:• X-Men in “X-Men [Part 2]” from

X-Men #1 (Sept. 1963)• Cyclops in “Lonely are the Hunted”

from X-Men #39 (Dec. 1967)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #3Feb. 1980Cover artists: Bob Budiansky andMike EspositoEditor: Danny FingerothSpecial feature: Marvel Girl pinup byJack KirbyReprints:• X-Men in “No One Can Stop the

Vanisher! [Part 1]” from X-Men #2(Nov. 1963)

• Cyclops in “The First Evil Mutant”from X-Men #40 (Jan. 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #4Mar. 1980Cover artists: Jack Kirby andPaul ReinmanEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “No One Can Stop the

Vanisher! [Part 2]” from X-Men #2(Nov. 1963)

• Cyclops in “The Living Diamond!”from X-Men #41 (Feb. 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #5Apr. 1980Cover artists: Jack Kirby andSol Brodsky Editor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “Beware of … the Blob!

[Part 1]” from X-Men #3 (Jan. 1964)• Cyclops in “The End … or the

Beginning?” from X-Men #42(Mar. 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #6May 1980Cover artists: John Byrne andJoe RubinsteinEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “Beware of … the Blob!

[Part 2]” from X-Men #3 (Jan. 1964)• Cyclops in “Call Him … Cyclops”

from X-Men #43 (Apr. 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #7June 1980Cover artists: Jack Kirby andGeorge RoussosEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “The Brotherhood of

Evil Mutants! [Part 1]” from X-Men#4 (Mar. 1964)

• Iceman in “The Iceman Cometh!”from X-Men #44 (May 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #8July 1980Cover artist: Al MilgromEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “The Brotherhood of

Evil Mutants! [Part 2]” from X-Men#4 (Mar. 1964)

• Cyclops and Iceman in “And TheMob Cried ... Vengeance!” fromX-Men #45 (June 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #9Aug. 1980Cover artists: John Byrne andAl Milgrom

Editor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “Trapped: One X-Man!

[Part 1]” from X-Men #5 (May 1964)• Cyclops and Iceman in “…And

Then There Were Two” fromX-Men #46 (July 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #10Sept. 1980Cover artists: Jack Kirby andPaul Reinman, with Marie Severin(alterations)Editor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “Trapped: One X-Man!

[Part 2]” from X-Men #5 (May 1964)• Iceman in “I, the Iceman” from

X-Men #47 (Aug. 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #11Oct. 1980Cover artist: Al MilgromEditor: Danny FingerothSpecial features: X-Men/Fantastic Four/Mad Thinker’s Awesome Androidpinup by Jack Kirby; X-Men/Spider-Man pinup by Dan AdkinsReprints:• X-Men in “Sub-Mariner Joins the

Evil Mutants [Part 1]” from X-Men#6 (July 1964)

• Beast in “Yours Truly the Beast”from X-Men #48 (Sept. 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #12Nov. 1980Cover artists: Jack Kirby and Chic StoneEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “Sub-Mariner! Joins the

Evil Mutants [Part 2]” from X-Men#6 (July 1964)

• Nick Fury in “Today Earth Died”from Strange Tales #168(May 1968)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #13Dec. 1980Cover artists: Jack Kirby and Chic StoneEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• X-Men in “The Return of the

Blob” from X-Men #7 (Sept. 1964)

AMAZING ADVENTURES #14Jan. 1981Cover artists: Jack Kirby and Chic StoneEditor: Danny FingerothSpecial features: Iceman vs. Magnetoand Angel pinups by Werner RothReprints:• X-Men in “The Uncanny Threat of

… Unus the Untouchable!” fromX-Men #8 (Nov. 1964)

FANTASY MASTERPIECES

FANTASY MASTERPIECES #1Dec. 1979Cover artists: John Buscema andJoe SinnottEditor: Danny FingerothReprints:• Silver Surfer in “The Origin of the

Silver Surfer!” from Silver Surfer #1(Aug. 1968)

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TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. except Planet of the Apes TM & © 20th Century Fox.

MARVEL BRONZE AGE SUPERHERO AND ADVENTURE SERIES REPRINT INDEX 1970–1986

Nowadays, they are household names in animated cartoons, video games,films, and, of course, comic books. Today one cannot walk into their localcomic shop or peruse online vendors without seeing an X or a mutantin a Marvel title. Yet in the past, before becoming All-New, All-Different,and Uncanny during the epic stories of Len Wein, Chris Claremont, DaveCockrum, and John Byrne, the X-Men relived past adventures in their ownseries. This article will look at the reprint years of X-Men and the reasonsfor the title’s change in direction before and after the strangest super-heroes of all traveled through time through their old tales for 27 issues.

MUTANT HISTORY XTo understand the reasons for X-Men becoming a reprint book, it helpsto get to know some of the title’s history. Stan Lee approached Marvelpublisher Martin Goodman with an idea for a series called The Mutants.Fearing people would not know what a mutant was, Goodman suggesteda title change. Lee then got to work with artist Jack Kirby and laterWerner Roth (who began his run under the pseudonym Jay Gavin,named for both of his sons) on X-Men, a series Lee later said was “ananti-bigotry story to show there’s good in every person.”

X-Men followed the adventures of five teenaged students and theirteacher, Professor Charles Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X, from Xavier’s Schoolfor Gifted Youngsters. The eye-laser-blasting Cyclops, the agile Beast withprehensile toes, the winged Angel, the frozen Iceman, and the telekineticand telepathic Marvel Girl are mutants—beings born with superhumanabilities and gifts. The paralyzed Professor X uses his powerful mutantmind to train the young group, whom he calls X-Men for the X-gene thatgives them their powers, to defend humanity in spite of the fear andhatred toward homo-superior, as mutants are later called. The X-Men facethe likes of magnetism master Magneto, the unmovable Blob, the leapingToad, the unstoppable Juggernaut (Xavier’s stepbrother), and the mutant-hunting giant robots called the Sentinels. The team and Magneto’sBrotherhood of Evil Mutants even encounter a mutant (though technicallyhe could be considered a hybrid) from the Golden Age of Comics—Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner—in X-Men #6 (July 1964).

The Lee/Kirby team had an impressive track record with such booksas Fantastic Four, Thor, and Avengers. Yet while it had a cult following,X-Men failed to capture the imaginations of many readers in spiteof the sagas giving audiences the first appearances of such mainstaysin the mutant mythos as Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops. Onthe beginnings of the comic book, Roy Thomas later surmised the fol-lowing in a panel on the Silver and Bronze Age X-Men on June 11,2000, transcribed in Alter Ego #24:

“One of the reasons it wasn’t as big in the early ’60s is because itstime really hadn’t come yet. It was before the age of the teenagedsuperhero. Nor was the ‘outcast’ thing quite as big earlier. Remember,’63 was the Kennedy years. But by the late ’60s, with Vietnam and civilrights and all that, the idea of the outsider as the hero came in big.”

The final Stan Lee issue, which was drawn by Werner Roth, was X-Men#19 (Apr. 1966). While Roth stayed on the book for some time, Lee handedover writing duties to Roy Thomas. Thomas, who would have extensivecycles on Avengers and Conan the Barbarian, would have two runs on thebook—#20–43 (May 1966–Apr. 1968) and #55–64 (Apr. 1969–Jan. 1970)and #66 (Mar. 1970)—with Gary Friedrich (Ghost Rider), Arnold Drake(Doom Patrol), and Dennis O’Neil (Batman) penning some tales as well.Jim Steranko, who also designed the cover logo for the series, Don Heck,George Tuska, and Ross Andru were among the names of creators whohad provided visuals for the mutant mayhem in the pages of X-Men.

Most of Roy Thomas’ second outing of X-Men tales had him pairedwith artist Neal Adams, who had followed Jim Steranko’s advice tocome work for Marvel after his stint on DC Comics’ Deadman hadended in 1969. Adams drew #56–63 of Thomas’ tales and plottedDennis O’Neil’s fill-in dialogue for issue #65 (Feb. 1970). Sal Buscemawould provide images for the last Roy Thomas tale. It featured

M a r v e l B r o n z e A g e G i a n t s a n d R e p r i n t s • B A C K I S S U E • 3 5

X-caping CancellationBefore the “new” X-Men, Bronze Age readers discoveredthe “old” X-Men when the series went all-reprint begin-

ning with X-Men #67 (Dec. 1970). Cover by Marie Severinand Joe Sinnott. The double-sized mag originally reprinted

two issues of X-Men but was cut back to a regular-sizedtitle with issue #71, then reprinting only one X-Men tale.

TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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In the spring of 1974, Marvel launched a new series of Giant-Size comics.The House of Ideas had long published larger-sized Annuals (a.k.a.King-Size Specials) since the 1960s, and briefly made all of their comics25-cent Giants in 1971, but this Giant-Size vision was even moreambitious. The project, launched in 1974, would publish Giant-Sizetitles on a “regular basis,” with both new and reprinted materials.

One needs to look at a number of perspectives to fully analyzethe Giant-Size era. This article will look at the publishing and

editorial perspective, the creative influences and events,and, of course, the fan’s perspective.

Going into the project, Roy Thomas recalls the momentum that begantheir publication: “The Giant-Size idea was Stan’s [Lee] as publisher …to increase revenue—at least, I don’t assume it came from Al Landau afterhe took over the job as president of Marvel when Stan relinquished itafter a year or so. It seemed to make sense to try to produce more ofthe Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Conan, and other top-selling characters andgenres. It was hoped that having a different-sized, quarterly title wouldn’ttake away from the regular titles.” But … would the concept work?

Plans were announced in Marvel Comics fanzine Friends of Ol’Marvel, commonly referred to as FOOM. In late 1973, FOOM #4 (Winter1973) discussed Marvel’s recent 20% increase in price, from 20 to 25cents. This negative news was offset in the magazines “Far-Out Fanfareand Infoomation” section with some positive information: “Two new,adventure filled, 35-cent Marvel color comics will be on our newsstandin the next couple of months, and though they will cost more, we thinkyou will find them worthwhile.” Later, the section proposed other largerattractions to come: “More and better over-sized magazines are inthe planning stages, and this spring you can look for a monthly super-giant-sized comic that will rock you right out of your tree.”

The tree-shaking began with the publication of two “Giant” 35-centcomics with Giant-Size Super Stars #1 (May 1974) featuring the FantasticFour, followed in May with Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 (June 1974) featuringSpider-Man, and Giant-Size Chillers #1 (June 1974) featuring CountDracula. As explained in an announcement section at the time, Marvelplanned to produce three monthly rotating features with a 35-centformat. This was imitative of NBC’s Mystery Movie series that aired ina somewhat non-traditional format of 90 minutes. At this time, NBCrotated its series between Columbo, McMillan & Wife, and McCloud.Marvel planned to counter with a similar rotation of the Fantastic Four,Spider-Man, and Conan the Barbarian. At least that was the proposed plan.

THE GROWING PAINS OF A GIANTThe best-laid publication productions of mice and Marvel soon wentawry. A proposed and announced 35-cent Giant-Size Conan was neverproduced in that format. In its place was to be a 35-cent Giant-SizeSuper-Teams featuring the Defenders. This issue was also one that wasnever published in this format. The only other 35-cent Giant-Size bookproduced by Marvel at this time was Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974)featuring Werewolf by Night, before Mighty Marvel decided to go withan even larger format.

In May 1974, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas published“An Awesome Apologia From Our Erudite Editor,” which proclaimedMarvel would produce a “brand-new line of 60-cent, one-hundred-pageextravaganzas,” which would include Super-Giant Conan, Super-GiantAvengers, and Super-Giant Spider-Man Team-Up books. Thomas explainshis thoughts and role as editor to BACK ISSUE: “Just a few years earlier,when Martin Goodman flirted for a month or so with the extra-size comic,it was decided that the 36-page comic was a better package than a48-page or larger one. Most of the creators knew I liked the larger comicsand wanted to get rid of the smaller one. While Goodman’s plan wouldat least have made our comics, like DC’s, only available at a higher price,this later move merely pitted the two sizes against each other.”

Marvel’s proposed 100-page comics would be imitative of DCComics’ 100-Page Super Spectacular format that was published in theearly to mid-1970s. This particular 100-page format quickly becameDC’s standard for “Giant” comics. [Editor’s note: Marvelites, do yourselvesa favor a grab a copy of BI #81, surveying DC’s Bronze Age Giants and


by L e x C a r s o n

Although Conan no longer appears in Marvel Comics,Robert E. Howard’s creation, Conan the Barbarian,became a top seller for Marvel in the 1970s and was apart of the company’s merchandizing as well. Writer RoyThomas’ collaborations on Marvel’s Conan the Barbarianwith artists Barry Smith and John Buscema were award-winning and became an enduring piece of comicdom.Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #1 was first published as abimonthly beginning in July 1970, with an October coverdate. Sales on Conan slowly but steadily rose. The titlewent monthly with Conan #20 (Nov. 1972) and becameone of Marvel’s most popular series.

Thomas explains the phenomenon: “Conan kind ofsneaked up on Marvel … although Stan and I knew it, andthe people who wanted to merchandize Marvel charactersknew it.” Marvel definitely knew they wanted Conan tobe a big part of its Giant-Size offerings. Thomas wrotean all-new 26-page Conan tale for Giant-Size Conan #1(Sept. 1974), which was enhanced by Gil Kane artwork.Kane and Thomas followed this collaboration with three30-page stories in issues #2–4. Kane drew three Giant-SizeConan covers, with Jack Kirby and John Romita, Sr. puttingtogether the final one in Giant-Size Conan #5.


On Second Thought…(top) Editor Roy Thomas explains Marvel’s

Giant-Size format changes in his editorial inGiant-Size Spider-Man #1. (bottom right) This

house ad touts Spidey as the star of issue #2 ofGiant-Size Super-Stars, but (bottom left) thatSpidey issue became Giant-Size Super-Heroes#1. Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr.


roy thomasLuigi Novi / Wikimedia Commons.

The publication of the horror comics was also a bigpart of Marvel’s sales at this time. Dracula and othercreatures of the night appeared in regular titles, as wellas black-and-white magazines such as Dracula Lives!,Vampire Tales, and Monsters Unleashed. This naturallyled to the Giant-Size publication of Giant-Size Draculaand Giant-Size Werewolf. Marvel B&W editor Tony Isabellarecalls the dynamic between Marvel’s magazine formatsand the emerging Giant-Size books: “We did preparea lot of Shang-Chi and Dracula material for the black-and-white magazines, though Marv [Wolfman, writerand editor] would have been handling the latter.I can’t recall if any Shang-Chi stories originally intendedfor the black-and-white mags ended up seeing print inthe color comics first. However, some commissionedby me, and some by Marv, ended up in some Giant-Size books.”

During this time, Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu wasMarvel’s premier seller in the emerging martial-artscraze. Shang-Chi appeared in his own regular Marvelcomic book, in British weeklies, and in the black-and-white magazine Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. [Editor’s note:BACK ISSUE #88 will explore Bronze Age ComicMagazines, including Deadly Hands.] The character,the son of the insidious mastermind Fu Manchu,

was co-created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlinin Special Marvel Edition #15 (Dec. 1973). Shang-Chiquickly ascended to his own regular self-titledpublication (taking over Special Marvel Editionand assuming its numbering), and began asignature run with writer Doug Moench andartist Paul Gulacy. Tony Isabella recalls his partin the production: “I did commission two neweight-page Shang-Chi stories for the British

weeklies I was editing. I was concerned we’d runout of material when we started reprintingMaster of Kung Fu in the [UK’s] Avengers weekly.These stories eventually saw print in a Giant-SizeMaster of Kung Fu.”

NEW STORIES AND NEW CHARACTERSTony Isabella is more remembered for his writing ratherthan his editing at Marvel Comics. One of Marvel’s mostunheralded Bullpenners, his body of work remainsextensive. A vivid example is his collaboration with artistDon Perlin on Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), whereMarvel readers were introduced to an enduring character:Tigra the Were-Woman. Isabella recalls, “Roy [Thomas]asked me to write Giant-Size Creatures #1, which was tobe a quarterly book featuring Werewolf by Night. Since Ifelt the first issue of even a character’s second title shouldbe something special, I decided to reinvent Greer Nelsonas Tigra.” Greer Nelson, originally called the Cat, the creationof Linda Fite, Marie Severin, and Wally Wood, was afeminist superhero adorned with yellow uniform andfunctional claws. She saw four issues of publication inMarvel’s 1972–1973 Claws of the Cat. The Cat is reprisedtoday, somewhat, with Patsy Walker adorning the traditionalcostume as the self-styled Hellcat. [Editor’s note: See BACKISSUE #17 and 46 for more about the Cat/Tigra, includinga Bruce Timm Tigra cover on #17.] Isabella continues,“While Claws of the Cat had been a flop, I never likedseeing Marvel characters go to waste.”

True to form, Isabella transformed Greer into asuperpowered tiger-woman. “This worked out ratherwell for Greer. I love how she has become a majorplayer in the Marvel Universe,” Tony modestly states.(Tigra has been named to the “100 Sexiest Womenin Comics.”) However, Isabella has never liked hischaracter portrayed as a “cowardly slut.” He counts heras one of his greatest accomplishments: “Along withBlack Lightning and Misty Knight, Tigra remains one ofmy proudest comic creations. She is one of the relativelyfew characters I’d like to write again.”

Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins launched a newsuper-team in Giant-Size Invaders #1 (June 1975). TheWorld War II adventures of the Invaders began by detailingtheir creation in 1941, although the nucleus of thisteam—Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and the original

TerrifyingTeam-Up

(left) John Romita’scover rough for the

Spidey/Draculaco-starring vehicle

Giant-Size Spider-Man#1 (July 1974).

Courtesy of Al Bigley(www.albigley.com).

(right) Itspublished form.



tony isabella


liked me, but we never worked ‘together.’ Rather, we werepros who did our assignments. He did do a lot ofcovers for me and everyone else. I was always glad tohave him on my covers.”

Kane’s often-iconic covers have left a lasting impactupon the Marvel Universe.

BE THAT AS IT MAY BE (AND PROBABLYNEVER WAS)So much has been said and speculated about Marvel’sGiant-Size books that it is hard for a fan, and even aresearcher, to separate fact from fiction. Time takes fromus great creators like Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum, and JohnBuscema, just to name a few. Memory for the survivingcreators of the Giant-Size era also becomes a bit hazy attimes. Tony Isabella muses, “I’ve done so much over thepast four decades that I can’t remember every detail.And to think I used to wonder why some of the olderguys I worked with couldn’t remember every detail oftheir careers.” Tony does recall the setting, though: “It wasan age of suits telling Marvel we had to make more moneyfor the corporation and Marvel editors responding bygreen-lighting as many new books as they and the writerscould think of. While we were always coming up withnew concepts for titles, the order from above is whatspurred all those new titles.”

New concepts from this active period of Marvel’sBronze Age included Rich Buckler’s Deathlok, Isabella’sChampions and Black Goliath, and Roy Thomas’ andIsabella’s Super-Villain Team-Up. Which new featuresand characters would appear in Giant-Size formats?

Which would not? Buckler confirms that his Deathlokcharacter was not planned for the Giant-Size format.But Super-Villain Team-Up was, starting with two issuesof Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up before spinning offinto a regular-sized series.

Champions is a title that some fans assume was todebut in a Giant-Size format. If that is correct, its creator,Tony Isabella, doesn’t remember it that way. “LaunchingChampions as a Giant-Size comic might have beendiscussed at some time … or something I requestedonce the concept was changed from ‘Route 66 with twosuperheroes’ to a somewhat more traditional super-team,”Isabella says. “However, as my plot for the premiereissue was for a regular-size comic, I don’t think it wentbeyond a brief discussion.” That “brief discussion”appeared to take place again in the fanzine Comic Reader#117 (Apr. 1975). However, Comic Reader #118 (May1975) detailed how Champions and other new Marvel#1s would actually be produced: “Future first issues willinclude The Inhumans to be written by Doug Moenchand drawn by George Pérez; Starhawk and theGuardians of the Galaxy; and that new Tony Isabella-scripted title mentioned last time, The Champions. It’s a newsuper-team consisting of the Angel, Iceman, the BlackWidow, Hercules, the Ghost Rider, and the Black Goliath.It is to be drawn by Don Heck.”

The same treatment appeared to go for Isabella’snew hero Black Goliath, who got his own solo seriesaround this time period. “Black Goliath was not discussedas a Giant-Size comic,” says Isabella, “though, now that

Rough Stuffby Kane

(left) Gil Kane’s coverpreliminary for 1975’s

Giant-Size Daredevil#1, and the published

cover, with Kaneinked by Frank

Giacoia. (right) Kane’scover rough for

Giant-Size Spider-Man#5 (July 1975), and

the published version,with Tom Palmer inks.

Cover prelimscourtesy of Heritage.


GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #1Aug. 1974Cover artists: Rich Buckler andJohn Romita, Sr.Editor: Roy ThomasNew story:• The Avengers in “Nuklo—the

Invader That Time Forgot”Reprints:• Golden Age Human Torch in

“The Ray of Madness” fromHuman Torch #33 (Nov. 1948)

• The Wasp in “The Magician andthe Maiden” from Tales toAstonish #58 (Aug. 1964)

GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #2Nov. 1974Cover artists: Ron Wilson and

Frank Giacoia, with John Romita,Sr. (alterations)

Editor: Roy ThomasNew story:• The Avengers in “Blast from

the Past!”Reprints:• Fantastic Four in “Prisoners of the

Pharaoh” from Fantastic Four #19(Oct. 1964)

GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #3Feb. 1975Cover artists: Gil Kane andFrank GiacoiaEditor: Roy ThomasNew story:• The Avengers in “…What Time

Has Put Asunder!”Reprints:• The Avengers in “The Avengers

Battle the Space Phantom” fromAvengers #2 (Nov. 1963)

GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #4June 1975Cover artists: Gil Kane andJohn Romita, Sr.Editor: Len WeinNew story:• The Avengers in “…Let All Men

Bring Together”Reprints:• Ant-Man in “Betrayed by the

Ants!” from Tales to Astonish #38(Dec. 1962)

• Black Widow in “The Came …the Black Widow” from AmazingAdventures #1 (Aug. 1970)

GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #51975Cover artists: John Buscema andGeorge Roussos, with John Romita,Sr. (alterations)Editor: Len WeinReprints:• The Avengers in “The Monstrous

Plan of the Mandarin” fromAvengers Annual #1 (1967)

GIANT-SIZE CAPTAIN AMERICA #11975Cover artists: Gil Kane andMike EspositoEditor: Len WeinSpecial feature: 1-page pinupReprints:• Captain America in “Captain

America” from Tales of Suspense#59 (Nov. 1964)

• Captain America in “The Army ofAssasins Strike!” from Tales ofSuspense #60 (Dec. 1964)

• Captain America in “TheStrength of the Sumo!” fromTales of Suspense #61 (Jan. 1965)

• Captain America in “Breakout inCell Block 10!” from Tales ofSuspense #62 (Feb. 1965)

• Captain America in “The Originof Captain America!” from Talesof Suspense #63 (Mar. 1965)

GIANT-SIZE CAPTAIN MARVEL #11975Cover artists: Ron Wilson andFrank GiacoiaEditor: Len WeinReprints:• Captain Marvel in “And a Child

Shall Lead You!” from CaptainMarvel #17 (Oct. 1969)

• Captain Marvel in “The Hunterand the Holocaust!” from CaptainMarvel #20 (June 1970)

• Captain Marvel in “Here Comesthe Hulk!” from Captain Marvel#21 (Aug. 1970)

GIANT-SIZE CHILLERS #1Feb. 1975Cover artists: Ron Wilson andMike EspositoEditor: Marv WolfmanSpecial feature: “Chilling Tales”2-page framing sequenceNew stories:• “The Gravesend Gorgon”• “The Monster of Hedgwood Moor!”• “The Lagoon Creature of

Rising Sun”• “The Fountain”• “The Borrowed Face!”• “Gilt-Edged Gnomes!”Reprints:• “The Girl Who Couldn’t Die” from

Adventures into Terror #6 (Oct. 1951)• “From Out of the Past!” from

Astonishing #49 (May 1956)• “Next Stop Eternity!” from

Adventure into Mystery #3(Sept. 1956)

GIANT-SIZE CHILLERS #2May 1975Cover artists: Gil Kane andJohn Romita, Sr.Editor: Len WeinNew stories:• “Treasure Hunt with Death!”• “The House on Brook Street”• “The Triple Cross”

Reprints:• “Let’s Face It!” from Astonishing

#36 (Dec. 1954)• “The Couple Next Door!” from

Mystic #25 (Dec. 1953)• “The Pit of Fear!” from

Adventures into Weird Worlds #10(Sept. 1952)

• “The Watchers!” from AmazingAdventures #5 (Oct. 1961)

• “Fight for Life!” from World ofSuspense #3 (Aug. 1956)

• “The Next World!” from World ofFantasy #12 (June 1958)

• “I Love a Mermaid!” from Talesto Astonish #4 (July 1959)

GIANT-SIZE CHILLERS #3Aug. 1975Cover artists: Ed Hannigan andBerni WrightsonEditor: Len WeinSpecial feature: “Chilling Tales”2-page framing sequenceNew stories:• “[Death is a Typewriter]”Reprints:• “Gargoyle Every Night” from

Chamber of Darkness #7 (Oct. 1970)• “The Warlock Tree!” from

Chamber of Darkness #3 (Feb. 1970)• “Desert Scream!!” from Monsters

on the Prowl #9 (Feb. 1971)• “The Moving Finger Writhes…!”

from Tower of Shadows #3(Jan. 1970)

• “The Monster!” from Chamber ofDarkness #4 (Apr. 1970)

• “To Sneak … Perchance toScream!” from Tower of Shadows#4 (Mar. 1970)

• “One Little Indian!” from Towerof Shadows #4 (Mar. 1970)

GIANT-SIZE CHILLERS FEATURINGTHE CURSE OF DRACULA #1June 1974Note: Series retitled Giant-SizeDracula with issue #2Cover artist: John Romita, Sr.Editor: Roy ThomasSpecial feature: “Keeping Track ofDrac!” 2-page text article by MarvWolfmanNew story:• Dracula in “Night of the

She-Demon”Reprints:• “Have You Seen a Huge, Black

Vampire” from Mystic #25(Dec. 1953)

• “The Village Graveyard” fromAdventures into Weird Worlds #4(Spring 1952)

GIANT-SIZE CONAN THEBARBARIAN #1Sept. 1974Cover artists: Gil Kane andErnie Chan, with John Romita, Sr.(alterations)Editor: Roy Thomas

Special features: “Acheron: ARevisionary Theory” 2-page textfeature; 2-page Acheron map;2-page “Conan the Unconquered”text article by Roy ThomasNew story:• Conan in “Hour of the Dragon”Reprints:• Conan in “The Twilight of the

Grim Grey God!” from Conan theBarbarian #3 (Feb. 1971)

GIANT-SIZE CONAN THEBARBARIAN #2Dec. 1974Cover artist: John Buscema, withJohn Romita, Sr. (alterations)Editor: Roy ThomasSpecial feature: “The Hyborian Ageof Conan” 2-page mapNew story:• Conan in “Conan Bound!”Reprints:• Conan in “Zukala’s Daughter”

from Conan the Barbarian #5(May 1971)

GIANT-SIZE CONAN THEBARBARIAN #3Apr.1975Cover artists: Gil Kane andTom PalmerEditor: Roy ThomasNew story:• Conan in “To Tarantia—and

the Tower!”Reprints:• Conan in “Devil-Wings over

Shadizar” from Conan theBarbarian #6 (June 1971)

GIANT-SIZE CONAN THEBARBARIAN #4June 1975Cover artists: Gil Kane andTom PalmerEditor: Roy ThomasNew story:• Conan in “Swords of the South!”Reprints:• Conan in “The Lurker Within”

from Conan the Barbarian #7(July 1971)

GIANT-SIZE CONAN THEBARBARIAN #51975Cover artists: Jack Kirby andJoe Sinnott, with John Romita, Sr.(alterations)Editor: Len WeinReprints:• Conan in “A Sword Called …

Stormbringer!” from Conan theBarbarian #14 (Mar. 1972)

• Conan in “The Green Empressfrom Melnibone” from Conan theBarbarian #15 (May 1972)

• Conan in “The Blood of theDragon!” from Conan theBarbarian #12 (Dec. 1971)


TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc., except Conan TM & © Conan LLC.

As you read in the previous article, a handful of Marvel two-issue storylines were intended as single Giant-Size issues. And some Bronze Age Marveldebuts might have appeared under the Giant-Size banner if that 50-cent format hadn’t run out of steam. But here in BACK ISSUE land, we canpretend that Marvel’s beefiest books continued to face front! So enjoy these fantasy Giant-Size Marvels, their covers cannibalized, written,and art-directed by yours truly and designed by The Man’s best friend, Rich Fowlks. From the second appearance of the All-New, All-DifferentX-Men to a special treat for Tony Isabella—and ending with a title that usurps Giant-Size Man-Thing’s claim in infamy—these are…

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN…Simon & Schuster established its imprints of Fireside/Touchstone in 1970 to publish trade paperback editions.Aimed at younger readers, Fireside was originally adivision focused on diet, health, exercise, and self-help.Touchstone was focused on more serious non-fictionand popular fiction. The Fireside imprint continued untilbeing retired in 2010 and Touchstone remained theonly imprint for that area of interest.

In 1974, Linda Sunshine, the person responsible forbringing about the Batman and Superman books fromCrown [see BI #81], became the new Fireside editor.“I believed I could bring the same kind of bestseller toFireside,” she tells BACK ISSUE. “I contacted Marvel andStan Lee. Stan was just great to work with! We’d decide a

theme and the Marvel staff would pull it together andsend it to us. I don’t recall them ever missing

a deadline.”Starting with the first book,Origins of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee would

approve the contents, write the intro-ductions, and hand it off to specialprojects manager Irene Vartanoff topull it all together. Irene was known tomany comic readers from her multipleappearances in the letters columns.Just like Roy Thomas and several others,

she made the transition from fan to thecomic-book profession.

In a 2009 interview posted inJacque Nodell’s blog devoted toromance comics, Sequential Crush,Irene described some of her transitions

at Marvel: “I started with various editorial assistant tasksand then moved to being the reprint editor (an assistanteditor role) and then into managing reprint production.Then came special projects coordination … I spent mostof my career at Marvel in production, supervising ahandful of employees and freelancers and teaming withpeople from other companies to produce joint projects.I did hardcover and paperback books, newspaperinserts, posters, Star Wars reprints, newspaper strips,and more. I also did the infamous cleanup and inventoryof the Marvel art warehouse.”

She further related in 2010 in her own blogTemporary Superheroine: “I got handed final due datesfor multiple projects and it was up to me to figure outhow to get all the balls in the air, keep them in the air,and then get the final product to press on time. Therewasn’t any kind of training; someone on the 9th floor cutthe deal, and we on the 6th floor got handed the job.”

I asked Irene about the original process for puttingthe books together. “I did not retain any documentspertaining to the original lineup, or the breakdown ofhow much was obtainable through film we already had,and how much it would cost to get new film made,”Vartanoff says. “Someone with access to our filminventory (I was not in charge of it) must have done theP&L [profit and loss statement]—possibly [production


Titanic TomeA countertop display for Fireside Books’ premierMarvel edition, 1974’s Origins of Marvel Comics.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

linda sunshine

by S t e p h a n F r e d t

From 1974–1979, Simon & Schuster’s Fireside Booksfilled fans’ bookshelves with Marvel classics and theirminds with Marvel lore. In the early ’80s, a few othertrade paperbacks trickled into the market in editionswhich some collectors might confuse with the Firesidebooks—yet these were not part of the Simon &Schuster library.

Attracted by the success of Fireside’s “Marvel Origins”series, Ideals Publishing Corporation, a children’sbook company headquartered in Milwaukee,Wisconsin, signed a deal with Marvel Comics toproduce a quartet of “Secret Story” full-color tradepaperbacks (also published in hardcover) with headlinersCaptain America, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk,and Spider-Man. At 68 pages each, the Ideals booksweren’t as meaty as the Fireside volumes, but their$2.95 cover prices (for softcovers) were more agreeableto parents’ pocketbooks or their kids’ allowances.Standing in for the hyperbolic Stan Lee were DavidAnthony Kraft (who edited Cap, FF, and Hulk) andRoger Stern (editor of Spider-Man), who ably broughttheir young readers up to speed on the mythos of theMarvel Universe through carefully selected storiesspanning generations, with text articles written byDave and Roger that bridged the stories. Kraft tells

BACK ISSUE, “I was [production manager] Sol Brodsky’sgo-to guy for outside projects featuring Marvel characters,”which included a wide range of products such as customcomics produced for the Dallas Herald Tribune, pop-upbooks, and coloring books. His relationship withBrodsky was cemented by two factors: “I couldproduce the project and I could take a meeting,” Kraftlaughs. The Ideals “Secret Story” line was assigned toKraft, but he passed the Spider-Man volume on to Stern,who was enthusiastic about the project. The editorschose the reprints (see index), although Brodsky andother higher-ups vetted their selections. Kraft notes,“What was fun for me was to take many of the comicsI had read as a kid and pick and choose what I thoughtmade sense [for younger readers], then write copy inbetween them.” Kraft added creator biographies tothe line and was involved with the evolution of theirpainted covers, although the passing decades have cloudedhis recollection of the cover artists’ credits. In additionto being released through the traditional book market,Kraft believes that these kid-friendly editions may alsohave been marketed directly to schools and libraries.These editions are relatively uncommon, commanding$35 apiece in NM- condition in the 2015 OverstreetPrice Guide.


“Marvel Origins”ContinuesJohn Romita, Sr.’srendition of the starsof Marvel’s first tradepaperback, MightyMarvel Team-UpThrillers, as seenon its double-page-spread table ofcontents.© 1983 Marvel Comics Group.


As has been covered in this magazine on many occasions, a hallmark ofthe Bronze Age of Comics was its alternative formats for comic books.Throughout the 1970s, traditional newsstand distribution was nettingdeclining numbers, and to attract new readers publishers experimentedwith releasing comic-book material in a variety of formats, including jumbo-sized treasury editions (see BACK ISSUE #61), black-and-white magazines(which we’ll examine in BI #88), and hardcover and trade-paperbackreprint editions released to bookstores. Paperbacks were another methodemployed by comic publishers to get their characters and backlist intoreaders’ hands—literally—in a personal, fit-in-your-palm softcover format.

The comics-to-paperback trend was certainly nothing new: the popular,and frequently expanding, libraries of Peanuts, Dennis the Menace, and MADMagazine reprints in paperback form stretched back to the 1950s; joiningCharles Schulz, Hank Ketcham, and Alfred E. Neuman on book spinnerracks were paperbacks collecting other syndicated comics including TheAddams Family, Nancy, Hazel, Andy Capp, and The Born Loser. Paperbackeditions reprinting superhero comics enjoyed a blip on the pop-culture radarin the mid-’60s during the decade’s famed camp superhero craze. Batman(lots of him!) and Superman, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and the MightyCrusaders were among the caped crusaders whose earlier adventures werere-presented in paperbacks—in black and white, reformatted to a smallersize. In 1966–1967, Lancer Books brought the House of Ideas to paperbackreaders with a series of six “Collector’s Album” softcovers comprising the firstMarvel paperback editions: The Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, TheIncredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, The Fantastic Four Return, and Daredevil. Andon their heels came two original novels from Bantam Books starring Marvelheroes: 1967’s The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker by legendary sci-fi andcomics writer Otto Binder, and 1968’s Captain America: The Great Gold Stealby Ted White; both novels featured painted covers, a rarity during this era.

MARVEL POCKET COMICSA decade would pass before Marvel’s material would be repackaged inpaperback editions. As chronicled elsewhere in this issue (as well as in BACKISSUE #81), Fireside Books, an imprint of publishing powerhouse Simon& Schuster, began collecting Marvel material in trade-paperback form,starting with 1974’s Origins of Marvel Comics. Bolstered by the success ofthose trades, Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, brought theMarvel Universe to the paperback market in 1977. (Historically, PocketBooks was not simply a Simon & Schuster “division”—it was the UnitedStates’ first publisher of mass-market paperback editions, starting in 1939and borrowing from European models that had begun even earlier.Pocket Books went through several owners until being acquired by Simon& Schuster in 1966. And it should not be confused with the “PocketBooks” Marvel reprint titles published in the United Kingdom, or withthe more recent line of Pocket Books published by Marvel Comics itself.)

Pocket Books’ Marvel series, consisting of ten titles releasedbetween September 1977 and September 1979, was branded as its“Pocket Comics” line but is also known as the “Stan Lee presents”line due to The Man’s signature being prefixed to each of its logos.They might also be called “Mini Marvel Masterworks,” as they reprintedmaterial chronologically, rather than the random reprints usuallyappearing in comic paperbacks, and they did so in full-color, ratherthan the black and white of its Lancer predecessors.

Overseen by Marvel’s production manager, Sol Brodsky, the editorialand production work on the Pocket Books line was handled by a varietyof people whose names are familiar to longtime comics readers: PatyCockrum, Jim Salicrup, Irene Vartanoff, Duffy Vohland, Andy Yanchus,and Nel Yomtov, among others.

All in Color for a Lot of DimesThe electrifying Steve Ditko cover to Pocket Books’ firstAmazing Spider-Man volume, making pulse-poundingperils a hand-held experience in 1977.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.



The line launched with The Amazing Spider-Man, reprinting the Wall-Crawler’s firstseven stories—his origin from Amazing Fantasy #15 and the first six issues of his own

mag. They remained, as the cover blurb stated, “completeand unabridged,” even recycling one of Marvel’s mostembarrassing bloopers, from the first Dr. Octopus adventure,where Doc Ock calls the Web-Spinner “Super-Man.”

And wow, that cover—a sizzling Steve Ditko-drawn Spideyvs. Electro punch-fest, the bad guy’s crackling lightningcontrasted by the cover’s stark black background! A cover sodarn eye-catching, you don’t at first realize that Electro is notamong the characters featured in the interior stories!

But these are only minor quibbles about a book—andsubsequent line—that elevated paperback comic-book reprints anotch. Instead of cannibalizing the original panels and rearrangingthem to adapt to the paperback format, as was the norm withcomic-book reprints, Marvel’s Pocket Comics reprinted onefull comic-book page per each paperback page, slightlyexpanding the space dividing panel tiers to fit the art to thetaller dimensions of the paperback page. This creates the lookof a mini-comic, but today, the aging eyes of the Pocket Books’original readers may squint to read these palm-piloted classics.

While the Pocket Books are faithful to their source material, in the first Incredible Hulkvolume’s reprinting of Incredible Hulk #1, the Hulk is colored green instead of his originalgray so as not to confuse the newbie reader.

Early MarvelPaperbacks

(left) Lancer’s TheAmazing Spider-Man,

one of six Marvel“Collector’s Album”

paperbacks publishedbetween 1966 and

1967. (right) TedWhite’s Captain

America: The GreatGold Steal, the second

of two Silver Agepaperbacks featuring

original novelsstarring Marvel

characters.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Before and After, Part OneThe Gil Kane/Joe Sinnott cover art to Fantastic Four #143 (Feb. 1974) wasreused as the paperback cover of Pocket Books’ 1977 Fantastic Fouredition. In addition to the noticeable recoloring, #143’s stand-in FFerMedusa was replaced by FF founder Invisible Girl in the Pocket Books version.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.


One of the most durable formats in comic-book history is that of thedigest. Varying in size and thickness over the years, most modern-daycomic-book digests are 4.875" x 6.5" in size and range anywhere from 68to 300 pages, sometimes up to 1000! Practically every major comic-bookpublisher has tried the format, with differing levels of success.

Archie Comics is the most successful digest publisher by far, with wellover 1000 digests with various titles published since Archie ComicsDigest debuted in 1973. Gold Key, Harvey, DC, and Fawcett (withDennis the Menace) also had lengthy digest runs, but none of thempublish digests today.

The peak period for standard comic-book digests was roughly fromGold Key’s Walt Disney Comics Digest #1 (June 1968) to the end of theHarvey digests, which appeared in late 1994.

Marvel Comics strangely decided to enter into the digest field in 1982,around the same time as DC was starting to get out of it. DC was completelydone by 1986, the same year that Marvel increased its digest activity.

Marvel had previously attempted to do a digest series in 1973, whenthe company was also getting into publishing black-and-white magazines.The Haunt of Horror appeared as a digest for two issues prior to beingreworked into a magazine format in 1974. Gerry Conway served as editor.The two digest issues bear little in common with later Marvel digests asthey featured lengthy text pieces with minimal artwork as opposed toregular comic-book reprints. They have more in common with otherdigest magazines published in 1973 such as Alfred Hitchcock Magazine,Ellery Queen, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Analog.

Marvel’s initial entry to digests featuring comic-book reprints was dueto a licensing acquisition. In 1981, Marvel acquired the lucrative Dennis theMenace comic-book license. Dennis was very successfully and continuouslypublished from 1953–1980 by Standard, Pines, Hallden, Fawcett, and CBS,so Marvel felt it had a hot property on its hands.

Marvel first became aware of the Dennis the Menace availabilitywhen the publisher acquired DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, the animationstudio notable for The Pink Panther. DFE became Marvel Productions[see BACK ISSUE #59], and the final DFE project that they were finishingup was an animated Mother’s Day TV special entitled Dennis theMenace: Mayday for Mother.

CBS had recently discontinued the Dennis the Menace comics titles in1980, including the long-running Pocket Full of Fun! digest, ending with #50(Mar. 1980). Since this title had a lengthy and profitable run since 1969,it was only natural that digests would continue in tandem with the newDennis the Menace standard comic-book title from Marvel. Much hooplawas initially made about this acquisition, with articles appearing in TheComic Reader and Amazing Heroes touting the Menace’s arrival at Marvel.

In all, six digest issues appeared: three of Dennis the Menace ComicsDigest and three of The Very Best of Dennis the Menace (different fromthe CBS digest series). The major highlight of both of these series is thereprinting of some of the earliest Dennis tales, written by Fred Tooleand drawn by Al Wiseman, the latter usually considered the top Denniscomic-book artist. Other reprints featured later artists Owen Fitzgerald,Frank Hill, and Bill Williams. Dennis creator Hank Ketcham did some ofthe covers, usually using reprinted comic-strip art.

The Marvel Dennis the Menace comic-book series lasted only 13issues and the entire enterprise was quickly and quietly shut downwithout much fanfare in late 1982. No editor was listed on the series,but stories were probably selected by Ketcham Enterprises.

Special note must be made of the first issues of both series, as direct-market copies featured the DC logo and stated “The Biggest Little Buy inComics,” instead of the Spider-Man head that usually graced the UPC boxin Marvel direct-market copies. According to the 2010 Comic Book Checklistand Price Guide by Maggie Thompson, Brent Frankenhoff, and PeterBickford, the emblem was placed on the cover in error by World ColorPress. This makes perfect sense, as Marvel hadn’t previously had a digestwith a UPC box and DC had been publishing digests regularly for over threeyears at that point. Tom DeFalco, at the time a Marvel editor, said thiswhen asked about the error: “I can only assume it was a printer’s mistake.I don’t remember seeing this because I would have howled if I did.”

Had Marvel waited a few years or had kept Dennis going a littlelonger, it might have garnered greater success when Marvel debutedits highly successful Star Comics line in 1984, a line featuring originalcharacters and licensed properties with artists and writers coming infresh from Harvey and Archie [see BI #77 for the Star Comics story].


Hand-Held HorrorsMarvel’s first digest: The Haunt of Horror #1 (June 1973), acollection of mystery short stories, some of whichfeature illustrations from the likes of Walter Simonson,Mike Ploog, and Frank Brunner. Cover by Gray Morrow.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

by M a r k A r n o l d

Marvel Comics had journeyed through multiple worlds since 1961, but by1982 it was dealing with uncharted territory: the direct sales market.As Steven Grant explained in Marvel’s first special edition reprint, “Earlier [in1982], Marvel began considering new formats and methods of distributionfor Marvel. The magazine EPIC was doing well, and editor-in-chief Jim Shooter,V.P. Michael Hobson, and direct sales manager Mike Friedrich were lookingfor projects to further explore these new markets. For such projects, theyneeded top-quality material that would attract a lot of attention.” One ofthese projects was a new series of reprints on Baxter paper. [Author’s note:See Back Issue #81 for information on DC’s deluxe reprint series.]

Then-Marvel executive editor Tom DeFalco clarifies: “In those days,you could only read the old stories in reprints or by finding a store thatsold back issues. A lot of comics were still being thrown away oncethey’d been read—an idea that seems like heresy today, but was quitecommon then. We would often sit around the Bullpen and discuss ourfavorite stories—stories that held some emotional significance to us—[that] deserved to be back in print in a nice format.”

Marvel editor Al Milgrom described the format’s specifics in Warlock#1 (Dec. 1982): “With the recent astronomical growth of [the direct salesmarket], Marvel is able to do something we never could before, namelyproduce comics with a smaller print run, a higher cover price and muchbetter production values. The paper quality and printing of these pub-lications far surpasses the usual comics seen on newsstands. The color ismuch more vivid, the reproduction much sharper, truer to the original art.”

As Milgrom remembers today, “Every year, Jim Shooter and the editorswould get together and create the budget. And it wasn’t what you’dthink. It wasn’t like, ‘Here’s what we’re going to be able to spend thisyear.’ It was more a matter of projecting what they were going to publishthat year and then trying to figure out other things they might want totry to do in order to make the most possible money for the year, becausethe owners of Marvel wanted their earnings to go up every year. And soif the book sales weren’t increasing, or even if they were, they werealways looking for other projects. ‘Well, shall we create six new titlesthis year? Should we do some reprints this year?’ And then they wouldask for suggestions about what material they thought we could do.”

As it turned out, a little-seen book by the popular X-Men team of ChrisClaremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin would make the perfect test case.

STAR-LORD, THE SPECIAL EDITION #1 (Feb. 1982) As a science-fiction feature, Star-Lord had just missed its window. In 1977,Star Wars became a phenomenon for moviegoers and comic readersalike—but Marvel Preview #11’s revival of Star-Lord hit the stands threemonths before space opera became all the rage. Although the space-faring Peter Quill is world-famous today thanks to 2014’s Guardians ofthe Galaxy movie, he was an obscurity in 1977—and 1982. Penciler JohnByrne admitted on his forum Byrnerobotics.com in 2008, “I’d not evenheard of the character before Chris asked me to do it. And any interestI had kind of petered out four or five pages before the end of the story.”Consequently, Byrne declined to do any new artwork for the reprint.Penciler Michael Golden replaced Byrne for a new framing sequence,and Glynis Wein colored the entire story for the first time.

Unfortunately, the new coloring, combined with the zip-a-toneeffects from Marvel Preview #11, made Star-Lord’s art appear murky.Inker Terry Austin tells the full story: “Glynis was a wonderful coloristwhose work I personally miss; she did the best job that she could. Thetragedy was that [original editor] Archie Goodwin had the foresight tosee that Marvel would want to reprint the job in color someday, so,

Interstellar LaunchMarvel’s deluxe reprint line started with Star-Lord,The Special Edition #1 (Feb. 1982). Here’s its back cover,illustrated by Terry Austin, who also drew its front cover.TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.


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fromDied!” Earth oday gnitabmocretsamypscissalcs’oknaretSmiJBACK ISSUE #86

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