Swamp Thing comical books this week.
So I’m slowly catching up on my comic book reading. I thought I’d only been off for three or four months, due to my various eye issues, but judging by where I stopped reading on several titles, it appears I actually sopped sometime in April. Boy, that’s a long time to just be pulling a handful of new comics for myself every week, only to have it build into an imposing stack of material that hopefully someday I’ll be able to make it through.
But catching up, I have been. Current on Immortal HulkJustice League, where I read, like, the 14 most recent issues in relatively short order and boy howdy does that take you a ride. And, of course, as mentioned before, I’m up to date on Doomsday Clock, which is vitally important.
And I’m still keeping up on my Swamp Thingery, though my need to get every single minor one-panel appearance or dialogue mention or whathaveyou may have finally been broken by the whole Convergence thing with its similar-ish Swamp Thing cameo panel in every title. But I’m still getting those major appearances, and even the occasional reprint, like…
…this buck reprint from DC’s new dollar book line. Coloring’s nice, printing on bright white paper (which makes it look a little weird, as Swamp Thing in my mind is always on lightly-decayed newsprint), and the the cover remains particularly striking. It’s of course a come-on for DC’s new “Bronze Age” reprint books of ol’ Swampy, but still, it’s a nice buy for only a single Washington.
And here’s the first of the Swamp Thing Giants available directly through comic shops, versus the two or three or whatever (I’m not even quite sure) that were only distributed at Wal-Marts. Two new Swamp Thing stories, plus a few reprints, and the new stuff is probably standalone so I’ll probably be able to read this without missing out on much.
Now this series I’m not caught up on, but I’m making sure to snag each installment because Swamp Thing is generally in it. I mean, look, there’s his hand right there on the cover, waiting for a…manicure, I guess? I don’t know what’s going on in the book.
Anyway, there’s your Swamp Thing update for the week. I don’t know if he’s, say, hiding behind a tree in this week’s Action or anything (or actually being a tree, I guess), but hey, at least it’s a start.
I repeat myself: Giants have 80 pages. If it has 100 pages, it is a Super Spectacular. Does no one remember history any longer?
The woman on that cover really does not seem dressed for the swamp. She is going to end up with mosquito and chigger bites EVERYwhere.
…and I am reminded: Does anyone else remember when Marvel planned a line of 100-page comics that would be called “Colossal”? This was going to start with AVENGERS, CONAN, and MARVEL TEAM-UP, and would be published in conjunction with a line of 52-page “Giant-Size” comics…
…but then the decision was made for a uniform line of 68-pagers, all called “Giant-Size.”
Of course, the most notorious comic in that line was GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING. Here is a further bit of trivia for you: that was actually the third title announced for that series. Originally, there was to be a monthly comic called GIANT-SIZE CHILLERS, in which Dracula, Werewolf by Night, and Man-Thing alternated. Then, there were to be three quarterly comics, G-S CHILLERS with Dracula, G-S CREATURES with Werewolf, and G-S MONSTERS with Man-Thing. Then, just before the last of these was to be published, the decision was made that each one was to take its title from its star. One can only suppose that the rush this caused is what kept the folks at Marvel from grasping the implications of the new title.
Mike – In reference to your last sentence there, it sparked a thought I never had before. Since Swamp Thing is the representative of the Green, shouldn’t we (as Swamp Thing completists) buy every DC comic that has any panel showing any kind of flora? Technically any or all of it “could” be Swamp Thing. My God, do I have a lot of back issues to by if that’s the case.
@Turan – Back in Ye Olde Days when I was using my blog to blog instead of publish my original characters, I stumbled across what you’re remembering. The name wasn’t “Colossal” though, at least by the time I found reference to it – it was “Super-Giant.”
https://christopherelam.blogspot.com/2013/12/weird-wonder-tales-5-august-1974.html
There’s some forgotten info on the Giant-Size books in there too. It was a very fluid time, it seems.
I am relying on decades-old memories here, and I may very well be wrong…but my recollection that there was at least one month’s Bullpen Bulletins that used the “Colossal” name, and also included the title “Marvel Team-Up” in the line-up.
How I remember things going: The original plan was for two monthly 35 cent, 52-page comics: GIANT-SIZE SUPER-STARS, which would feature the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Conan in alternation; and GIANT-SIZE CHILLERS, which would alternate Dracula, Werewolf by Night, and Man-Thing. After the first issues were published, Marvel decided to instead make that six quarterly comics with unvarying leads, and so the next month saw the first issues of GIANT-SIZE SUPER-HEROES with Spider-Man, and GIANT-SIZE CREATURES with Werewolf by Night. Also, the Colossal, or Super-Giant (now I am thinking that I was wrong about that) line-up was announced: Marvel Team-Up, Avengers, and Conan. Conan’s place in the Giant-Size line was to be taken by the Defenders, who would appear in GIANT-SIZE SUPER-TEAMS, while Man-Thing would be in GIANT-SIZE MONSTERS. But then, almost as soon as all this was announced, the plan was changed again, to a uniform format of 68 pages for 50 cents, and the character names being incorporated into the titles. Hence, as I noted, the infamous GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING.
I note the detail that, while GIANT-SIZE FANTASTIC FOUR, GIANT-SIZE DRACULA, and GIANT-SIZE WEREWOLF all started with issue #2–continuing, that is, the numbering from SUPER-STARS, CHILLERS, and CREATURES–GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN started with #1. That is because G-S S-M was actually the planned “Marvel Team-Up” giant rather than a continuation of G-S SUPER-HEROES (though, as the story in that comic also featured Morbius and Man-Wolf, it could have retroactively been labeled a Marvel Team-Up).
I realize that I am trying everyone’s patience, but I must return to the topic to admit my error. I have pulled out AVENGERS #125 (July 1974), and found there the Bullpen Bulletins page that I remembered…and it definitely gives the proposed line of 60 cent, 100 page comics the title of “Super-Giants,” not “Colossals.” I have no idea where that quirk of memory originated.
It also promises a “Super-Giant Spider-Man,” but it describes that as a “big brother to our regular-size ‘Marvel Team-Up’,” so my confusion there is at least a bit more understandable.
Looking at these actual announcements reminds me how unsettled the names were at the time. On the same Bulletins page announcing the “Super-Giant” line, “Stan Lee’s Soapbox” refers to it as “our fantastic new 60 cent Super-Sized series.” The previous month, the same paragraph had promised both “Giant-Size Chillers” and “Giant-Size Super-Chillers.” They seem to have been making all this up as they went along.