Superman Vs. Shazam

Reprints All-New Special Edition #C-58, DC Comics Presents #33-34, 49, DC Comics Presents Annual #3
Written by Roy Thomas, Joey Cavalieri, Gerry Conway, Paul Kupperberg, Julius Schwartz and Gil Kane.
Penciled by Rich Buckler, Gil Kane.
Inked by Dick Giordano, John Calnan and Gil Kane.

Summary:
On Mars, a sorcerer known as Karmang The Evil lives a solitary existence. Thousands of years ago, he tried to discover the secret to immortality. His attempt made him immortal, but killed off everyone else on Mars. He hatches a plan to resurrect them. Karmang wants to force a collision between two planets, Earth-1 and Earth-S. This collision will generate enough energy to bring his fellow Martians back to life. 

Using his sorcery, he brings two super-villains to Mars: Black Adam, arch foe of Shazam (AKA, Captain Marvel) and Quarrmer, who recently battled Superman.

Karmang sends them to the Earths of their foes where they will activate a device called the space-time engine that will force each Earth towards the other. Quarrmer and Black Adam will also get Shazam and Superman to fight each other so they're too distracted to save their home planets from destruction.

Superman is surprised when Captaian Marvel shows up in Metropolis and challenges him to a fight. The fight is brief, but before Shazam flies off, he zaps Superman with a judgement ray. This causes the Man Of Steel to lose all judgement and sends him into a berserker rage, focused on nothing but fighting Shazam. We learn that "Shazam" was really Black Adam in disguise as the villain activates a "space-time engine" and leaves it in Metropolis.

Superman's cousin Supergirl witnesses this and is concerned. She has never seen Kal-El in such a rage and wonders why the two heroes want to kill each other. Supergirl follows her cousin as he pursues Captain Marvel.

In the New York City of Earth-S, Captain Marvel is attacked by Superman. A fight similar to the one on Earth-1 ensues, with Shazam being blasted with a judgement ray. "Superman" was actually Quarrmer masquerading as the Man Of Tomorrow and he activates the space-time engine that will propel Earth-S towards our planet. Captain Marvel is out for blood and heads for Earth-1.

Mary Marvel, sister of Captain Marvel, wonders what's happened to make Shazam so enraged and follows him to Earth-1.

Captain Marvel and Superman engage in one the greatest brawls any Earth has ever seen. They punch and throw each other across the United States, from Niagara Falls to the Grand Canyon.

Supergirl and Mary guess that impostors must have caused Superman and Shazam to fight each other. They deduce that Black Adam and Quarrmer must be the culprits. This leads them to Mars where Mary Marvel and Supergirl go after Karmang.

Earth's time is running out, the heroes have only two hours before Earth-S and Earth-1 will collide and be destroyed.  Can the heroes come to their senses and stop fighting each other in time to thwart Karmang's plot and save two Earths?

Sometime later, Clark Kent is working at the Daily Planet when he hears trouble and rushes off to change into Superman. Clark is shocked to find that he's wearing the red and gold costume of Captain Marvel! He uses a passageway to Earth-S to visit Shazam and finds that the World's Mightest Mortal is wearing a Superman costume!

The heroes learn that it's the work of Superman's mischievous enemy, Mister Mxyzptlk, the imp from the fifth dimension. In addition to causing the costume-switch, Mxyzptlk has cast a spell which traps Superman on Earth-S.

But Mxyzptlk isn't working alone. He's teamed up with Shazam's old foe Mr. Mind, the worm-like alien genius, as well as the super-strong, barbaric King Kull, another adversary of Captain Marvel. Kull states that he plans to kill every human bein on Earth. His strength has been increased by Mr. Mind, making King Kull deadlier than ever.

If Shazam and the Man Of Steel want to triumph over their enemies, they'll need the help of Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior and...last but not least Hoppy, the Marvel Bunny!

Subsequently, when Superman saves an ancient Egyptian temple from an explosion, he unwittingly releases Black Adam into the world. The villain attacks New York City and declares himself the new ruler of Earth. Superman battles Black Adam, but after a brief exchange, the Man Of Steel makes a tactical retreat.  

Their fight is observed by a young man named Billy Batson. On Earth-S, his counterpart is the alter ego of Captain Marvel. But on Earth-1, Billy is just a normal kid and Shazam only exists as a comic book character. He confronts Black Adam and even shouts "Shazam" in vain hopes he will turn in to Captain Marvel. Black Adam laughs at the boy.

Black Adam seems more powerful than ever. Superman finds a way to get Shazam to Earth, knowing it will take their combined power to stop Captain Marvel's deadliest foe. But young Billy Batson will also prove to be a valuable asset in their battle.

Finally, Captain Marvel's foe Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana attacks Metropolis in a giant robot.  Superman is able to stop the robot, but Sivana escapes.

When the villain returns to Earth-S, he cooks up his deadliest scheme yet. Sivana creates a device that will give him the powers of Shazam.

The device works and Dr. Sivana becomes Captain Sivana! In addition to his scientific genius, Sivana is now one of the most powerful beings who ever lived.

Shazam will need to enlist the assistance of the Marvel Family and the Supermans of two Earths if he wants to defeat Captain Sivana!

Review:
The material reprinted in Superman Vs. Shazam is exciting and should appeal to fans of both characters.  It also features scripts and art from some of the greatest comic book talents of all time.

Story:
The plot of the first story, written by Gerry Conway, is a bit thin, but it's lots of fun. It basically consists of "two extremely powerful heroes fight each other." But that's okay, and I thought that Mary Marvel and Supergirl were written well in the story.

Conway and Roy Thomas co-wrote the two-part tale from DC Comics Presents 33-34 and it's another good story. Mxyzptlk has long been one of my favorite DC villains (I even had his Mego doll when I was a kid!) and he's very entertaining in this tale. When Mxyzplk objects to Kull and Mr. Mind killing people, it's a good reminder that not all super-villains are bent on world domination and oppression.

I also appreciated the presence of Hoppy, the Marvel Bunny. Is he a bit silly? Sure, but adding a "funny animal" character helped lighten the mood in a story about characters trying to kill or conquer.

The final portion gives us a story credited to Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Joey Cavalieri and legendary DC editor Julius Schwartz. Normally, when I see a story credited to four people, I expect the worst. Thankfully, that is not the case here. It's another great brawl issue, with Captain Sivana slugging it out with Shazam and the Supermans of Earth-1 and Earth-2.

It was published in DC Comics Presents Annual #3. Bronze Age annuals were often mediocre but this is a great story.

Art:
Rich Buckler penciled most of this book and his art is good throughout. The art in the first story features Buckler's pencils inked by Dick Giordano. They give us page after page of fantastic art. When Captain Marvel and Superman are under the influence of the judgement ray, Buckler and Giordano do a great job depicting the heroes as psychotic madmen. Their facial expressions are almost scary. Lots of great action and fight scenes by two of the Bronze Age's best artists.

Buckler and Giordano also provide the art on tale that features Mxyzptlk, Mr. Mind, and King Kull.  Buckler's style had changed quite a bit since the first story, but it still looks good. John Calnan embellished Buckler on the next reprinted story. It's not bad, but it's the weakest art in the book. Black Adam just doesn't look right when depicted by the Buckler/Calnan team. 

Comics legend Gil Kane penciled and inked the Sivana story. Kane is one of my favorite artists, but this is near the end of his career. Kane's work here is good, even if it looks a bit rougher than his best work. Of course, Kane was a master of odd perspectives and he doesn't disappoint in that regard.

How Does It Look?:

I found this scan, from All-New Special Edition #C-58 on the internet:

This is how it appears in the tpb:

J.A. Morris' rating:
Superman Vs. Shazam features two of the greatest heroes of all time fighting each other and teaming up against great villains and is recommended. Fans of Rich Buckler's art will especially enjoy this tpb. It's also a good way to introduce the uninitiated to the quirky and amusing world of Shazam.

.5

3 and a half Sals.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans

Reprints Fantastic Four (1961) #164-176
Written by Roy Thomas and Bill Mantlo.
Penciled by George Perez, Rich Buckler, John Buscema.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Vince Colletta

A man calling himself the Crusader shows up in New York, invades a bank and attacks Calvin McClary, the bank's owner. Luckily, the Human Torch is nearby and intervenes. Crusader defeats the Torch and gets away. This menace is armed with Quantum Bands that give Crusader super-strength that make him very dangerous. Johnny will need his Fantastic Four teammates if he wants to stop the Crusader.

We learn that Crusader's real name is Robert Grayson and that used to fight crime under the name Marvel Boy. His father Horace was an atomic scientist who fled the Earth to Uranus in the 1950s.  Horace Grayson needed money to fund his Uranus project and McClary wouldn't loan it to him. This resulted in the deaths of many Uranians, and the Crusader has come to New York to avenge them. This leads the madman to attack banks all over the city. 

Later, the FF are flying over the Midwest when they encounter the Hulk! They battle the Green Goliath and the Invisible Girl eventually subdues him using her force field. The Hulk is turned over to the military. Reed makes a deal with Col. Sellers of the Air Force: If he's able to cure Bruce Banner of his Hulk transformations, Banner will go free and work with Richards.
 

The Thing doesn't like the way the Hulk is being treated by the military. Ben looks at Hulk and sees that they are both "monsters" who are unjustly feared by the powers that be.

Reed uses a device on the Hulk that he hopes will turn him back to Bruce Banner. The device is successful, but Col. Sellers suddenly reneges on their deal and imprisons Banner. When Ben sees this, he decides to free Banner, who turns back into the Hulk. The Thing teams up with Hulk and only the Fantastic Four can stop them.

They battle all over the city of St. Louis. Suddenly, Ben has a change of heart and attacks the Hulk. But in the middle of the fight, the Thing changes back to his human form! He's plain old, human Ben Grimm once again. 

Since Ben is no longer the Thing, the FF need a new member. They hire Power Man, also known as "Luke Cage, hero for hire".

Ben's happiness at regaining his human form is short lived. No one recognizes him on the streets of New York, and talk shows that wanted to interview the Thing are no longer interested in booking him. Plus, Ben feels like a loser knowing that he's been replaced by Power Man. Grimm is further incensed because Reed is paying Cage for his services.

In the middle of these changes, the Fantastic Four are notified of a series of bank robberies. They learn it's the work of Thor's old foe the Wrecker. He possesses a mystically powered crowbar and proves to be a tough enemy. Power Man gets a chance to prove that he belongs on the team when he goes toe-to-toe with Wrecker.

Following that battle, Cage is having a conversation with Sue and Alicia Masters and Franklin. Power Man suddenly attacks them, but Invisible Girl's force holds him back and subdues Luke until her teammates arrive. Power Man steals their Fantasticar and escapes. The Fantastic Four know that Cage must be under some sort of mind-control and wonder who the real villain is. 

Reed knows that they will need all the help they can get to stop Power Man. He also sympathizes with his old friend and builds Ben a "Thing suit." It's an exoskeleton that will allow him to become the Thing again, while staying human. The suit enables Ben to rejoin the Fantastic Four.

Ben tries on his "Thing suit" for the first time.

The FF tracks down Power Man. The heroes learn that Cage is being controlled by their old enemy the Puppet Master! 

After that conflict, a spaceship lands in Central Park.  A golden gorilla emerges from the ship and grows into a giant. The Fantastic Four battle the gorilla and are able to capture him using Sue's force field (which also returns him to normal height). To their surprise, this gorilla can speak and tells them why he has come to Earth. He says his name is Gorr and he came to Earth to seek their help against Galactus, devourer of worlds!

Gorr had been sent to Earth by the god-like being who calls himself the High Evolutionary, who has created a Counter Earth nearly identical to our planet. The High Evolutionary asks the FF to help them find another planet that Galactus can feed on in order to spare Counter Earth. Will the Fantastic Four succeed in finding another planet? Or is Counter Earth doomed? Before it's all said and done, the High Evolutionary must engage Galactus in direct combat.

When the FF directly confronts Galactus, it will have a long-lasting impact on Ben Grimm.

Finally, when the Fantastic Four return to Earth, they are accompanied by the shape-shifter from planet Poppup known as the Impossible Man. The alien finds himself alone in New York City. The Impossible Man eventually ends up visiting 575 Madison Avenue, which houses the offices of Marvel Comics! Impossible Man demands that Marvel create a comic book that features him as the star. When they refuse, he attacks Marvel with extreme prejudice!

Review:
While this isn't exactly "classic"material, Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans is mostly fun from beginning to end. But I have some problems with these tales.

Story:
Roy Thomas writes some very entertaining stories in this tpb. It opens with the Crusader story, which features the FF against a very powerful being who has been tragically driven insane. The Hulk battle is pretty good too. It makes sense that the Thing would feel sympathy for his fellow "monster."

The FF battle the Hulk & Thing on the St. Louis arch!

But after that, I'm not crazy some of what Thomas does.  Ben is returned to his human form, something he'd wanted for (at that point) 167 issues. But almost immediately after his transformation, Grimm starts whining about how he's no longer a celebrity. Is it believable that Ben would feel left out when it was time for his teammates to go into battle? Sure, but we should have gotten at least one issue's worth of pages that show Grimm enjoying the return to his normal old self.

Ben cries in his beer.

Power Man, hired to replace the Thing,  is well-written here. Cage tries to balance his enthusiasm with being in the FF with respecting Ben's feelings. It's also good that Thomas doesn't try to overload Cage's dialogue with "urban" idioms, a mistake made by lots of 70s writers.

Gorr's first appearance is ridiculous, but I mean that in a good way. What's not to like about a giant, talking, alien, intelligent golden gorilla?! Thomas gives us a nice tribute to King King and other giant monster movies. There are even references to the 1976 Kong remake. The Thing jokes that "Dino de Laurentiis could save a fortune if he just had a Polaroid".

The Galactus story is pretty good. Thomas demonstrates that Galactus simply hungers and wants to consume the energies of Counter Earth simply because he needs to. But I was a bit disappointed in the battle between the Big G and High Evolutionary. It's teased as an epic clash, but Galactus needs only 9 panels over a page and a half to easily defeat the High Evolutionary.  

The Impossible Man & the FF crash-land in Central Park.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans concludes on a funny note, with the Impossible Man paying a visit to Marvel Comics. I always liked things like this when I was a kid and still enjoy them today. It's entertaining to see Thomas, George Perez, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee depicted as comic book characters.

There's one more problem with this book. It ends with a cliffhanger. The Impossible Man story was followed by a two-parter that featured the Frightful Four. If you want to read what happens next, it's been reprinted in tpb called Fantastic Four Visionaries - George Perez, Vol. 2 (maybe I'll review that book here someday). 

Art:
The art contained in this tpb is excellent. George Perez draws the first 4 issues reprinted here and also the last story in the book.  Most of Perez' art is beautifully inked by Joe Sinnott, who inks the other pencilers as well. Look at this gorgeous two-page spread from Perez and Sinnott:

Great stuff.

John Buscema was, of course, a legendary artist and one of the best of the Bronze Age. This isn't his best art, but it's still good. Rich Buckler pencils the rest of the book and his art is also excellent. These stories were published during a time when Marvel wanted Buckler to deliberately imitate the art of Jack Kirby. But that's not his fault, and Buckler and Sinnott make a great art team. Here's an example of their work:

Power Man decks the Wrecker, while Ben struggles with life without super-strength.

How Does It Look:
Below you find the splash page as it originally appeared in Fantastic Four #175:

And here's how it looks in Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans:

And for good measure, here's another original page, scanned from FF #172:

It looks like this in the tpb:

Thank to SuperMegaMonkey for the scans from the old issues.

Extras:
Thomas wrote a column in FF #176 about the making of the story where Impossible Man visited the Marvel offices. That column is reprinted here. The tpb also contains 4 pages of original art.

Fantastic Four: Crusaders & Titans features some outstanding art from Perez, Sinnott and Buckler and some solid stories from Thomas. This tpb is recommended, but Thomas' handling of Ben Grimm in the middle portions and the cliffhanger ending prevent me giving the book a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Giant-Size Marvel

Reprints Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4, Giant-Size Avengers #1, Giant-Size Defenders #4, Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1, Giant-Size Invaders #1, Giant-Size X-Men #1 and Giant-Size Creatures #1
Written by Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Gerry Conway and Tony Isabella.
Penciled by John Buscema, Rich Buckler, Don Heck, Gil Kane, Frank Robbins, Dave Cockrum and Don Perlin.
Inked by Chic Stone, Joe Sinnott, Dan Adkins, Vince Colletta, Dave Cockrum and Mike Esposito.

Seven Bronze Age adventures that feature the biggest stars in the Marvel Universe!

Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four is taking a subway train to a Jets game, but his Sunday afternoon is disrupted by a man named Madrox. He's a mutant, born with the ability to create multiple clones of himself.

 Madrox wears a suit that allows him to convert energy into superhuman strength. He proves to be a difficult opponent for the FF when his suit drains energy from New York's power grid. Reed Richards calls his old friend Professor Charles Xavier for help.

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A stranger breaks into the Avengers' mansion. The heroes try to apprehend him, but he possesses super-speed. When he finally slows down, the Avengers learn he's Robert Frank, the WWII-era hero known as the Whizzer. He's come to the mansion seeking a time capsule that was recently found by the Avengers.

Whizzer tells the Avengers how he and his wife Madeline, AKA the superheroine Miss America, worked as security guards at a nuclear testing facility. The nuclear energy affected their son, who had to be placed in the time capsule. Doctors said their son's contamination was so severe that he would need to be imprisoned in the capsule for at least 25 years. When he's freed from the capsule, he becomes Nuklo, one of the deadliest beings on Earth.

The Avengers begin their search for Nuklo;
Nice art from Rich Buckler.

He has the mind of a toddler, which makes him extremely dangerous. Nuklo escapes the mansion and the Avengers split up to find him. Plus, Scarlet Witch makes a surprising discovery about her past.
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Kyle Richmond, better known as the superhero Nighthawk of the Defenders, is out on the town with his girlfriend, Trish Starr. Suddenly, their car explodes, sending Kyle and Trish to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Henry Pym hears about this and deduces who caused the explosion. Trish's uncle is Egghead, Pym's arch foe. Pym puts on his Yellowjacket costume and chases down Egghead, who admits that he was involved in causing the explosion.

Right:The Defenders go after the Squadron Sinister;
Left:Yellowjacket corners Egghead.

At the same time, Nighthawk's Defenders teammates, Doctor Strange, Valkyrie and Hulk, visit him in the hospital. Nighthawk suspects that Egghead must have been working with his former colleagues, Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum and the Whizzer, better known as the Squadron Sinister. The Defenders pay a visit to the Squadron and a battle ensues.

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John Jameson sits down for dinner with his fiance, Kristine. John's career as an astronaut took him to the moon, where a strange rock transformed him into the Man-Wolf.

When he sees Spider-Man swing by, John is suddenly overcome by unbearable pain. He cuts his dinner short and walks around the city for a while, worried that he will once again turn into the Man-Wolf.  Unfortunately, his fears are proven correct.

That same night, Peter Parker visits the Daily Bugle. City Editor Joe "Robbie" Robertson shows him pictures of several homicide victims. All of them had bite-marks on their neck. Peter realizes that this means Spider-Man's old foe Morbius the Living Vampire is behind the killing spree.

When Morbius arrives in New York, he encounters the Man-Wolf and forces him to join forces. Spider-Man will have to defeat both Morbius and Man-Wolf. And dealing with Man-Wolf is always complicated, since John Jameson is the son of Spidey's harshest critic, Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson!
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During World War II, the greatest superheroes of the day unite to battle Nazi Germany. Captain America and Bucky! Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner! The Human Torch, and his young sidekick Toro!  The new team is ready to take on the Axis Powers overseas and Nazi sympathizers on American soil.

Bucky & Cap beat up some Nazi saboteurs.

At the same time,the Third Reich is preparing a secret weapon of their own. Nazi scientists have created Master Man, their own super-soldier who will act as Germany's answer to Captain America. When Master Man attacks Winston Churchill's ship, it's up to the Invaders to save the Prime Minister.

The Invaders meet Master Man.

When Churchill himself meets this new team of heroes he dubs them the Invaders!  

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The team of mutant superheroes called the X-men have been captured and are imprisoned on the island of Krakoa by an unseen mutant foe. Cyclops makes it back to the X-mansion and discovers his mutant power, shooting optic blasts, has disappeared. When Professor Xavier hears Cyclops' story, he decides to recruit a new team of X-men to rescue the old one.

We see Xavier travel all over the world to recruit a new team, which consists of:
Nightcrawler⁠—super-agile and able to teleport!

Storm⁠—possesses the power to fly and control the weather!

Colossus⁠—transforms his skin to "organic steel" armor!

Thunderbird⁠—a skilled tracker who also possesses super-strength!

Wolverine⁠—gifted with an amazing ability to heal and a skeleton laced with unbreakable adamantium steel!

Banshee⁠—master of the "Sonic Scream"!

Sunfire⁠—able to generate nuclear firebolts!

Left:Xavier convinces Thunderbird to join his new team;
Right:The All-New X-men try on their costumes for the 1st time.

The All-New, All-Different X-men are born!

They are brought to Xavier's headquarters and given costumes made of unstable molecules. Cyclops briefs them on their mission. They will fly to Krakoa and free the other team. But when they arrive at Krokoa, the new X-men are shocked when they learn the identity of the being that captured the old X-men.

Can the new X-men learn to operate like a team and rescue their predecessors? And what is the mystery of the mutant that lives on the island of Krakoa?
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For several months, Greer Nelson has fought crime as the Cat.  She becomes much more feline in appearance when the cat people transform Greer into Tigra, half-tiger, half woman!

Tigra encounters Werewolf By Night on a Mexico beach and a fight ensues. But they join forces when they're attacked by agents of Hydra!

Review:
Giant-Size Marvel contains some good stories and art, but more often than not the overall quality doesn't rise above mediocre. And some of the stories and art feel rushed.  

Story:
The best and easily the most important story comes from Giant-Size X-Men #1. This is the tale that introduced the "All-New, All-Different" X-Men, characters that set the Bronze Age comic world on fire. The battle with Krakoa that introduces the new team is still great 40 years later.

The second best story is the Avengers tale that features Nuklo. The original Whizzer makes his first "modern" appearance here, and writer Roy Thomas' love for WWII-era characters is used nicely here in a flashback that features the All-Winners Squad. Thomas does a good job showing that Nuklo is a truly tragic character.

Whizzer recounts his time in the All-Winners Squad

  
Thomas' enthusiasm for WWII stories is also on display in the Invaders story. It isn't great, but it's a decent introduction for the team. 

The FF battle with Madrox is okay, and Madrox would eventually become a regular in the X-books.  But it's only 21 pages, which sort of defeats the purpose of including it in a collection of "giant-sized" stories. Speaking of mutants, it's interesting to note that Chris Claremont co-wrote the Madrox' story with Len Wein. This story guest stars Professor X, and of course Claremont would go on to have a long history with Xavier during his years as writer of Uncanny X-Men.

As for the rest of the stories in this tpb, they're not very interesting. I'm a big fan of the Defenders and Steve Gerber, who wrote Giant-Size Defenders #4.

The Defenders tackle the Squadron Sinister, with help from Yellowjacket.

But we are never told if the Squadron Sinister worked with Egghead to set the bomb that injured Nighthawk and Trish Starr. Nighthawk just presumes that's the case, and the Defenders go after the Squadron. What happened? Did Gerber forget? It makes the story feel rushed and almost unfinished.  

Art:
I'll cut to the chase and say the art contained in this tpb isn't very good. In some cases it's almost painful to look at. Like some of the stories, lots of the artwork in this book looks rushed, like pencilers and inkers were brought in at the last minute.

John Buscema and Gil Kane are two of the all-time great pencilers. But they're not always served well by their inkers in this book (I see a little too much of Chic Stone's work in the FF story). The Invaders portion features Frank Robbins inked by Vince Colletta, I've never been crazy about the work of either during the Bronze Age. Don Perlin was a solid penciler during his years at Marvel, but Colletta's inks over Perlin makes the Tigra/Werewolf story the worst part of the book. In fairness to Colleta (who inked 3 of the 7 stories in this tpb), he was likely working against a tough deadline and probably did the best he could under the circumstances.

On a positive note, Dave Cockrum's art in the X-Men story is some of his best and looks great. Rich Buckler was in his "Kirby-esque" phase and his Avengers art is very good, even if Dan Adkins' inks water down Buckler a bit. Buckler gives the battle with Nuklo an epic atmosphere.

How does it look?:
A mixed bag.

Here's a scan from my copy of Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1:

And here's how it looks in Giant-Size Marvel:

Looks pretty good, but that's not the case for every issue reprinted in this tpb.

This scan from Giant-Size X-Men #1 was borrowed from Diversions of the Groovy Kind:

And here's how the same page looks when reprinted:

The recoloring of this page is obvious and unnecessary, and that's too bad. There's more recoloring in the portion that reprints Giant-Size X-Men #1 and that's unfortunate.

Extras:
Giant-Size Creatures #1 featured an essay by Roy Thomas that is included in this tpb. We also get a checklist for all the Giant-Sized comics that Marvel published in the 1970s.

Giant-Size Marvel is a curious publication. I'm not sure why Marvel wanted to showcase these stories in a tpb reprint, since most aren't exactly classic tales and the art is mostly sub-par. And why were these Giant-Size stories selected, instead of comics like Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 (a classic Hulk/Thing fight)? Or Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 (featuring Spidey and Dracula)? The X-men story has been reprinted many times, but its inclusion (recoloring notwithstanding) and the Avengers story earn this book a half-Sal higher rating than it would otherwise achieve.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5



2 and a half Sals.