Marvel Giant-Size Comics from 1974-1975

[Metarog]

Does anybody know the reason behind those Giant-Size issues that Marvel put out in 1974-1975. Some of these were all reprints like GS Dr.Strange and GS Capt. Marvel and others where original and reprints like GS Avengers and GS Spider-man. There were even some that started off a continuing series-the most famous being GS X-Men #1 but also GS Invaders #1 and GS Super-Villian Team-Up #1.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to know the purpose for those issues. Was Marvel test marketing this type of comic to see if a partial reprint line would sell? Did they have some comics that were ahead of schedule and they wanted to "squeeze" more comics in the year? Was Marvel in some kind of short term financial trouble and these were the vehicle out of those problems? I can think of some other possible explanations but I was just wondering if these were more than just a failed experiment. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[jonnydouble]

I think it was just to stay competitive with DC....Dc at this time had many of its titles on 100 page 60 cent super spec size that had 22 pages of new material and the rest reprints...

 

 

Jonny D.

[shadroch]

A little history is called for.Comics were losing their space on the newstands as they were no longer worth the store owners time.In the 40s a comic sold for the same as a Life magazine and gave the vendor the same profit. By 1975 Life was over a dollar and comics were only a quarter.if you were a vendor which would you sell? Marvel had announced plans to do a quarterly .35 book with 52 pages, in fact Giant Size Superstars is exactly that, but the success of DCs 100 page books for fifty cents seems to have change their plans. Remember this was before the days of Comic stores and both companies needed the newstands. The less popular heroes were mostly given reprint GS books while a few of the books were included in the ongoing story lines of the regular books. You could not have made sense of the Avengers storyline without buying the GS books but could have followed the FF or Spidey easy enuff. I don't think it was a failed experiment as much as an idea whose time past it by.

[aardvark88]

Around 1975 the direct distribution market started. I thought Marvel smelled $$$ so started pumping out all types of giant sized #1 comics for the summer peak selling season.

[Metarog]

Thanks for all your responses. I just never liked those books because they were difficult to find in decent shape down here in Florida,which drives a completist like me crazy, and just wondered why they were done. All your comments make a lot of sense now. Gracias!

[Polyphemus]

I think also there was a hope that it would turn readers on to other titles from Marvel.