Giant-Size Marvel Omnibus Collects Marvel's Biggest Comics

1974's Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 featured some of Marvel's biggest superstars : the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, who duked it out with the Thing in a mind-swap story by Gerry Conway ( The Amazing Spider-Man ) and artist Rich Buckler ( Fantastic Four ). The 52-page epic was to be followed by Giant-Size Super-Stars #2 -- featuring Spider-Man, Morbius, and Man-Wolf -- and a third issue featuring Conan the Barbarian. According to editor Roy Thomas , the 35-cent Giant-Size was Marvel's version of the early 1970s wheel series The NBC Mystery Movie , the network's rotation of its most popular programming in the same time slot.

If television networks could "get plenty of mileage out of Columbo and McCloud and McMillian & Wife in the same time slot on alternate weeks," Thomas wrote in a two-page sermonette in Giant-Size Super-Stars #1, "then why couldn't mind-boggling Marvel likewise have three of our most popular series alternate in one mag, so that each feature would appear in four giant-size mags a year?"

After "last-minute economic considerations" forced Marvel to abandon the 52-page comic magazine for 36 pages, it was Marvel publisher Stan Lee who looked to television's slate of rotating series for the quarterly comic featuring new stories, pin-ups, and special features.

Lee and Thomas "were discussing the ways and means of introducing a line of 52-page comic-mags with a bang," the editor recalled, adding Marvel Comics "wanted to turn out an issue every thirty days -- but without replacing (or competing unduly with) our regular titles." Enter Giant-Size Super-Stars , retitled Giant-Size Fantastic Four from #2 onward while other planned features were spun off into the stand-alone Giant-Size Super-Heroes Featuring Spider-Man #1 and Giant-Size Conan #1.

The giant-size format spawned the companion magazine Giant-Size Chillers Featuring Curse of Dracula #1 and the four-issue Giant-Size Dracula , the six-issue Giant-Size Spider-Man , creature features starring Marvel monsters like Werewolf (of Werewolf by Night ) and Man-Thing, the two-issue Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up (featuring Doctor Doom and Namor the Sub-Mariner), and 1975's Giant-Size X-Men #1, which introduced the all-new, all-different X-Men team .

Those stories and more will be collected together for the first time in Giant-Size Marvel Omnibus . On sale April 15th, 2025, the 1272-page omnibus collects the following:

Giant-Size Super-Stars (1974) 1; Giant-Size Fantastic Four (1974) 2-5; Giant-Size Super-Heroes featuring Spider-Man (1974) 1; Giant-Size Spider-Man (1974) 1, 4-5; Giant-Size Chillers featuring the Curse of Dracula (1974) 1; Giant-Size Dracula (1974) 2-5; Giant-Size Creatures featuring Werewolf (1974) 1; Giant-Size Werewolf (1974) 2-5; Giant-Size Defenders (1974) 1-5; Giant-Size Avengers (1974) 1-4; Giant-Size Man-Thing (1974) 1-5; Giant-Size Chillers (1975) 1-3; Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) 1-2; Giant-Size X-Men (1975) 1; Giant-Size Invaders (1975) 1

Giant-Size classic issues were one of Marvel's signature formats in the 1970s, in one great big Omnibus!

All your favorite super heroes -- plus some of Marvel's horror icons -- star in extra-length adventures that gave comic fans of the 1970s even more bang for their buck! The Thing battles the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four meet the Multiple Man! Spider-Man endures monstrous encounters with Morbius, Man-Wolf, Dracula and Man-Thing! The Avengers mourn a loss -- and celebrate the wedding of Vision and the Scarlet Witch! The Defenders meet the Guardians of the Galaxy! The all-new, all-different X-Men are recruited to rescue the original team! Plus: giant-size chillers featuring Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing and more!