I thought I'd give this one an extra-sized picture, since it's a Treasury edition. In the Seventies, Marvel predicted the appeal of over-size comics (a la Absolute editions) with this quarterly series. Many, like this, were reprints, but just as many contained original stories. Jack Kirby's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey was Treasury-sized, and certainly showcased the artistic freedom this large format affords.
This particular issue is a reprint one, and not quite the Christmas-y comic I was hoping for. There's a series of bridging stories that visit the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Defenders, Champions, Daredevil, and Spider-Man during the Christmas season, but these are used primarily to introduce a fairly random selection of stories. We have the induction of the Vision into the Avengers, Daredevil's final battle with The Ox, a clash between The Hulk and the Silver Surfer, and a Spider-Man/Thing team-up. None of the stories are even remotely holiday-themed, which I'll admit I was a bit disappointed in.
That said, the stories that are presented are a lovely selection of some of the best Silver Age comics Marvel has to offer. We see luminaries such as Gil Kane, George Tuska, John Buscema, Marie Severin, Gene Colan, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Roger Stern, and Stan Lee plying their trades in the most early-Marvel way possible. I'll admit that, in the wake of the Quitely's and Cassaday's of the world, I forget just how good a lot of these older artists were at what they do, and that it's their innovations that give us the comics art that we see now. So in that sense, this was a lovely little Christmas gift to read.
More tomorrow!
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