Back in the spring of 1974, after a winter of Marvel’s indecision of naming it’s giant-size books (SuperStars, Chillers, SuperTeams, etc), they finally announced Giant-Size Spider-Man #1. This was going to be a super-sized version of Marvel Team-Up, with guest stars so big that the regular title couldn’t handle them! And who would be the very first bombastic guest star?
Yes, Dracula. Tomb of Dracula was selling very well for Marvel at the time. I just couldn’t imagine how Peter Parker would deal with a supernatural creature like Dracula. Waiting for this title to finally appear seemed like an eternity, but after weeks of stalking out various stores, I finally found it one weekend. I think John Romita drew an excellent cover with Spidey ina classic pose…
All in all, the story was a big letdown. Dracula and Peter Parker wind up on the same cruise ship, with different agendas. While Dracula walks around killing people, Parker is looking for a serum to save Aunt May. They only appear together in one panel:
Gerry Conway tried his best, but I suspect they just didn’t want to have Drac facing off against a costumed Spider-Man. I enjoyed the reprinted story of an early Human Torch team-up much more than this one.
In later issues, fans would ask for another monster-sized team-up with Simon Garth, the Zombie. Alas, Marvel could not accommodate them—the Comics Code Authority prevented any appearances of “the walking dead” at that time. Nuff said.
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