Giant-Size Avengers #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeGiant-Size Avengers #1 (August 1974) is the opening chapter of Marvel's expanded quarterly format for Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and it delivers more than just extra pages: it introduces two new characters — the radioactive mutant Nuklo and the anthropomorphic midwife Bova — while simultaneously serving as the first Modern Age appearance of the Golden Age Miss America (Madeline Joyce) and marking the second team appearance of the WWII-era Invaders in flashback. More broadly, the issue stakes out Roy Thomas's lifelong project of weaving the Timely Comics Golden Age into the fabric of Marvel's present-day continuity: Robert Frank (the Whizzer) walks into Avengers Mansion carrying decades of untold history, and by the issue's end the Scarlet Witch has been handed her first (ultimately provisional) origin, connecting her lineage to the All-Winners Squad. That origin would be challenged and revised for years to come, but the narrative machinery Thomas set in motion here — the idea that Wanda and Pietro have a buried, tangled parentage reaching back to the 1940s — shaped Avengers storytelling for decades.
In Giant-Size Avengers #1 (1974), a mysterious wave of animal attacks plunges Earth into chaos, leading to a startling discovery at the Jeffersonian Institute—rays from Jupiter are behind the rampage. With the Human Torch, Sun Girl, and Captain America present, the team races to uncover the truth as the Torch journeys to the red planet, only to face the Jovians and their enigmatic leader, Kleezar. Written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Mike Sekowsky, with inks by Vince Alascia, the issue’s cover by Rich Buckler and John Romita captures the cosmic stakes of a story that redefines the Avengers’ reach—literally.
In "Nuklo—The Invader That Time Forgot!", three separate Avengers teams from different times converge to stop a mysterious time-displaced warrior named Nuklo, whose sudden appearance throws the timeline into chaos. As the heroes push him toward the Avengers Mansion, the clash culminates in a final, explosive convergence—only for the Wanda Maximoff and the injured Buzzard to step in, using Wanda’s power to subdue Nuklo and seal him away once more in a new Time Capsule. With Buzzard recovering and entrusting Wanda with the care of his "new brother," the truth of Robert Frank’s story gains unexpected weight.
In "The Ray of Madness!" from Giant-Size Avengers #1 (1974), a sudden wave of animal attacks plunges Earth into chaos, prompting a frantic scientific investigation at the Jeffersonian Institute. With the Human Torch, Sun Girl, and Captain America among the witnesses, researchers trace the madness to mysterious rays emanating from Jupiter—leading the Torch on a perilous journey to the gas giant’s surface, where he confronts the Jovians and their enigmatic leader, Kleezar.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 18 grades ▾
Find on ebay
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was part of Marvel's sweeping 'Giant-Size' initiative launched in 1974, a line of oversized quarterly titles that debuted from May through September of that year, pairing new lead stories with Golden Age or early Marvel reprints to give readers extra page count at a fifty-cent cover price. Roy Thomas — then serving as Marvel's editor-in-chief and a former long-running Avengers writer — penned the new lead story himself, titling it 'Nuklo: The Invader That Time Forgot!'; pencils were by Rich Buckler, with inks by Dan Adkins, colors by Petra Goldberg, and lettering by Artie Simek, while the cover was supplied by John Romita Sr. The issue also includes a one-page editorial by Thomas describing his vision for the Giant-Size Avengers series. Len Wein is credited as editor-in-chief on the completed book, reflecting the editorial transition that was already underway as Thomas stepped down from that role in 1974.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Nuklo (Robert Frank Jr.), the lethally radioactive mutant son of the Whizzer and Miss America, who breaks free from a Chrono-Module and rampages through New York City.
- First appearance of Bova, the anthropomorphic cow who served as midwife to the Whizzer and Miss America — a character later tied directly to the births of the Maximoff twins.
- First Modern Age appearance (and death) of Miss America (Madeline Joyce), Golden Age Timely heroine and wife of the Whizzer; her last prior Silver Age appearance had been in Sun Girl #1 (1948).
- Second team appearance of the Invaders, presented in a five-page All-Winners Squad flashback featuring Captain America, Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch, Toro, Whizzer, and Bucky.
- The Whizzer erroneously claims Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are his children — a plot point later definitively disproven in the 'Yesterday Quest' arc (Avengers #185–187), which established Magneto as their father.
- Written by Roy Thomas (script and story), with pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Dan Adkins, and a cover by John Romita Sr.; Len Wein is listed as editor-in-chief.
- The issue is a standalone story within the Giant-Size format and does not directly continue from or feed into the concurrent monthly Avengers arc being written by Steve Englehart at the time.
- Reprinted in Essential Avengers Vol. 6 (2008), Avengers Epic Collection #7 — The Avengers/Defenders War (2018), and the 2005 trade paperback Avengers: Vision and the Scarlet Witch; also published internationally in Spain, Italy, and France in 1976–1984.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints The Human Torch #33 (1948), Tales to Astonish #58 (1964)
Reprinted in The Avengers Annual #1977 (1976), Los Vengadores #17 (1976), Thor e i Vendicatori #133 (1976), Thor e i Vendicatori #134 (1976), Thor #7 (1984), Thor #8 (1984), Essential Avengers #6 (2008), Marvel Firsts: The 1970s #2 (2012), Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers #13 (2013), Avengers Epic Collection #7 (2018), The Avengers Omnibus #5 (2023), Giant-Size Marvel Omnibus #[nn] (2025)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.