Spécial Strange #24
Spécial Strange #24 is the first French-language home for Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), the watershed issue that introduced Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird to the world and effectively relaunched the entire X-Men franchise after years of dormancy. By packaging that foundational story alongside Marvel Team-Up #65–66 — the tale that marked both Captain Britain's debut in an American comic and the first appearance of the amusement-park assassin Arcade and his Murderworld — Editions Lug handed French readers a triple bill of genuine first appearances in a single, squarebound package. The issue therefore stands as a culturally significant artifact of how Bronze Age Marvel storytelling reached continental Europe, where the Spécial Strange line served for more than two decades as the primary conduit for Marvel's mutant-driven renaissance.
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Spécial Strange launched in July 1975 under Editions Lug — the Lyon-based publisher that had been licensing Marvel material for French audiences since the early 1970s — as a quarterly anthology running roughly 80–100 pages per issue. By the time issue #24 arrived in June 1981, the series was using a glossy cardstock cover format (issues #15–29 carried this upgraded presentation) and printing on newsprint interiors. The issue was later collected alongside issues #22 and #23 in Spécial Strange Album/Reliure #8, published in January 1982, giving the Giant-Size X-Men content a second life in the French hardbound reprint format.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1, 1981 by Editions Lug; 84 pages, full color, French language.
- Primary reprint: Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975), written by Len Wein with uncredited plot assist by Chris Claremont, art by Dave Cockrum — the issue that introduced Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Storm (Ororo Munroe), Colossus (Peter Rasputin), and Thunderbird (John Proudstar) as the 'All-New, All-Different' X-Men team, and also contains the earliest appearance of Illyana Rasputin as a child.
- Giant-Size X-Men #1 also features Wolverine's joining of the X-Men (his second or third full appearance depending on classification), plus appearances of the original X-Men roster (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, Havok, Lorna Dane, Banshee, Sunfire) and the living island villain Krakoa.
- Second story: Marvel Team-Up #66 (February 1978), Part 2 of the 'Murder World' arc by Chris Claremont and John Byrne — the concluding chapter of the story arc that introduced the villain Arcade, his assistant Miss Locke, and the lethal amusement park Murderworld, with a cameo by Captain Jean DeWolff and the rescue of Courtney Ross.
- Marvel Team-Up #65–66 also represents Captain Britain's (Brian Braddock's) first appearance in an American-market comic, having previously existed only in Marvel UK publications.
- Third story: Marvel Two-in-One #48 (February 1979) — a team-up of the Thing (Ben Grimm) and Jack of Hearts (Jack Hart) against the Machinesmith and the Corporation, with the Yancy Street Gang.
- The issue falls within the glossy cardstock cover run (issues #15–29) of the Spécial Strange series, distinguishing it visually from the standard cardstock covers used for the earlier and later portions of the Lug run.
- Issue #24 was subsequently collected in Spécial Strange Reliure (Album) #8, which gathered issues #22–24 and was released in January 1982.
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With Ben and the Yancy Street Gang captured by the Machinesmith and his allies, Jack of Hearts has to come to the rescue.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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