Spécial Strange #3
Spécial Strange #3 is a genuinely dense crossroads of Bronze Age Marvel history in a single French package: it delivered the first appearance of Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man to French-speaking readers, carried one of the Punisher's earliest team-up adventures alongside Spider-Man, and reprinted the original Guardians of the Galaxy's team-up with the Thing and Captain America — three distinct character debuts or landmark stories gathered under one cover. As the third issue of Éditions Lug's quarterly reprint anthology, launched to serve French fans hungry for Marvel material unavailable in the standard Strange monthly, it demonstrates how American comics of the mid-1970s found a genuinely international audience before any formal Marvel international distribution strategy existed. The issue also preserves a Silver Age Human Torch solo story from 1964, making it a rare single volume that spans a full decade of Marvel history.
"Madrox l'Homme Multiple" delivers a delightfully absurd clash in this 1976 Spécial Strange #3, where the plant-powered villain Plant Man takes a leaf out of the playbook—literally—by capturing Johnny to thwart his plans. With a garden full of sentient flora and a tense showdown at the botanical gardens, Doris steps in to plead for peace, setting the stage for a showdown that’s as green as it is unpredictable. Written by Stan Lee and Dick Ayers, with art and inks by Ayers and colors by Stan Goldberg, the issue’s vibrant style matches its offbeat energy, while Jean Frisano’s cover captures the chaos in bold, dynamic strokes.
In "Prisonnier de l'Homme Plante," Johnny finds himself trapped by the plant-like villain after the latter enhances his vegetative powers to stage a daring heist. With Doris pleading for help, Johnny must face the towering menace in a tense showdown at the botanical garden—where nature itself becomes a weapon.
In a bold leap across time, La Chose, Captain America, and Sharon Carter find themselves in the year 3018, where they join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to challenge the Badoon occupation of Earth. This high-stakes mission blends classic heroism with interstellar intrigue, as familiar faces confront a future both alien and urgent.
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Spécial Strange was conceived by Éditions Lug — the Lyon-based publisher founded in 1950 by editor Marcel Navarro and businessman Auguste Vistel, whose company name derived from Lugdunum, the Gallo-Roman name for Lyon — originally to reprint Marvel's Giant-Size special issues, which Marvel had launched in 1974 on a quarterly schedule. When Marvel discontinued the Giant-Size line in 1975, Lug restructured the anthology around three ongoing rotating series: Giant-Size Fantastic Four (later replaced by the X-Men), Giant-Size Spider-Man (later replaced by Marvel Team-Up), and Marvel Two-in-One featuring the Thing. Issue #3, cover-dated March 1976, was part of the inaugural run of that restructured format and sat within the first collected album (issues #1–#3) that Lug also released the same month.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Reprints four source stories in French translation: Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 (Feb 1975), Strange Tales #121 (Jun 1964), Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Apr 1975), and Marvel Two-in-One #5 (Sep 1974).
- Contains the first French-language appearance of Jamie Madrox / Multiple Man (L'Homme-Multiple), whose origin story was written by Len Wein and Chris Claremont with art by John Buscema — the character's sole source debut.
- The Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man #4 segment, titled 'Les semences de la mort!' in French, is one of the Punisher's earliest appearances in a team-up context, scripted by Gerry Conway with art by Ross Andru.
- The Marvel Two-in-One #5 segment features the original 31st-century Guardians of the Galaxy lineup — Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yondu — alongside the Thing and Captain America, written by Steve Gerber with art by Sal Buscema.
- The Strange Tales #121 segment is a 1964 Stan Lee/Dick Ayers Human Torch solo story featuring Plant-Man (Samuel Smithers), making this issue a genuine cross-decade anthology spanning 1964 to 1975.
- Published by Éditions Lug (Lyon, France), a company founded in 1950 whose name derived from Lugdunum, the Gallo-Roman name for Lyon; Lug had been the primary French-language Marvel reprint publisher since launching the magazine Strange in January 1970.
- Spécial Strange #3 was simultaneously collected in Lug's Album N°1 (issues #1–3), released March 1976, giving this content an immediate hardcover companion format.
- The series ran quarterly from July 1975 through the late 1980s under Lug, then continued under Semic after Lug's 1989 acquisition, ultimately running to issue #115 in December 1996.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Strange Tales #121 (1964), Marvel Two-in-One #5 (1974), Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 (1975), Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 (1975), Kabur #2 (1976), Titans #1 (1976), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #9 (1976), Strange #76 (1976), Une aventure barbare d'Iron-Jaw #1 (1976)
Reprinted in Spécial Strange #2 (1975), Kabur #2 (1976), Titans #1 (1976), Strange #76 (1976)
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