This is a "lost" tale I've been waiting a long time to see...
...ever since I held a "slabbed" copy of Green Giant Comics #1 (1940) in my hands and wondered what was inside!
When I did a profile of the character, I emphasized that the info about the story was second-hand, as I had not actually read the tale!
Well, we can now read the one (and only) adventure of the Green Giant...
OK, several things cleared up, including...
His last name is Brentwood with no first name given!
The costume controls his growth (much like the Silver-Age Atom), not pills, gas, or a serum (like Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket/whoever Hank Pym is this week).
Elements of the costume are different. (Bare legs and no gloves in the story)
And one big mystery is presented...
He's a stockbroker?
How the hell did he become the Green Giant and end up with that size-changing garb?
Did he acquire controlling stock in a laboratory?
We'll never know the answers...
Did he acquire controlling stock in a laboratory?
We'll never know the answers...
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Great read for a character not quite flushed out completely I think. And a stockbroker doesn't sound any lamer then a newspaper reporter or publisher.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff,
Brian
I think you mean "fleshed" out. ;-)
DeleteAnd I was wondering how a stockbroker had the scientific knowledge to come up with size-changing technology that would require a physicist with an expensive state-of-the-art lab to devise?
And most newspaper reporters and publishers turned masked hero were either non-powered guys with a couple of gimmicks (Green Hornet, Crimson Avenger), born super (Superman) or given abilities magically (Captain Marvel).
If it was stated that Brentwood had accidentally eaten or drank something that gave him size-changing powers, or was given the costume by aliens, I could go with that or any number of explanations that didn't involve technology that the average desk jockey couldn't have developed in a million years.
But in the Golden Age, the origin story was often not the first tale presented.
Unfortunately, we'll never know his origin, at least not the one intended by his creators. ;-(
Thanks. I've long been curious about this character too. It was a fun old-fashioned read.
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