First of all, how about that Frank Brunner cover? Awesome. This is the first Man-Thing comic I recall purchasing, as a back issue from Forbidden Planet on West 14th Street. And it was because of that cover.
The issue starts with “The Kid’s Night Out,” which emphasizes Man-Thing’s role as empath. He stops a man from brutally beating a woman at a funeral, saves a deer from a fallen tree, and avenges a fat kid named Edmund who is bullied and murdered.
The story includes a short-story within the story, the manuscript of said Edmund, that describes Man-Thing’s actions.
The use of long text sections was something Steve Gerber did quite often. I appreciate his experimentalism, but I have to say: If I want to read a book, I’ll read a book. Still, this is a very interesting, character-driven story that rates a B.
The Man-Thing story in Giant-Size #5 is more of his occult-style stuff, which simply doesn’t resonate as well with me. Gerber does do them very well, though, and I like Ed Hannigan’s art here a lot more than his 1980s work on Spider-Man.
I really enjoyed Man-Thing fighting with an elevator. This one rates a C.
The other original stories in GSMT#4-5 are about Howard the Duck meeting Hellcow.
Last we saw him, Howard was falling to what we were told was his death. That’s exactly where this story starts, only instead of dying, Howard lands in Cleveland, where he has to buy cigars and fight Garko the Man-Frog.
Howard takes a swing at him, just when Garko is shrinking and turning into a real frog, which makes Howard punch a cop who was standing behind Garko. Howard gets arrested for assaulting the officer.
And that’s where #5 picks up. Howard gets out of jail and goes to investigate a local farm slaying because, as a result of his own wrongful arrest, Howard now wants to be a cop. The killer is a vampire cow named Hellcow.
Dracula has a cameo in Hellcow’s origin.
These Howard stories are pretty good, but I’m still having trouble liking the character or caring about the concept. I grade the Howard stories at a C+.
So overall, these issues are C+.
Giant-Sized Man-Thing is cancelled after #5.