Two old hardcover superhero omnibuses?

February 11, 2018 7:24 PM

In the 1970s my town library had a giant hardcover tome containing the first few issues of many Marvel superheroes and a second massive origin omnibus for DC. What were these two titles?

The Marvel book contained the first three (?) issues of The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Thor, Iron Man and perhaps a few other comics. The DC book was similar and had issues #1-3ish of Superman, Batman and others I do not recall.

I have tried researching online but the tidal wave of all things comic overwhelms my meager google-fu.

posted by JamesD to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: They weren't hardcovers but the 1974 Origins of Marvel Conics featured The Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Thor; and the following year's followup Son of Origins had Iron Man and the X-Men, among others. These books usually paired an early 'origins' story with a later one. The third entry in this series was for the Marvel supervillians: Bring On the Bad Guys, which is worth a read just for the Doctor Doom. These were exceptional for the times because they weren't just reprints, but classy, well-bound comic books (a decade before this format became known as the graphic novel).
posted by Rash at 8:43 PM on February 11, 2018

Best answer: Rash has it for Marvel. For DC, you’re thinking of the 1976 book “Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes.”
posted by Mr. Justice at 3:10 AM on February 12, 2018

Best answer: I happen to have a copy of Secret Origins of the Super DC Heroes on a shelf behind me right now... it has 18 stories; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Shazam, Green Arrow, Hawkman, The Flash, The Atom, and Plastic Man. If there's anything in particular you want to know, memail me.
posted by Huck500 at 7:28 AM on February 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Fantastic, thank you!
posted by JamesD at 4:34 PM on February 12, 2018