In 1975, DC and Marvel both attempted to
gain the rights to publish a comic adaptation of the Wizard of Oz, eventually
deciding to co-publish the project. The result was the tabloid-sized "MGM's
Marvelous Wizard of Oz". DC and Marvel quickly agreed to another
co-publishing venture, and in early 1976 "Superman vs. Spider-Man"
was released as a one-shot tabloid. Five years later DC and Marvel revisited
the Superman and Spider-Man team-up in Marvel Treasury Edition #28, and later
that same year DC took their turn at an inter-company crossover in the final
issue of DC Special Series. DC Special Series was an umbrella title for
one-shots and special issues published by DC Comics since 1977. Each issue
featured a different character and varied in format, published as either Dollar
Comics, 48 page giants, digests, or treasury editions.
DC Special Series #27, released
September 24, 1981, is a comic book of 64 tabloid-sized pages (25 cm x 33 cm),
with a cover price of $2.50. Neither the umbrella title nor the numbering
system appear on the cover, the title "DC Special Series" appearing
only in the indicia, with the cover banner reading “DC and Marvel Present:
Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk”. DC Special Series #27 features cover and
interior artwork by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez & Dick Giordano (Inker), with a
story, “The Monster and the Madman", by the legendary Len Wein. When a
story features Bruce Banner working at a division of Wayne Research, assisting
in the development of a gamma-gun designed to cure diseases, and the Joker is
intent on stealing that selfsame gamma-gun, well, you know serious mayhem is
going to follow! This epic tale was the last tabloid-sized comic published by
DC for almost twenty years.
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