Supersized superheroes: largest comic book ever published gets unveiled at NY Comic Con
Comic book action is getting supersized, after VeeFriends' (USA) Gentle Giant character expanded into record-breaking proportions at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this 9 October.
Taking the title as the largest comic book published in history, VeeFriends Comic Book #22: Gentle Giant measured in at a colossal 7,312.76 cm² (7 ft² 125.48 in²), featuring dimensions of 106.6 cm (3.5 ft) tall, 68.6 cm (2.25 ft) wide, and 0.45 cm (0.01 ft) thick. That’s roughly four times bigger than the average comic!
Produced as part of the VeeFriends entertainment and character franchise from founder Gary Vaynerchuk (aka “GaryVee” on social media), the record-setting edition had a special cover illustrated by Rob Liefeld, creator of Deadpool and co-founder of Image Comics.
Gary recently told fans that they’d be revealing the origin of their largest character yet, with this story set against the backdrop of the Cold War, and centering on a secret government cloning experiment that creates Gentle Giant.
Nevertheless, not everything goes as it seems – as the government has another purpose in mind for the colossal creature!
“This was a very cool record to be part of,” said Guinness World Records Adjudicator Andrew Glass, who oversaw the measuring of the comic during NYCC.
“It was fascinating to learn about the logistical challenges involved in creating a comic of this scale, and always fun to experience New York Comic Con!”
Read more stories about record-breaking comics in our dedicated Arts and Entertainment section!
On their social media pages, VeeFriends informed their audience that creating the comic was much more difficult than just expanding their artwork on to bigger pages – as they had to modify the specs to appear clearly, and sort out how they could print something of that size to scale.
In total, only 55 copies were produced, each more than 1 m (3 ft) tall. The comic also weighed in at a whopping 2.83 kg (6.24 lbs), and Adjudicator Andrew said he was particularly impressed by the size of the staples – as well as the 103 vivid panels spread across 24 pages.
After measuring the book, GaryVee joined the Adjudicator at the WhatNot stage to announce the record-breaking results, surprising a dedicated group of fans who had gathered to sneak a peek at the new edition.
They had officially taken the title from Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), published by KODANSHA LTD. (Japan), with a 7,030.00 cm² (7 ft² 81.65 in²)-large copy created on 13 April 2021.
And the duo particularly credited the project’s supervisor, a woman named Simona, for all her hard work – a thoughtful action that made the talented employee shed a few tears.
So what’s next for this gargantuan Gentle Giant?
Well, you’ll have to check out the comic, available now (in a regular size) to the public.
Congratulations, VeeFriends (and friends!) – you are Officially Amazing!