Garganta
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Garganta is a fictional comic book character appearing in A.C. Comics, most particularly Femforce. She is a beautiful blonde woman who has the power to increase her size, typically to 60 ft., though she can grow to over 200 ft and lift over 160 tons. Her other nicknames include "Madame Grande" and "The 50 ft. Woman". She originally appeared in a one-off story in 1990 (Femforce #30), but she proved so popular with readers that she eventually became a regular character.
Her true identity is Dr. Carol Heisler, born in Yuma, Arizona on January 12th, 1919. She became a biochemist and later worked as a U.S. government research scientist. In the course of her work, she was exposed to an experimental strength-enhancing formula (V-47) which increased her size and caused her to go on a mindless rampage. The Femforce stopped her and returned her normal size.
Garganta also has telepathic abilities and can breathe underwater. In the early stories she could shoot destructive beams from her eyes, though this idea was later dropped. She has a particular empathy towards sea mammals and once escaped from her enemies by transforming into a gigantic whale-like creature (Femforce #32). She was later restored to human form by the "Gammazons" (Femforce #43). For a while she was permanently 50 ft. tall, living in a giant prefabricated building in Femforce HQ, but she later acquired the ability to grow and shrink at will.
In a later storyline, Garganta came under the influence of rich socialite Stella Stargaze, who exploited her--firstly as a movie actress and later as a telepathic healer. However, when she attempted to "heal" a man who had been involved in seal hunting, she went wild and started growing in her nightmares. She was rescued by the Femforce and recuperated on a remote island. Tara managed to get her away from the complex with her untested growth abilities.
Storylines have exploited Garganta's size-changing ability as both a blessing and as a curse. Although she can usually regulate her size by mental effort, she sometimes experiences uncontrolled growth and causes havoc. (This tends to happen when she becomes angry.) She is for the most part gentle and friendly and uses her giant size to help others. Because her powers would destroy her normal clothes, she wears a Span-XX bikini.
The giantess became a recurring motif in Femforce throughout the 1990's and early 2000's. Following the success of Garganta, the superheroines Synn and Nightveil were revealed to have size-changing powers. Also Jungle-Girl Tara (who had previously had no "super powers" at all) acquired the ability to become a giantess (Good Girl Art Quarterly Summer 1991) though unlike Garganta she cannot maintain her giant size indefinitely. Her archenemy is Stella Stargaze.
In 2001, Garganta appeared her own comic book Garganta's Thrilling Science. A live-action movie entitled Gargantarama, starring Brenna Barry as Garganta, was released on DVD in February 2006.
Garganta's name comes from the adjective gargantuan (meaning "huge" or "vast") which is in turn derived from Gargantua, a fictional giant created by François Rabelais.
Garganta should not be confused with Giganta, a similar (though less benign) character in the DC Comics universe.
