Archives // Other

Marvel vs Capcom 3

October 9, 2012 // No Comments

I am not really into video games, so I have never played this game, but I guess Galactus is the final boss…

And from what I understand, those silver-looking people it shows fighting in the trailer are different heralds he summons before you get to fight him himself…

From 1974 – 1976, Marvel was printing a “value stamp” on the letters pages of each of their books. Learn everything you need to know about Marvel Value Stamps HERE. I guess the point was to encourage kids to “collect them all” and in so doing, deface all of their comics. Here is #100 which appeared in Sub-Mariner #72…

Happy Easter!

April 8, 2012 // No Comments

I HUNGER…

… for some hardboiled eggs!

Galactus For Beginners

April 1, 2012 // 2 Comments

Who is Galactus?

Galactus is the oldest living entity in the universe. In fact, he is older than our universe – he is the sole survivor from the universe that existed before our Big Bang. In his previous existence, he lived a life not unlike a human, but reborn in our universe, he is a God with seemingly limitless powers who is forced to devour living planets to receive the sustenance he needs to survive.

Because his existence is so far removed from that of any other inhabitants of this universe, he is beyond our concepts of “good” and “evil”. Billions upon billions of lives have been lost as a result of his feasting upon their planets, but he has no malice toward those beings, he simply does what he must to survive. The lives of those who live on the planet he consumes mean no more to him than the micro-organisms who live on our food mean to us.

Galactus was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby and made his debut in Fantastic Four #48 in 1966. For the first ten or so years after that he mostly just appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four and Thor, but eventually he became a popular character showing up in almost all corners of the wider Marvel Universe, especially the Cosmic Marvel Universe (the stories that take place in outer space).

Why do I care?

I always struggle when I try to explain why Galactus is my favorite fictional character, but I guess I mostly just love the idea of this giant God-like being traveling around in space in an absurd pink costume, so far removed from any life I can relate to. And I love the way when he shows up in a book, everyone knows they don’t stand a chance and that he is way out of their league. I find it interesting how he is such a huge threat to everyone, but isn’t really a villain or a hero. And I find his lonely existence heartbreaking and I love to see when he does make a connection with other beings.

Nigh-Omnipotus

January 15, 2012 // No Comments

Nigh-Omnipotus is a Galactus parody from The Tick comic: Karma Tornado. At the beginning of issue 3, Tick finds himself floating out in the vastness of space, unable to breath. He is then rescued by a chimp named Ham who has been lost in space since the space race of the 1960s. He tells Tick he can help him get back to earth, but it turns out Ham is the servant of the intergalactic world devourer known as Nigh-Omnipotus and his plan was to make Tick his replacement.

In issue 4, Tick agrees to serve Nigh-Omnipotus while he waits to return to earth. He lives in an apartment in Night-Omnipotus’ head and spends most of his time scraping planets off of Nigh-Omnipotus’ back. He also flies around (on one of Nigh-Omnipotus’ sandals) to different planets to, as he believes, help write travelogues for Nigh-Omnipotus. When Tick eventually finds out that Nigh-Omnipotus has been eating these planets, he gets mad and chastises the world devourer. At the end, Nigh Omnipotus feels so bad about deceiving his loyal herald, that he self-destructs.

These issues (written by Chris McCulloch and drawn by Dave Garcia) were a pretty fun read and the Nigh-Onmipotus character was really funny. There is an episode of the Tick cartoon series called “Alone Together” that features Omnipotus (I guess they dropped the “nigh” for the cartoon), but I haven’t seen it and can’t find it on-line.

Writer Jim Starlin On Galactus

December 5, 2011 // No Comments

I always found Galactus’ and the Silver Surfer’s relationship really kind of strange. Here was this rather honorable and downright noble creature floating around in space on this surfboard and looking terrific, but what he was basically doing was bringing the devil and destruction to wherever he went.

(from the featurette on the Rise of the Silver Surfer DVD)

The Punisher (Not Frank Castle)

October 25, 2011 // No Comments

In Fantastic Four 49, when the FF are fighting Galactus and destroying his equipment, Galactus gets fed up and says “I can tolerate no further delays, for I have a cosmic time table to observe! Therefore, I shall summon one who will keep the irritating mites at bay while I complete my task! It is the time for the signal! Let the Punisher appear.”

He is described in that same issue as “a strange, heavily armed being… half robot… half alive!! This then is the Punisher, a compact, supremely merciless, hard core mass of mayhem, from the very outer rim of the known universe.” The Marvel Encyclopedia Vol 6 adds “Origins unknown, it serves Galactus who uses it to stop others from interfering with his world devouring, such as the Fantastic Four, or to locate beings or items for him, like the Silver Surfer.”

He seems goofy and small, but in his first couple appearances in Fantastic Four, he seems pretty indestructible. In fact, the FF don’t beat him, they just fight him until Galactus tells him to go back to the ship. But in Silver Surfer #11 (1988), The Inbetweener figures out how to kill him…

All you have to do is summon the polar opposite of the force which animates him (whatever that means). But don’t worry, Galactus has more Punishers. In fact sometimes he even uses multiple Punishers at the same time. Like in the Thanos mini series…

Lee And Kirby On Galactus

October 25, 2011 // No Comments

Jack Kirby on the creation of Galactus (from THIS INTERVIEW):

“My inspirations were the fact that I had to make sales and I had to come up with characters that were no longer stereotypes. In other words, I couldn’t depend on gangsters, I had to get something new. And for some reason I went to the Bible and I came up with Galactus. And there I was in front of this tremendous figure who I knew very well because I’ve always felt him and I certainly couldn’t treat him in the same way that I would any mortal. And I remember in my first story, I had to back away from him to resolve that story. And of course, the Silver Surfer is a fallen angel and when Galactus relegated him to earth, he stayed on earth. And that was the beginning of his adventures. And they were figures that had never before been used in comics. They were above mythic figures. And of course they were the first gods.”

Stan Lee on the creation of Galactus (from the featurette on the Rise of the Silver Surfer DVD):

“We were doing a Fantastic Four story and I wanted Galactus to be the villain. I was very proud of the Galactus I had dreamed up. I said to Jack, “make him the biggest guy you can draw, he’s a demigod, make him look like a demigod.” He’s a guy who destroys planets. And he doesn’t do it because he’s cruel, he does it because he’s hungry – he eats their energy… I thought I was a genius.”