ABSOLUTE GALACTUS — THOR #160
Everytime I crack open an appearance of GALACTUS in Comics, the cosmic devourer hasn’t failed to satisfy. The Mighty THOR #160 comes on strong with the “And Now..GALACTUS!” arc containing a sho nuff! type who’s who cast of characters daring to go toe-to-toe with GALACTUS.
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The storyline masterminded by Lee and Kirby deals with THOR getting called to task by Tana Nile, one of the big headed Colonizers from the planet Rigel. She lays it on thick that the galaxy is about to be broke off something real proper and needs THOR to bring the thunder and save the day!
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There is alot going down in this issue of THOR and this is the first appearance I’ve read where you get a real sense of just how raw GALACTUS is and how he lays waste, leaving nothing but death and destruction trailling behind. THOR himself is thrown by the power of GALACTUS and vows to bring a real Joe Jackson ass-whoopin’, Asgardian style.
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After 12 pages of buildup, GALACTUS finally bursts into the issue and examines the cosmos around him from the visi-sphere of his ship. This is an area of space he’s already layed the pimp-hand down and decimated, and yet…
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One of the consistent hustles I’ve seen in the previous appearances of GALACTUS is that he constantly views himself not as a destroyer and just needs to get his grub on in order to survive. Forget the fact that whole civilizations are wiped out in a matter of hours, he’s not a hater and has to do what it takes to keep on livin’.
“GALACTUS bears malice to no living being! I only slay that I may survive! Like all who live…I must have foodfood..I must not STARVE! Am I to be FAULTED for the APPETITE I bear? The big…and the small…eat what we must…as for GALACTUS…naught but a world can assuage his gnawing HUNGER! But WAIT!! What wonderment now looms ahead..??”
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AWWW YEAH!!!, I told you this one of those star-studded type issues! EGO the Living Planet!!! What do you get when you cross GALACTUS — world mover and world ravisher! with a plate full of EGO — whose attacks can harness the power of a total world? Get down with The Mighty THOR #160 to see how these two set it off.
Bahlactus has spoken.
October 13th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Here’s the thing - this was just another day for Kirby’s version of Thor. Kirby had much more to do with Thor than Lee did after a certain point - Stan The Man was too busy running his empire at this issue’s publication, for instance - and it’s his sort of “Let’s see what’ I can do next” that I really miss in most modern DC and Marvel books. It seems like, more and more, people are just finding ways to recycle what’s already there. That may be why I like GĂDLAND so much - yes, it plays the Kirby card a little heavily, but man, talk about creative villains and insane situations.
October 13th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Galactus has always been referred to as one of the Fantastic Four’s greatest villains, but to me Galactus simply did what he had to do. He took no joy in eradicating galaxies and distant worlds. He preferred for his herald’s to find him an uninhabited planet, but depending on how bad his hunger was, heck, he tried to get his Quizno’s munch on at the expense of mother earth as well.
One of the best battles I’d ever seen was the FF, Spidey, The Avengers and Dr. Strange fighting Galactus. it took everything they had to save him because he was literally dying. He’d shrunk nearly half the size he had been. I believe this was FF #245 or somewhere around them, drawn and written by John Byrne.
But Kirby’s Thor was always hot and well drawn also. Too bad we don’t read ‘em like this anymore. Great piece Bahlactus. I’m still waiting for them to make a Thor flick too.