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Some days I just don’t have anything to say…

§ February 13th, 2012 § Filed under galactus, trading cards § 4 Comments

…so here’s a Comic Images card trading card from 1988, featuring Galactus:


Somewhere there is fanfic somehow linking this guy to Galactus. …Unless I’m the first, in which case I’m not sure I could live with that burden.

BONUS: A History of the X-Men sticker from 1987 featuring Farouk AKA The Shadow King:


…Whaddaya mean, you don’t think that’s a bonus? I thought you people liked dudes in fezzes.

Wrapping up a week o’Galactus.

§ May 4th, 2009 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on Wrapping up a week o’Galactus.

Just a couple of brief Galactus notes, then I’m going to give the site a rest for the day before tackling responses to my Free Comic Book Day posts from the last few days.

First, Reader Joel notes in this post‘s comments that some of Galactus’ pals from his home planet, presumably ones from that giant cylinder Galactus shot off into his space, did come back during the Annihilation event hoohar. I didn’t realize that, and I suppose that’s what I get for not reading everything!

Secondly, I trust everyone saw that this came out last week from Marvel:


That would be issue #2 of the Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular, a callback to that publishing stunt Marvel did 20-something years ago where the assistant editors purportedly took over the books while the editors were at Comic Con, and proceeded to do wild and crazy things with the titles. Anyway, this comic didn’t sell worth beans for us, even if it did have Galacta, the daughter of Galactus.

And finally, reader John Lancaster, who’s been contributing banners for this site ever since I started taking submissions, put this together for me way back when and I never got around to using it since it was larger than the specified dimensions for my banner. But here it is, half size but full awesome:


I was planning on wrapping up Galactus week with some kind of explanation as to why I like the character so much, but my attempts were essentially variations on “he’s just awesome, man.” I suppose I just admired the out-thereness of the concept, a giant super-powered alien who shows up and wants to eat your planet, who wasn’t really villainous since he was simply just trying to survive, and also had a bitchin’ helmet. Plus, the character’s concept was so strong that he maintained his dignity, his gravitas, and even a measure of melancholy regardless of circumstance…even when he was pining for Dazzler.

Reminder: if you have any thoughts or questions about Free Comic Book Day, feel free to throw ’em into my comments section from yesterday and I’ll likely address them in the next day or so.

But for the rest of today…I’m relaxing!

Wolverine, Kid Chris, Employee Aaron, and Naked Galactus.

§ May 1st, 2009 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on Wolverine, Kid Chris, Employee Aaron, and Naked Galactus.

So reader DJ requested I scan ‘n’ post a panel from page 16 of Super-Villain Classics #1 (May 1983) for Galactus Week. Assuming he meant the page numbered 16, and not the actual page 16 (counting from the front of the book, including ads), I’m fairly certain he’s speaking about this panel, since he didn’t specify which exact one he was talking about:


So yeah, it’s Naked Off-Panel Galactus assembling his gloves, booties, delicate underthings, his awesome helmet, and so on. Well, you know, those clothes had to come from somewhere, I suppose. Not like he can go store-bought with his outfit…I mean, I’ve heard of Big ‘n’ Tall, but this is ridiculous!

But it’s this other panel on the page that really got me wondering:


Briefly, Galactus is the last survivor of the universe that existed prior to the currently-existing one…his ship was trapped intact in the “cosmic egg” that eventually exploded and created the universe, expelling the ship in the process. The “lifeless companions” mentioned in the caption are Galactus’s shipmates, from his home planet, who died prior to entering the “cosmic egg.”

So, according to that panel, there exists floating around in the Marvel Universe cosmos a shipload of Galactus’s people (barring the ship flying into a star or a black hole or something). Dead, sure, but you know how death never seems to stick in superhero books. They went through the same process, more or less, that transformed Galen the scientist into Galactus…maybe their incubation period is just lasting a little longer. Maybe there’s a gaggle of Galactus-type beings about to appear in the Marvel Universe.

Hey, just throwing that out there. Just seems like an interesting and overlooked detail from the origin of Galactus.

Here’s something I’ve been meaning to comment upon for a while now: Marvel is fiddling with the Wolverine release schedule, so that #73 (the first part of a two part story) comes out before #72 (the penultimate chapter of the “Old Man Logan” story). The reason given is so that following the excitement built by the new Wolverine movie, the hordes of new fans flooding into comic shops across the nation will have an issue of Wolverine that’s more of a jumping-on point, rather than be in the middle of an ongoing story.

That’s all well and good, but overlooks a couple of things:

1. Wolverine #73 won’t be out until nearly two weeks after the movie opens, so movie-driven traffic into comic shops, if any, will be good ‘n’ done by then. If the comic was coming out THIS week, that’s one thing. Two weeks from now…why bother with the schedule shuffle?

2. It’s not as if there’s any shortage of Wolverine comics on the stands at the moment. Having one of those comics be in the middle a story isn’t going to make a difference. Perhaps having a fresh batch of reprints of the early issues of “Old Man Logan” ready for the film’s release would have been a better idea. (Reprints have been solicited and ordered, but won’t be in for another week or two, at least).

Here are a couple of points in Marvel’s favor, however:

1. The recently-begun Wolverine: Weapon X series, which by most accounts ain’t half-bad, and is as good a starting point as any for anyone inspired by the movie to check out the source material. Has the added bonus of being available (with a new printing this week!) in the prime movie-inspired-comic-purchases window of opportunity (i.e. prior to the film’s release).

2. The Free Comic Book Day Wolverine comic, which, surprisingly enough, actually is appropriate for All Ages. This should make a lot of kids happy this weekend.

Speaking of Free Comic Book Day…here are Kid Chris and Employee Aaron pausing for a moment from their prepping and sorting for the Big Event this Saturday:


Please note Kid Chris is wearing a FCBD shirt, a FCBD button, and a FCBD baseball cap. Now that‘s commitment, friends. I’d like to see that same level of commitment from the other employees, Aaron.

You know, looking at that photo, Kid Chris looks a bit like Sylar from Heroes, there. PLEASE NOTE: Store not responsible if Kid Chris attempts to eat your brain.

Well, before I go even more on a tangent, I’ll just note that we’re well on our way to being prepared for the Big Event. I’ve written about Free Comic Book Day pretty much every year since I started the site (search the archives in late April/early May for 2005-2008 for previous posts on the topic…I’ll try to put together the actual links in the next day or two), so I’m not sure what else to add, really. I’m sure I’ll do the usual postmortem, and I’m going to try to do a little live-Twittering that day, if I have time. Pal Dorian has done his regular FCBD preview review (though I have four more that came in this week that I’ve not been able to get to him yet).

Among my many posts on the topic, I’ve offered hints and tips for funnybook sellers on how to have a successful FCBD, which I shall sum up thusly: 1. Clean your store. 2. Don’t be dicks. (To be fair, I haven’t quite mastered step 2 yet.)

So, in conclusion — Free Comic Book Day:


I will. Won’t you?

And just to wrap this post up with a little bit of a tearjerker…The Rack says goodbye to one of its cast members in today’s strip.

But don’t worry…the character will soon be starring in this here new strip, the URL of which may be a spoiler if you haven’t been following The Rack over the last couple of days.

Oh, here are those laughing Galactus panels from that issue of Hercules…

§ April 29th, 2009 § Filed under galactus § 1 Comment

…courtesy pal Dorian:


Also included: bonus Hatless Galactus, which is…well, a bit disturbing, actually.

images from Hercules #4 (December 1982) by Bob Layton & Sam De La Rosa

Galactus clearly states his position.

§ April 29th, 2009 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on Galactus clearly states his position.


…Just in case anyone was, you know, wondering.

BONUS GALACTUS CONTENT: Galactus has a good belly-laugh:


Actually, he looks a bit like he’s having a seizure, or that he needs the Heimlich Maneuver, or something. Granted, laughing ain’t something Galactus does very often, so I’m guessing it does hurt a bit.

If I recall correctly, he has a good laugh in the last issue of Bob Layton’s first Hercules mini-series as well. Alas, my copy is misplaced in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives, so a scan will follow later in the week. In the meantime, here’s pal Dorian with a taste from that same ish.

images from Fantastic Four #175 (October 1976) by Roy Thomas & John Buscema, and from Rom #26 (January 1982) by Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Joe Sinnott — that’s two, two, two Buscemas in one post, at no extra charge!

I demand some consistency from my 20-year-old trading cards.

§ April 28th, 2009 § Filed under galactus, trading cards Comments Off on I demand some consistency from my 20-year-old trading cards.

Here’s probably my favorite trading card image of Galactus, drawn by Art Adams and taken from the 1991 Marvel Universe set from Impel:


That’s a nice, imposing image of Galactus, there…is it just me, or does it have a little Moebius feel to it? Also, Adams did a handful of other very nice cards for this set, including one of Absorbing Man that, at the time, former employee Rob was trying to corner the market on, or something. He had, like, dozens of the damned things. I still have no idea why. Probably best to remain blissfully ignorant.

Anyway, back to the Galactus card…the characters in this set were given power ratings on the card backs, and here are the Big G’s:


And that’s all well and good, I suppose. I get the “stamina” thing, since he’s gotta eat a planet every few days or his blood space-sugar gets dangerously low. And his agility is low, presumably due to his size, so he’s probably not going to be doing any pirouettes. But let’s take a look at the stats from his trading card the following year:


It looks like Galactus took some dumb pills because his intelligence stat dropped a couple of points. Or maybe because he maxed out the first set of stats, they readjusted the scale to get a more accurate reading. Or maybe they’re just making this crap up off the top of their heads. Whatever.

But get a load of the speed stats on both cards. With his speed score maxed out, and his agility score as low as it is…this guy’s going to be tripping over a lot of footstools and walking into walls. And given that he’s already wearing a hat pretty much designed to keep you walking through doorways sideways, this is seriously a disaster waiting to happen. Keep him out of the china shop!

In other mostly non-Galactus news:

  • Pal Dorian is celebrating his 5th anniversary of blogging this week, kicking off with pics of some of his favorite men, and continues with a look at the first comic he ever read. So congrats, Dor! Thanks for keeping at this blogging thing for as long as you have…if it weren’t for you, pal, I don’t think I’d have as much fun as I do with this site.

    And by the way…Dor’s Uncomfortable Plot Summaries post just keeps going and going and going…I keep seeing new links to it pop up all the time. Even from people who actually get the Rocky joke. He was even on the front page of the Internet Movie Database, for God’s sake. And Neil Gaiman his own self was a good sport about a joke at his expense that, er, I may have been involved with. Dor’s shown me his traffic stats, and he’s getting some crazy-ass numbers….that post is probably the single most popular thing ever generated by someone in the comicsweblogosphere. You’d think some of the bigger comics sites would have noted it by now.

    So again, congrats to Dor for five years of blogging. He’s a swell guy, so give him your best wishes!

  • Over at the great Flash fan site Speed Force, there’s a brief discussion about how the continuity-heavy Free Comic Book Day offering Blackest Night #0 is intended to preach to the converted, rather than grab readers new to comics. And, yes, there’s that, I’m not disagreeing…but the last time I worried about a continuity-heavy FCBD offering from DC, JLA #0, the girlfriend’s nieces ate it up. So I’m not going to worry too much about it this time. No, it’s likely not going to make kids come in every Wednesday and get the latest installment of the crossover…but I’ll settle for kids popping in once in a while to buy a comic or two because they enjoyed the free comics they got.
  • P-TOR shares a dream he had about me and Neilalien. A dream…or a nightmare?

Ah, what the hell…let’s do "Galactus Week."

§ April 27th, 2009 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on Ah, what the hell…let’s do "Galactus Week."

EMO GALACTUS IS EMO:


By the way, the “mutate” referred to by Galactus’s little robot helper is none other than Marvel’s disco queen superhero, Dazzler, who had been recruited by the big G to do some damned thing or ‘nother that he couldn’t do for whatever reason. Anyway, that’s not important. But what is important is that after, what, three days, suddenly Galactus is all moody (well, moodier) after crushing hard on the celebrity babe he’d just kidnapped. You just know after he stomped off to his room in that last panel, he logged into his InsaneJournal to post private entries about his breaking heart. “Current music: Air Supply – ‘All Out of Love.'”

And now, for no good reason, I see Galactus grabbing a succession of disco singers to help him cope with whatever nefarious plans and/or emotional issues he’s dealing with. “GLORIA GAYNOR — YOUR SONG ‘I WILL SURVIVE’ HAS TOUCHED THE LONG-DORMANT HEART OF GALACTUS. YOU HAVE GIVEN ME THE RESOLVE TO CONTINUE, TO SURVIVE. TRULY THE POWER COSMIC PALES IN COMPARISON TO THE POWER OF DISCO.”

Okay, at this point, I have no idea what the heck I’m saying.

And yes, Galactus’s head-wing-antenna-thingie is missing in that first panel. Hey, he’s Galactus, he can do stuff like make part of his headgear disappear.

images from Dazzler #11 (January 1982) by Danny Fingeroth, Frank Springer & Vince Colletta

Galactus means business.

§ April 26th, 2009 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on Galactus means business.

from Fantastic Four #75 (June 1968) by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott


Sorry…got in late and had no time to properly blog. So, here’s another swell pic of Galactus. We all love Galactus, don’t we? Sure we do.

I’m probably not doing “Galactus Week” as suggested by pal Cully, at least not right now…but I totally could.

I should be writing a little something about Free Comic Book Day…

§ April 25th, 2009 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on I should be writing a little something about Free Comic Book Day…

…but that can wait for later. Instead, have a pic of pissed-off Galactus:

from Fantastic Four #123 (June 1972) by Stan Lee, John Buscema & Joe Sinnott


I don’t know that Galactus is my favorite Marvel character, but he’s certainly in the top five…along with Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Dr. Doom, and the Thing. If there were a comic that teamed up all five characters for an exciting “novel-length 18-page adventure,” I’d be all over it.

BEHOLD.

§ October 12th, 2008 § Filed under galactus Comments Off on BEHOLD.


MIGHTY MUGGS GALACTUS

For some reason I have a thing for Galactus toys. Don’t have them all (though I set aside one of the above at the shop for future purchase). Some of you may remember Superhero Squad Galactus, which I purchased last year when I was allegedly seeking Christmas presents for other people…and in the process irritating pal Dorian because he’d bought me the same Galactus for my Christmas gift. Whoops!

I also have the 1995 Galactus figure tying into the then-current Fantastic Four cartoon, which lights up and makes noise (but doesn’t say anything like “I HUNGER,” alas). You can read more about it here. And for whatever reason, I passed on a Galactus figure that was offered in the Silver Surfer TV cartoon line…it was the same size as the other figures, but with a tiny Surfer figure is a clear plastic ball accompanying the big G. And I was quite disappointed when the Mini-Mate version of Galactus ended up being a big statue, rather than just, say, a regular Mini-Mate that was twice-up or so from a typically-sized figure in that line.

And there are others (like a “Cosmic Powered Galactus” from 1998, that I can find listed here and there, but no decent sized pics). And this doesn’t count the statues, the busts, the one big figure you had to assemble from pieces spread out over several Marvel Legends figures, and the Heroclix figure/play accessory.

So, in conclusion, I’m not a total sucker for Galactus merchadise…but I’ll certainly give it all a look when it comes out.

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