365 Days of Defiance, Day 306: As Falls Galactus, So Falls Galactus Falls

Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #243 (June 1982); script, pencils, and inks by John Byrne, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Jim Novak

365 Days of Defiance, Day 178: Nutzpah

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (March 2015 series) #3 (May 2015), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Clayton Cowles

365 Days of Defiance, Day 13: If you don't know what issue this is from, turn in your Comic Book Badge

Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #50 (May 1966), script by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Stan Goldberg (?), letters by Sam Rosen

365 Days of Defiance, Day 11: Once upon a time Simon & Schuster published defiant books

Panels from The Silver Surfer graphic novel (Simon & Schuster, 1978), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by John Costanza

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 117: This is not the way I predicted print would die

Panels from Galactus the Devourer #3 (November 1999), script by Louise Simonson, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Bill Sienkiewicz, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Richard Starking

Four out of five Silver Surfers recommend

Double-Page Spreads, Day Five: Galactus loves eating Italian

Double-page spread from S.H.I.E.L.D.* v.1 #1 (June 2010), script by Jonathan Hickman, pencils and inks by Dustin Weaver, colors by Christina Strain, letters by Todd Klein
(Click picture to Ellisize)

*Some Highly Intellectually Educated Latin-speaking Dudes

Marvel Value Stamps, Day 1: In Outer Space, Stamp Licks You

The Mid-Day Matinee this week, all week: Marvel Value Stamps! It's the fun of clipping and collecting combined with the thrill of ruining the resale value of your 1970s comic books! Save 'em, collect 'em, trade 'em, get indicted on mail fraud of you stick 'em on a letter! But whatever you do, don't call them late for dinner! They're Marvel Value Stamps!


Marvel Value Stamp #100, from Fantastic Four #154 (January 1975)

Galactus: Live from Earth!

Hey there, true bull-lievers! Didja catch Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer this weekend? Didja like it? Sure, there were some spotty bits and clunky dialogue, but the second the Silver Surfer soared into orbit above the Earth and confronted Galactus, I was spilling my popcorn, shrieking in glee, and overcome by all kindsa awesome at the sight of a hundred-story tall armored giant, glaring down at the Surfer, raising his massive hand and blasting the Surfer right off his board before the Surfer swooped through his big legs, came around and blasted him right in the face, making him fall back on his mighty metal ass! Hah! Take that, big helmeted guy! They did a bang-up job on the CGI effects for Galactus, making him look as tall and mighty and aloof as we've always pictured him from the comics, didn't they? And his voice...did you even know they'd gotten Liev Schreiber to play the voice? Man, I was all in a tizzy...and the way you saw Galactus's body floating among the cosmos after the end credits...and they just zoom in on his big square pupil...and he blinks...I smell sequel, baby!



What?

Huh?

What are you all grumbling about? A cloud? Where was there a cloud in this movie? I didn't see any clouds. All I saw was a giant CGI alien in armor and helmet towering over the Earth and challenging the Surfer. He was there as plain as the ring on my face!

Nothing but a shadow? Um, guys, maybe you walked into the wrong theater and were looking at George Clooney in Ocean's Thirteen, but by gosh, I sure as heck could see the Jack Kirby-style Galactus in this movie...

Wait a minute. Let me look this up. Hmmmm...Google...G-A-L-A-...okay, hold on...whoa, what's this?:

As a being who is both an abstract entity and a physical creature, Galactus' true form and nature are beyond the capability of mortal beings to comprehend. Sentient beings perceive Galactus's physical form as they most imagine him to be. He may appear to be an amorphous or non-corporeal being to some observers, while others may be able to perceive him as an armored giant towering above them.

Or, as that famous John Byrne page puts it:

Each mind that views him struggles at best it can to perceive that unguessable force as an image it can comprehend.

Well, there's your problem. If you didn't see a big giant guy in a helmet...well, you've got no one to blame but your own myopia.

Man, I bet you guys didn't even see the awesome CGI Jack Kirby getting turned away from the wedding alongside Stan.

Ten of a Kind: I can't believe I ate the whole thing

Didn’t get to actually see a big helmeted guy munching down on a planet this weekend? Well, accept no dustbunny substitutes, coz here’s the real G-deal:





















And here's an eleventh, just to remind ourselves not to take the grand grape globe-gobbler too seriously:


(More Ten of a Kind here.)