Thor 167-169: The Origin of Galactus! 0

[Schmakt]

I bought a slabbed 165 a little while ago and then bought 164-166 on Comixology to read the story... which was pretty dope (but now I have to get FF 66 & 67!)...

Even though I'm very disappointed that the story title doesn't have anything to do with her hairdo.

Even better, however, was the Galactus story that followed.  The whole mess with Thor being punished for his Warrior's Madness and the little altercation with Loki was a little hamfisted and anti-climactic (really?  Loki steal's Don's staff only to be immediately zapped back to Asgard by Odin who leaves the staff with DonThor?  What was the point of all that?  Does this have some kind of ramification later on?)

Anyway... Balder's all fixed up, and the Warriors 3 protect Earth, and China is shooting a nuclear man at California, and... who cares... where's Thor?

Monologuing in a spaceship until, what?  Something can stop Odin's space boat?  Looks like Galactus is lonely and wants to chat, but Thor's all tempestuous and trying to get it in with the hammer (every damn problem is a nail to this guy!)... Gally blows some hallucinogenic smoke his way, puts a stop to Thor's temper-tantrum, and gets to talking. 

I always thought that Galactus was the last of the beings from the Universe prior to ours, but this story has him as the last being from his home planet within our Universe.  Did this get retconned?  When?  I like the idea of him coming from the previous universe much better.  Still really liked this story!  They didn't waste much time on a ridiculous fight, which I appreciated, and the origin story was pretty cool... although Kirby's poppin' pencils had to have had a lot to do with that.  They even look great on my little phone screen.  Not totally sure why they stuck a Watcher in there (and referred to him as "The" Watcher), but he... you know... watched.  For some reason.  Also not sure why, if Odin can just pop in on an intergalactic phone call, he didn't just do that in the first place.  Is he only allowed to call Friends and Family?  I suppose Galactus wouldn't be in his top 5.

And this cover is just so cool... Romita Thor soaring out of a Kirby Galactus?  Right on.

I always hated the idea of digital comics, but I've been loving it lately as I've been reading a bunch of SA Thor and FF... $0.99/issue?  Yes, please.

170 looks like kind of a dud, but I just picked up raw copies of 148-150 that should be here this week, so I'm sure I'll end up picking back up here so I can get to the Wrecker story in 171 after I read his intro.

And then I've got to find where they revamped Galactus's origin... probably not a Silver Age question, but does anyone know?

[Jaylam]

I think the origin story was slightly re-worked to what you are referring to in Super-Villain Classics #1 from 1983. 

[Schmakt]

35 minutes ago, Jaylam said:

I think the origin story was slightly re-worked to what you are referring to in Super-Villain Classics #1 from 1983. 

Nice, thank you!  I'll check that out and see what's what

[marvelmaniac]

Either way I have to say "Galactus Is The SH$%!!!     

[KirbyJack]

47 minutes ago, marvelmaniac said:

Either way I have to say "Galactus Is The SH$%!!!     

I agree to a point, but he’s been overused. Every Marvel creator wants to tell “their” Galactus story. It’s diminished the character, IMHO.

[Schmakt]

19 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

I agree to a point, but he’s been overused. Every Marvel creator wants to tell “their” Galactus story. It’s diminished the character, IMHO.

I agree with this, completely.  Same with Surfer, but that's why it's been fun to go back and read these early stories.

Was just re-reading the Nocenti run on Daredevil where DD was in hell (or whatever) and SS showed up for a hot minute and was gone.

I like the idea better that both those characters were kind of mysterious and it was a special thing when they showed up...

[marvelmaniac]

33 minutes ago, Schmakt said:

and it was a special thing when they showed up...

The way crossovers used to be back in the early days of Marvel, that is what made them special for me.