Cosmic Characters: Galactus

[Silver Age Fan]

In the first of what I hope will be a regular series of topics, I thought we could look at cosmic characters in comics. These are the guys (if they can be called that) who are vastly powerful and represent threats not to cities or countries, but to worlds, galaxies, even the universe. Or, in some cases, those who oversee the universe of fulfill a grander purpose.

I hope to be able to look at DC and Marvel characters, but if anyone wants to cover cosmic characters from other comics, please feel free.

Now, what about Galactus? Well, he's known as the Devourer of Worlds. He consumes the energies of planets. And he's caused countless deaths. However, he's not really a villain, he's a cosmic force of nature as Odin, father of Thor, once described him.

He did have an existence in a prior universe as a man called Galan. When that universe died, Galan somehow bonded with the new universe that emerged, becoming the vastly powerful Galactus. Galactus needs to consume the life energies of planets in order to survive and is beyond human comprehension (one issue showed how we only perceive him as humanoid, other races perceive him differently).

Galactus' powers are hard to define. Within reason, he can do anything. He can manipulate matter and energy, he can project energy, he can create life, the list goes on. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, I believe they wanted to have a character who was beyond good and evil, a god.

There are many great Galactus stories out there. And without spoiling too much, let me say that it has been shown that Galactus, for all the destruction he causes, has a purpose in the universe, in the grand scheme of things. He has even been an ally to heroes at times.

He is one of my favourite fictional characters ever. He looks cool and his origins and personality are cool. Any story he appears in (he first appeared in a Fantastic Four comic) is epic. The character has been served well by countless writers/artists and he's right up there with other powerful Marvel characters such as Eternity, the living embodiment of the universe, and The Living Tribunal, a virtually omnipotent character who oversees the entire multiverse in comics. We can look at those characters some other time.

Galactus has clashed with various characters, mainly the Fantastic Four, but also the likes of Silver Surfer, Thor and Odin. Also, in DC/Marvel crossovers, both Superman and Darkseid have clashed with him.

It's hard to recommend a Galactus story to seek out because, quite honestly, they're all good. This vastly powerful character never disappoints and he is one of the greatest fictional characters...ever.

Find out more about him in the link below.

www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/g/galactus.htm

[MacNimon]

Galactus was a favourite of mine, but the most recent story I've read was John Byrne's storyline about Reed Richards wanting to save Galactus, and Johnny Storm's girlfriend becomes Galactus herald (about 30 years ago!). An excellent story, as I remember it. I'll really need to catch up a bit with the character one of these days.

Your comment about how Galactus is perceived by different civilisations is an interesting one. I always wondered if this would be the case, because there's no obvious reason for something/someone so powerful to have a human form. I wasn't aware that they had done a story about this though, or Galactus origin. This was a missed opportunity in the second Fantastic Four film, though, imo. Having Galactus as a sort of formless cloud was maybe an easier idea to realise but it didn't make for much in the way of a dramatic impact, did it? Even a short shot of the cloud morphing into a giant humanoid figure that we humans would have been able to recognise would have sufficed.

[Silver Age Fan]

I agree, that would have been better in the second FF film.

The explanation about Galactus being perceived differently may have been done more than once for all I know, but I'm thinking of John Byrne writing/drawing it (I can't remember the issue).

Do you know what I'd love to see? You've read the Essential Marvel range, right? Obviously, they cover particular comic titles in chronological order. My idea would be a range of reprints which focus specifically on villains such as Galactus, Doctor Doom, Dormammu, etc. In either black-and-white or colour, such books would reprint every Galactus appearance from his debut up until, say, the 1990s.

If they ever did that (and it's just a dream on my part), I'd want books for Galactus, Doctor Doom, Dormammu, Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin and almost all of Spider-Man's enemies.