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Wayne Osborne
Byrne Robotics Member
Manhunter
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3817
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | 1
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Nice avatar, Al. I was thinking about doing that myself, but lack the
computer know-how.
WO
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Jim Yingst
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 866
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | 2
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Could someone remind me where JB established that Galactus looks different to different races? I foolishly sold my JB FF issues some years ago, and am overdue to replenish them with trades. Somehow, I don't remember this issue being addressed.
Darren wrote:
| If he is in fact, a force of nature that all beings see differently
(as JB wrote it), then the helmet itself is only part of the illusion. |
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Yes, somewhat. But I'm inclined to think that what is seen is a mix of "real" Galactus and race-specific "illusion" Galactus. OK, humans see Galactus as somewhat human. Wherever we see a similarity with humans, it's probably there because of the illusion. But wherever we see a detail that's atypical of humans, it's probably there because it's at least partially based on the true form of Galactus. So if Galactus goes to eat a planet of squid-people, they'll probably see him as a really big squid-like creature with some sort of helmet-like thing around his head (or wherever the squid-people have their brains) who tends to dress in purple and blue (or the closest equivalents in the color palette that the squid-people perceive). The helmet indicates he has some sort of removable casing his brain, either for protection or augmentation, I'd guess. So I don't see any inherent problem with the idea that Galactus can take off his helmet, and that people can see him without it.
Having said that, I wasn't terribly impressed with Bob Layton's version of the helmetless Galactus. (And I say this as a big fan of Layton's work in general). If he'd been mostly hairless as Kirby showed, that would be better. Partly because it's nice to maintain the original creator's vision unless there's a good reason to change it... and partly because even before I'd seen Kirby's story of Galen, I thought that the funky hairdo looked too ornate for Galactus. I can't see him waking up in the morning and carefully trimming his facial hair into a particular pattern. He'd just as soon wave his hand and get rid of such superfluous fluff entirely. Sure, the suit he wears has a number of strange devices incorporated into it, which could be ornamental - but I always figured they were there for some functional purpose we mortals didn't understand. Whereas when I see carefully trimmed facial hair, my first thought is that it's motivated by vanity or something similar - and Galactus should really care less about such things.
Then again, didn't this same story have Hercules and Galactus in a drinking contest, or something like that? I don't remember the full details here, but for some reason I mentally placed that series as outside canon. It was a fun story in its own right, but it wasn't the "real" Galactus as far as I was concerned.
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Jason Fulton
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 3938
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | 3
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FF 262, "The Trial of Reed Richards".
Edited by Jason Fulton on 02 December 2006 at 9:59pm
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Al Cook
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Posts: 12736
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 10:24pm | IP Logged | 4
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Wayne;
I didn't let the lack of computer know-how stop me. You should have
seen me this morning fumbling my way through ImageReady trying to
figure out how to do a two-frame animation!
Thanks for noticing!
---
The whole Galen Origin thing? He's not Galactus yet! Galen can have a
face, but it's just plain stupid for Galactus to have more than that grim
mouth.
(Unless, of course, you think that sucking the joy and mystery out of
really great characters is intelligent and fun.)
(And if you do, I know a comic-book company that you'd be a perfect fit
for...)
(Am I the only one who appreciates that Galactus' only truly human
feature is his mouth?)
Edited by Al Cook on 02 December 2006 at 10:24pm
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Charles Jones
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 09 July 2006
Posts: 517
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 10:33pm | IP Logged | 5
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I don't know about all that. I know Kirby drew him as Galan in the origin, it's what he looked like before he became Galactus, he wasn't disfigured or anything since he became Galactus, so he must still look like that underneath.
But I like it if he never takes off the helmet again.
The all beings see him differently thing is kind of cool, but I love his Kirby designed armor so much, it's really endured for 40 years with very little changes.
It would be interesting to see a story tho take place on another planet where he appears in an unknown form and you see him from the alien viewpoint and don't realize it's him until the end.
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Al Cook
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Posts: 12736
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 10:48pm | IP Logged | 6
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Galen was a physical creature. Although truly an alien, the word "man"
serves well enough.
Galactus is not a physical creature. A metaphysical creature, perhaps.
Certainly a force of nature. We perceive him in the form of a man. And the
only flesh that we perceive of this man-form is its mouth.
There is no reason to believe that this force of nature even has a removable
helmet, let alone still looks like the physical creature that helped give it
birth.
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Eric Kleefeld
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4422
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| Posted: 02 December 2006 at 11:15pm | IP Logged | 7
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The force-of-nature idea is interesting, and I do like it. But at the same time, I wonder if Lee and/or Kirby would agree.
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Jim Yingst
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 866
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| Posted: 03 December 2006 at 12:00am | IP Logged | 8
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Thanks, Jason. I certainly remember reading that issue, and enjoying it immensely - but evidently some of the details were lost. Oh well. Something that's less-than-clear to me even today: are the multiple mini-panels supposed to be images of the people observing Galactus, or are they images of what those observers see? Initially I took it as the former, but now I suspect the intent was the latter. Perhaps JB can clarify? Or maybe it's made more clear on an adjacent page which I've also forgotten.
Al Cook wrote:
There is no reason to believe that this force of nature even has a removable
helmet, let alone still looks like the physical creature that helped give it
birth. |
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I would agree that we can't be certain of that, no. But I think that the fact that he's been consistently portrayed as (A) very big, (B) purple and blue, and (C) wearing a helmet, is reason to at least strongly suspect that his true form is (A) very big, (B) purple and blue (or a close analog), and (C) wearing a helmet (or a close analog). Sure, any of those assumptions could be wrong - but with a being of Galactus' power, hell, he could misrepresent himself in innumerable ways if he wanted to. But why would he care? Seems to me like Galactus should be above such petty disinformation.
Edited by Jim Yingst on 03 December 2006 at 12:00am
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Matt Linton
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Joined: 13 December 2005
Posts: 2022
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| Posted: 03 December 2006 at 12:42am | IP Logged | 9
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(Am I the only one that appreciates that Galactus' only truly human feature is his mouth?)
*****
Er.....he's got a nose, too.
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Gerry Turnbull
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 8767
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| Posted: 03 December 2006 at 6:00am | IP Logged | 10
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heres Galactus creating his armour from the one shot
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Al Cook
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 December 2004
Posts: 12736
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| Posted: 03 December 2006 at 8:31am | IP Logged | 11
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"but with a being of Galactus' power, hell, he could misrepresent himself in
innumerable ways if he wanted to."
Galactus just is. He isn't representing himself (or misrepresenting himself)
in any way at all. We are interpreting what we see, and our primitive
monkey-brains are suggesting details so that we can quantify the un-
quantifyable.
In other words, it isn't Galactus that is suggesting that he wears a helmet...
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Joe Hollon
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 13675
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| Posted: 03 December 2006 at 9:52am | IP Logged | 12
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In what comic did Kirby do the origin of Galactus? I have got to track that one down!
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Topic Closed)
