After a thoroughly embarrassing return on Fantastic Four, Galactus tries his best to return to his former glory on Thor.
Thor #225 (1974)
by Gerry Conway & John Buscema
The last herald of Galactus was Air-Walker, who had a cape of fire.
Galactus must’ve thought “what if I made the guy entirely out of fire?”.
The story begins with Thor fighting one of his classic enemies, the Destroyer armor.
I would normally skip this part since it’s not part of the Galactus plot, but it will become relevant later.
Thor sure is lucky that the Destroyer takes a reeeaaalllllyyy long time to lower its visor.
Thor ends up defeating the Destroyer, freeing the soul of the person inside it.
I called the Destroyer one of Thor’s “villains”, but that’s not exactly true: the Destroyer has no will of its own, but it can be controlled… at least to some extent… by the soul he absorbs.
As you saw from the cover Hercules is also here, and he learns a bit of trivia about Thor’s helmet.
Like you’re the one to give fashion statements, Hercules. Why do you even wear YOUR headgear, by the way? It’s not like you need it for protection.
When Thor turns into Blake to take care of his subplots, we have an interesting comment about the relationship between the two identities.
At this point in the series, I feel that Don Blake had already abundantly overstayed his welcome… he barely had any personality, and his private life was either boring or non-existent.
Granted, I never found Blake THAT interesting in the Silver Age either.
He seems to have stuck around for so long just as an excuse to give Thor SOME weakness.
However I must give credit to Conway because at the very least he’s TRYING to say something about the relationship between Blake and Thor, something that will only be properly explored in the late 2000s.
But it’s time for the main event, with Firelord reaching Earth. By leaping through planets from the looks of it, despite the fact that he can fly.
Number of Galactus heralds: 3
I like Firelord. He has a memorable design (although personally I would’ve used some Kirby Krackles in his energy flame), but his personality has always been hard to define.
Mostly because he tends to be used mostly for two purposes:
A) when all the heralds are assembling
B) when Silver Surfer is not available or would be too distracting for the story
He goes straight to the hospital where we last saw Don Blake.
I love how the people of the Marvel Universe are so desensitized about superpowers that this guy doesn’t find it weird to see a man on fire just casually walking by.
This turns into, what else, a Hercules fight.
When Don Blake tries to prevent the two from endangering the hospital patients, he ends up losing the cane.
Great job announcing out loud that you can transform into Thor, Don.
Good thing that he manages to retrieve the cane and transform into Thor in order to catch a falling Hercules.
Because a fall from a few stories would definitely have injured an immortal demigod who can bench press the planet.
Thor is aware that Galactus has sworn not to eat Earth, but he seems to be unaware that he’s supposed to be stuck in the Negative Zone.
Well I didn’t see YOU trying to do ANYTHING about it, Odin.
At least the Negative Zone exile gets a mention; it will take quite a while before we learn how Galactus returned (not that we truly needed an explanation, it’s Galactus).
But notice this is one of the earliest mentions of Galactus having been “defeated” in the original trilogy, something that gets repeated to this day… and that I don’t think is true.
The Fantastic Four did prevent Galactus from eating Earth, sure, but that’s only because the Watcher basically handed them an instant win condition.
I would classify Thor #161 as Galactus’s truly first straight-up defeat.
And we close on a splash page of Galactus, where it looks like John Buscema has FINALLY managed to draw him correctly after his previous embarrassing appearance.
The G on Galactus’s chest is now gone; sometimes it returns, but other than that at this point his look has been firmly established and deviations become almost non-existent.
Thor #226 (1974)
by Gerry Conway & John Buscema
cover by John Romita
Oh COME ON, I just said the look is standardized, and you bring back the one without pants!?
Also, while Buscema has find a way to draw Galactus properly in the story… Romita on the cover seems completely lost.
Either Galactus is smaller than ever or that is some weird perspective, and where is his neck?
Firelord is consistently treated as not being as powerful as Silver Surfer, but he’s strong enough to knock out Thor with a single kick.
Despite being defeated by Spider-Man in an infamous 80s storyline.
I actually really like that Spider-Man story, and to this day I believe he didn’t actually “defeat” Firelord… he just straight up gave up fighting Spidey.
Thor, will you stop talking!?
The Daily Bugle gave up the scoop to a TV network, uh? I wonder what other newspapers handled the news.
(yes, Plot Convenience HERALD is supposed to be for DC only, but… it’s a Galactus story, how could I resist?)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Galactus is also known on Olympus.
Don Blake recounts Thor’s fights with Galactus, dropping this gem.
“Inconclusive” is not the word I would have used.
This time Galactus shows up with a double-page spread.
It’s no Kirby, but this time Buscema DOES manage to sell the moment and the scale.
Times Galactus has landed on Earth: 3
The reason why Galactus is back is to recruit Thor…
…as an ally against Ego The Living Planet, who has defeated Galactus in their latest confrontation.
Times Galactus has been beaten in a fight: 2
Yeah sure Galactus, it wasn’t a defeat. You just decided to stop the fight and look for someone else to help you.
Firelord’s entire deal up to this point has been to just look for Thor, and Galactus showed up in person just because he failed.
Air-Walker’s entire deal up to this point has been to just look for Silver Surfer, and Galactus showed up in person just because he failed.
I’m beginning to doubt Galactus is good at hiring people.
I really says a lot that Firelord is your most loyal herald when he hasn’t done anything and has been a herald for… actually that’s a good question: how long has he been one?
It’s been 2 years since the Fantastic Four story, and this issue does establish it’s been 2 years in-universe as well. But obviously, thanks to comic book time it can’t be the case anymore.
From a modern perspective Firelord was a herald for… what a few months at best?
As this unlikely team approaches Ego, he unleashes his “anti-bodies” for a Big Dumb Space Fight.
And the story ends with the team landing on Ego’s surface.
Buscema struggled a bit with the book after Kirby’s departure, but I must say that he did manage to find a very good look for the series… for the fantasy world.
When it comes to the sci-fi stuff, and especially dealing with Kirby’s designs, he struggles quite a bit. That being said, this isn’t a bad rendition of Ego.
Thor #227 (1974)
by Gerry Conway & Rich Buckler
cover by John Romita
I don’t normally associate Romita with the more fantastical side of Marvel, but that is a great cover.
But Rich Buckler is the new artist, and he’s going for a full Kirby style.
Including blatantly swiping some previous Kirby panels, as we will see later. But when he’s not outright copying, he’s not bad.
Unless he has to draw Ego, who just looks terrible. Why would you EVER draw Ego without his moustache???
Ego’s “anti-bodies” have a very distinct look, and they quite unique: since they’re not really people but an extension of Ego, they don’t even talk and don’t seem to be capable of independent thought.
Buckler decides just to give him a generic monster.
Thor decides that the best course of action is to attack Ego’s brain, wherever it is located.
Which is an odd choice: considering Ego has shown to be able to control the molecules of its surface, I wouldn’t take for granted that he HAS a brain.
Also, I feel like Buckler is directly swiping a Kirby panel for Thor’s expression, but I can’t pinpoint from where he might have taken it.
As well as this splash page. Although I don’t recall Kirby botching the anatomy of Thor’s shoulders.
Meanwhile, Odin is still just watching his son on Plot Convenience Live.
I think Conway is an underappreciated Thor writer. It’s not the best run of the book, but he does give it his own imprint and provide good characters… with one huge exception.
His Sif is just PAINFUL to read. Gone is the fierce and proud warrior of Lee&Kirby run… she’s just whining the entire time.
Give me Hildegarde, her muscular Valkyrie bodyguard, any day of the week.
Hildegarde is AWESOME.
Back to Ego. By far the best part of using him in a story, aside from the chance for the artist to go absolutely crazy with alien environments, is that he provides a unique challenge to the heroes.
Since he’s a whole planet, it’s not like heroes can punch him like a regular monster: you really have to be creative to find ways for them to even interact, let alone fight!
Unless you just have Ego show up as a giant monster you can punch.
Something retained from their first encounter is that Ego’s control over his atmosphere doesn’t match Thor’s control over storms.
That’s when Thor and his allies eventually find Ego’s brain which is… just a big brain.
That is so lame that in 1981 John Byrne will retcon this into being Ego’s decoy brain (!!!) in the MASTERPIECE that is Fantastic Four #235.
The same issue will give us a splash page with the TRUE brain of Ego.
Do yourself a favor and read that story, it’s a blast.
Thor #228 (1974)
story by Gerry Conway
pencils by Rich Buckler, Arvell Jones & Keith Pollard
cover by Rich Buckler
Never a good sign to have so many pencilers on a non-anniversary issue.
After he attacks Ego’s brain, Thor is brought into his mind to meet a guy named Egros.
This is not Ego’s chronology so I’m not going into depth here, but Egros IS Ego… sort of.
After his planet is destroyed in a supernova, killing every other member of his race, Egros’s mind somehow fuses with what’s left of the planet… and that will evolve into Ego.
And Thor ends up straight up fries Ego’s brain!!!
Thor insists that he doesn’t want to outright kill Ego, and Galactus reassures him…
…while also attaching a ginormous space engine that will take Ego away.
Remember that Ego is a planet, so that is a HUGE engine!!!
I will talk later about giving Ego an origin as an ordinary alien, which I think is a TERRIBLE idea.
But the reason for why it’s here is quite simple: it’s to draw a parallel to Galactus, who also used to be a regular dude.
Also notice the sudden re-appearance on the big G on the chest, as well as Galactus apparently taking off his gloves.
Firelord has had enough of being a herald, ALREADY, and Galactus is pretty chill about granting him freedom… as long as he gets another herald.
And Thor has a replacement ready. Remember how I said that the Destroyer has no will of its own?
If you thought I was too harsh accusing Buckler of swiping from Kirby, that pose is BLATANTLY traced from Fantastic Four #49. Although this page could be by Pollard, my point stands.
Not to mention that the scene of Galactus powering the Destroyer…
…is also SLIGHTLY reminiscent of Fantastic Four #49.
And that’s it! Firelord is now free to roam the universe, and the Destroyer will now serve as herald.
Number of Galactus heralds: 4
Historical significance: 8/10
Firelord might not be the most famous or even the most interesting herald of Galactus, but he IS part of Marvel’s cosmic universe and will show up again in this retrospective.
Ego will use the Galactus engine in 1981 on Fantastic Four #235, taking control of it to reach Earth.
The engines will be a plot point for Ego appearances on Silver Surfer and, of all places, on Rom.
The same issue will retcon Ego’s origin, reverting him to be a natural-born sentient planet. I vastly, VASTLY prefer this origin in every conceivable way.
This was retconned again in 2011, where the Astonishing Thor series brought back the Egros origin and linked it to experiments run by cosmic weirdo The Stranger.
The Egros origin has been mentioned a couple of times since, but I still hope we will eventually return to Ego just being a weird sentient planet without a past.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Thor is really irresponsible in how he handles his secrets.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
This one ALMOST worked. Galactus is back to having some gravitas, and him recruiting some gods to fight a living planet is a good idea.
Unfortunately Firelord isn’t interesting in the slightest, Ego doesn’t truly feel like the big deal he’s supposed to be, and Galactus is just sort of there.
I am a HUGE fan of Ego in particular and stories with sentient planets in general, so I was the perfect audience for this. I really wanted to like this more, but the results don’t quite match what they were looking for.
Not a TERRIBLE arc, but it definitely needed polishing.
Planets eaten by Galactus: 5
Number of Galactus heralds: 4
Planets Galactus failed to eat: 4
Times Galactus has landed on Earth: 3
Times Galactus has threatened to eat the Earth: 2
Times Galactus has been beaten in a fight: 2
Times the Watcher has interfered to stop Galactus: 1