The last time Galactus was on Fantastic Four, it was an utter embarassment. Will things get better this time?
Fantastic Four #172 (1976)
by Bill Mantlo & George Perez
cover by Jack Kirby
A lot of people forget that when he went back to Marvel in the 70s, Kirby did a bunch of covers for books he didn’t pencil.
We begin with the Fantastic Four being warned about Galactus by a golden gorilla.
That’s not even in the top fifty weirdest first pages they’ve had.
He gets into a fight with the Fantastic Four, leading to Invisible Girl being knocked out because she didn’t see her husband.
Ironic, isn’t it?
If only she had, I don’t know, some kind of power to protect herself from harm.
The golden gorilla escapes into his spaceship, which turns out to have been just a trap.
Which means “the smartest man in the world” was just outsmarted by an ape.
The gorilla reveals that he’s from Counter-Earth, the space paradise artificially created by the High Evolutionary, which had been corrupted by a wolf mutated into Space Wolf Satan (also known as Man-Beast) but ultimately saved by Golden Space Jesus (also known as Adam Warlock).
You cannot convince me that at least SOME of that wasn’t written by some doing drugs.
At some point, the High Evolutionary learned that the latest herald of Galactus had discovered Counter-Earth.
Which is actually in Earth’s solar system, on the opposite side of the Sun, kept undetectable by comic book science.
The golden gorilla was actually created by the High Evolutionary to contact the Fantastic Four, because I guess super-evolving himself into godhood means he can no longer use a phone.
I guess it was inevitable that he would have to force the Fantastic Four to listen to him, given that they famously never interact with anyone who doesn’t look completely human and have a history of never helping strange aliens.
Or at least that’s why they are famous on Bizarro World.
The High Evolutionary is pretty powerful on his own, and later in this storyline he will take on Galactus by himself (!!!) but right now he’s not even able to defeat the Destroyer on his own.
Speaking of which, why is the Destroyer talking? As I mentioned last time, the Destroyer doesn’t have a mind of its own, it’s controlled by whatever soul it absorbed… and right now there isn’t anyone inside, just energy from Galactus.
I guess it’s a part of Galactus talking through the Destroyer?
Also, at this point the Thing has no powers: that’s just Ben Grimm inside an exoskeleton that just looks like his old orange self.
Which makes the fact that the Destroyer loses to the Thing even more pathetic!
And that’s the extent of the Destroyer’s service as a herald of Galactus.
To recap, after Silver Surfer quit:
-Air-Walker was sent to Earth to recover Silver Surfer, failed, and Galactus had to show up to do the job himself. After which, he died.
-Firelord was sent to Earth to recover Thor, failed, and Galactus had to show up to do the job himself. After which, he was fired.
-the Destroyer was sent to Counter-Earth find food, succeeded (!!!) and was fired.
Fantastic Four #173 (1976)
by Roy Thomas & John Buscema
cover by Jack Kirby
It’s good to finally see Galactus as big as he should be, but I hate his human blue eyes.
Sure, keep telling yourself that, Galactus.
The Thing vs Galactus goes as well as you’d imagine.
I can forgive Reed asking Galactus why he’s targeting Counter-Earth, but being amazed that he has telepathy?
You were the one to deduce that, Reed!!!
Even Galactus kind of calls him stupid for that question.
Galactus gives a summary of his previous appearances. Notice that at this point Air-Walker is probably supposed to always have been a robot.
The Destroyer is temporarily un-fired and given back his powers, which apparently is 0.0001% of Galactus’s own.
The High Evolutionary and Reed make a plea to spare Counter-Earth…
…and both speeches are immediately dismissed by Galactus.
Guys, what did you expect???
He does give them a chance, though. He’s going to eat A planet today… they only get to choose WHICH ONE.
This is actually the first time the Fantastic Four meet the High Evolutionary.
I can’t think of many future encounters… the High Evolutionary has been all over the place in the Marvel Universe, but his actions rarely affect the FF.
I’ve always found the High Evolutionary to be an endlessly fascinating character: he is SO versatile!!!
He can be used as a villain to a great effect, but he’s vastly more complex: the High Evolutionary is not exactly evil, if anything he tends to be amoral… he fixates so much on the big picture that he tends to dismiss the consequences on regular people. Or even on the people he creates, despite the fact that he is typically depicted as having genuine affection for them (either as if they were his children or if they were his pets).
That being said, depending on the situation he can be the villain of the story, the mentor of a hero, an ally of the hero, or like in this case a quest-giver.
Oh come on Reed, that has to be one of the lamest excuses you’ve ever come up with to keep Susan out of the action.
It’s one thing to find stuff like this in the 60s, but for a 1976 book this is disappointingly old-fashioned.
The rest of the story follows the Fantastic Three to the worlds that they might give to Galactus to eat. The first one is rejected because it’s populated by sentient robots that the FF had already met…
…and another is a fantasy world, where the Human Torch and the golden gorilla have to stop a dragon.
Fantastic choice leaving Susan behind, guys, no notes.
Fantastic Four #174 (1976)
by Roy Thomas & John Buscema
cover by Jack Kirby
Poor Galactus, he’s already been downgraded so much that he doesn’t even make it to the cover.
Seeing the Fantastic Three failing at the first two planets, the High Evolutionary doesn’t even analyze the second and jump straight into wanting to fight Galactus.
Despite being unable to stop a guy literally a million times weaker than him just two issues ago.
Understandably, Susan has had enough to just stand around waiting for the Fantastic Three to save themselves.
Susan, I was JUST trying to defend you!!! You’re not making it easy!!!
Reed and Ben had also been captured by the robots at this point, but turns out there are advantages to the Thing just being armor now.
Definitely less embarrassing than how the Human Torch has been immobilized… by chaining him to a giant bucket of water.
While the superhero is trapped into a bucket of water, the talking golden gorilla participates in a duel against laser-wielding knights who are actually shapeshifting aliens training to cosplay in medieval times.
With the Fantastic Four late, Galactus decides he’s just going to eat Counter-Earth.
Which leaves the High Evolutionary as the only one who can save the day.
And that’s where we’re going to stop, because next issue will not just be the resolution of this storyline… it will be one of the weirdest AND dumbest Galactus stories of the 70s.
Which, considering the competition, is saying something!
Historical significance: 1/10
The finale WILL be important for the Fantastic Four (and for another character who hasn’t shown up yet), but the only real contribution of THIS issue is confirming that Torgo… the Thing’s alien robot friend… is still around.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Susan being left behind for dumb reasons AND accidentally stranding herself on a lifeless planet feels too dumb for the 60s. Plus there’s, you know, all the golden gorilla fighting knights thing.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
First the positives: issue 172 has some GORGEOUS Perez artwork, and Buscema isn’t bad in the follow-up. Plus Galactus has been restored to SOME dignity… for now.
That’s about it.
Reed is uncharacteristically clueless about many things, leaving behind Susan like that is idiotic, and the plot is reeeeally thin.