Galactus went through a rough period in the 70s, but luckily for him he ends on a (relatively) high note.
Fantastic Four #210 (1979)
by Marv Wolfman & John Byrne
cover by Keith Pollard
Someone looks disappointed by his previous appearances. And really, can you blame him?
We actually need to back up a little, because this is in the middle of a long storyline that doesn’t involve Galactus for a while.
Earlier in issue 208, the Fantastic Four got mixed up in some plots left over from the Nova series.
Nova’s biggest enemy… The Sphinx… absorbed all the knowledge from the computers of planet Xandar, giving him a massive power boost and turning him giant-sized.
The Sphinx became SO powerful, in fact, that Reed believes Galactus is the only one who could possibly defeat him.
Issue 209 is historically significant: it’s the first appearance in comics of H.E.R.B.I.E.
H.E.R.B.I.E. first debuted in the Fantastic Four cartoon from the previous year.
The idea that he replaced the Human Torch because the producers were afraid kids would set themselves on fire to imitate him is just an urban legend: the truth is that at the time there were plans for a Human Torch movie (!!!) that never materialized, so the cartoon didn’t get the rights to the character.
Reed says he rebuilt H.E.R.B.I.E. to find Galactus (!!!), but its true purpose is to say random numbers.
“Sub-light speed 204,000 kilometers” doesn’t mean anything if you say only the distance and not the time, and it’s beyond laughable to have that in the same sentence of 23.3183 parsecs since those are 719,527,555,435,605 kilometers.
The other reason issue 209 is historically notable is that it’s when the Skrull Emperor (the first we’ve ever met) is killed by his wife.
And that’s the setup: the Fantastic Four are looking for Galactus in only to get him to help with an equally big thread. On to issue #210!
You might recall that in his last embarrassing appearance, Galactus turned into pure energy after an indigestion. Turns out he just got better.
Also, Reed casually drops the knowledge that he has a Galactus Warning Signal System™.
Which he didn’t tell anyone until now. In his defense, he thought Galactus was dead the last time… except he says he created it after their FIRST encounter.
And you didn’t think any other planet could want that kind of technology, Reed!?!?
The Fantastic Four are in a hurry because three of them (except Johnny) were exposed to an aging ray in one of the previous issues.
This will end up meaning absolutely nothing by the end of the saga.
The Fantastic Four reach Galactus’s mothership (the solar system sized one, not the giant sphere) where they discover something that never made sense to me… his zoo.
One of the most important aspects of Galactus is his utter detachment from any victims of his meals, why would he care to keep specimen from planets he ate???
At this point, Galactus’s look has been clearly defined; occasionally the G on his chest shows up and sometimes it doesn’t, but other than that if there is a change about how he looks it’s plot-related.
His looks are not the only part that is now consistent: he’s also far more stoic and less talkative, even less than in the original trilogy.
In order to get Big G’s attention, the FF have to mess with his zoo.
This is Galactus speak for “this is really annoying, just stop”.
He doesn’t even get up from his chair to listen to them.
Predictably, Galactus doesn’t care if the Sphinx conquers or even destroys Earth. If he can’t eat it, he doesn’t care.
According to my count, up to this point Galactus has actually failed to eat FOUR planets.
Although Reed says he’s failed to “conquer” Earth, which… when did he try to do THAT!?!?
Remember when I said that Galactus doesn’t care about saving Earth if he can’t eat it?
Well…
Galactus accepts, but he asks for something in return: the Fantastic Four will need to provide a new herald first.
Because clearly he truly sucks at finding them himself.
Fantastic Four #211 (1979)
by Marv Wolfman & John Byrne
cover by John Byrne
Well I’m sure the Fantastic Four will choose the best person for the job and not a future supervillain.
Galactus sent the FF to a specific planet ruled by the evil overlord Tyros.
They are captured rather easily, since three of them have been severely weakened.
Reed thinks Galactus did this on purpose, but… if he wanted them dead, it’s not like he would’ve needed to go through something elaborate!
In later stories and flashbacks, Tyros will show to have the power to manipulate the earth.
So I was expecting him to show that power in this issue, but he doesn’t: he has some kind of high-tech glove that allows him to shoot energy.
Wait, all the FF needed to do was just touch Tyros? Why did Galactus even send them in the first place!? I’m beginning to suspect Reed was right about him just wanting to mess with them.
Once they bring Tyros back to Galactus… or rather when he teleports him by himself… we get a minor addition to herald lore.
We have a casual mention that the robot Air-Walker we saw was actually based on a previous herald that died behind the scenes! We won’t learn the details behind this until a Thor issue from 1981, so I wonder if this was first established in a Handbook or something.
The original Air-Walker and the robot are virtually indistinguishable, but I think there is an argument to be made that they should be considered separate beings.
Number of Galactus heralds: 5
It’s often said that the Fantastic Four’s powers are based on the classical elements. I’ve always thought that was overblown… outside of the Human Torch and the Thing the others are a stretch (pun intended).
But in case of the first four heralds, it is VERY deliberate.
Although it makes me wonder why a space god from the previous universe would care about those four elements.
In a pretty good sequence, Tyros is transformed into Terrax.
Number of Galactus heralds: 6
I can’t praise the artwork enough. John Byrne isn’t even at the peak of his game yet, but this is gorgeous.
And the FIRST thing Terrax does, after obtaining the Power Cosmic, is attacking Galactus.
I’m sure it’s an isolated accident that won’t happen again.
This sounds like the basis for a flawless work relationship that won’t derail spectacularly.
Awesome job helping Galactus recruit this guy, no notes.
Fantastic Four #212 (1979)
by Marv Wolfman & John Byrne
cover by Walt Simonson
Because nobody demanded it: Galactus versus The Sphinx.
Botox Thing is not real.
Botox Thing can’t hurt you.
Botox Thing won’t haunt your nightmares.
Galactus returns to Earth once more, and Terrax makes sure he’ll be popular.
You better hurry, Galactus, or you won’t have a book where to guest-star anymore.
Reed, I get that you’re going through a lot because of the super-aging stuff, but you seriously surprised that THE SPHINX is in Egypt???
And not just because he’s called The Sphinx: he’s literally from Ancient Egypt… and FROM THE BIBLE.
I cannot emphasize enough just how WEIRD this feels: the Sphinx is the Egyptian magician that lost a contest against Moses.
Which means that, in a way, the same guy has been the enemy of Moses, Nova and the Fantastic Four.
Now I’m no Bible scholar, I’m an atheist (yes we do exist in Italy), but I somehow doubt this is canon.
Jokes aside, the Sphinx is a great concept that sadly has never gone anywhere.
A super-powerful immortal from Ancient Egypt could totally have worked… in fact he even pre-dates the first appearance of Apocalypse!
Too bad Marvel never had any idea what to do with him.
He also has an interesting relationship with Sayge, a mysterious entity representing truth.
Because of him The Sphinx technically already knows his own destiny and is trying to change it.
This somehow requires recreating Ancient Egypt.
As much as I like both characters (at least in concept), I can’t help feeling they are mismatched.
It’s pretty hard to take a side between “Make Egypt Ancient Again” and “Eat The Earth”.
Fantastic Four #213 (1979)
by Marv Wolfman & John Byrne
cover by Walt Simonson
Galactus and The Sphinx don’t fight until THIS issue, so what was the point of giving them the cover of the last one?
After some more smack talk, we learn why this battle is so important for The Sphix: he’s already lived through it. Multiple times.
Speaking of which we finally get our Big Dumb Cosmic Battle.
One of the reasons why this match doesn’t work is that Galactus shouldn’t give a crap about it.
Why does he care so much about being unable to eat THIS world!?
Not to mention that at no point throughout this entire saga I was ever under the impression that The Sphinx would pose even the slightest threat to Galactus.
Galactus is also needlessly petty here, throwing The Sphinx into an endless time loop and forcing him to re-live his life over and over again.
GALACTUS NEEDS NO SPOILERS!!!
With The Sphinx defeated, Galactus is now free to eat the Earth… but the Watcher shows up.
And Reed shows up, claiming to have rebuilt the Ultimate Nullifier from stuff Galactus left around.
I remind you that THIS is what the Ultimate Nullifier is supposed to look like.
Even if Reed can’t tell the difference because his super-aging has fried his brains… what excuse does Galactus have???
Galactus should be able to tell at a glance that this isn’t the real Ultimate Nullifier, or recognize that it can’t work the same way… but instead he decides to read Reed’s mind.
Being unable to find out the truth, Galactus just leaves.
If only there was an embodiment of truth laying around talking to him two minutes ago.
Surprising nobody, that wasn’t a real Ultimate Nullifier…
… and the reason why Galactus couldn’t read Reed’s mind is one of the most blatant excuses The Watcher ever came up with.
Times the Watcher has interfered to stop Galactus: 2
The super-aging plot will be resolved in the following issue… in fact, it will result in Reed, Ben and Susan being “younger” than before.
Which might as well be true for the Thing, but Reed and Susan look exactly the same… and she can’t have been turned THAT much younger. She’s supposed to be what, five years older than Johnny at the very worst?
Historical significance: 8/10
Virtually any future story where Galactus tries to eat the Earth is influenced by this. But of course we also have Terrax as a recurring villain.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
Galactus feels distinctly more modern than his other 70s appearances, except for that zoo.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
There are several things to like in this storyline, as it’s one of the earliest examples of an extended saga where the FF are in space for several months interacting with different plots.
Plus Galactus finally feels like Galactus, Terrax gets a solid introduction, and the artwork is so great I was tempted to post nearly every page.
But as mentioned The Sphinx falls completely flat for me. Despite a solid idea behind the character, the only time I have ever cared for him is an amazing New Warriors storyline… and even then, for most of the time we’re following a different Sphinx.
Bonus: since this the last 70s issue in the retrospective, I might as well mention something I discovered through the comments.
In the 70s, Marvel started including collectible stamps inside their books.
Marvel Value Stamp #100 was Galactus.
The idea was a bit ahead of its time: in order to get the full collection, readers would buy books they normally wouldn’t and increase sales.
Perhaps because it was ahead of its time… Marvel screwed it up.
Marvel Value Stamp #100 would be a mystery, and included in only ONE comic book instead of multiple ones like the others.
It was SUPPOSED to only be released in Sub-Mariner #72, but it was also accidentally printed in Fantastic Four #154 and Amazing Spider-Man #145.
Ironically, Marvel Value Stamp #92 (starring Namor villain Byrrah) ended up being the rarest one, only appearing once on Marvel Team-Up #22.
Needless to say, books where the stamp has been cut out are worth considerably less to collectors.
