Awesome Cover Friday - Galactus

This week's Awesome Cover Friday is extra large because it's about the Marvel Universe's favorite extra-large character.

Galactus!

Few things are more awesome than Galactus. Literally. He raises the awesome quotient of any cover he is on by 64%. I can prove this using algebra.

This is the first cover to feature the flying purple planet eater. I love this image! It's Kirby-riffic and a tough act to follow but some of the ones below manage it.


OK, Hercules is a badass. Other Olympians think he's a badass. But that ain't nothin' to Galactus. I've featured this cover before but it's awesome enough to be brought back. The composition and sense of action on this makes it a near-perfect cover. Also, something similar to this scene actually happens in the comic.


The Galactus silhouette is eye-catching and cool but the thing that keeps me coming back to this cover is the collage of images in the background.


Here it is. This is the cover many people think of when Galactus is mentioned. It is, in fact, one of the best covers ever. I mean, that's a whole bunch of badasses and The Big G is barely expending any energy against them.


This is my favorite Galactus cover so far. It's the follow-up to the Everyone vs. Galactus issue and it does more to convey the power of a being who can eat a planet than any of the ones above do. Also, the composition and the garish colors really sell this.

Also, what's Ben Grimm doing up in the corner, there? Gathering firewood?

Stay Tuned For Partial Excitement!

Here's part 2 of the episode begun in yesterday's senses-shattering post!



Check out the closing credits. The FF sure did fight a lot of really big people, didn't they?

My head feels better but I am here to destroy you

Many things have conspired to keep me away from the blog lately and it looks like they will be around for the next week or so. Actual, factual content is on the way. Until then, enjoy the Fantastic Four movie that could have been:




Not only does The Watcher suck at staying out of other people's business, he sucks even more when he goes against all his people represent by trying to help out. I guess he needs more practice.

Pay special attention to:

The Testing Devices of the Dread Galactus.

Galactus attacks Ben with the Cosmic Dreidel.

Oh, snap! Galactus totally severed Johnhy's head!!

Here's another cool cover

The next installment of Blogging the Crisis will be up Thursday or Friday. It turns out I've got a lot to say about it and I'm working on paring it down a bit. In the meantime, here's another Fantastic Four cover I like:

I like covers where they mess with the graphic elements. The narrow palette really works here as does the placement of the characters. Reed's protective pose in the face of EXTREMELY HUGE DUDE is really cool.

The World's Greatest Awesome Cover Friday!

I have a lot of issues...of Fantastic Four! My mom bought me subscriptions to FF and Marvel Team-Up back in the late '70s and I kept them up until the mid '80s. In going through the issues, I realized that FF covers generally fall into two catagories:

1. The FF fight something huge.
2. The FF are dead.

The covers below stand out for me because they break the pattern.

#257
The little, floating FF heads kind of dilute the impact of this image but it says something that when I dredge it from my memory all I see is the awesome split Galactus/Death visage.

Oh, and because this is a Marvel comic book, the Death's head on the cover isn't a metaphor. Death actually shows up in the issue. Wotta revoltin' development!



#276
I remember taking the brown paper off this one and thinking "Wow!" It still has that effect on me. This simple, striking composition combined with the narrowest of palettes conveys the level of power our heroes are up against. Also, the title's awesome.



#240
This is my favorite FF cover of all time. It's also my favorite FF story. You know how Attilan, the Inhuman's home city, is on the Blue Area of the Moon? No? Is it just me? Anyway, this is the issue where they moved there! That's a whole, freakin' city they're levitating! Fantastic Four is best when the stories are big and this is one of their biggest.

It showed off the Inhumans kewl powerz along with developing them as people. Awesome stuff. Also, Black Bolt actually shouts! I bet he enjoyed that.