Silver Surfer: The Coming of Galactus

As much as I revere classic superhero stories, particularly ones from Marvel, I tend to avoid reading or re-reading them as I get older. If I have fond & sappy memories of discovering a Golden or Silver Age book when I was I kid, it's generally better that I leave them alone now.

You know, 'cause they might actually suck. I mean not the memories, the comics. And finding out that your childhood & consequently your adultish personality is based on something that sucks, well that sucks even more.

But today I saw "The Coming of Galactus" for 5 bucks and I bought it and it rocked my fucking socks off. I actually don't remember if I'd ever read the Fantastic Four #48-50 as a kid (seems like something that would be blasted into my pre-pubscent brain, so I'm thinking I hadn't), but reading it now was delightful.

Lee scripts, Kirby pencils, Sinnott inks, Roussos colors. Straight-foward stuff, world-devouring Galactus needs energy and isn't too discriminating about where he gets it, herald Silver Surfer lands him Earth, Fantastic Four plus Watcher defend. The story's a classic, so even if you haven't read it, you know what happens. What I didn't know, though, was that Galactus sort of has a conscience. He expresses both regret and affection. Like the Watcher says, he's really neither good nor evil. He's just really fucking hungry all the time.

It's hard to criticize Stan Lee for overwriting his scripts, but Stan Lee overwrites his scripts. That's nothing new, but it's generally what kills the classics for me. His imagination and stories are above and beyond just about anything you'll find anywhere else, he just needed to cut down his word count. Small complaint, righteous story.

Kirby's art is cosmically mind-boggling. I'll take most Silver Age art over anything that sees print today, but reading this book reminds me why Kirby's influence is so universal. I don't have the technical acumen to properly describe comic book art, but I think most current mainstream stuff is just overwrought, crowded, muddled, and forgettable. Looking at something like Blackest Night over at DC, I recognize the amazing talent of someone like Ivan Reis, but after all the inking and coloring is done, the impact is lost on me (and maybe I wouldn't appreciate just the straight pencils if I had seen them, I dunno). Right here, with Kirby and Sinnott and Roussos, everything just pops off the page. The coloring is basic and the backgrounds are simple. There's a cleanness to each page that my eyes adore. It's like every panel is iconic.

So a great read for 5 bucks & it makes me appreciate Hickman and Eaglesham's work on the current Fantastic Four even more. They nail the spirit & dynamism of Lee and Kirby, and they make it feel new. Big shoes to fill, but they step strongly into the cosmos.