![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierSee more favorites here. As for my pick...
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four #48-51
Boiled down, the Galactus Trilogy has pretty much the same plot as a zillion other sci-fi tales that Lee and Kirby did: Evil alien comes to destroy Earth, gets thwarted by a clever scientist. Ah, but it's all in the presentation. The building sense of dread as Galactus approaches. The growing panic as the Fantastic Four are easily brushed aside by this implacable alien force. And the all-too-human reactions of the heroes, which gives this far-fetched scenario a vital sense of realism. The ending represents a bit of lateral thinking, but it's not a cop-out; having established Galactus as unstoppable, the only thing the FF can do is turn his own power against him. First, via the betrayal of his herald, the Silver Surfer, who's been moved by humanity's plight. And then via the Ultimate Nullifier, retrieved at great peril from the alien's own lair. Coming at the height of the Cold War, Reed Richards' confrontation with Galactus has echoes of the strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction: Reed can only turn aside Galactus by threatening to annihilate them both.
Lee and Kirby brilliantly followed up their "biggest" epic with one of their "smallest" ones: "This Man, This Monster", which for my money is one of the most perfect single issues ever published. And again, it's the power of human emotion that wins the day, as the false Thing has his jealousy turned to admiration when he finds out first-hand what sort of man Reed Richards really is. And every moment, the epic and the mundane, is illustrated with passion and verve by King Kirby. Truly one of the greats.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four #48-51
Boiled down, the Galactus Trilogy has pretty much the same plot as a zillion other sci-fi tales that Lee and Kirby did: Evil alien comes to destroy Earth, gets thwarted by a clever scientist. Ah, but it's all in the presentation. The building sense of dread as Galactus approaches. The growing panic as the Fantastic Four are easily brushed aside by this implacable alien force. And the all-too-human reactions of the heroes, which gives this far-fetched scenario a vital sense of realism. The ending represents a bit of lateral thinking, but it's not a cop-out; having established Galactus as unstoppable, the only thing the FF can do is turn his own power against him. First, via the betrayal of his herald, the Silver Surfer, who's been moved by humanity's plight. And then via the Ultimate Nullifier, retrieved at great peril from the alien's own lair. Coming at the height of the Cold War, Reed Richards' confrontation with Galactus has echoes of the strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction: Reed can only turn aside Galactus by threatening to annihilate them both.
Lee and Kirby brilliantly followed up their "biggest" epic with one of their "smallest" ones: "This Man, This Monster", which for my money is one of the most perfect single issues ever published. And again, it's the power of human emotion that wins the day, as the false Thing has his jealousy turned to admiration when he finds out first-hand what sort of man Reed Richards really is. And every moment, the epic and the mundane, is illustrated with passion and verve by King Kirby. Truly one of the greats.
