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The Evolution of Marvel Cosmic, Pt 2: Molecule Man, Skrulls & Inhumans!

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[covers drawn by Jack Kirby; respectively inked by George Roussos, Joe Sinnott and Chic Stone]

Find part of our Evolution of Marvel Cosmic series here!

There’s no doubt that with the arrival of Galactus eager to feast upon our Earthly life energies or whatever in Fantastic Four #48-50, Stan Lee and, in particular, Jack Kirby finally opened up a whole new vista of storytelling within the nascent Marvel Universe. The invigorating potential for Kirby’s genius particularly unlocked not just the best Fantastic Four stories to come but also the King’s streak of cosmic epics in Thor, which maybe wouldn’t be surprising to Thor readers of the past decade. These two early titles are really where, post-FF #48, virtually everything about what we think of as Marvel Cosmic was first conceived.

The only major cosmic players to appear almost fully realized before Galactus were the Watcher and Super-Skrull. The Skrulls themselves, however, Stan and Jack weren’t quite sure how to depict, although their subsequent appearances over the first few years after their debut in FF #2 were far in advance of their original almost embarrassingly goofy conception. If not for their useful native shape-shifting abilities, they would’ve certainly gone the way of the vast majority of Marvel’s early one-off alien species.

Instead of the typical ignominious fate of many an early Marvel alien species, the Skrulls returned with increasingly sophisticated visual embellishment courtesy of Jack Kirby as he was really coming into his own as the King of this fledgling medium. [Read more…] about The Evolution of Marvel Cosmic, Pt 2: Molecule Man, Skrulls & Inhumans!

The Evolution of Marvel Cosmic, Pt 1: Watchers and Skrulls

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[cover by Jack Kirby (p), Paul Reinman (i), Stan Goldberg (c), Art Simek (l)]
[cover by Jack Kirby (p), Paul Reinman (i), Stan Goldberg (c), Art Simek (l)]
This series of articles will track the early rise of all the elements (the recurrent alien beings and venues) that lay the foundation for what will later be known as Marvel Cosmic. So you know this will be a love letter to the wonder-working duo of Stan “the Man” Lee and Jack “the King” Kirby. We’ll focus on moments where some new critical element is added or significantly revised or retconned. We’ll also look at what was happening at the time in US society and global affairs, broadly speaking (obviously, we’ll have many references to and analogies with the [first] peak of the Cold War but also sci-fi and even the counterculture). Our aim is to simply create a chronological guide to this particular (but vast) aspect of Marvel comics that hopefully inspires a deeper appreciation of our favorite cosmic characters and settings as they pop up throughout the Marvel Universe.

With the introduction of each new significant cosmic player or element from the early ’60s on, we’ll look at just the original portrayal, but I’ll try to clarify to the best of my ability how readers of the time would likely have seen these Kirby wonders, distinguishing them from the way we read them now in the 2020s.

Again, we’ll mostly focus on the alien, but the progeny of Earth, humans and otherwise, will be included as they appear, even if they aren’t immediately cosmic players or take their sweet time getting off-planet (like Adam Warlock and the High Evolutionary). (Rick Jones, however, very much to your chagrin no doubt, must wait until he’s bound to Captain Marvel.)

(Also, a side piece on Jack Kirby’s Challengers of the Unknown at DC in the late 1950s might be of interest down the line. After all, it would prove, in retrospect, a trial run for exploring many of the zany sf elements he more successfully expanded on in FF—more grounded by Stan Lee’s character-focused melodrama, however much their contrary styles would see the creative team drift apart over time.)

Anyway, it’s going to be hella fun just salivating over some of that classic Kirby crackle and giant hat porn 😉 [Read more…] about The Evolution of Marvel Cosmic, Pt 1: Watchers and Skrulls

The Best Marvel Cosmic Stories Of All Time!

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Go big or go home. It’s not just a phrase for sports rallying or partying like there’s no tomorrow. In comics, it can easily be used to describe the epic-est of epics and any list coming out of this criteria is sure to include some tales from beyond space and the expanses of the “final frontier”. Witness now, a collection of Marvel Comics’ Most Cosmic Stories! [Read more…] about The Best Marvel Cosmic Stories Of All Time!

The Completely Insane & Utterly Comprehensive Guide to Marvel Cosmic Comics (1963 To Present)

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When most Marvel readers nowadays talk about Marvel Cosmic, they tend to focus on the creative explosion starting with Annihilation in the mid-2000’s extending through the Thanos Imperative and Annihilators around 2010. [Read more…] about The Completely Insane & Utterly Comprehensive Guide to Marvel Cosmic Comics (1963 To Present)