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Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Comic Book Origins: The Incredible Hulk

Bruce Banner had a very unhappy childhood, thanks to his alcoholic father, Dr Brian Banner, that literally hated him. His father tried to create clean cheap nuclear energy but he became worried that his son had been affected by the nuclear radiation. Bruce's heightened intelligence only strengthened his fathers beliefs. Brian was extremely violent, he abused his son and actually murdered his wife, which probably traumatized Bruce.

So yeah, his childhood was unhappy. So unhappy that he actually developed split personality disorder. To make his life worse he was also bullied at school. In fact a bulling incident prompted him to plant a bomb in his school! The bomb didn't work but the school obviously wasn't impressed so he was expelled.


But against all odds he became a respected scientist, with a doctorate in nuclear physics. He began a career with the military and started to develop a Gamma-Ray bomb. While testing this bomb in New Mexico he was forced to leave the bunker and enter the blast range of the bomb to rescue a clueless teenager named Rick Jones who had wandered onto the test site. He was successful in helping Rick but as a result he was exposed to gamma radiation.

At first it appeared Bruce had been unaffected by the gamma rays but at sunset he mutated into what we now call the Hulk, except with grey skin (this was because they had problems with printing grey so his skin colored changed to green a few issues later). That night Hulk was pursued by the army. They had him cornered then suddenly, when the sun rose, he turned back into Bruce Banner. Bruce's transformations into the Hulk later happened because of the release of adrenaline rather than the time of day.

Unfortunately due to his rare condition of turning into a green Goliath whenever he gets ticked off, he began to be continuously hunted by the military forces commanded by General Ross, the father of Betty Ross, the woman who both Hulk and Bruce loved. But Hulk isn't really the bad guy the army thinks he is, in fact he is even one of the founding members of the superhero team, the Avengers! However he left the team shortly before Captain America joined because he learned the others feared his unstable personality.





Sunday, 16 September 2012

Comic Book Origins: Galactus

I realized last week none of my friends knew who Galactus was. I kid you not. So in the fear that there are more people in the world who are unaware of the planet devouring demigod that scours the marvel universe, I will now reveal the origin of one of the greatest super-villains.

Galactus was originally known as Galan (back before he devoured planets) and he lived on a planet known as Taa in a universe that existed before the big bang. This paradise like universe however began to be destroyed by a cataclysm known today as the big bang. In a heroic act to try and save his home-world, Galan flew into the event horizon of the big bang.

Galan then bonds with the sentience of the universe and hibernates for billions of years in the next universe (our universe). However he is soon reborn (by soon I mean billions of years later) as Galactus, an all powerful god like being. A watcher observes the birth of Galactus but doesn't take the opportunity to kill him (apparently he missed Uncle Ben's 'with great power' speech).

Galactus then feels an extreme hunger, a hunger so strong that he actually devours a nearby planet. You see Galactus has immense powers and is an extremely powerful being but here's the catch, he has to absorb the life energy of planets to fill his stomach. He originally feels guilty about this but later begins to feel he is Superior to all life in the universe and begins to devour worlds with no remorse.

But if he's so powerful he shouldn't have to look for worlds himself right? Well Galactus eventually selects a herald to scour the universe looking for planets he can consume. So who gets this job, none other than the Silver Surfer, who's world Galactus promises not to consume as long as he continues to serve him as his herald.
Quite a while later Silver Surfer happens to come across a planet you might have heard of, it's quite popular, it's called Earth. A watcher attempts to hide Earth from him but fails, so Galactus starts heading over to Earth. But when the big buy finally shows up he is defeated by the Fantastic Four, the watcher and his own herald, Silver Surfer. When the Fantastic Four threaten to use a device known as the ultimate nullifier to kill Galactus, he vows to leave and never return to Earth (a promise of course he doesn't quite keep). And what happens to the rebellious Silver Surfer you ask? Galactus punishes him by sentencing him to life... on Earth!

Recommended Stories

The Galactus Trilogy  (Fantastic Four #48-50)
Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four volume 5