Spider-Man Comics Weekly Vol 1 145

As Spider-Man busts up yet another bank robbery, J. Jonah Jameson meets with his fellows at the Daily Bugle to try to find a quick way to bring profits back to the Daily Bugle. When they happen upon a news report about an explorer named Richard Calkin who's traveled to the Savage Land, and hear his stories about a strange gigantic creature out there, Jameson figures this is the scoop that the Bugle needs to stay afloat and decide to bring some of his staff to the Savage Land in order to snap pictures of this elusive beast.

When Joe calls Peter to secure him for the expedition, Peter instantly agrees as he needs the money. This upsets Gwen, and Peter decides to take her to the Bugle with him. When he arrives there, Jameson sees what he has thought was missing from this expedition to begin with: A woman's perspective, and asks Gwen if she'd like to come. In spite of Peter's reservations about the idea, she agrees to come along.

Traveling to the Savage Land, the group almost has a disaster when their helicopter almost crashes into a pterodactyl. After exploring around for a bit, they come across a statue built by the natives with a giant gong on the front. When Mr. Calkin hits it, it summons the savages who built it, plus the creature they worship, the immense alien creature known as Gog.

The creature grabs Gwen and leaves, Peter tries to stop the monster but is swatted away and lands in a nearby river. Gwen is then taken to a man who's "adopted" the monster, it's none other than Spider-Man's old foe, Kraven the Hunter. As Calkin and Jameson go after the monster, they run into Ka-Zar and his sabertooth tiger Zabu and enlist his aid in trying to find Gwen.

Meanwhile, Peter has changed into Spider-Man and begins his own search for Gwen as well. After fighting off a giant snake, Spider-Man makes a misstep when he accidentally jumps into some quicksand.

Appearing in "Unconquered is the Unicorn!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Iron Man #4

Featured Characters:

Iron Man (Tony Stark)

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Unicorn

Other Characters:

Max (First appearance)
Soviet Scientists
Ms. Greer (Stark's secretary) (Voice only)

Races and Species:

Humans

Realities:

Earth-616

Locations:

Earth
- North America
  - United States of America
    - New York
      - New York City
      - Long Island
        Stark Industries
- Europe
  - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Topical Reference)
  - Switzerland
    - Congress of Scientific Achievement
- Unicorns Hideout

Items:

Synopsis for "Unconquered is the Unicorn!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Iron Man #4

The issue begins with Tony Stark transforming the Freak back into Happy Hogan with the Enervator, while Pepper waits behind a protective wall. Meanwhile, the Unicorn is getting dosed by a machine called the Hyper-Activator with the purpose of increasing his strength and power; even though the scientists present want to shut it down as he is getting a very large dose, the Unicorn tells them not to. After ripping the table he had laid on off of the floor and getting a redesigned costume, with the protection elements eliminated and the power horn made more powerful, the Unicorn takes his leave of the scientists, as the Hyper-Activator freed him from the brainwashing he had undergone. The Unicorn sets his sights on a scientific congress to get his hands on a cure for the negative side effects of the Hyper-Activator's treatment, a congress that Tony Stark is attending. The Unicorn terrorizes the attendants with his new powers, making demands in front of the television cameras present, until Stark manages to hide away long enough to change into his Iron Man armor. The two begin to fight, with Iron Man bringing the fight outside and eventually crushing the Unicorn's power belt and tossing it in the nearby river, provoking the deranged Unicorn to dive after it. Iron Man tries to save him, but the Unicorn has disappeared.

Appearing in "The Awesome Answer!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Thor #169

Featured Characters:

Thor

Supporting Characters:

The Watcher (Ecce) (Only in flashback)
Odin

Antagonists:

Galactus/Galan (Main story and flashback) (Origin revealed)
Thermal Man

Other Characters:

Realities:

Earth-616

Locations:

Deep Space
Earth
- United States of America
  - New York
    - New York City
Taa (First appearance) (Only in flashback)

Items:

Mjolnir
Creeping Plague (Behind the scenes) (Only in flashback)

Vehicles:

Taa-an Thought-Spheres (Only in flashback)
Galan's ship (Main story and flashback)

Synopsis for "The Awesome Answer!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Thor #169

Deciding that Thor is worthy, Galactus tells the Thunder God of his origins starting from the very beginning. Galactus continues with his tale from where he left off, how he was aboard a ship that crashed before a member of the Watchers. How that Watcher found that the entire crew had been slain by some strange plague, all except for one, a strange being that was glowing with energy, one whom would soon become Galactus. Thor deduces this and this sends Galactus into a brief fury, however he calms enough to explain how he came to that point...

Galactus explains that he originated from a utopian world known as Taa, an advanced civilization that knew peace for many years. However, the planet would soon become doomed as its people began succumbing to the Creeping Plague, a sickness that was killing countless alien worlds, and was now infecting the people of Taa. With the people dying en masse, a group of lone survivors decided to leave their world and fly their ship into the heart of the largest star they could find, so that they would die in a blaze of glory.

Things would not happen exactly as planned, as the ship would be bombarded by a burst of radiation that would engulf the ship. While most of the crew died, the being who would one day become Galactus would find himself absorbing the energies that would cause him to change into something different. It was this being which the Watcher would find when the ship would finally crash land on some distant world.

The Watcher would analyze the creature and learn that it would soon need to consume worlds to survive, however as part of the Watchers code, all the Watcher could do is bear witness as this new being would repair the ship and the uniform of Galactus and then fly off into space. There the newly born Galactus would reshape the space ship of his rebirth into the incubation device that would be seen during Galactus' first recorded appearance.

With the story done, Thor decides that Galactus is too much of a menace and prepares to attack even though Galactus has no desire to fight. However, before Thor can strike a single blow, Odin arrives and tells Thor that his penance is done and that he is needed on Earth, and teleports Thor there, telling the Thunder God that now is not the time for Galactus' destruction.

On Earth, Balder and the Warriors Three confront the Thermal Man who is raging across New York City unchallenged and find themselves easily defeated by the robots limitless strength. However, as all seems bleak, Thor arrives, witnessing the destruction he prepares to fight the Thermal Man himself.

Links and References

References