Spider-Man Comics Weekly Vol 1 146

This story continues from last issue...

Spider-Man is caught up in some quicksand in the Savage Land, and in spite of his efforts to free himself, nothing works. He is ultimately saved at the last minute by Ka-Zar. After some initial head butting, the two agree to work together to free Gwen from the clutches of the creature known as Gog.

Elsewhere in the Savage Land, Gog has brought Gwen to Kraven the Hunter, who has decided to take Gwen as his mate. He explains to her that when he heard news reports of the great Ka-Zar, he became determined to travel to the Savage Land to prove that he's the superior hunter. Upon arriving in the Savage Land though, he came across a crashed alien ship which contained a young Gog within it. Gog was just a tiny creature then, and he "adopted" the creature and helped it grow and it became his loyal "son." He finishes his exposition by explaining that he intends to use Gog for his own personal gain.

This is when Spider-Man and Ka-Zar arrive and battle both Kraven and Gog. Ka-Zar and Kraven clash, and in spite of Kraven's many hunting devices, Ka-Zar proves to be the victor of the fight, driving Kraven off a cliff. Spider-Man meanwhile is left to deal with Gog, where he defeats the creature by driving it into the same quicksand he had gotten caught up in earlier, the creature then sinks to it's ultimate demise. Ka-Zar then rushes Gwen back to Jameson and Calkin, where she asks what happened to Peter. Jameson tells her that he believes that Parker died trying to stop Gog from capturing her. However Spider-Man quickly swings back to the others and removes his costume. Upon returning to the group as Peter everyone is shocked. After thanking Ka-Zar for his help and bidding him farewell, they depart from the Savage Land.

The issue begins with Tony Stark reverting The Freak to Happy Hogan with the Enervation Intensifier, 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 lay on from the floor and getting a redesigned costume, with the protection elements eliminated and the powerhorn 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 treatment, a congress Tony Stark is attending. The Unicorn terrorizes the attendants with his new powers, making demands in front of the television cameras present, until Tony Stark manages to hide away long enough to change into his armor.

The two begin to fight, Iron Man bringing the fight outside and eventually crushing the Unicorn's powerbelt 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.

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.