When I reviewed Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #3, I talked a bit about how, as he weakens, Galactus is drawn less and less impressively by Kano. Galactus is less frequently drawn in large panels that dominate the page, and even within the smaller panels he occupies, he can be dwarfed or otherwise overwhelmed by other things (be it Bill, or the I'than armada).
I also wanted to discuss the shift in art with regard to the I'thans themselves. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't want to connect to my computer anymore, so I can't transfer the photos I took of the relevant pages, and the Internet hasn't really helped me in my search. So it's time for the always popular Art Post With No Art! I'm sure it will work, though. After all, you all bought Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter, right? Well, you'll buy it when it's released as a trade, then you can come back, read the post and be like "Oh, Calvin was totally right about that!"
Issue #1, Page 13: We're introduced to the I'thians as one of their ships evacuates I'Than IX. Their ship is a crystalline design, a bit like an oddly shaped diamond. Our first glimpse of an actual I'thian comes in the next two panels, as the pilot describes their attempts to flee the planet without being killed by Stardust*. It's a furry critter, with big purple eyes, and the rings on the neck of its suit suggest an isopod (roly-poly, or pillbug) to me. When the pilot sees that his ship's been caught by Stardust, all he can do is lament that someone has to draw the short straw. If the ship has any defensive capabilities, the pilot doesn't consider them worth trying. Fortunately, Bill arrives, and battles Stardust, enabling the ship to flee to I'than Prime. The brief shots we have of the I'thans in this issue make them look small, and generally sort of helpless. In a panel shared by the ship and Stardust, the Herald takes up more space than the ship, and the two facial shots of the I'than sit above and below a much larger Stardust, as it issues its proclamation of death.
Issue #2 starts with that same ship arriving safely at I'than Prime, which is a lush, green world, with clear blue skies. The I'thans all wear brightly colored clothing, and are rendered as sort of cute, as the pilot describes his savior, making hand gestures to represent Bill's hammer and 'elongated face'. One of the I'thans remarks that thanks to Bill, they've evacuated without a single casualty, and isn't that lucky where Galactus is involved? Then Stardust arrives, and takes up 80% of Page 2 (or Page 3 if we're counting recap pages) with another proclamation: Galactus is on his way. All the I'thans can do is look upward in concern.
On Page 7, the I'thans reappear, sporting odd helmets, which cover one of their eyes with a red lens, as they open the vaults, all the vaults. The skies are orange now, as it's probably sunset, and wherever they are on their planet, it's dirtier, a dead space. By Page 11, the I'thans have a armada in space, driving the Surfer away from their world under the sheer weight of their fire. These ships are very different. An ugly ochre, or beige color, and rounded off, no edges. Oddly, the ships look less threatening than the one we first see, what with the lack of pointy surfaces, but unlike the crystalline ships, these do possess firepower worthy of challenging a Herald.
Bill and Skuttlebutt land on the planet, and the twilight has deepened, and again, the location is not green looking. The I'thans faces are shown in shadows throughout Page 13, and even though Beta Ray Bill should tower over them, they occupy roughly the same space in a panel, and in the final panel of page 13, Bill is a small figure in the background as the I'than walks away. Even their large purple eyes are drawn smaller, beadier, less "Aww, aren't they cute?" When Bill returns to inform them he's struck them with a plague to force them to leave their world, they still don't resemble themselves from earlier in the issue, but the shadows are largely gone, and Bill looms over them again. They've been rendered powerless once more, and the sky still has some orange to it (it's morning now, instead of evening), and the foliage is still an ugly brown, possibly because the planet will be destroyed soon (by Bill, so that Galactus can't feed on it)?
In issue #3, the I'thans make their first appearance on page 9 (not counting the shadowy outline of the armada on Page 6). The insides of their warships are all deep reds, compared to lighter yellows and greens with the crystalline ships. Page 9 has four panels of I'thans inside their ships, set on top of a full-page shot of their amassed forces. In ship design, their fleets remind me of the ships of the Annihilation Wave, though I can't say whether Kano and Gillen are purposefully making a callback to the army that nearly destroyed the universe. In the interior shots, there is at least one I'than with a clenched fist in every panel, save the last one, which is an extreme close-up on the leader's face. That face is almost entirely blacked out, except for that glowing red lens, and his clenched, smiling teeth. There is nothing sweet, friendly, or adorable about that creature.
When they attack Galactus on page 11, Galactus dominates the first panel (which extends vertically the length of the page, covering roughly 40% of the page), but subsequently, the I'thans rule the rest, with the first panel a shot of the I'than leader giving a command, the second showing the Heralds overwhelmed trying to halt the attack, and the third, showing the sheer numbers of ships brought against Galactus as they make it past the Heralds and open fire. In that last panel, the sun is behind them, though whether it's meant to be rising on the I'thans and their renewed militarism, or setting on Galactus, I don't know. Either way, the armada nearly obscures the sky, and takes up considerably more of that panel than Galactus.
The last time we see any individual I'thans is when Bill throws himself between them and Galactus. They'd unleashed some ring-weapon larger than Galactus that put him on the mat, and now that Bill is defying them, the I'than leader is nearly snarling as he orders all missiles fired. Everything falls apart shortly afterwards, as Bill destroys enough missiles that Galactus can feed on this uninhabited world, and get some strength back. At which point (on Page 17) we start with a panel of Galactus announcing he's fed, where he is one relatively small figure, against all those ships. But in panel 2, the status quo is restored with a close-up on Galactus' face, announcing his displeasure. Panel 3 is Galactus firing energy, and while he doesn't fill that panel, he's the only thing of significance in it. Panel 4 shows the aftermath, as the I'than ships are burning to nothingness, and Galactus stands before them, now looking much larger than any individual ship, having reasserted himself.
It's unclear what happened to the I'thans. Not all of them were fighting Galactus, as the Surfer had mentioned refugees at the start of the issue. As for the military, Galactus couldn't have destroyed all of them since Bill ordered Skuttlebutt to save as many as he could, fearing Stardust would kill them for daring to attack Galactus. Whether Skuttlebutt was successful, and whether Stardust did end up hunting them down and killing them, we don't know. On the whole, the I'thans and their world are portrayed as being pretty well off until Stardust arrives, and when they tap into their old ways, they become less friendly looking, and their world stops looking like such a paradise. There's also quite a few scenes set at sunsets or sunrises. I'm guessing these indicate, in order: the end of the I'thans years of seclusion, Bill's willingness to do anything to stop Galactus, and like I mentioned a couple of paragraps ago, either the end of the I'thans or the return of Galactus to prominence.
I'd say that Kano, Alvaro Lopez the inker, and Javier Rodriguez the colorist all do an excellent job, both at showing the wax and wane of Galactus, and the shift of the I'thans back to their old ways, and the destruction that portends.
* Stardust is one of Galactus' two current Heralds. Problem is, where the Silver Surfer is really mopey, Stardust is really nuts. It considers it an honor to be devoured by Galactus, and tends to hunt down and kill any inhabitants of a world Galactus eats that escaped. In the Stormbreaker mini-series, this included the Korbinites, Beta Ray Bill's people.
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