Added 1 new A* page:A friend of mine pointed out that in the inked and colored version of that Galactus page from Kirby's Fantastic Four #49 that I posted on my Tumblr, the colorist had rendered the world-eater without any pants. He also doesn't have sleeves.
Now, I thought this was clearly a mistake rather than a radical costume decision, since elsewhere in that issue the Big G (is that cartoony "G" on his chest to die for, or what? Kirby would remove it within a few years (maybe sooner, I haven't searched that hard :P), leaving just a blank round plate on this chest) appears to have his customary armored blue long johns, as you can see for instance on this page (although his helmet's antennae have mysteriously gone missing in the last panel, but never mind).
But the pantsless Galactus keeps popping up--post-Kirby, he's dressed for summer throughout the appropriately named "Galactus Unleashed" story in Fantastic Four #122, for instance--except for on the cover.
I suppose though that we should just be glad he didn't stick with the coloring scheme he had in his very first panel appearance, at the end of Fantastic Four #48, in which he shocks the FF with a festive combination of dark green / red helmet and chest piece, and maroon leggings.
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But what's this? A careful reading of the text in that last linked page digs up a surprising statement: "In this reprint, the colorist has given Galactus pants." This puts a whole new twist on things! If what this suggests is true, Galactus readers since oh perhaps some time in the 70's have had the pants pulled over their Galactus legs in a mighty Marvel cover-up! Were the planet-devourer's legs deemed too powerful, too sexy, too dangerous for the hapless inhabitants of Earth? Did some editing schlub at Marvel really go to all the trouble of making sure they were changed from flesh to blue...stuff in every reprint? Will anyone ever get to the bottom of this time-shrouded mystery??
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