Here on Day 18 of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, dedicated to the Fantastic Four and related characters, today’s prompt is Annihilus.
We meet Annihilus as the ruler and tyrant of the Negative Zone in FF Annual #6. Sue is about to give birth, and Reed determines that she and their baby are in danger. Saving them requires he risk his life leaping into the Negative Zone again, and of course, neither Johnny nor Ben are going to let him go alone. And their quest forces them to cross paths with Annihilus…but I think I’m not going to spoil the story for those who haven’t yet had the chance to read it.
Annihilus presents a striking visual, as sort of a metallic insectoid humanoid. He immediately comes off as scary and hostile from the first glance. Kirby seems to have had a bit of a fascination with the idea of insectoid humanoids, going on to explore it again both in New Gods for DC, and in his later creator-owned Captain Victory for Pacific Comics.
I’d never tried to draw Annihilus before, and it was kind of fun! The color scheme wasn’t necessarily what you’d expect based on the b/w drawing, but it definitely catches your eye.
That’s all for Annihilus. Who’s next? You’ll have to come back by tomorrow to see!