![\"\"](\"\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2010\/08\/A-Kirb-Kin-Source.jpg\" "\\"1")
<\/a>1 - The Source<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Kirby\u2019s connection to The Source has consistently inspired him to display the fantastic, including the realms of higher beings as well as conceptualizing other dimensions and deeper levels of organic possibility.<\/p>\n
One such concept was Ego, the Living Planet, introduced in 1966 in Thor #132 . Ego as a planet is a complete organism, whose natural functions make it a self-sufficient biological entity. Here is certainly something approaching vitalism. The planet pulses with life, with its seething viscera making up the terrain.<\/p>\n
Stan Lee\u2019s dialog underscores Kirby\u2019s extraordinary visual conception, describing the world as a bio-verse, an idea that would be applied later to a more holistic understanding of the earth by new age philosophy.<\/p>\n
<\/a>2 - Ego<\/p><\/div>\n
When Thor and his companion, the recorder land on the planet, Ego initially tries to repulse them with various ploys, including an attack of antibodies. As the atmosphere around Thor crackles with some sort of bubbling ectoplasm, an explosion of spinning molecular energy coalesces into an anthropomorphic antigen attacker. The thing develops before our eyes as if it were a higher life form evolving at high speed from protoplasm. Kirby\u2019s brilliant use of black patterning gives the alien being a horrific and virulent character perfectly suited to such a creature.<\/p>\n
<\/a>3 - Ego<\/p><\/div>\n
Kirby seems capable of depicting every stage of life, from its most mundane to its most otherworldly, as convincingly as if he were a witness to the strange events he records. He is plugged directly into the subconscious world of our nightmares as well as our higher dreams and aspirations. He brings vitality to whatever he draws, whether it is cloud formations, flame, lightning, explosions or indescribable cosmic forces. His brilliance finds the artistic shorthand that cuts to the essential nature of his subject matter.<\/p>\n
In this sequence below, Kirby depicts a machine fashioned by the god-like Galactus, which is designed to extract the life essence from a planet. Kirby\u2019s design of the machine is simple yet ingenious, a domelike structure with an attachment that fires an explosive energy bolt at earth\u2019s surface. In the next panel, we see the land stripped of ocean, with stranded sea creatures floundering helplessly.<\/p>\n
<\/a>4 - Galactus Converts<\/p><\/div>\n
In the final segment, we see the earth completely stripped of life energy. It is a desiccated husk orbiting in space.<\/p>\n