100 Greatest Superhero Stories Ever
By Steve Lam
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
#84. Fantastic Four #48–#50: “The Galactus Trilogy”
Medium
Comic Book
Release Dates
March 1966 (“The Coming of Galactus!”)
April 1966 (“If This Be Doomsday”)
May 1966 (“The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer”)
Credits
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterers: Art Simek, Sam Rosen
Editor: Stan Lee
The Reason It’s Great
“The Galactus Saga” introduced two of Marvel’s most powerful and famous characters—the villain Galactus (for which the story arc is named after) and future superhero the Silver Surfer.
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby wanted a unique villain, something never-before-seen in comics. The character had to be god-like with motivations beyond good and evil. Lee and Kirby came up with Galactus—a being who required the life-force and energy of living planets.
The Silver Surfer was also given an equally interesting origin—he was an alien astronomer who agreed to serve Galactus in exchange for sparing his homeworld. The Silver Surfer was first introduced as a villain, but switched sides in “If This Be Doomsday.”
This influential story would be later used as the inspiration for the film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Due to the Silver Surfer’s popularity, he would make various appearance in later issues, eventually receiving his own title.