Silver Surfer: The Coming of Galactus (Fantastic Four)

The Coming of the Silver Surfer, May 10, 2007
By Kirk Groeneveld "Star Trek, Sci Fi and Harry ... (Athens, OH United States) -


As others have said before, this is the best collection of the original appearance of the Silver Surfer.
This is Jack Kirby and co-ploter Stan Lee at the top of their game, when Marvel Comics had really hit their stride and were tremondously popular on the college campus.

I bought these books as they came out on the spinner rack in the mid 1960s, and thought the stories were incredibly dramatic and cosmic in scope. Little did we know that the series was at the high water mark, and Kirby's growing dis-satisfaction with being overlooked for creative credit by Lee in interviews despite his continual content input would spell the end of their collaboration in just two short years. (Kirby would start witholding his creative ideas, waiting for the right deal to be struck with DC in 1970... when he jumped ship from Marvel and stunned the comics world!)

If you have only one opportunity to buy representative Fanatastic Four stories, make this the one. Even at inflated re-reprint prices, this would be a bargain!

PS: There were two other editions of this material (FF #48-49-50) pared down into JUST the Galactus storyline that were issued as $5.99 and $6.99 graphic novels in the early 1900s. If you can find them, that represents the cheapest way to pick up the first arc, known throughout comic fandom as "The Galactus Trilogy" even though it may be retitled Silver Surfer: The Coming of Galactus.

'nuff said!