Fantastic Four Vs. Galactus

by Stan Lee

Genres: Graphic Novels

136 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2025

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Davy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this up on a whim while at Barnes and Noble. My guess is that it’s for people to read and gain a little context in preparation for the new movie I however saw this as a good opportunity to dip my toes in both Stan Lee and John Byrne FF. What a great read! It’s no wonder that stories like this have been deemed classics. I’m embarrassed I’m only just now reading these runs.

Galactus and Silver Surfer… are any characters cooler?

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stan Lee's impact on comics and the importance of these stories is undeniable, but man have they aged. I find Lee's work in the Silver age rather hard to read at times. Though I found the tone fit the Fantastic 4.

I quite enjoy Galactus as a representation of Existential Nihilism. I also feel awful for poor Johnny Storm.

[Shivesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galactus – The Eternal Devourer

It began with a simple ritual: a visit to the local comic shop with my kids and among scattered floppies this volume beckoned—Fantastic Four vs. Galactus. The original story I’d never truly read, despite knowing its legacy and lore in detail.  Strange how comics are. But opening those pages was something else entirely. It felt like unrolling a scroll from Marvel’s primordial archive.

This is not just a tale of superheroes and villains. It is a cosmic parable. Galactus—whose name rings like a thunderclap across galaxies—is no mere adversary. As Ryan North aptly frames in the introduction, he is one of the universe’s constants. A living metaphor. Galactus does not want. Galactus is. He devours because consumption is his nature. He endures because the stars themselves whisper his necessity. There is a chilling purity to his existence: no malice, no mercy, only hunger shaped like a god.  This is the force symbolized by Shiva in another, modern name and with sci-fi trappings.

These earliest encounters—Kirby and Lee’s Galactus Trilogy—read like scripture. We witness the Fantastic Four not merely battle a foe, but attempt to halt entropy, to speak logic into the abyss. Silver Surfer’s introduction and rebellion within three tightly plotted issues becomes a psalm of empathy, Reed Richards’ defiance an ode to intellect facing the infinite.  Imagine how such a character arc would happen in modern comics: impossible!

Later tales collected here, hundreds of issues apart in Marvel time, show the evolution not of Galactus—but of our lens. The brush strokes become looser, the pacing more stretched, the dialog edgier, mortal. But Galactus remains unchanged, untouched. Even when weakened by Doctor Strange’s sorcery or momentarily overcome by physical force, his essence persists, like a god briefly clothed in limitations to let the mortals breathe.

Of Myth and Memory

To read these pages is to step into a mythic rhythm, where hairstyles and speech may date the surface—but the story beats are timeless. A child in the ’60s could have spent an entire golden afternoon submerged in a single issue’s density. Today, our graphic epics unfold slowly, lazily, and deeply decompressed. Yet Galactus continues to rise—above continuity, beyond style.

These stories are not simply entertainment. As much as this point has been made in many flavors, this trilogy shows how comics are are modern myth etched in primary colors. Galactus is not an enemy to be vanquished. He is a trial to be endured. He reminds us that not all forces in life can be reasoned with—some must be faced with wonder, surrender, and the hope of surviving the encounter.

[Nicholas Dehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just about as fire as this era of comics gets. Thoroughly engaging throughout even after all these years and has that 60’s comic tone to it that Stan Lee was the master of. Silver Surfer and Galactus are among my favorite marvel characters, so this is a great F4 collection for me. The 80’s stretch where Terran raises Manhattan into space was awesome too. That could make such a sick movie plot.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

wait I’m gagged this was so good!

[geakin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Five stars for the art