The Galactus Trilogy

"The Galactus Trilogy" is a 1966 three-issue comic book story arc that appeared in Fantastic Four #48 - #50. It was written by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, and illustrated by Kirby. It was published by Marvel Comics, and is notable for being the story that introduced the characters Galactus and the Silver Surfer.

Publication history

In 1966, nearly five years after having launched Marvel Comics' flagship superhero title, Fantastic Four, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaborated on an antagonist designed to break from the archetypal mold of supervillains of the time, and be instead a being of god-like stature and power. As Lee recalled in 1993,

Kirby described his Biblical inspirations for Galactus and an accompanying character, an angelic herald Lee dubbed the Silver Surfer:

Kirby further explained, "Galactus in actuality is a sort of god. He is beyond reproach, beyond anyone's opinion. In a way he is kind of a Zeus, who fathered Hercules. He is his own legend, and of course, he and the Silver Surfer are sort of modern legends, and they are designed that way."