There are moments in comic books’ illustrious past that act as seismic shifts for the industry, and Marvel Comics' "Fantastic Four #48" and its "The Coming of Galactus" story arc in 1965 was one of these rare occasions.
Global audiences will shortly see its dramatic influences revealed in the ambitious narrative that screenwriters wove into next month's Marvel Studios' "Fantastic Four" flick. Galactus, aka the Devourer of Worlds, arrived on the scene in 1965 in a 3-issue event that ran from "Fantastic Four #48" to "Fantastic Four #50" and is referred to as "The Galactus Trilogy."
Now as "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is inching ever closer to its July 25 release date, like our humongous harbinger of doom, a new novelization of that monumental 60-year-old storyline which introduced the mighty cosmic foe and his Silver Surfer herald to Marvel's First Family is being published on July 8, 2025.
"Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus" is a 336-page expanded prose telling of the planet-eating Galactus and the Sentinel of the Spaceways' splashy debut in the Marvel Universe, written by New York Times bestselling author James Lovegrove.
Lovegrove is a fan favorite writer based in the UK, known fondly for his colorful in-universe genre work, including such titles as "Firefly: The Ghost Machine," "Firefly: Life Signs," and the upcoming "Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon."
His expanded storyline takes from that seminal core tale from Lee and Kirby, where a hungry Galactus is coming and The Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing) must defend Earth against the immense godlike destructor and his sleek, shimmery servant. Will our planet suffer the same fate as countless other worlds or somehow be spared?
Carrying a cover date of March 1966 but landing in newsstands on Dec. 9, 1965, that special vintage issue of "Fantastic Four," billed as The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!, was written by the dynamic duo of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack "King" Kirby during their absolute heyday of creativity.
Crisp Mint and Near-Mint collector copies of those three issues, especially "#48," can command prices in excess of $100,000 on the secondary market. This new literary adaptation of that classic piece of comics history is the ideal primer for those interested in the source of Marvel's big baddie, who'll soon be featured in the latest Marvel movie, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps."
Titan Books' "Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus" lands on July 8, 2025.
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