That's right. I'm doing another double comic review, only this time it's on the Marvel side instead of DC. What's the reason this time? Well I'll be reviewing Rise of the Silver Surfer soon, and these comics were inspirations. So much like I did with Winter Soldier & Civil War, I'm reviewing these.
First up is The Galactus Trilogy. The story can be found in the 1961 edition of the comic book series, Fantastic Four. More specifically in issues #48-50. Stan Lee wrote the story along with Jack Kirby, who also did the art.
The story is, the Fantastic Four first do battle with a herald named the Silver Surfer and after this fight they're warned of the arrival of Galactus. A powerful being older than the universe itself and survives by feeding off of planets. Knowing this, the Fantastic Four are the only ones that can stop him.
Why The Delay?
If any of you had read my Lilo & Stitch (2025) review, they you were all expecting these reviews by Monday. So what happened? Well Memorial Day happened. My sister invited me to come over to here place, spend time with everybody, and eat some food. And instead of being a dick and telling her to piss off, I decided it was best to spend time with the family and push this back to Tuesday. Honestly, it was worth. I got a free meal and some family time. 😆
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
The mix bag is the same mix feeling I had with Spider-Man: If This Be My Destiny, which was also written by Stan Lee. That being the pacing. Sometimes the pacing is good, it goes by nicely. Oftentimes however things can be slow. Primarily because Stan Lee's writing is very wordy. He'll have speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and caption boxes. Now having that stuff isn't a bad thing you just gotta know when to use them. And Stan, as great as he was, did have a habit of using all three even it meant slowing down the story. Keep in mind, this is still a great story, but that is a tiny bit of a flaw.
- Positives
Now for the good stuff. Starting with the late, great Jack Kirby and his art. Now I'm gonna be honest, while I'm not the biggest Jack Kirby, it's not because I think he's bad! I just like and am far more attached to the people he's influenced more! But despite that I can't deny his impact. Other artists such as the late, great Will Eisner brought a more cinematic flair to comic books, but Jack Kirby built on that and brought a more larger than life edge and is sometimes credited with perfecting that style. And with images like these...
I can see why.
My other praise goes to the story. Firstly there's the themes. The first theme was the hallmark during Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run, that being family and unity. The Four's family bond and dynamic not only brought some more lighthearted moments, but this also brought the stakes to a grounded level. The next theme is how this is humanity fighting against a cosmic indifference, in this case Galactus. I saw and read how the Four are not only fighting for survival, but they also question somethings about purpose and what humanity's place is when the universe seems like it's, as I said before, indifferent. There's also the Silver Surfer's story arc. Throughout the story he's questioning if he should continue being Galactus' herald or break free, take a stand, and help save the Earth? I actually found myself being very interested in that part more than I thought I'd be. It added not only another bit of drama but also added to his character. Now I have heard people mention how a certain weapon ends things abruptly, and that's fair. But given all of the other stuff I'm almost willing to forgive that.
My last praise goes to how this story praved the way for cosmic storytelling for comic books. Prior to this trilogy, a lot of comic book villain fights were Earthbound. But when the story came out, years later other cosmic stories would follow. The biggest examples being Infinity Gauntlet and Crisis on Infinite Earths. The story also created a certain arc structure. If you ever want to know where multi-issue story arcs, escalating stakes, character driven conflicts, and huge climatic endings came from, look for than here. For better or worse, Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby invented something huge, and creators even to this day are doing what these two did and if comic books keep going (hopefully with the pc woke nonsense finally cut out) we'll continue to use what these two comic titans created.
If you're getting into Fantastic Four or Marvel Comics in general, The Galactus Trilogy is something you have to read. It's an absolute classic.
My final rating is, A MUST READ!
Alright, next up is The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. The storyline was part of the Ultimate Marvel imprint and consist of the three miniseries. Those being Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate Secret, and Ultimate Extinction. All three were written by Warren Ellis. Issues 1-2, 4 & 5 of Ultimate Nightmare were drawn by Trevor Hairsine while issue 3 was drawn by Steve Epting. Ultimate Secret was drawn by Steve McNiven for issues 1-2, while issues 3-4 were drawn by Tom Raney and Ultimate Extinction was drawn solely by Brandon Peterson.
The story is, it all started with a broadcast the disrupted the entire world's televisions and computer monitors giving warning of death and destruction. As our heroes continue to investigate of what caused this, they soon realize it's something far worse than they thought. Now, The Ultimates, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four join forces to stop the force known as Gah Lak Tus.
- Negatives
Nothing to read here.
- Mix
Let's start off with character development. We get some great interactions with the Ultimates (this world's version of the Avengers by the way), the Fantastic Four, and Captain Marvel. We get funny moments like how in Ultimate Secret, Thor is willing to get beers for Johnny Storm and The Thing because he views them as mighty warriors. To a more heated exchange between Reed Richards and Nick Fury in Ultimate Extinction. Those were great moments but, while the X-Men are involved, mainly Professor X and Jean Grey, they aren't given as much development as the characters.
Then there's the artwork. I'm gonna break this down by who I liked the most to the least. So let's start off with...
Now I didn't know who Trevor Hairsine was prior to reading Ultimate Nightmare and I don't recall reading anything recent with his name on it, but even without that in mind I loved what he did here. It's not only cinematic, but his more shadowy style really captured Ultimate Nightmare's horror tone. His art was excellently eerie, especially when our heroes were in the Cold War era bunkers. So Mr. Hairsine, I give you two big 👍🏻👍🏻.
As mentioned previously Steve Epting was only involved in one issue and that was for issue #3 of Ultimate Nightmare, but what little work he did do I still liked. He's was cleaner when compared to Trevor Hairsine, but despite being cleaner his layouts provided awesome action scenes for when the Ultimates & X-Men were fighting against science experiments that were long abandoned.
Now as you can see, Tony Raney has a far more stylized (or cartoonish, whatever word you wanna use) when compared to Hairsine and Epting. But considering how much action was in those issues of Ultimate Secret, I think that more cartoonish style wasn't a bad decision. Some could argue it made the action more dynamic. Although I do admit some of his facial expressions were...odd to say the least. Like this one.
No folks that is NOT Jeffery Dahmer about to enjoy killing his next victim, that's Reed Richards about to enjoy a trip to outer space. I can understand why you'd be confused.
Now Steve McNiven made a name for himself on Marvel story arcs such as Civil War, the Wolverine story of Old Man Logan, The Sentry story in New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis, and Nemesis by Mark Millar. And I liked his art work on those, but here I wasn't really feeling it. It's not bad, but it just didn't seem to pop like those other stories I mentioned. Maybe this was more of the colorist than the artist. Again, not bad just meh.
The last and my least favorite was Brandon Peterson's work on Ultimate Extinction. Now as you can see those panels are actually really good. I especially liked the Helicarriers and those building panels. Those look really, they look like they could be shots in a movie or the movie's storyboards. As for the characters themselves, once again get a good look.
Now I'm not one of those people who complain about more stylish art in comic books, hell some of my favorite artists like John Romita Jr., Humberto Ramos, and Jorge Jiménez don't draw in realistic styles, but this is far too glossy for my taste. Maybe this is another case of colorist than artist either way it wasn't for me. Still liked Ultimate Extinction's story, but art not so much.
- Positives
Let's move onto to far more positive aspects like the pacing. These miniseries go by fast. I was able to get through all three within one day. Sure I did that Lee & Kirby's trilogy, but it felt like I was sitting on my couch for almost an hour or more. With this trilogy a couple of minutes.
Then there's the sci-fi and horror elements. Ultimate Nightmare has a great moody thriller atmosphere. It almost felt like I was gonna be reading a survival horror comic. And continuing with the horror elements, this Galactus, or Gah Lak Tus, is even more like an apocalyptic sci-fi horror. I would tell you why that is, but when doing any of my reviews I try to keep them spoiler free. There's also so this pretty creepy cult. Again, don't want to give spoilers, but the fact Gah Lak Tus is being treated like a god giving out divine will, adds to the horror elements. Then there's the sci-fi. We get our usual aliens, but it's the technology and Reed Richards scientific ingenuity that'll keep you interested. Especially since they bring up good aspects of the story such as Reed not feeling good about himself creating a weapon that could stun or kill something.
The last thing I'll praise is the story. First I love how this is self-contained. You can read this by itself without it interrupting other Ultimate series like Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men, or even Ultimate Spider-Man. Then there's the humanity's resilience. This is very similar to what Lee & Kirby did. But what separates the two is Ellis' sci-fi while extraordinary, does have quite a bit of grounded realism in it. Regardless of that, we see human ingenuity confronting overwhelming odds. The story does a tremendous job reinforcing hope against what seems to be an unstoppable despair.
My final rating is, Good.
So that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, May 29th, for the next part of the Road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, with my review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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