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Geek Girl Authority
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
Book Review: FANTASTIC FOUR: THE COMING OF GALACTUS
Thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus in exchange for an honest review. Getting stoked for the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps movie? Well, Marvel is here to give you all the Fantastic Four you can handle. One of the offerings is the prose novel Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus by James Lovegrove. This book is a fun and fast-reading novelization of one of the most famous Marvel Comics stories by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Reading it will introduce you to the original variants of the characters whom you're about to meet in the upcoming movie. Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus The story is relatively straightforward. The Silver Surfer, a superhuman who sails through space on his surfboard, is traversing the universe. The Herald of Galactus, the Silver Surfer is charged with finding suitable planets for his master's consumption. That's right: Galactus is an enormous entity whose origins predate the current incarnation of the universe. Unfortunately, he has an insatiable appetite to match his enormous size. Especially unfortunate for humanity, the Silver Surfer alights upon the Earth, marking it for consumption by Galactus. This means it's up to Marvel's First Family, the Fantastic Four, to save the day. Fresh off an adventure with the Inhumans, the Fantastic Four find their return to their lives in New York City interrupted when the Silver Surfer arrives. RELATED: Book Review: What If… Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker were Siblings ? The team consists of four superheroes: Sue Storm (the Invisible Woman), her brother Johnny Storm (the Human Torch), Sue's husband Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and their close friend Ben Grimm (the Thing). When you meet the team in this story, they're already well-established heroes who have fought back many threats. Grimm's girlfriend, Alicia Masters, plays a significant role in the narrative as well. However, Galactus is such a tremendous threat that they need a little help from a friend. In this case, that's Uatu the Watcher. Uatu is a member of an ancient race tasked with observing life across the universe. Watchers aren't meant to interfere, but Uatu is plagued by guilt due to a Galactus-related oversight deep in his species' history. Can the heroes save Earth from destruction at the hands of Galactus? 'If This Be Doomsday!' One of the important things to know about the Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus novel is that it's an adaptation of the Marvel Comics. It's a trait shared with a previous Marvel novel I reviewed, Loki: Journey Into Mystery by Katherine Locke. In some ways, I better understand why this story benefits from a contemporary prose adaptation. The comics on which this story is predominantly based, Fantastic Four #48 – 50, were published in 1966. As such, some of the language and sequential graphic narrative style might be alienating to some modern-day readers. Lovegrove does an admirable job of transferring the story to prose. However, there is something lost in the translation. There is simply no way mere words could hope to replicate the far-out, one-of-a-kind imagery of Kirby's art. RELATED: Moon Knight: What to Know About the Marvel Character However, I wish the book had included more details about which comics the story was based on. This could be accomplished in a list at the front. Or it could contain a 'further reading' section at the back. That could include the comics that inspired this story. It could also include other issues that fans might enjoy reading for additional classic Fantastic Four adventures. Furthermore, I would like to see credits for the other creators who worked on those issues included as well. For Fantastic Four #48 – 50, these include inker Joe Sinnott and letterers Sam Rosen and Artie Simek. Finally, I believe the Silver Surfer's origin story, which is included in the prose novel, is from Silver Surfer #1 (1968). This issue was written by Lee, with pencils by John Buscema, inks by Sinnott and lettering by Rosen. 'The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer' Aside from this crediting quibble, there is much to recommend Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus to readers looking for an enjoyable story about the team. Lovegrove's prose is effective and easy to read, so you can easily justify reading 'just one more chapter' over and over again. The story features especially big roles for the Thing, Alicia and Johnny. I personally could have used a little more Sue, but this is a pretty close adaptation of the source material, so that isn't really a complaint for which the book is responsible. I thought the novel did a good job of weaving in other Marvel heroes. This made the story feel like it was taking place in the wider Marvel universe. RELATED: Book Review: What If… Marc Spector was Host to Venom? Finally, the presentation of the book was straightforward but well done. It is divided into two kinds of sections. The main sections begin with a black page that bears the Fantastic Four's '4' logo and a section title, like 'Back to the Baxter Building.' These sections are divided into chapters that are heralded with that same '4-in-a-circle' logo. This is a fun and breezy Fantastic Four story that will introduce you to the basics of the team and some of the antagonists who will appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Are you a reader who is looking for just that? Then Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus is a great choice for a summer beach read. Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus will be available at your local bookstore and/or public library beginning on July 8, 2025. Art Book Review: MARVEL STUDIOS' THE INFINITY SAGA – DOCTOR STRANGE: THE ART OF THE MOVIE Avery Kaplan (she/her) is the author of several books and the Features Editor at Comics Beat. With her spouse Ollie Kaplan, Avery co-authored the middle school textbook on intersectionality Double Challenge: Being LGBTQ and a Minority. She was honored to serve as a judge for the 2021 - 2024 Cartoonist Studio Prize Awards and the 2021 Prism Awards. She lives in the mountains of Southern California with her partner and a pile of cats, and her favorite place to visit is the cemetery. You can also find her writing on Comics Bookcase, the Gutter Review, Shelfdust, the Mary Sue, in the Comics Courier and in many issues of PanelxPanel, and in the margins of the books in her personal library.
Geek Girl Authority
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus Archives
Categories Select Category Games GGA Columns Movies Stuff We Like The Daily Bugle TV & Streaming Geek Girl Authority reviews the new prose novel Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus by James Lovegrove.
