“Marvels” as a Retelling of the Galactus Trilogy

Cover of Epic Illustrated #26 from 1984, advertising “The Last Galactus Story.”

In Issue #3 of Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’s 1994 miniseries “Marvels,” the coming of the Silver Surfer and Galactus are reconstituted from the ground-view perspective of Phil Sheldon, a humble reporter, adding an existential element that borders on the sublime. #galactus 1/12

A page from “The Last Galactus Story,” depicting the scene discussed in the post.

In “Supergods,” Grant Morrison articulates how “Marvels” created images that “made it possible to believe in the reality of flying, burning men” and that were “perfect for a generation losing its strength to dream.” That generation is ably personified in Phil. 2/12

Where the FF are too busy fighting to save the world to think about consequences, Phil is not so lucky. Thus, Busiek and Ross’s work can be seen to isolate and amplify the sublime nature of the original Galactus/Surfer story with this simple shift in perspective. 3/12

Phil is left quite helpless watching higher beings battle it out for the fate of his universe. This powerlessness element (quite foreign to most superhero stories) grounds the narrative in the religious, intellectual, and personal consequences that a world-ending scenario creates. 4/12

The narration of the story ably captures these themes with our protagonist narrating that “I was at the heart of it all. What I couldn’t see with my own eyes, I could hear in the buzz around me – people leaving the city, hoping that would save them – “ 5/12

A page from “The Last Galactus Story,” in which Galactus traverses the vastness of space, rendered as a black, encompassing field.

“The President’s reaction minute by minute and then I didn’t see the point anymore. Who cared about tomorrow’s morning edition? Odds were there wasn’t going to be one. If this was really the end, I knew where I wanted to be.” 6/12

Phil, quite simply, leaves the scene. Rather than bearing witness to the end of the world, he decides that he wants to be with his family in these final moments, thus adopting an existential philosophy that what matters in life is simply the people we care about. 7/12

Upon reuniting and embracing them, his narration takes on a note of genuine existential trauma – “And then it was quiet. No one around. They were all inside – or gone. Was this what it was going to be like? Silence and emptiness forever? And then. It ended.” 8/12

A page from Fantastic Four #48, depicting the scene discussed in the post.

In a compelling retcon, Busiek and Ross suggest that this existential trauma is the real reason that the public turns on the FF, the reason they harbour mistrust for the heroes who saved them. Simply put, the people feel scared and helpless after what they saw. 9/12

A page from Fantastic Four #51, depicting Mr. Fantastic showing off a machine he describes as the “radical cube,” designed to open a portal to the negative zone. The Mark Russell quote appears in Jeffery Klaehn’s article “Talking the Fantastic Four: ‘a comic that broke ALL the rules.’”

Phil holds them accountable, shouting at a random group of gossiping strangers in the final panels: “You people! What do you need – the world to actually end? Are you so busy digging for garbage you can’t even admit to yourself that you’re grateful?” 10/12

A page from “The Last Galactus Story,” depicting the scene discussed in the post, in which Galactus soars through concentric circles of machinery.

This personification effect that Phil embodies thus captures, to some degree, the perspective of a young reader encountering the original comics for the first time. Like Phil, many were awed and terrified by what they read and thus the Busiek and Ross effect is as much regressive as it is novel. 11/12

The final cliffhanger page from “The Last Galactus Story,” in which Galactus confronts a Watcher.

In all of these choices, Busiek and Ross successfully add a layer of lived reality to one of Marvel’s most fantastic Fantastic Four stories, a reality that includes existential dread in the face of the sublime Galactus and his cosmic herald. 12/12