Fantastic Four Fixes Galactus & Silver Surfer’s Lore (Almost Too Well)
New Fantastic Four series reimagines the connection between Galactus and Silver Surfer in a way that explains the choice made by the World Devourer.
You Are Reading :Fantastic Four Fixes Galactus & Silver Surfers Lore (Almost Too Well)
The story of “Marvel’s first family” has been reimagined in Fantastic Four: Life Story, the mini-series that has retold the history of the team in a setting without “comic book time” where each issue corresponds to a decade, starting from the 1960s. Issue #5 introduced the Fantastic Four’s most famous villain, Galactus, and his herald the Silver Surfer, making the connection between the two much more meaningful than in the traditional Marvel setting.
The World Devourer Galactus and his herald first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four #48 in March 1966. To find suitable “meals”, Galactus has employed several “heralds”, mortals gifted with a portion of his Power Cosmic, who travel between the stars to chart the way for their master. The most famous herald is Norrin Radd, known as the Silver Surfer, who led Galactus to Earth, where he was repelled by the Fantastic Four. In the original story, Radd offered to take up the role of herald in exchange for Galactus sparing his homeworld of Zenn-La. The seemingly random nature of this choice, which Galactus repeated many times in picking his heralds, has been improved in Fantastic Four: Life Story – by Mark Russell, Sean Iaaske, and Carlos Magno.
A prominent theme of the mini-series is that, despite being an unfathomable cosmic being, Galactus seems to have a particular connection with a few selected creatures in the universe. One of these is Reed Richards, who is driven almost crazy by his visions of Galactus. Norrin Radd was another, and it was his wanderlust and curiosity that led him to project his consciousness across the cosmos, alerting Galactus and attracting him to his planet. Norrin was an astral explorer, an astronomer who devoted his life to mapping the galaxy. As such, he knew about millions of worlds and led his master to them, condemning billions of souls to save his loved ones. His psychic connection to Galactus is what made this possible, and it’s the reason why the Devourer chose him for this ominous task. Perhaps it’s even too convenient that Norrin had such a useful skillset.
The idea of this connection with Galactus adds new interesting layers to the story of the Silver Surfer and his master. In the main Marvel continuity, the Devourer has often given the role of herald – and the great power that comes with it – to individuals who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Even the “original” Norrin Radd was just a man who lived on a planet where scientific advancements had led the inhabitants to a life of hedonism and ennui. Norrin happened to be the only one who, seeing Galactus immense spaceship approach in the sky, went to check it, because he was less apathetic than the rest of his species. But it could have been anyone. Life Story, conversely, establishes that the actions of Galactus – a creature with cosmic-level intellect and consciousness – are far from being random. The series also creates an innovative connection between Reed Richards and Norrin Radd. Both are scientists who, in their urge to explore the unknown and protect their planet from an unknown threat, ended up being the reason why that threat manifested. Mister Fantastic is, essentially, Silver Surfer’s successor.
Marvel’s Life Story series has been praised for its innovative approach to comic books storytelling. This reimagining of the Fantastic Four is no exception, but it’s the relationship between Galactus and his heralds like the Silver Surfer that made the most evident improvements to the source material, perhaps even going too far by making Galactus bond with the one creature in the universe with the skill set most useful to him.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-galactus-silver-surfer-lore-fix/