Fantastic Four: Trial of Galactus

Despite it's misleading moniker (It's actually Reed Richards who is on trial.), The Trial of Galactus does a decent job of truncating Writer/Artist John Byrne's epic Galactus story that ran (sporadically) from Fantastic Four #'s 242-262. The book starts out with what might just be THE Galactus story: After a devastating battle against the big G's Herald, Terrax the Tamer, The FF is faced with a momentous decision: Let the weakened Galactus perish, or try to save him. FF leader Reed Richards, along with Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Thor, and a host of others, restore the planet-eater to his former vim & vigor, and off he goes to destroy the Skrull Throneworld. The races that have been victimized by Galactus in the past assemble, and put the abducted Reed Richards on trial; Since he saw fit to save Galactus' life, he will be held accountable for Galactus' atrocities. Richards' defense is that Galactus fulfills a Celestial purpose, and we have no right to judge him; Don't we all kill to eat? Well, yeah. But I personally think he should just mind his own bees-wax and let Galactus croak. Does Richards' have the right to condemn Billions of sentient being to death, just to salve his own conscience..? Byrne has re-done some of the pages in the collection to make the story flow better, and it works, to an extent. There are refrences to other adventures that seem jarring, considering this is all supposed to be one seamless story. Why redo anything if there are still going to be captions pointing out things that aren't in the book? Especially that Sub-Mariner refrence... Byrne not only delivers THE Galactus story in these pages, but also throws in one of the best Dr. Doom arcs ever, as Doom attempts to imbue the now-powerless Terrax, or should that be Tyros, with the power cosmic, and use him to kill the FF. In one line of Dialogue ("I never thought Doom would strike a woman! KILL one, yes, but never strike one...") Byrne perfectly encapsulates Doom's mania and strange ethical code better than I've ever seen it done. The problem came at the end......The climax of the trial sees one of the most LITERAL Deus ex Machina examples EVER, and I actually had to check the book's binding to make sure pages weren't stuck together or missing. No such luck. The climax is so abrupt and forced that I really felt cheated. Up until then, though, The Trial of Galactus is The Fantastic Four at it's best. The book also contains Byrne's mildly amusing Fantastic Four vs. Superman spoof from Marvel's "What The?!?" book.

....John Byrne injects *himself* into the actual storyline. The climax has creator Byrne actually drawing himself -- having conversations w/the FF, and even traveling with them to the trial of Reed Richards -- who's on trial for his saving of Galactus back when the FF and Avengers had him at Death's door. This TPB collects this generous act by Richards, as well as the death and rebirth of Terrax the Tamer, his battle against Dr. Doom and the Silver Surfer, and the abduction and trial of Richards, for whom Galactus and Eternity themselves testify.

Well, what can be said about the fabulous Fnatastic Four? I love them to the highest degree. I was in the second grade when this story arc fisrt appeared on the news stand. I was totally fascinated by it when I saw the cover. The Fantastic Four, since their inception, have dealt with science fiction. I love that trait about the book. The story revolves around the ethical question of "Must one destroy another if he destroys others?" The story is fast-paced and at times very poignant. It is one of the best stories that came out of the 80's in mainstream comics. John Byrne write and illustrates a wonderful work. The Trial of Galactus is a story that shows the high marks in the pictorial literature called comics. I hope you enjoy every panel.