Employing the Marvel Method, in which artists worked from thumbnail plots provided by the author, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee collaborated on their acknowledged masterpiece, the Fantastic Four, for nearly a decade, often leading to some happy accidents and surprises -- such as this issue, when Kirby, sick of drawing spaceships, snuck a sleek, silver, surfing alien into Galactus' first appearance, stunning Lee into writing some of the most deliriously florid, melodramatic prose of his career to date (which is saying something), and launching one of the greatest arcs in comics' history, introducing the world-eating, imperious purple god Galactus and his tormented herald the Silver Surfer into the international consciousness. There is a reason we at the office call this "The greatest story ever told!"

Less than one percent of all copies certified by CGC have ranked NM/M and this white-paged beauty is one of the nicest we've seen. This comic has tripled in value in this condition in the past five years with no end in sight. Nothing in life is a sure thing but it seems that high-grade copies of Fantastic Four #48 are blue-chip investments. The pages are clean and the colors are bright. There are no known examples in better condition. This copy is absolutely gorgeous.

Overstreet Guide 2018 NM- (9.2) value = $3,000.

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