Monday, August 13, 2012

Make Mine Marvel: The Silver Surfer


With his first appearance in Fantastic Four #48 in March of 1966, the Silver Surfer has become one of Marvel Comics most popular and enduring characters. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby as the minor figure of a herald for the classic three part "Galactus Trilogy" storyline, the Surfer soon became a favorite of Lee's, who initially thought he was just a "nut on a flying surfboard". Kirby following the story ideas and  brief synopsis of Lee in their usual "Marvel Method"of construction a tale, but made more of the character by adding the flying surfboard, since Kirby explained he was "tired of drawing spaceships." As the later origin story goes, a young astronomer, Norrin Radd, trying to save his home world from the planet eater, Galactus, struck a deal with the all-powerful cosmic entity. Offering to serve him in exchange for his planet's survival, Radd became the herald of Galactus warning planets of their impending doom travelling the cosmos on his silver surfboard which could fly beyond the speed of light. Christened with almost god-like powers and a silver skin, and imbued with a tiny  fraction of Galactus's Power Cosmic, the Silver Surfer finally arrives at Earth only to find the superhero team of the Fantastic Four waiting to stop him and his destroying master. The Fantastic Four convince the Surfer that his cause is wrong and he must betray Galactus to save Earth, which he does, but as punishment from his master, he is exiled on our planet. The noble Silver Surfer made other classic appearances in the pages of Fantastic Four before having his own short-lived series of eighteen issues drawn mainly by John Buscema in the 1968, and since then his many reincarnations over the years in other Marvel Comics series.


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