WHO CREATED THE SURFER? (OR... THE SIMPLY SENSATIONAL SILVER SURFER SILENTLY, SOFTLY, AND SMOOTHLY SOARS AND SKIMS O'ER THE SUPERBLY SPARKLING STARRY SKYWAYS OF STARTLINGLY STUNNING AND SPECTACULAR SPACE...)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Who created The SILVER SURFER?  If you know anything about comics you'll probably reply "JACK KIRBY" - but you'd be wrong!  Well, you'd be right - but you'd also be wrong.  Confused?  You soon will be!

Truly it was Jack who originated and introduced the idea of GALACTUS having a silver-skinned herald on a surfboard who searched for suitable planets to supply his master's need to feed off their energy - no argument there. However, a char-acter does not really come to "life" until he is presented in his fullest and final form to the panting public. In other words, it's not necessarily just the initial, basic idea in someone's mind which defines a character (or concept) - it's what appears on the printed pages of the published magazine which establishes how he (or it) is perceived by the world at large.

  

So - who is the Surfer?  The Silver Surfer, formerly NORRIN RADD of the planet ZENN-LA, sacrificed himself to Galactus by swearing to serve him if he would only spare the Surfer's home planet from destruction.  That was all STAN LEE's idea - even the name "Silver Surfer" is said to have sprung from Stan's fertile mind. (Apparently Jack had only referred to the character as "the Surfer" in his margin notes.)

Jack obviously envisaged the Surfer as having had no prior existence before Galactus created him by means of his "power cosmic".  That's why the Surfer had seemingly never considered the consequences of his actions on the millions of beings who had perished as a result of him serving "the big G".  It wasn't until his encounter with BEN GRIMM's blind girlfriend, ALICIA MASTERS, that he developed a sense of empathy for other living creatures - it was only then that he discovered he had a "soul".

Stan, on the other hand, thought the Surfer would work better as a noble, tragic figure if he had made some kind of heart-rending sacrifice on a quasi-religious scale.  Norrin Radd had essentially "died" in order to save every living person on his world - the comparisons to CHRIST are obvious - and serve to elevate the Surfer to an almost saint-like status - a "saviour" even.

True, there's an inherent dichotomy in this concept of Surfy's origin.  Surely one who cared thus for the inhabitants of his own world would not so randomly and recklessly doom countless billions of other intelligent life-forms to cosmic destruction?  We are left to assume that Galactus has exerted a subtle influence on the mind of his herald, clouding his conscious mind to the fate he inflicts on hapless planets as he scours the cosmos.  Galactus has caused the Surfer to forget his past, enabling him to act as his official "food-finder" with a clear and untroubled conscience. Until, of course, Alicia's tenderness helps reawaken his former and forgotten "humanity".

Well, it's arguable, I suppose, as to what version of the Surfer works best, but it's Stan's concept of the character which has permeated and defined the comic-buying public's perception of who the silver-skinned sky-rider is and how he came to be.  So, who created the Silver Surfer?

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby - but not necessarily in that order.