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Being the proud possessor of all 18 original Silver Surfer issues, I thought I'd treat you to a follow-up to the cover gallery I published some years back and show you the splash pages. It's ironic that the guy who introduced the Surfer, Jack Kirby, has drawn arguably the most unimpressive of them all, despite the action going on within its borders. In my estimation, John Buscema was the right man for the job, and though Jack's hurt feelings over not being first-choice to draw the series may've been yet another factor in him deciding to defect to DC, I think Stan chose wisely in appointing big JB.
So, got a favourite splash page? Then let's hear all about it, effendi!
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The Silver Surfer is probably my favorite Marvel character, getting his own mag, as they say, at about the same time that I was discovering and becoming addicted to Marvel comics.
ReplyDeleteMy fave splash pages would be a tie between issue four and issue sixteen, the former though it does not even show the SS has Loki in such an iconic Buscema pose (the slouching and scowling figure) drawn when Big John was at the height of his powers in his drawing style, for my tastes, while the latter has a great full-frame shot of the Surfer high above some buildings, inked by one of my favorite (and often unsung) Marvel inkers, Chic Stone.
It still annoys me that the Epic Collections have yet to issue the John Buscema run on this character. I would love to have these issues all in one volume. The Masterworks collections are listed at crazy prices, that I refuse to pay.
In unrelated news - I am back in employment again, working for an opposition company to the one that made me redundent. Not that I hold a grudge...
The original Silver Surfer series is one of my all-time favorites and I'm eager for Marvel to finally put out an Epic volume for the series. I've got it in the original and in the surprisingly effective Essential tome but I'd love it as an Epic book. As for Kirby getting stiffed on Surfer, there's no doubt that Stan rather absconded with the character and by getting Big John to bring his awesome power to the table created a memorable series, one of his best without benefit of Kirby's assistance. Kirby had other ideas for the character, the one he created without question even from Stan, and he was about to tell us his origin perhaps in the FF when Stan suddenly popped out Silver Surfer #1 and introduced the world to Norrin Radd. I'd say that's why Thor went looking for Galactus all of a sudden in his book, so that Kirby could create that origin before Stan struck again. As for the final issue's artwork, I rather love this muscular style with the Trimpe inks. While we might quibble about the opening splash there's no denying the power of the full page with closes this story abruptly and rather violently.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear you're working again, PC - a man of your talents was bound to be snapped up sooner rather than later. Apparently the Surfer series was big in France, and the French couldn't understand Buscema's rather dismissive attitude to comics - and superheroes in particular. They thought the first 17 issues were masterpieces, though I'm not quite sure what they thought of Kirby's last ish in the series.
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Kirby obviously thought of the Surfer as a 'created being', RJ, with no life prior to Galactus creating him from the 'dust of the ground' (so to speak), whereas Stan thought the idea of Norrin having sacrificed himself for his planet gave it a quasi-religious theme and made him (SS) more innately noble. Who was right? Who can say, but one can appreciate why Jack perhaps felt robbed of the character. I'd say that John B's art suited Stan's idea of the character more than Jack's did though.
I read "The Heir Of Frankenstein" in The Superheroes #9 which was the only issue of that comic I ever bought. And I read "Gather Ye Witches" in a UK annual but I can't remember which one.
ReplyDeleteIt was the second of the three Superhero Annuals, CJ, copyright dated 1979, meaning that it was for 1980. So what was wrong with The Super-Heroes weekly comic (not related to the three Annuals, which were tie-ins to the monthly mags - without a hyphen) that you never bought another?
ReplyDeleteBig John was an absolute genius and done done of his best ever work on the Surfer.
ReplyDeleteAn online forum which I sometimes post on had a discussion about the origins of popular phrases a while back, and a linguistics expert had posted that the phrase 'blood and guts' dated from the mid-70s. I was able to point out the credits of Silver Surfer #1 as an earlier example!
I don't know why I didn't buy any more issues of The Superheroes, Kid. I suppose I was happy with POTA, Dracula Lives, SMCW and MWOM.
ReplyDeleteI've just discovered that Volume 3 of the Conan Epic collection was published last week if you're interested. I know you bought Volume 1 but did you buy Volume 2? I can't recall you mentioning it.
Apparently it dates back to the 1930s, DS, and was also the nickname of General Patton. So much for that 'expert', eh?
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Yes, I bought Volume 2, CJ, which, combined with Volume 1, contained less content than the Omnibus edition. I don't mind though, as I prefer the Epic Collection format and paper. You betcha I'll be buying Volume 3, so thanks for the heads-up.
The Silver Surfer is also one of my favourite characters. Big John's art on the original series was excellent, I also liked Sal Buscemas version of the Surfer when he appeared in the early issues of the Defenders. I haven't really enjoyed any other Surfer series since this run but unlike many fans I did enjoy the Moebius / Lee mini series.
ReplyDeleteI bought the two issue Lee/Moebius tale plus the hardback edition, McS, but felt that Moebius's take on the Surfer wasn't anywhere near as good as Buscema's. Also, his terrible lettering spoiled my enjoyment of the strip as some of the words were almost illegible at first glance. You can read my review of the book in the post 'Moebius At Marvel... A Rueful Reflection On An Epic Disappointment And Disaster!'
ReplyDeleteThe Moebius Surfer comics contain one of my all-time pet peeves: balloons that are too big for the lettering within them. What is the point in those? It just distracts the eye and hides some of the art.
ReplyDeleteThat was another factor, DS - crap lettering within needlessly large balloons. What's worse is Moebius's attempted justification of his lettering (which you can read in the post alluded to in my previous comment), which doesn't have a leg to stand on.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid collector in the mide-70s, the SS I knew from the FF was such an electric character. I was about 14 when I got SS#1 (for $8!) and then started getting the old Fantasy Masterpieces reprints. Those comics, how I wanted to love them...but for the most part Lee turned this most-powerful, interesting character into a lightweight, talky, forever-questioning-himself drip. And the stories seemed disconnected from the rest of the Marvel Universe. Lee's ridiculous idea of going back to old tropes like the Flying Dutchman and Frankenstein seemed like the most massive creative misfire you can imagine.
ReplyDeleteThese books just kinda stink. The art, though, is outstanding, besides the fact that the slender Buscema SS only added to the disappointment.
Yoyo
I don't think that the Surfer was forever questioning himself, FY, but rather the human race, with whom he was forced to 'share' planet Earth. And while Lee's origin may have been different from what Kirby had intended, the philosophical nature of the Surfer's characterisation was pretty much as he'd established when ol' silver bonce was first introduced in the FF. Comparing your comment with the others, you seem to be out of step with the majority opinion. Time for reflection and re-evaluation perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI think to be fair to Factory Yoyo ( brilliant name) the original SS series was of its time but I also think Stan deserves a lot of respect for trying to write something a bit "deeper" than just a bash em up tale ( although that was also represented in the stories). I certainly don't agree that the comics i "stink" and for me the art and rendition of JBs Surfer is beyond reproach. Still it's always interesting to read other people comments when they are so different to my own.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same for me, McS, but it's equally as interesting and far more satisfying to read other people's comments when their thoughts are so similar to my own. So if I say 'I'm wonderfully talented', I expect everyone to agree with me. Ye cannae beat it. Hee-hee!
ReplyDeleteThe Surfer never questioned himself but if he had done so he might have thought it hypocritical that he was always condemning the human race while ignoring the fact that he was responsible for leading Galactus to countless inhabited planets. Noble my arse.
ReplyDeleteGasp! For a second I thought you'd said "Nobble my @rse", CJ. What a fright I got - thought you were on the turn. The way Kirby envisioned The Surfer, he was a created being and not in possession of a conscience as such; he merely did what his master had essentially 'programmed' him to do. It was Alicia Masters who first fanned the faint spark of a developing conscience into a flame. Stan never really dealt with the dichotomy of the Surfer saving his planet at the expense of condemning others, but I suppose we were meant to assume that Galactus had suppressed his memories and conscience to an extent, banishing them to his subconscious. Consequently, he wasn't fully aware of exactly what he was doing. Later writers introduced this idea into the Surfer's back story.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about the Surfer being popular in France. I've only had an exchange or two with one French fan who actually liked the Schwartzian SF-titles from sixties DC, which I assume was because he hit them at the right age, since almost everything about sixties DC is so opposite to the overall tone of French comics.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally agree that Stan was trying to experiment a little more with the Surfer, possibly with the hope of tapping into the market of older kids with more spending money. One downside of this, though, was that Stan had almost no way to work his trademark sense of humor into the mix.
I definitely agree that Kirby wanted SS to be a "tabula rasa," which is why Kirby didn't deem him responsible for all the destruction he caused on behalf of his master. Stan rewrote this history somewhat in SILVER SURFER #1, where he broadly implies that SS steered his master away from all inhabited worlds, since Stan wanted the character to have memories of his native planet and so he had to keep his own power of will to do so. Thus the origin implies that Earth is the first time SS couldn't keep Galactus off the meal-track. I don't get the sense that most Marvel fans of the period paid very close attention to those details. And yeah, the much later Lee-Kirby SILVER SURFER standalone certainly shows Kirby reviving something like his original notion of the Surfer. He even shares his "Adamic" status with an "Eve" of sorts.
The Surfer's motivation was somewhat confusing in his first appearance in the FF, because the Skrulls tried to shield their homeworld and the Watcher tried to hide Earth from the Surfer's detection, which there would've been no need of had Galactus only fed off uninhabited planets, which the Watcher later says that's what he did until Earth became his focus. However, there was no way the Watcher could've known that Earth was in definite danger until Galactus actually landed, so details were a little elastic at this point.
ReplyDeleteWhen Stan decided that the Surfer (in ish #1) had been a pre-existing sentient being before gaining the power cosmic, his personality became different to what it had been in the FF, where he seemed uncomprehending to (and uncaring of) the impending fate of human beings at the hand of his master, so there's an implication that the big G had done a little work on his mind, otherwise it wouldn't have taken Alicia Masters to 'reawaken' (whereas, in his FF appearances, it was the first dawning of) his emotions and his 'soul'.
So, basically, what I'm saying is that Stan seemed to be making it up as he went along at this point, but I understand why he thought it better for the Surfer to have a back story rather than merely be a created being brought forth from 'nothing' by Galactus, though I agree that most fans probably weren't aware of or cared about such details. However, the idea that the Surfer's conscience (and to some extent at least, his memories) were dulled by Galactus was something seized on by later writers, in an attempt to harmonise the discrepancies between the Surfer's characterisation as depicted in his first appearance in the FF and his own mag.
One thing that Marvel fans of the period had come to expect from the company were scenes of the heroes expressing tortured longings for whatever ladies they loved. That would have been tough to do had SS remained a blank slate, and it's rather hard to see him just starting things up with some Earth-girl. I could easily believe that Stan articulated the whole Zenn-La backstory largely to give SS a girl to pine for. It's a really cracking origin story too, and I tend to believe that Stan was in the driver's seat as far as plotting. He might trust John Buscema to turn out a competent Avengers installment based on nothing but a general plot discussion a la the Marvel method. But this was a big deal; Marvel trying out a hyper-philosophical character in a 25-cent format. Later issues feel a little flabbier in terms of plot and so were probably turned out with the regular Marvel method, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI think the Zenn-La backstory was mainly to do with ol' Norrin sacrificing himself to save his planet in a Christ-like manner, GP, the better to illustrate the nobility of the Surfer and what he was prepared to give up in order to 'save' others. Of course, Stan being Stan, a woman to pine over is the order of the day and adds an extra note to just what the Surfer sacrificed. I kinda like the later stories in the more traditional Marvel manner, with the exception of #18, which I found disappointing. It doesn't really seem to fit in with the previous 17 issues.
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