Galactus and the Silver Surfer by Ron Lim and James Pascoe

 

1990 - Anatomy of a Cover - Daredevil #282 by Romita Jr. and Williamson

1990 - Anatomy of a Cover - Daredevil #282

By John Romita Jr. and Al Williamson

Silver Surfer by Kilian Eng

The Silver Surfer by Pat Broderick

1988 - Marvel Comics Presents Promo Poster by Walt Simonson

Galactus by Daniel Govar

Galactus vs Thanos

Galactus and The Silver Surfer

1988 - Silver Surfer Graphic Novel House Ad

1988 - Anatomy of a Cover - Silver Surfer: Judgment Day

And the reprint softcover in 1990.

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1082612&GSub=152336

1981 - Silver Surfer Special Edition Ad

Grabbed from Amazing Heroes #6.

Silver Surfer and Galactus by John Buscema

Looks to be circa 1988 when Buscema did the Silver Surfer: Judgement Day graphic novel.

1980 - Silver Surfer movie

“We’re going to make an epic picture on the scope of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY with the kind of soundtrack that that film had, only using contemporary rock and roll. It’s even conceivable that the Surfer might have a chant or a fanfare made up of one thousand electric guitars…doing the Silver Surfer has always been a dream of mine, and now it’s going to be realized.” 

—Lee Kramer, would-be SILVER SURFER producer (and Olivia Newton-John boyfriend), quoted in “Cosmic Silver” by James Burns, Mediascene Prevue #42, Sept/Oct 1980

1982 - Anatomy of a cover - Silver Surfer #1

http://www.comiclink.com/auctions/item.asp?back=%2FAuctions%2Fsearch%2Easp%3FPreviewCode%3D2012nov%26where%3Dauctions%26title%3Dsurfer%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26ItemType%3DCA%23Item_953391&id=953391

1982 - John Byrne's Silver Surfer

And here's another piece from that same era apparently for a poster, circa 1982:

http://www.albertmoy.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=2014&ArtistId=503&Details=0&From=Room

1989 - Marvel shopping bag

1988 - Anatomy of a cover - Silver Surfer Annual #

http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=15635&ArtistId=1857

RIP Jean "Moebius" Giraud

May 8, 1938 - March 10, 2012

1988 - Silver Surfer: Parable

Silver Surfer: Parable

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Moebius

Silver Surfer: Parable was first published in the 4-colour comic book format (a special request by Moebius) as a two-part miniseries and then as a deluxe hardcover in December 1988. More recently, it’s been reprinted in a trade paperback in 1998.

This story came about when Stan Lee and Moebius met at the 1988 San Diego Comic Convention and had lunch. Stan proposed a stand-alone story and Moebius jumped at the opportunity.

About writing this story, Stan said in a interview in Marvel Age #71:

“They were very easy to write ... though ironically, they took about three times longer to write than normal -- I was such a nervous wreck about doing justice to the work!”

A starving Galactus returns to Earth, but is well aware of his vow not to consume the planet. However, he sets himself up as a God and tries to steer them towards self-destruction. A TV evangelist is more than happy to take up his cause and preaches Galactus’ message in hopes of setting himself up as his prophet.

The Silver Surfer, who had hoped to leave the human race behind to its self-inflicted misery, cannot sit back while all this is happens and takes action against Galactus.

About the story, Moebius had this to say in the Afterword of the Hardcover version:

“I found the story wonderful. It’s full of personal and philosophical considerations which I think are very, very interesting. It’s obviously something very close to Stan’s heart. It’s not all pretty and nice and shallow, like a lot of the usual super-hero stories. In fact, I found it a rather sad and dark story, but at the same time, it is cast in a different light.”

Stan Lee returns the Silver Surfer to his brooding, philosophical self, spending his time contemplating humans and their place in the universe. The Silver Surfer is a great vehicle as he serves as a unique observer of human kind, forcing us to look at ourselves in unique ways. While the dialog has the trademark Stan Lee-isms, the themes of Silver Surfer’s loneliness and frustration with human kind are wonderfully evoked. The story is simple enough and yet is surprisingly effective and thought provoking. What’s nice as well as, is that it’s just the Silver Surfer and no other super heroes.

Moebius adds a bit of Kirby-ese flair to his art work. His fluid art gives a real futuristic feel to the story. His bold colours and fine detailed line work are powerful as they are unique. Interestingly, he wanted to use the limited palette of the newsprint colour comics and saw it as a challenge to bring about the feelings and mood he wanted.

Moebius also chose to do the lettering, but I found his style to be distracting ad its legibility was a bit difficult. His take on it was simple and I can appreciate what he’s saying: “I don’t really understand how an artist can entrust something that is that important to a fired hand, no matter how good he may be. To me, it’s monstrous to have an important part of the look of page determined by an outsider.”

Seek out either the trade paperback or the hardcover as the issues’ poor paper quality really does the art and colour a disservice.

Here’s a sample of Moebius’ rough breakdowns from Stan’s plot. Moebius got a real kick out of using the Marvel Method to put this book together.

 

 And here's an unpublished page:

1987 - Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer #1-6

July – December 1987

Writer: Steve Englehart

Artist: Marshall Rogers

While I enjoyed Stan Lee/John Buscema’s Silver Surfer series of the late 60s, I always felt the character was restrained and repetitive. The Silver Surfer belonged to space and by preventing him from getting back to it, the character lost his magic. Twenty years after his first ongoing series, the Silver Surfer got another ongoing series.

From steveenglehart.com:

“It began when Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter asked me to do a SURFER book. I was pleased to be asked, but remembered that the character had been reserved for Editor Emeritus Stan Lee. Jim was clear in his response: the current Powers That Be had decided the Surfer could make the company money, and should.

So, if I were going to do the Surfer, I wanted to get him off Earth. He had been trapped here, denied the vastness of space, since his first epic in FF #48-50, and I felt that situation had long outlived its interest. For one thing, despite everyone's affection for the character and some good people giving it their all, he had never sold. The Surfer seemed like he ought to be great, but he wasn't. Nevertheless, I was told he had to stay on Earth.

So I wrote a #1 issue, and plotted two more, under that restriction. But I kept bugging Jim, and all of a sudden, for whatever reason, I got my way. The Surfer could fly free. That first issue was shelved and I started over with a new #1. That "earthbound" first issue later appeared as an "imaginary story" in Marvel Fanfare [Marvel Fanfare #51 with art by John Buscema].

In an interview with Englehart from Comic Feature #56:

“At that point it was going to be a 12-issue limited series taking place right before a graphic album that Stan and Keith Pollard were doing which would have gotten the Surfer off the Earth. My 12-part series with John Buscema would have been the last 12 adventures of the Surfer on Earth.”

There were delays and editorial issues that forced Buscema got frustrated with those delays and took on assignments on The Avengers and The Fantastic Four. That Stan Lee and Keith Pollard graphic novel was finally published in 1990.

Rather than having the Surfer mope around the globe and long for his long-lost love Shalla Bal, writer Steve Englehart freed the Silver Surfer from his Earthly prison in the first double-sized issue.

Englehart did a wonderful job juggling several main plot threads in the first six issues: the start of a new Kree/Skrull war; the Elders' conspiracy against Galactus; the Surfer's inability to resume his relationship with Shalla Bal; and the re-introduction of one of Englehart's favorite creations Mantis.

Marshall Rogers provided the coloured art as well as the series' pencils. Unfortunately, his colours seemed a bit unaturally bright with an almost highlighter colour feel. Tempering this criticism with the general poor quality of colouring during the 80s, this is a minor complaint. His pencils, however weren't as spectacular as his previous efforts on Batman and Dr. Strange.

Their Silver Surfer run balances the legacy of this character’s rich past while expanding his future. No longer confined to being a supporting character, Englehart established the Silver Surfer as a solid, lead character, a cosmic player.

Favorite 10 Marvel one-shots of the 1980s

1. Spider-Man vs Wolverine – Jim Owsley and Mark Bright/Al Williamson
2. Silver Surfer – John Byrne
3. Excalibur Special Edition “The Sword is Drawn” – Claremont & Davis
4. New Mutants Special Edition – Claremont and Arthur Adams
5. Uncanny X-Men vs Teen Titans – Claremont & Simonson
6. Phoenix – The Untold Story
7. X-Men Special Edition #1 (Reprinting Giant-Size X-Men with a backup feature by Dave Cockrum)
8. Spider-Man: Soul of the Hunter – DeMatteis & Zeck
9. Wolverine Jungle Adventure – Walt Simonson & Mike Mignola
10. Starlord Special Edition – Claremont, Byrne, and Austin

Worthy of mention…

- Hulk vs Wolverine Special Edition

- Fantastic Four Roast by Fred Hembeck