Silver Sunday - Sentinel Of The Spaceways!

1968 a bountiful year for Marvel Comics. The company had just gotten free of a distribution deal that severely limited their output, so they had jammed their creations into titles like Tales of Suspense and Tale to Astonish. Now those creations, the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, among others were getting their own titles. New characters blasted onto the racks, such as Captain Marvel and Captain Savage leading his Leatherneck Raiders. And I was there to enjoy it as a spanking brand-new Marvel fanboy. 

And perhaps the biggest debut of the year was Silver Surfer #1, a character deemed so potentially great by Stan Lee that the book was made king-sized. There is certainly no doubt that Marvel had high hopes for this one. The ad is bombastic even by the dizzying heights of bombast that Marvel regularly traded in at the time. But it was not without controversy. 

Jack Kirby created the Silver Surfer. No one doubts that. We might quibble about the Fab 4 and other Marvel characters, but the record is pristine relative to the herald of Galactus. And the first issue of The Silver Surfer was produced without any involvement by Kirby. As far as we can tell he was not consulted about it in any way, and he was not pleased. It left a mark and was yet one more reason he'd leave the company he'd helped salvage and transform into a cultural touchstone a few years later. 

The assignment was given to "Big" John Buscema, and his work on this title is one of the many reasons he's my all-time favorite comic book artist. (For the record Kirby is second.) And while the Surfer of the early issues of the comic might have cleaved close to Kirby's original model, there's no doubt that by the end of the series Buscema has given us a somewhat different Silver Surfer altogether. 

The debut issue gives us an origin. We learn that the Surfer's name is Norrin Radd and that he is originally from the planet Zenn-La. When that planet was threatened by Galactus, Radd sacrificed himself to save his world and Shalla-Bal, the woman he loved. He volunteered to become a herald for Galactus in order to see to it the world eater consumed only world without sentient life. Stan Lee gave the Surfer an origin that was Shakespearean in its appeal. It made the tragic figure of the Silver Surfer even more tragic.

Somehow, I missed the second issue of the Silver Surfer back in the day. Just one of those things, but reading it again today I was struck both by the power of John Buscema's artwork and the devious nature of the attack by the scaly "Brotherhood of the Badoon". Their invisibility was somewhat akin to the Skrulls' shape-changing ways. That the Surfer in fighting the invisible enemy only seems to be destroying property and further creating enemies among the people is quite ironic. 

Of course, this issue is part one of one of Marvel's strangest two-parters. The Badoon threaten to return to Earth after their defeat by the Surfer and sure enough they do, a thousand years later in the time of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I did get hold of this one back in the day and loved it. I wish I'd had the companion as a boy. But it's all good now. 

That Stan had been presenting the Surfer as being analogous to Christ himself, it's no great surprise that he gets tempted by Satan himself, or more specifically in issue three by Mephisto. This is Mephisto's debut in the Marvel Universe and he selects the Silver Surfer as a being of such high character and nobility that he supplies a sufficient challenge to this master of the hellish depths. 

We had learned in issue two that Shalla Bal still lived. When I read the Surfer's origin in the debut, I assumed that his role as herald to Galactus had occurred in the distant past and that if not for the "Power Cosmic" as Stan took to calling it, he'd have perished long ago. But still, she pines for Norrin Radd and Mephisto moves to bring her and the Surfer to his domain where the temptations begin. It's worth noting that despite all his moaning on about the savagery of mankind, that the Silver Surfer is consumed with rage and attacks the world in this issue. He'd regret it, but it seems he too was a prisoner to some degree of his passions. 

Surviving the temptations of Mephisto, but losing his girl, the sad Surfer is noticed by another god of evil, this one from the Norse canon of myths. Loki is moping and scheming and plots to use the Surfer's power against Thor and to do that he convinces the Surfer that Thor is about to lead an army to attack the walls of Asgard itself. The Surfer seems a tad too gullible but nonetheless it works, and he heads to Asgard to kick some butt. It's a mighty battle. 

This issue features some of the finest artwork of its era. John Buscema did not like to draw superheroes, despite doing it so well, but he found that Asgard and Thor gave him the chance to really showcase his skills. The cover of his issue is one of Marvel's most famous and properly so, it's nigh perfect in its composition and effect. The biggest change though was the addition of Sal Buscema as inker. (Joe Sinnott was a master over Kirby's pencils, but I never found that he and John Buscema were as successful a combo. Though I'll admit their work on the Surfer was among their most successful as a team.) Sal's lustrous lines give a new vigor to his brother's pencils that had not yet been seen. Though he'd prove too valuable to keep on as an inker, Sal inking John was one of the best teams in the company's long history. Buscema as also starting to change the Surfer, making him leaner and less the muscle man that he'd been in the first few issues. 

The fifth issue of The Silver Surfer yielded one of the most emotional stories as the Surfer comes into contact with Al Harper, a physicist who is able perhaps to fashion a way for the Surfer to penetrate the shield that Galactus put around the Earth to keep him prisoner. Harper is a black man and I think Lee wants us to see that he like the Surfer is something of an outsider in society. When the Stranger decides that mankind has been around long enough and builds a bomb to take care of the problem, like some interstellar exterminator, only the Surfer and Harper stand in his way. 

Sal's inking changes somewhat in the sixth issue, the Surfer being less a glistening object and more merely a pure white presence. Reading these stories in Essential volume works well as black and white serves the art of Big John and his little brother quite well. The Surfer goes to the future and finds the Overlord, a malicious mutant who has destroyed most of sentient life in the universe and enslaved the remainder. He's more powerful than the Surfer, but our hero still finds a way to win the day. 

It's a different kind of story in the seventh issue as the Surfer encounters a Frankenstein, a mad scientist who wants to surpass the misdeeds of his ancestor. To that end he fashions a deadly doppleganger of the Surfer and it's all the Surfer can do to beat himself. This seemed a strange story after the broad sci-fi of the previous two issues. Sadly, this is also the last issue inked by Sal Buscema who of course went on to become a mainstay artist at Marvel for a few decades. 

Mephisto is firmly established as the Silver Surfer's nemesis when he returns and brings with him a souped-up ghost especially designed to bring the Surfer to his knees and pledge allegiance to Mephisto. The Ghost is actually the legendary Flying Dutchman. The comic has shifted from a bi-monthly king-size to a monthly regular edition. To do that the original Ghost story was split into two parts. Dan Adkins steps in, to ink Buscema and does a wonderful job, and brings back a little of the Surfer's sheen. 

In another two-part story Shalla Bal convinces the unscrupulous scientist Yarro Gort to bring her to Earth to find the Surfer. How she knows he's on Earth is never addressed to my knowledge. The Surfer is embroiled with an invasion of a nameless South American country when the ship arrives and is shot down. He doesn't know Shalla Bal is on Earth until she is shot, and he is forced to send her back to Zenn-La to receive treatment. 

It was about this time that Martin Goodman mandated that all Marvel Comics be one-issue stories and so the Silver Surfer book conforms for the brief time this mandate is in force. The first of these one-off adventures by Lee, Buscema and Adkins had the Surfer fall literally into the clutches of a coven of witches which conjures up the Abomination, the gamma-ray powered monster last seen in the pages of Tales to Astonish. It's pure strength against the power cosmic. One can detect a number of John Romita touch-ups in this issue. 

The Doomsday Man is a robot. An indestructible robot which is imprisoned by his creators on a distant island, but which gets loose. Only the Surfer has a chance to stop the Earth-shaking threat when the robot gets his metallic mitts on a cobalt bomb. Stan's plotting in this one is pretty shaky but I've always liked this parable pleading for peace on Earth. 

I'd guess that sales reports were not promising for the series, so in issue fourteen Stan played the web-slinging card and had Spider-Man guest star in the title. It's a typical Marvel heroes ruckus with both sides full of regret. Spidey often was called upon to battle Marvel stars more powerful than he was, because he had a power many of them lacked to the same degree and that was the ability to sell comics to the merry marching minions of Marveldom.  

After Spidey we get another helping of guest-star assistance when the Human Torch tries to stop the Surfer. The Silver Surfer had been growing ever more cynical as the series progressed, going from seeking to assist man to just hoping to find a refuge away from people, to now firing the first shot when he thinks he's under threat. Whether Stan meant it or not, it's easy to see the Surfer getting more and more miffed as the months roll by. He makes his share of mistakes, but things are only going to get worse. This is the last issue inked by Dan Adkins by the way. 

Chic Stone returns to the Marvel fold to ink Buscema's pencils on the sixteenth and seventeenth issues of the run. Mephisto returns again to try and gain the Surfer's soul. His gambit this time is to kidnap Shalla Bal and bring her to Earth and hide her within the spy outfit SHIELD. At the same time, he goads the Surfer to attack SHIELD hoping that the Surfer will fall into despair when he finds out he killed his own beloved. Nick Fury and his agents fight to fend off the Surfer who refuses to take lives. Mephisto is frustrated and sends Shalla Bal home to Zenn-La. 

In the eighteenth and final Silver Surfer issue the wounded Surfer returns to Earth smack dab in the middle of Inhumans territory. The Inhumans are having a bit of a civil war with Maximus the Mad once again leading his rebels against Black Bolt and the Royal Family. The Surfer cannot really tell friend from foe and fights with everyone. His frustration builds until he bursts out in anger. 

In this iconic final page of a final comic in a series the Surfer declares that he's had all he can stand and he can't stands no more. (To quote a famous sailor...sort of.) As you can see this page was drawn by Jack Kirby, the Surfer's creator. He drew the final issue on his way out the door of Marvel as he headed over to DC to kick off the Fourth World. This issue features a cover by Herb Trimpe who also does a great job inking Kirby's pencils. 

And that's a wrap. 

The next time we see the Silver Surfer in the Marvel Universe it is as part of the "Titanic Three" alongside the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner in the pages of the latter's comic. This Silver Surfer event gives Sal Buscema his first chance to pencil the Surfer as well as ink him.

The Silver Surfer was a remarkable comic in its time. Stan Lee didn't create the Silver Surfer, but in this series, he defined the character with John Buscema who transformed his look. Stan loved writing the Silver Surfer, a character who could slide along in the skies and pop off one soliloquy after another. Stan's operatic writing style was ideal for the meandering mopey often self-loathing speeches the Surfer launched panel after panel. Thanks to John Buscema the Surfer went from a typical muscle-bound hero to a lithe and lanky figure, distinctive and even weak looking at times. The Surfer was often shown on his knees, pleading for understanding and to understand the world on which he found himself. We follow along as he slowly but relentlessly loses his grip and finally is utterly overcome with anger and resentment. I'm not sure that was the plan, but it sure was the journey. 

Stan tucked the Silver Surfer away after this series folded, only letting others use him sparingly over the next many years. He'd show up once in a while as a guest star, appear in some of Marvel's graphic novels including the only new material Fireside book, and ultimately get a new series finally at long last in 1987. I've enjoyed this fresh reading of these stories. They hold up. 

That concludes our Easter special Silver Surfer coverage here at the Dojo. Check in tomorrow for something completely different. Enjoy the holiday! 

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A Marvelous Ret-Con Cover Gallery!

From the very beginnings of the Marvel Universe, Stan and the gang wisely chose to resurrect some of the more successful characters from the halcyon days of Timely and Atlas. The most notorious revival was of the Sub-Mariner who had proven to be a quite successful character for the company in earlier times and was even considered for a television show in the 50's. The Namor we meet in the pages of Fantastic Four #4 is rowdy character who is quickly smitten by Sue Storm, a quasi-romance that will linger in the comic for several years, even after Namor rediscovers his lost kingdom of Atlantis. 

But even before Namor there was the reimagining of the Human Torch who for the first time actually lived up to the name. Where as Namor was the same character as we'd seen in the Golden and Atomic ages of comics, albeit with an altered story line, this new Human Torch was Johnny Storm, a new character altogether, though Marvel immediately saw that he might be a headliner as he hand been in decades past. The Torch was quickly given a solo slot in Strange Tales to attempt to maximize his popularity such as it was. 

The next revival at Marvel was a bit of a surprise, as it came in the pages of the short-lived original Hulk series. It was of the villainous Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. The Golden Age original had been Nazis and these are just clever thieves. Later it was suggested the Nazi Ringmaster had been the father of the Silver Age one, but who knows what the story is today, if the Circus of Crime can even be a thing in these modern days. 

Next was the third of the "Big Three" from Timely. Captain America is unfrozen in Avengers #4 and goes on to become a mainstay of the book and eventual titular leader. He of course will get his own series before long. I've always found it odd that Marvel was so tenuous about his revival, having done a false one in the pages of Strange Tales before the actual for real Cap joined the MU. 

The next revival and retro-continuity character is actually two, one a villain and the other a hero. The Black Knight was a high profile character for Atlas and a bad version was dreamed up in the modern day for Giant-Man to battle. He went on to fight Iron Man before his untimely death. His equipment was inherited by Dane Whitman who chose to use it as a hero and not a villain and eventually the Atlas Knight was tied into all of this in the pages of various Avengers comics. 

Ka-Zar is likely the revival and ret-conning of the oldest character in the Marvel mythos as his precursor was a Tarzan wannabe from the pages of vintage pulps published by Martin Goodman's outfit even before they dabbled in  comic books. Never having read them myself I cannot say if Zabu is likewise a revival or a brand new character. Anyway we are introduced to the Lord of the Savage Land in X-Men #10. 

Another villain returns from the Golden Age when Captain America's most memorable opponent (if you don't count Hitler) returns to scheme and plot anew. The Red Skull had returned in a manner of speaking in stories while being new were set in WWII, but then he comes into the 20th Century when he awakens and seeks the Cosmic Cube. Tales of Suspense housed this revival.  

Now things get a bit dicey, because as it turns out Carl Burgos was trying to get control of the character he'd created so long ago for Marvel. To stave off his attempts the actual Human Torch, the android, was revived and given a new back story of sorts in Fantastic Four Annual #4. This story was then used to show that Marvel had indeed made use of the character and ironically Jack Kirby, who later battled for recognition and some level of ownership of the myriad characters he'd created was the artist on this tale. 

Reaching back into the 1950's Nick Fury battled the Yellow Claw in the pages of Strange Tales. Coming with the classic "Yellow Peril" villain was his arch nemesis Jimmy Woo who eventually became a member of SHIELD.

Red Raven #1 is a weird comic book from Timely's Golden Age and it features the first work by Jack Kirby for the company that will become Marvel. But Kirby had no hand in the revival of the Red Raven in the pages of X-Men #44 when the Angel encountered his Golden Age winged counterpart while on a mission to save his comrades. This story was by Roy Thomas and Don Heck. 

The Human Torch had been revived twice, once as Johnny Storm in a new persona and then as the original (or at least a version of same). Now it was time for Toro to get his due in the pages of Sub-Mariner #14 by Roy Thomas and Marie Severin and we find out how he's lived since those days when he was partnered with the world's most heroic Golden Age android. This is a tragic tale as Toro also dies in this very same appearance. 

Roy "The Boy" Thomas loved the Golden Age of comics and he loved bringing back versions of these characters. One such example and arguably the most successful was The Vision who debuted in Avengers #57. As far as I know this Vision, remarkably rendered by John Buscema had no connections to his Golden Age inspiration save for sharing a name. 

Thomas was at bat again when he and Sal Buscema decided to send a trio of Avengers back in time to WWII to confront a team who were soon to become The Invaders. The Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and Captain America had joined forces before as part of the All-Winners Squad, but here we see the Big Three as they take on Black Panther and the newly minted Vision and Yellowjacket. This happened in Avengers #71.

One of the conundrums of comics is that heroes are owned by companies who make wide use of them. Captain America had been revived before in the 1950's and that revival was at direct odds with the tale told so skillfully in the Avengers. So how to account for it? Steve Englehart decided that the Cap and Bucky of the 50's were do-gooders who were inspired by the originals, but in the stunning four-part series beginning in Captain America #153 we find that they also ingested the racist and xenophobic attitudes of their era. 

It's Roy Thomas again, this time assisted by Rick Buckler who bring back the rest of the All-Winners Squad -- The Whizzer and Miss America. In the pages of Giant-Size Avengers #1 we meet their son "Nuklo" who sadly was affected by the things that gave them powers and becomes a monstrous threat. It's a heartbreaking tale. 

The Invaders finally get sanctioned in 1975 when Roy and artist Frank Robbins tell brand new stories of the adventures of the Golden Age Big Three as they battled Hitler and his allies. I adored this series and while it's a masterwork of retro-continuity it does bother folks who are fans of the original Golden Age stories for the liberties it takes with time frames and whatnot. But for me it was pure fun from the moment they debuted in Giant-Size Invaders #1. 

We'll wrap this up with another return and ret-con from the 1950's. Marvel Boy was a moderate hit in the Atlas years and got some exposure as a reprint Marvel Tales. We find out what really happened in the pages of Fantastic Four #164 by George Perez. The "Crusader" is Marvel Boy by another name, and sadly he's not a hero any longer. Marvel has never stopped ret-conning its characters and we see that endlessly as the amount of time Captain America was in the ice increases as the years roll by. Things must always change alas. Even Bucky came back to life. If I've forgotten anyone please let me know. 

Tomorrow something completely different as October arrives. 

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