Friday, March 29, 2024

Good Friday - To Be Hulk-Inued!


The Silver Surfer has made a huge impact in the imaginations of Marvelites everywhere, but his appearances to date had been exclusively in the pages of the Fantastic Four. That was about to change. 
 


When next we encounter the Silver Surfer it is not in the pages of the Fab 4, but rather in Tales to Astonish #92 in an incredible Hulk story. The Surfer appears to the Hulk at the end of one issue with the intent of helping the man monster.


The Hulk and the Surfer battle it out needless to say, as the Surfer's attempts to end the curse of the Hulk for Bruce Banner are met with angry and violent rejection by the Hulk and the Surfer ultimately leaves him to wander across the globe once more.



Next time the Surfer gets his very own story in the pages of Fantastic Four King-Size Special #5 where he again tries to help a suffering soul. This time that soul is the living computer Quasimodo (Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organ) who has been abandoned by his creator the Mad Thinker. 


(That "Kirby Krackle" really blooms in the Blacklight Version.)

The Surfer imbues the creature with a true body which allows him to follow his evil ambitions. The Surfer regrets his assistance and battles Quasimodo, ultimately transforming him into a statue. Marvel never passes up a chance to reprint this story. 


The cover art looks a little brighter when the story was reprinted the first time in Marvel Super-Heroes


The Surfer has spent his time on Earth looking for a mission, a way to be of value. It hasn't gone well. The stage is nearly set finally for the return of the Surfer's master the might Galactus. More on that next time.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Maundy Thursday - The Peril And The Power!


When the Fantastic Four were successful in turning away the awesome Galactus, they did it with the help of his turncoat herald the Silver Surfer. The Surfer was rebuked by his master by having his space-spanning powers curtailed and being isolated on the Earth. So in between the appearances of the mighty Galactus we are treated to the misadventures of the Surfer on Earth.


His first battle comes against the Thing in Fantastic Four #55 when the Surfer pays a little too much attention to Ben Grimm's main squeeze Alicia Masters. The two battle around in classic Marvel style before making amends.


When the Surfer next appears in Fantastic Four #57, he is traveling the globe investigating the human race and finding that much of the population is a little less noble than one would ideally hope.


Surprisingly naive he falls into the clutches of arch-fiend Doctor Doom who uses guile to catch the Surfer off guard and technology to steal his cosmic powers. The Surfer is imprisoned in Doom's castle in Latveria.


Doom then makes the most of his new powers and flies across the planet raising all kinds of hell. The FF learn of this new menace but are at first at a loss at how to contend with their enemy's new-found might.


While Doctor Doom revels in his powers and pranks the planet, the Inhumans escape the Great Refuge when Black Bolt finally speaks.


The menace of the cosmic Doom is finally put to rest when Reed Richards cooks up a gadget which is enlarged by the military, and which tricks the bad Doctor into heading into space and cracking his noggin against the barrier that Galactus had set up to keep the Surfer on Earth. Doom's fate is uncertain but the cosmic might returns to the Silver Surfer and he takes his leave of Latveria.






We have seen that the Silver Surfer has been buffeted by his encounters with mankind. He has high hopes when he abandoned his role as herald for Galactus, but he might be regretting his decision. But he will try to help still as we'll see next time. 

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Spy Wednesday - The Ultimate Cosmic Experience!


The Silver Surfer graphic novel from 1978 is part of the Fireside publishing program which gave us the Origins of the Marvel Comics volume as well as its three sequels, and The Art of Marvel Comics. One source suggested this original story was prompted by the desire to make a Silver Surfer movie and the Ardina character was concocted specifically for Oliva Newton-John. (It might've been a hit like Grease or a notorious bomb like Xanadu. But if true, we'll never know. Rest in peace Olivia.)


Whatever its original inspiration, it is to my understanding the final collaboration between Stan "The Man" Lee and Jack "King" Kirby. It is also the only original material publication Fireside published for Marvel. All the rest featured reprints of classic material. 


The Silver Surfer is Jack Kirby's creation, no one disputes that these days, but Stan is a little coy on that particular detail in his introduction to this alternate version of the Surfer's initial trip to Earth. Stan had really taken a shine to the Sky-Rider when he showed up and had produced an ongoing series about the Surfer without Kirby's input or participation (at least at first) a year or so before Kirby departed Marvel for DC and the Fourth World. That perceived snub was one of the sore points between the two creators. (I'll have much more on the series this weekend.)


This is retelling of the Silver Surfer's first journey to Earth. There is no Fantastic Four to stop Galactus this time, and as far as I can tell, there are no other superheroes of any kind. No Watcher appears to give warning that Surfer is about to descend and bring the Devourer of Worlds to the hapless globe.


Instead we have a story from the Surfer's perspective for the most part which begins with the hand of Galactus opening and releasing the Surfer into the universe.


The dialogue tells us this is Norrin Radd of Zenn-La who left his planet and his love Shalla-Bal to serve Galactus. We see the Surfer as he comes to Earth and for reasons which even the Surfer seems confused about is struck by some aspect of humanity which he deems worthy to keep. So he turns on his master and is stuck down, forced to stay on the planet he has championed.


Later Galactus seems to regret his decision and having consulted his own quality of deviousness fashions a woman intended to seduce the Surfer and return him to the side of his master. Ardina is a golden woman who appears to have the essence of Shalla-Bal in some sense and the Surfer is indeed much attracted to this golden woman and the two have a dalliance. But afterwards when confronted with the choice of returning to Galactus, the Surfer rejects his master again.


The two meet and have conversation with humans but in the end the Surfer leaves and Ardina having failed in her initial mission is drawn back to her master who has set up a base of sorts on the Moon.



Ardina is again tasked with bringing the Surfer back, this time with a different bargain. Galactus has found he needs and wants his herald back and offers the Surfer his freedom from Earth and a return to servitude for Galactus. All this and Earth can live.


The Surfer still seems torn and soon loses Ardina who is reduced by Galactus to her atoms. But in the end the Silver Surfer sees that he has little choice if Earth is to survive and so he accepts the conditions offered by Galactus and flies back into space, returning once again to hand from which he had first emerged in his shining glory.


This is a weird story, more a fable really. It's set apart from the Marvel Universe and since it largely recapitulates the events of the first Galactus story in the Fantastic Four, it cannot be blended into chronology. I suspect this story occupies an Earth which has been given a number designation by now, but I haven't yet bothered to look that up. This is a very talky tale with exceedingly little "action". There is a battle between the Surfer and Galactus but it's mostly a miss since we know how that has to turn out. There is no Ultimate Nullifier this time, so Galactus withdraws from Earth the first time for his own, most inscruable reasons.


We do get a fascinating sequence when the Surfer adopts a human guise and walks among men, falling victim to crime almost immediately. Despite this, he continues to champion mankind and sees in the youth  of the population a great hope. There is surprisingly little racial diversity in this story. All the characters who speak save one are white and even the crowd scenes have an upscale suburban look to them. This is weakness for a story which wants to preach about the needs of humanity to overcome its differences. This is a surprising failure on Kirby's part. There is one significant black face in the story and sadly that belongs to a mugger. Perhaps I overstate this weakness but that it occurred to me at all is not good.


The way in which the Silver Surfer emerges from the hand of Galactus and then returns to it seems much more in keeping with Kirby's original conception of the character as being of pure energy and not really having a past. This story seems to want to have it both ways. Really it could be argued that this whole story is all about Galactus who divides aspects of himself out and then contends with them. The Surfer is part of him, the sly gray bird like man is part of him and Ardina likewise seems to be part of Galactus. It's only in the dialogue really that you see variations on this. Kirby was hurt when Stan absconded with the Surfer and contracted with John Buscema to do the series way back when. It was one of the many grudges he nursed as he took his talents to DC. Now a decade later we seem to get the Silver Surfer story that the King intended.

Kirby's original cover was rejected (sort of) and a version of that same illustration was done by veteran cover artist Earl Norem. (See the top of this post.) To my eye the Norem cover is much weaker than the Kirby original, but that's how things went in the late 70's. If you'd like to actually read this epic fable, check out this link. It's an amazing glimpse into the last hurrah for one of the great comic book duos.

More Surfer next time as his we see what happened after he broke with Galactus in the regular Marvel Universe of 616. 

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Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Holy Tuesday - The Saga Of The Silver Surfer!


The grand finale of the Galactus Trilogy coincides with the fabulous fiftieth issue of the Fantastic Four. It is an issue filled with spectacle, drama, and terror, but also with the shining embers of stories yet to be told. It is in many ways like life itself, not conveniently an ending nor a beginning, but merely another part of a great and vast saga.


"The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer"  by Lee, Kirby, Sinnott and Rosen begins with the Surfer himself confronting his master, the great and powerful Galactus who prepares to drain the energy of the entire planet Earth so that he might continue to live.

The confrontation comes swiftly as the Silver Surfer presses his attack on his former Master, using the power bestowed upon him to imprison Galactus himself inside a cocoon of hardened energy. Ben Grimm and Reed Richards are fascinated by this power and the Thing unwisely touches the paradoxical cocoon just before it begins to splinter and shatter, the energy erupting outward in all directions. Galactus emerges unscathed and the Surfer's further attacks bounce harmlessly against his defensive "Absorba shields".


Then Galactus counter-attacks, but the Surfer is able to dodge the bolts with relative ease. The two battle while the Watcher and the Fab 4 watch. The Watcher though at the same time is guiding the Human Torch home as he must return from beyond the limits of time and space, past deadly bands of "Un-Life". Johnny Storm returns from his mission to the home of Galactus with a weapon capable of defeating the awesome figure from outer space. But his trip has been too much and he collapses, the memories fading even as tries to fathom what he has seen. The Watcher puts the new weapon in Reed's hands and instructs him how to use it.


Meanwhile the Silver Surfer and Galactus continue to battle, as Galactus turns his efforts against the city itself in an attempt to draw off the Surfer's attack. Suddenly though Mr. Fantastic appears and confronts Galactus with the "Ultimate Nullifier" and immediately Galactus concedes knowing that the Watcher has helped the humans of Earth turn back his threat.


Bearing no grudge, but giving into the new reality he promises to not drain Earth of its energy and having given his word the Watcher announces that the threat is over because the word of Galactus is truth itself. But Galactus does take hold of the Nullifier and also removes from his former herald, the Silver Surfer, the ability to soar through space.


Then in a magnifcent show of ultimate power Galactus teleports away taking with him all his instrumentality and leaving only the Silver Surfer behind as evidence that he had ever been on Earth at all.


The Silver Surfer seeks to bond with the Thing but the sudden appearance of Alicia Masters and her interest in the Surfer causes Ben Grimm to grow jealous and he leaves quietly misunderstanding the connection between his girl and the Surfer. The Silver Surfer then leaves the Baxter Building, flying into the sky to explore the world he has risked all to save.

The world at large debates the threat of Galactus, many dismissing it as a hoax. Also reading of the victory of the Fantastic Four is a mysterious bald man who threatens to destroy the team in the future. The scene shifts to Metro College where Coach Sam Thorne has trouble with his ace player Whitey Mullins. At the Baxter Building Reed Richards has already begun his next project much to the chagrin of his wife Sue who feels ignored. On the streets of NYC the Thing roams despondent, still sulking about the imagined loss of Alicia.


Again at Metro College Johnny Storm drives onto campus for his first days of college and meets Wyatt Wingfoot. The two are seen by the Dean and given advice about how to approach their studies, but Johnny's mind wanders to his great journey into the space and time and he misses the words of wisdom. He and his new friend Wyatt head off their new room and a new life as the story closes.


And so ends arguably the finest story in the whole wide history of the Marvel Universe. It seems somehow so small nowadays, a mere three issues (and not all of two of those) but this story was the apex of the storytelling done by the dynamic team of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the high point of a run of comics stories which have never been equaled in the long history of the medium. With the coming of Galactus the Fab 4 confronted the end times and in classic superhero fashion overcame by dint of their unflagging courage and sheer will.

(Galactus returned in the 1967 FF Annual, if only in this mega-group pose.)
Of course it required  the cosmic intervention of the godlike Watcher to guide them to the "Deus Ex Machina" solution but it was the exceedingly "Human" Torch who made the epic journey beyond the stars and the imagination, to find it and bring the celestial gift home to be used by the wisest man on the planet. It was the gentle and kind heart of Alicia Masters, a woman who sees beyond the skin to the inner recesses of the heart of others who kindled in the Surfer a kinship with humanity and made of him the Savior for the entire planet. He came to Earth a god, but became a man and through that transformation changed how his Creator interacted with the planet and its people. By his sacrifice, he exacted from his Creator a new covenant with mankind for peace in our times.

This epic story has been reprinted many many times. I've been featuring the Marvel's Greatest Comics covers which were the source of the first time I ran across this epic in comic book form. Here are a couple more great covers of collections which featured the story.



The first time though that I ran across this truly fantastic tale was not in comic book form. It was an episode of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series starring the Fantastic Four. Take a gander at Alex Toth's design of Galactus for that episode. 


The story has been adapted in later cartoons and even was the source for the second Fantastic Four movie. But as much as Marvel would love for it to be so, there will never be a story which packs the punch and pure majesty of this classic epic, the greatest story ever told in the comic book which dubbed itself (and for a time correctly) "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine".


I read the saga in the first Silver Surfer Epic Collection this time. A different Silver Surfer by Stan and Jack tomorrow.

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Monday, March 25, 2024

Holy Monday! - If This Be Doomsday!


The cover of Fantastic Four #49 is awe-inspiring, the weird green figure of Galactus obscured but omnipresent in the background with the Silver Surfer swinging freely around his neck like a cosmic chain, the energy bolts erupting from his fingers dashing the ground beneath the feat of the fleeing Fantastic Four, it's all here the drama and the dilemma which faces the planet Earth now that the "Big G" has come.


Galactus has landed on Earth! The Fantastic Four look on at the giant powerful figure as he confers with The Watcher. The Watcher pitches his case for the defense of Earth, but Galactus rejects his petition and forges ahead with his plans to devour the planet's vast energy resources.


Ben Grimm attacks, punching forward as only he knows how and finds his blows have no effect save to cause Galactus to drop a capsule which emits a deadly toxin, to erradicate such pests. The Human Torch attacks, immersing Galactus in flames but those are absorbed and Galactus snuffs out the Torch's fame with two quick eyebeams. The Watcher tells Johnny Storm to desist and join his comrades in the Baxter Building. Johnny does and is shocked to find Ben and Reed cleaning themselves up when in his mind they should be gathering to fight the new menace. He instructed to be patient.


Meanwhile the Silver Surfer finds himself atop a skylight in another part of town and slides inside the apartment it looks down upon. In a moment of great coincidence it turns out to be the apartment of Alica Masters, a blind sculptor and the girlfriend of Ben Grimm. She recognizes the alien nature of the Surfer but also due to her great empathy finds buried in his shining visage vestiges of nobility. She offers to break bread with him, and he accepts.


At the Baxter Building Galactus contructs his massive Energy Converter using the building as a base. The Fab 4 watch the equipment which descends from the orbit assemble and the Watcher describes what will happen. First the oceans will be evaporated as the energy is absorbed and then Earth's cities. Eventually even the core of the planet will be consumed and the Earth will be only a husk when a sated Galactus departs. The Watcher says there is little they can do on their own, but he offers a plan which requires the help of the Human Torch.

At Alicia Masters' apartment the Surfer is put off by the quaint human need for food and transforms mere food and other objects in the room into pure energy free to absorbed directly. Alicia is alarmed by his cold demeanor but again urges him to seek something deeper in his inner self. He admits to discovering beauty in the face of Alicia but again says that he is but the servant of the mighty Galactus, though the plight of the people of Earth faced with imminent destruction does evoke pity. The people of New York City look on helpless and hope the Fantastic Four can save them from a threat they do not really comprehend.


Galactus has at last finished his Converter but when he triggers it there is no function. He discovers The Thing atop the machine destroying a vital element. Ben Grimm is able to catch the great Galactus off guard and knocks him from the building but Galactus does not fall as he has command over gravity itself. Instead to meet this new annoyance he summons from his orbiting ship the Punisher, a might cyborg servant who races to attack.


The Watcher readies Johnny Storm for his quest beyond time and space to retrieve an object which might defeat Galactus.


The Human Torch is transported an impossible distance across space to the homeworld of Galactus himself, a vast space station.


The Punisher lands and confronts the Fantastic Four immediately locking horns with The Thing and Mr. Fantastic. But the Punisher's speed and power are too much for the heroes and they take shelter behind the Invisible Girl's powerful force fields. But Galactus has bought the time he needs to repair his machine and he calls off the Punisher, returning him to space. The three members of the Fantastic Four look on helpless.

Meanwhile Alicia has struck a chord in the soul of the Surfer and he for the first time sees himself as more than a tool for the benefit of Galactus, he feels a kinship with mankind and so goes for the first time to stand against his master. The Watcher sees this and fears what this unplanned intervention will mean for his carefully laid plan to save Earth, and he fears the worst.


This issue of the Fantastic Four shows step by step how helpless the FF are in the face of the cosmic threat of Galactus. Without the intervention of the Watcher they'd have been caught completely off guard and the Earth would have been destroyed. But even with the Watcher's help, in defiance of his sacred pledge to intervene in the affairs of man, they have only a slim hope of salvation.


Galactus has come to Earth, the god has descended and it is the end times unless a savior should appear. The Silver Surfer, an instrument of Galactus is transformed again by the beautiful soul of Alicia Masters, an artist who is able to find beauty in the ugliest situations. She is able to ignite a spark which still smolders inside the herald of Galactus and he himself in defiance of his sacred pledge rises up to defend mankind. The Watcher's doubt throws the whole hopeful moment into one of suspenseful anticipation. Both the Watcher and Alicia have ignited a defense against the awesome Galactus, but will those plans interfere with one another. The finale awaits.


See you tomorrow as mankind's last hope for salvation shows up.

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