Marvel Masterworks: Silver Surfer Vol. 1 & 2
Writer: Stan Lee
Artists: John Buscema and Jack Kirby
Stan Lee’s writing of the Silver Surfer's nobility and relationship with humanity makes him one of my favorite underrated heroes
Ranking: 5 stars
I admit that I hold a deep appreciation for underrated or lesser-known characters. I think that this is primarily more well known or popular characters are often widely discussed amongst others, which leaves the potential for one to come across spoilers or be disappointed due to overhyping (especially in the age of the Internet). Since lesser-known characters are not talked about as much, I feel that these characters are often able to offer new concepts and ideas that I had not been exposed to as a result. This is why in several of my past reviews, I have given heavy praise towards lesser-known comic book villains such as Hush and Doctor Hurt from Batman, Cassandra Nova from the X-Men, and Morlun and Kaine from Spider-Man. What’s strange though, is while I’ve continuously praised lesser-known villains, I’ve never actually given the time to provide similar treatment for a lesser-known superhero. This is where the Silver Surfer comes in. Outside of the Fantastic Four fan base (or individuals who have seen the film FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER), not very many people know who this guy is, or only possess basic knowledge of the character. This is sad in my opinion, as the Silver Surfer is easily one of the most tragic, noble, and complex superheroes in the history of Marvel. I’ll admit that before I got invested in the Surfer, the only knowledge that I had of him was that he was once the herald of the world-eater Galactus and enemy of the Fantastic Four, was of alien origins, and later became a hero when he betrayed his master to protect the planet Earth from being destroyed. It wasn’t until I read his 18-issue solo series collected in the MARVEL MASTERWORKS that I truly came to love this character. The MARVEL MASTERWORKS is a series of graphic novels that collect the very first issues of Marvel’s most popular superheroes (most of them dating back to the 1960’s and 70’s). Back in high school, I collected and read several of these books, which exposed me to the earliest stories of characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil, and the Avengers. It was here that I was first exposed to the Silver Surfer’s exploits in Stan Lee’s fantastic run on the character’s first solo-series. While a lot of the dialogue is outdated (keep in mind it was written back in the 60’s though…), these stories still hold up extremely well in my eyes, as they were the ones that helped define the Silver Surfer’s character and his relationship with humanity.
Something I should mention is that unlike the comics published today, comic books from the 1960’s did not have their issues act as individual chapters to a larger story arc, but rather as self-contained stories of their own. Because of this, MARVEL MASTERWORKS: SILVER SURFER does not have an ongoing narrative that flows from issue to issue, but rather individual stories that are connected only by the characters and past continuity. As a result, this review is not going to be about each of the stories themselves, but rather of the Silver Surfer himself and the themes presented in his stories, so I’ll only summarize the plot of the first issue as it details the character’s origin story.
As with most of the stories found in the MARVEL MASTERWORKS, Stan Lee founder of Marvel Comics and creator of its most famous characters wrote these. SILVER SURFER #1 open with the cosmic herald transversing the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere before encountering a damaged space capsule plummeting towards the ocean. Before the capsule sink, the Surfer is able to rescue the pilot and leave him on board a U.S. aircraft carrier. Despite the Surfer’s noble deed, the military still fires missiles at him, as the entire world perceives him as a threat to mankind due to him being an alien. After the Surfer escapes the bombardment, he begins to question how the inhabitants of a planet as peaceful and tranquil as Earth, could be filled with such distrust and savagery. While he yearns to escape Earth and transverse the cosmos, he is unable to, as his former master, Galactus, has imprisoned him on Earth with an invisible barrier that only the Surfer is unable to pass. As the Silver Surfer ponders his current predicament, he begins to reflect on his past. Before he became the Silver Surfer, he was once known as Norrin Radd, an inhabitant of the planet Zenn-La. While Zenn-La is home to a humanoid race like ours, its people were able to obtain a state of absolute peace, ridding themselves, of crime, poverty, disease, and war. But this peaceful existence comes at a price for Norrin, as he has become bored and seeks more excitement and adventure in his life. His wish is soon granted however, when a mysterious alien sphere unexpectedly invades Zenn-La. The sphere is able to penetrate all of the planets defenses without any effort, and is powerful to survive an attack by the planet’s most powerful doomsday weapon without any damage. When all hope appears to be lost for Zenn-La, Norrin suddenly volunteers to go to the mysterious invader and negotiate a truce. When Norrin enters the sphere, he discovers that it houses a threat far more terrifying than even the most powerful alien military force: the world devour Galactus! Galactus is a being of near-infinite power that originally came from a universe that died when ours was born. However, in order to survive in our universe, Galactus must consume a unique form of energy that is only found in certain planets, basically “eating” planets to sustain his appetite. With Zenn-La next on the menu, Norrin Rad begs Galactus to search for an uninhabited planet to devour, which Galactus declares to be impossible without a herald to find worlds for him. Norrin then offers his services to Galactus, volunteering to help him destroy other worlds in order to save his own. Galactus then transforms Norrin Radd into the Silver Surfer, granting him the near-infinite power of the cosmos as well as his board to ride through the depths of space. However, the Surfer ended up betraying his master when Galactus threatened to consume Earth, as he saw potential in the human race despite being flawed, which resulted in his imprisonment on the planet in the present day.
If I had only one criticism with this book (as well as the majority of the MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions; excluding Chris Claremont’s UNCANNY X-MEN) is that the majority of the dialogue is pretty cheesy, and somewhat outdated. But I feel that it would be unfair to hold it against the book, as the comics it contains were written back in the 1960’s, and the writing standards back then were different than what they are today. Other than that, the comics featured in MARVEL MASTERWORKS: SILVER SURFER, still hold up extremely well in my opinion, as these were the stories that first exposed me to how intriguing a character the Silver Surfer is. When I first read them stories, the only prior knowledge that I possessed of the Silver Surfer was that he used to be Galactus’ herald, and was a villain turned hero, so I was completely blown away by how complex and developed he was as a character. I’m not the only one who thinks that, as Stan Lee himself stated in the introduction to this book, that the Silver Surfer was possibly his favorite of all the superheroes he created for Marvel. This was because, in his own words, “the virtue of [the Surfer’s] character, the purity of his soul, and the nobility of his actions, coupled with the altruism of his motives, are virtually without parallel.” Stan Lee’s views towards the character are very reflective of my own, as I too perceive the Silver Surfer as the most noble and kindhearted superhero produced by Marvel. In a way, the Surfer is like Marvel’s equivalent to Superman, as both originally hail from alien planets, are extremely kindhearted and benevolent individuals, and their goals possess allusions towards Jesus Christ (this is reflected in the Surfer sacrificing himself to become Galactus’ herald, as well as his desire to absolve humanity of it’s savage nature). While I do hold a fair amount of respect for the Man of Steel (in both his unlimited kindness and importance to the superhero genre), I find the Surfer to be the more compelling of the two as I feel the Surfer struggled more with the flawed aspects of human nature in spite of his kindhearted nature. Even though the Surfer is both an alien and a selfless individual, we see that he still struggles with temptations that human beings struggle with. Like us, he is bound to dwell on his personal desires, such as when he craved excitement in the face of being bored with Zenn-La’s perfection, and can sometimes allow those desires to cloud his judgment, as he has debated multiple times on whether he should attempt to escape Earth while the planet is being attacked by intergalactic threats. So while the Surfer does possess flaws as an individual being, he still conveys a sense of almost limitless kindness and nobility. Whenever another individual, or both the planets of Zenn-La and Earth as a whole are threatened, he is able to overcome his own desires, and put all his might into defending others. In essence, although the Surfer struggles with the same temptations that we humans do, his good-hearted nature allows him to put aside his own desires in order to do what is necessary for the greater good. In a way, the Surfer can be seen as a metaphor of how nobility and selflessness are capable of surpassing the individual desires and temptations of human beings. As such, the Silver Surfer is the perfect example of making a compelling character that possesses unlimited kindness in my eyes, as he possesses enough flaws and dimension in order to prevent his good-hearted nature from making him one-dimensional.
Along with the Silver Surfer’s unique characterization, the other compelling aspect that I found in his original stories was his relationship with the human race. As I previously stated, because the Surfer is an alien he is viewed upon by humanity with suspicion and hate. This inherent distrust has completely blinded humanity from the good that the Surfer does for them, and as a result they always immediately perceive him as a threat and will respond violently. Countless exposure towards humanity’s hatred and savagery has caused the Surfer to approach them with caution, and after having his trust betrayed countless times in the past, he has vowed to never place his trust in another human again. I found these themes of human savagery and mistrust to be extremely intriguing. Whereas most of the comics written by Stan Lee during the 60’s focused inherently on story and characters, I felt that his work on the SILVER SURFER was the first to heavily utilize his characters and stories towards exploring philosophical ideas about humanity. I honestly can’t think of another comic published by Marvel during the 60’s that explored serious issues like bigotry and mistrust to such a degree. While now days, the Surfer’s continuous brooding about humanity as savage could come across as pretentious (similar to how a lot of Sci-Fi movies around the time period had aliens judge humans as the most savage of any species), I feel that these arguments are justified through the Surfer’s personality and backstory. Because the Silver Surfer originally hailed from a planet of absolute perfection, where war and disease were distant memories, he was unaware of the levels of savagery that living beings were capable of. His conclusions about human nature were also backed up through his travels across the universe when he was Galactus’ herald, as he was exposed to countless alien worlds and civilizations. As a result of his own planet’s perfection and the comparisons he could draw from other planets he explored, I feel that the Surfer coming to the conclusion that humans are the most savage species he’s encountered is justified from both a character and narrative perspective. The other aspect about the Surfer’s views towards humanity that I found to be unique and compelling was how it factored into the character’s personality and motivations. Because of the Surfer’s benevolent soul along with his continuous exposure to human nature, he understands that while humans are capable of great violence and brutality, he senses that underneath their savagery, humans have the potential for great kindness and compassion. It is because of humanity’s potential for great good, that the Silver Surfer is motivated to do whatever he can to protect the Earth from alien invaders, or those who have judged humanity as unworthy to exist. I found this aspect of the Surfer’s relationship with the human race to be highly compelling as it not only added original layers to what has now become a “Sci-Fi B-Movie” cliché, but also serves as reminder that while we are capable of savagery, we are also capable of being something better.
Overall, Stan Lee’s work on the Silver Surfer is the reason why I find the character to be so unique and compelling. While the writing is definitely cheesy and somewhat outdated, the stories themselves are still worthwhile in my opinion as they exposed me to a character with unique and original qualities that I feel deserves more attention. The Surfer is a three-dimensional and complex character in not just his ability to be kindhearted and noble while simultaneously resisting personal temptations and desires, but also in his relationship with the human race and how he sees them as savage, yet capable of something greater. In my opinion, the best kinds of comic books are the ones that are able to balance bizarre elements of fantasy with those of real life. The stories collected in MARVEL MASTERWORKS: SILVER SURFER are a prime example of that as while the main character is a silver-skinned humanoid alien that rides a flying surf-board, his characterization allows the writer to convey deep themes about humanity as a whole. The fact that a character with such weird features was able to provide me new and innovative themes I had not yet been exposed to at the time, is truly a testament worthy of recognition. Even if you’re not a fan of deep themes or symbolism about human savagery, one can still find appeal in the Silver Surfer through him fighting aliens with near-infinite cosmic powers. Whether you’re into fun Sci-Fi action or themes about human savagery, the Silver Surfer is an underrated comic book hero that I feel is worthy of more attention than he has received.
“Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”
-Abraham Lincoln
