The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience

Silver Surfer: One-Shots

by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby (Illustrator)

All New, The Silver Surfer, an Ultimate Comic Experience.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels

115 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Bobby Bermea · Rating 4 out of 5]

You want it to be better than it is.

What makes it special regardless of its shortcomings is, of course, Kirby's artwork. Fascinatingly though, the two men chose to abandon almost completely the history of the Surfer in the Marvel Universe and create a new story from whole cloth.

I am unabashed and unrepentant about my love for the early years of Marvel and the Sixties years of The Fantastic Four comic books (and The Amazing Spider-Man) hold up for me particularly well in ambition, execution and vision. But there is no question that there is an innocence to the stories and in the relationship between the authors and the audience that is not present here. Here, it feels too much like Lee and Kirby are trying to create Art and frankly, in that regard, it's going to be Lee who's going to fall short. I fully consider him a great writer but he's a great writer with a pulp sensibility functioning as the palette he paints with. When he aims for headier stuff, as he often did with the Surfer, all of his weaknesses become glaringly apparent.

Kirby's artwork on the other hand, is still thundering and majestic and the reason to buy the book. Every page is filled to bursting with Kirby's special brand of epic dynamism. If you love him, you'll love the book.

The irony of course, is that usually Kirby is better with Lee. Historically, it seems he felt slighted by Lee, that he didn't get enough of the credit for creating the great characters and stories they created, and that may be true. I don't know. But the fact of the matter, Lee generally managed to ground Kirby and his characters in a way that Kirby couldn't do on his own. He had a handle on character and dialogue that Kirby couldn't seem to grasp. But not here. It feels like the form of comic-books, super-heroes, twenty (or so) pages, a history and world for characters developed over time and not knowing any better, and monthly deadlines put a necessary box around the Lee/Kirby team that brought forth their very best work. Without those strictures, the work loses a little magic.

But without a doubt, Kirby is still king.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly tame story for a Kirby Silver Surfer comic even compared to 1970s Silver Surfer #18.

Stan Lee spends most of the book meditating on Love. It's not very convincing. I'm here for the cosmic drawings of Kirby! And he doesn't disappoint when the story leans that way.

I especially liked the close up panels of Silver Surfer in emotional agony (struggling with lofty concepts of Love and Destiny!)

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questa è stata probabilmente la prima Graphic Novel della storia, di certo è stata la prima della Marvel, che ha riunito i padri fondatori, Lee e Kirby, per realizzarla. I due non si parlavano da anni, vittime di dissapori e incomprensioni non sempre imputabili direttamente a loro. Anche per questo la storia non è propriamente riuscita, per quanto resti una buona storia, splendidamente disegnata da Kirby. Lee, in questo determinato caso, è quello che manca un poco, i suoi dialoghi non sono all'altezza della sua fama, avrei voluto un poco più di impegno da parte sua.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not part of the usual Silver Surfer chronology. This is a kind of alternate reality. This is not how the story of the Silver Surfer arriving on Earth was previously told (see The Fantastic Four: Behold… Galactus! for that story in all its glory). Instead this graphic novel poses the question: What If the Silver Surfer arrived on an Earth which was not populated by superheroes like the Fantastic Four, and came upon his love for humanity all on his own? There’s even a prototype version of the character Her (a female version of Him, aka Adam Warlcok) that is created by Galactus in an attempt to sway Silver Surfer back to stars, but he remains committed to defending humanity against Galactus.

[Rafael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complete masterpiece in writing and drawing science fiction. A story that doesn't only belong in the superhero genre. This book could be next to literature's classics, and be read as one.
Only negative point for me (being a kind of pessimist/nihilist person) is the whole "believe that makind is good" message (which is fine, but meh).

[Pturingan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirby's art is fantastic but Stan's dialogue and captions are kinda painful to read in this case. I was never a fan of the cosmic characters but I was curious about this book, being one of the earliest graphic novels, so I gave it a shot.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first graphic novels I ever owned (the original printing from 1978). If you ever wondered why Kirby belongs in a pantheon all his own, look right here.

[Streator Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is FANTASTIC. The story, not so much.....

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Lee's best work by a long shot. Kirby, however, is in top form. The story's closer to a One-star. 10-star Kirby.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lee and Kirby craft their first, and only, graphic novel centered around the Silver Surfer, the iconic creation stemming from their legendary Fantastic Four run. To create the standalone quality to this, the story strips away the vast majority of connections to the broader Marvel universe and instead treats this as something that could have been an independent Silver Surfer film. There are no mentions of the Fantastic Four or the Watcher, instead this follows the Silver Surfer arriving to an Earth with no defenders in the hopes to serve up a planet for Galactus' consumption. Finding that the planet is teeming with intelligent life but with a lot of room for further development, the Surfer turns on his master in the hopes of saving the planet. Galactus, infuriated with this betrayal, hatches a ridiculous plot involving honeypotting the Silver Surfer.

The story features lazily written dialogue, has a highly repetitive structure to it and is ultimately pretty boring. The salvaging feature is Kirby's artwork, which might feature some of the best looking Silver Surfer panels and splash pages ever. However, the great artwork only makes "The Ultimate Cosmic Experience" more distressing, since it feels like the terrible writing only wastes what is easily one of Kirby's greatest looking comics. A further slap in the face is that the main bit of Marvel continuity involved is the Surfer's previous relationship with Shalla-Bal, the inclusion of which feels like further insult to Kirby since he was famously excluded from the penciling duties of the original Silver Surfer run in favor of John Buscema. The reminder that one of Kirby's greatest creations was stripped away from his capable hands just adds further insult to injury here.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dificilmente se encontrará uma parceria mais influente no mundo dos comics do que a de Stan Lee e Jack Kirby. Dificilmente a Marvel se teria tornado a força cultural que hoje é sem o trabalho seminal destes dois, embora Kirby não tenha colhido os benefícios deste. Entre as personagens e histórias que criaram, Silver Surfer sempre se destacou pelo seu afastamento da normalidade, pelo seu substrato psicadélico e pacifista. Um herói hippie no seu corpo prateado, detentor de poderes cósmicos, inabalável crente na bondade apesar de só se deparar com violência e incompreensão, que se sacrificou duas vezes para salvar planetas, primeiro o seu planeta natal, e seguidamente a Terra, cujos habitantes não o compreendem ou sequer conhecem o seu sacrifício. Ex-arauto de uma força cósmica elementar, além do bem e do mal, que enfrentou por se compadecer com os terrestres. O lado psicadélico de Silver Surfer está especialmente patente na força cósmica de Galactus, o ser que nasceu com o universo e que se alimenta de planetas vivos. 


Este Cosmic Experience conta a origem deste personagem, na sua luta contra Galactus e a paixão que nutre por seres que não o compreendem, que o leva a sacrificar-se para defender aqueles que, tantas vezes, lhe agradecem com violência e desconfiança. O otimismo humanista que Stan Lee deixa bem vincado nesta série tenta ensinar-nos que temos a capacidade de ultrapassar os nossos piores vícios. Mas a verdadeira estrela deste livro é o traço único de Jack Kirby, rude, e no entanto fascinante. O trabalho dos coloristas complementa o traço num estilo cósmico, a puxar ao alucinante. É um grande trabalho de dois mestres do género. 

[Bill Doughty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another take on the Silver Surfer and Galactus's discovery of Earth and the former's resultant rebellion against the latter, only without the Fantastic Four and also the Surfer totally does it with a sparkly gold lady. I prefer the original version, but this is still Stan and Jack reuniting at their 70s wildest and although they may not reach the heights of their original collaboration it is still a spectacle worth checking out if you're a fan.

[Shamanjules · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Kirby’s art-brain is made out of pop surrealism, cosmic psychedelia, high evolutionary totems, dynamic pow! punch! from hands with extra knuckles. He is quite literally from another plane of existence and I’m glad I got to know his weird alien brain through his comic book art. Oh yeah, and Stan Lee wrote this.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, Kirby is always a delight and he has a lot of fun with the potential of the Silver Surfer. I'm at the point though where I think I need Silver Surfer stories that aren't just a rehash of his first visit to Earth and subsequent conflict with Galactus.
But within that framework, this is good.

[Arnoldo Mendes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This is the kind of comic that never gets old.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my fave graphic novels of all time. The art and story are amazing!

[Matthew Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of Lee and Kirby, best of Silver Surfer.

[Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt a bit like reading the end results of a Marvel Mad Lib game.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirby Silver Surfer is the GOAT.

[Rene Blansette · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first graphic novels to be published. I think MacGregor amd Gulacy's Sabre was published about the same time, but since this being from Marvel and Simon and Schuster, had better marketing behind it. Kirby's art was a little more detailed than usual, pobably because he had more time to work on it. Or at least I hope he did. (I can't remember if he was back at Marvel at the time, so maybe it was in between issues of either Captain America or Devil Dinosaur). Stan's dialogue and captions could be painful at times.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether it is the goofy, late-1970's intro from Stan Lee, the great photo of a pipe-wielding Jack Kirby, or the amazing over-the-top grandeur of the story... or the effortlessly incredible artwork (those space vistas... that blobby shadow inking... Galactus...), this is pretty much top-notch.

[Brett]

Comics,Graphic Novel

[Mladen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat mute story. Love the Kirby's dots of energy.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Remake del origen de Silver Surfer a cargo de sus creadores.