Silver Surfer Epic Collection, Vol. 1: When Calls Galactus

Silver Surfer Epic Collection

by Stan Lee

Soaring through the cosmos like a living comet, the Silver Surfer, herald of the world devourer Galactus, debuted in the pages of Fantastic Four and blew the minds of a generation of Marvel fans. This strange, stoic alien entered as harbinger of destruction, but was touched by human compassion, leading him to rebel against Galactus. Now, for the first time ever, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's original Silver Surfer stories are collected in one Epic Collection.

COLLECTING: FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 48-50, 55, 57-60, 72, 74-77; MATERIAL FROM TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) 92-93, FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 56, 61, ANNUAL 5 (SILVER SURFER EPIC COLLECTION VOL. 1)

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

Paperback

First published December 2, 2014

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

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silver Surfer is arguably one of the coolest Marvel characters, certainly one of my favorites, and Stan Lee gets credit for his creation, but the writing left much to be desired, these stories were ok at best, bloated with corny dialogue, and heavy exposition, making the Coming of Galactus storyline the only memorable story of the bunch.

Jack Kirby's art, on the other hand, is timeless and a real Marvel to look at, I love his design of the Silver Surfer, Galactus, and the Watcher, and all the cosmic backgrounds on these panels still look great, the covers as well, are still pretty amazing.

If only the writing could keep up with Kirby's art, truth is, when it comes to Marvel Comics, the sixties is just not my cup of tea.

[Andrew Pixton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was mostly the Fantastic Four, and Hulk issue, up against the Silver Surfer who is my favorite super hero. This comic was definitely a product of its time. Well, it was written in the sixties but it feels like the fifties. Sue Storm is the classical fifties wife, dutifully supporting her husband who dutifully protects her. The bright colors, cliched dialogue, 'telling' exposition, and side notes from nickname Stan all felt weird and made this hard to enjoy. But at the same time, I understand that culture was different then and so it's kind of endearing to see where this was and how far it's come. F.F. aren't one of my favorite hero teams, Hulk is cool, but the best part for me is the Surfer who had almost no defined powers, he's basically a god, and no back story (yet) but still cool to see how he started in the comics.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a year ending in “5” which means once again Hollywood’s trying to adapt Marvel’s First Family for the big screen (5th time’s the charm?). Anyway, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” will be Hollywood’s second attempt at having the FF fight Galactus, The Devourer of Worlds and a popular Marvel villain. Hopefully they’ll get him right this time and not make him a giant space cloud. Either way, to prepare for that I read this Silver Surfer collection that includes the original story that introduced both the Surfer and Galactus, plus a few subsequent Silver Surfer stories.

The real draw of this collection is the opening “The Coming of Galactus” storyline. While I have some nitpicks like the melodrama common to Marvel Silver Age stories, Sue Storm being almost useless (thank heavens future stories improved her character), and weird plot points (the FF threaten Galactus with the Ultimate Nullifer and he withdraws with it after they give it back to him), it's clear why this story is so iconic. Jack Kirby’s artwork is top tier (no surprise) and Galactus and Silver Surfer are such cool characters (both in design and role) that it is no wonder they have become mainstays in the Marvel Universe. Really my only complaints besides the nitpicks are directed at the collection itself for cutting out parts of these iconic issues not directly tied to the Surfer. Sure, I don’t need to see Johnny Storm’s first day of college but it still feels like I’m not getting the whole picture in important comic book issues.

The first story and maybe even the second Galactus story (in which the FF is split up and some of them and the Surfer are in a microverse when Galactus returns which definitely makes things not feel like a carbon copy of the previous encounter) would have made this a 4 star rating. Everything else in the collection, while not horrible, brought the rating down. The bulk of these remaining stories are Fantastic Four-focused with the Surfer only being a major recurring character in most of the issues. That’s fair because that’s what he primarily was in the Silver Age of Comics. The result is that at times it feels like he’s tacked on and the collection title should have changed to something else. Sure his powers and board drive the plot of the Doctor Doom issues but Surfer is otherwise inconsequential. The only other of the stories actually featuring Silver Surfer prominently that was interesting was the crossover with the Incredible Hulk which was admittedly a nice meeting of the two (and setting up their eventual partnership with Doctor Strange). The story did just feel a bit too ham-fisted in its handling of two Marvel characters that experience the worst of humanity’s fears and anger directed at them. Again not horrible, just a tad too melodramatic.

Ultimately this was a decent collection. For all the problems with Silver Age comic writing, Kirby’s artwork is stellar, and characters like the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, the Hulk and Galactus have so much potential that they overcome the weakness of the script and make it worth reading (and luckily other writers subsequently built on their potential). It's just otherwise a letdown of a collection but for me it was serviceable enough to get my Galactus fix, remind me why I like the Silver Surfer character and have more to go on when comparing Disney’s hopeful satisfactory adaptation of The Coming of Galactus with the source material.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is to be done? Jack "king" Kirby and Stan "the man" Lee make magic together. Sure its for kids, but there are plenty of ten-dollar words distributed throughout. Granted, it relates my childhood exposure to the FF, and there is something inherently endearing about the way these stories are told. They never take themselves too seriously, employing plenty of self-referential humor. You are constantly reminded that you are reading a comic book for throwaway kicks. The characters are cardboard cutouts with depth. The team members don't just get along. They bitch and fight, then make up, only to fight some more. Its funny as hell and a feast for the eyes. Hell, I could bloviate about it but whats the point? A no-prize? For the love of christ and Galactus almighty, make mine Marvel!!!

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is 69s 70s age silver surfer so it's a bit cheesy and the characters were still pretty cardboard archetypes but the classic storylines are there so it was still good just not as good as the later stuff.

[Nate]

A collection of the Silver Surfer’s first appearances from 1966-1968 before he gets his own title. The Galactus Trilogy is surely the high point, but other stories are quite good, too. The shorter ones, where the Surfer tangles with Hulk and Quasimodo, ended up being some of my favorites. I like the multi-issue epics, though the Doctor Doom one goes on too long.

Stan Lee has said that he used the Surfer to voice his opinions on the world. I can definitely see that from these stories: he comes off as the philosophical mouthpiece for the Marvel universe, a true alien musing about humanity as he years to understand it. His origin comes later, but these issues immediately establish him as a fascinating character. Plus we get some of Kirby’s best, most imaginative art: the splash pages of Galactus, Silver Surfer in Sub-Atomica, and all the psychedelic textures still look terrific.

This book is of its time, but if you're interested in the Silver Surfer and approach it with an open mind, you'll enjoy it.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before he got his own series, the Silver Surfer appear periodically as a guest-star in the pages of the Fantastic Four. This volume collects those early appearances and includes his first first meeting with the Incredible Hulk from the pages of Tales to Astonish. While this doesn’t include all of the Surfer’s early appearances outside of his own title, it does cover most of the them. It also includes some truly memorable stories from Jack Kirby, creator of the Surfer (even though Stan Lee was been known to attempt to lay claim to this character), actually some of his finest storytelling and art from the height of his career. This leaner than usual volume for one of these Epic Collection features trimmed down, meaning edited, versions of many of the issues included, so the reader can focus on the personal journey of the Silver Surfer.

Includes complete reprints of issues: Fantastic Four #49, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77

Includes material from issues: Fantastic Four #48, 50, 56, 61, Annual #5 & the Hulk stories from Tales to Astonish #92-93

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never really cared about Silver Surfer until I read Dan Slott and Mike Allred's incredible recent run of the character--then he became one of my favorites!

So, with this volume you are mostly getting a bunch of Fantastic Four stories with the Surfer as a side character. That's his origin, however, so what can you do?

The Galactus stuff was a little underwhelming (in his first appearance he is just a really tall dude, for example), and my favorite story of the bunch is the Doctor Doom story, which actually has very little Surfer in it at all.

If you want to see the Surfer's origin, however, this is definitely the place to go. If you want some stories that are more Surfer-centric, then move on to further volumes in this Epic Collection series (or go read the Slott/Allred run. It really is fantastic!).

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

I forgot how much I disliked the Fantastic Four and unfortunately there is more of them in this collection than the Silver Surfer. So, for the moment then, and for my sanity I will ignore their presence, their patronizing, ignorant, impulsive and useless presence.

The Silver Surfer is a far more interesting character anyway. Truly alien and condemned to Earth by Galactus because of his compassion toward humanity, the Silver Surfer is hated and attacked at every opportunity. Nearly indestructible and at first wielding unlimited, yet vaguely defined cosmic power, he is wholly despised, yet time and time again he saves humanity often from themselves. An accidental allegory, I just wish that Stan Lee was a better writer.

[Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of the classic Jack Kirby/Stan Lee Fantastic Four (and Tales to Astonish) Silver Surfer appearances.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like Stan Lee's writing. Self aware, corny, bloated. That ruined this for me.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't care for Stan Lee's writing.

[Josh Bungs · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a fantastic four book with silver surfer guest appearances

[Tony Romine · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my endeavor to read about the Cosmic Marvel universe, the Silver Surfer seemed liked the first real foray into the Cosmic aspect of it. This epic collection consists almost entirely of Fantastic Four comics (including the ones he first appeared in) with the except of two short Tales to Astonish excerpts.

The first issues to appear here are issues 48-50 of the Fantastic Four. This is a legendary storyarc that introduces Silver Surfer and Galactus, two characters that would forever change the Marvel Universe and the scope of the company's comics in general. Surfer is the herald of Galactus, scoping out planets for him to consume so he can live. When he makes his appearance on Earth, the Watcher shows up at the Baxter Building to get the FF ready to save all of humanity. I won't spoil it or anything, but this is a must read comic arc for any fan of Marvel. It will be hard to review the rest of these without revealing though that it ends with Silver Surfer being banished to Earth where he becomes a regular guest in various Marvel comics.

This is followed by a quick one off issue where Surfer battles the Thing because of a misunderstanding. It's pure fan service with little to no substance and ends predictably. After that interlude is a multi-issue arc where Doctor Doom basically steals Surfers cosmic powers to destroy the FF. Surfer himself isn't a big part of these issues, he spends most of them in shackles at Doom's castle. It's funny to see Doom zipping around on the surfboard though and causing chaos.

Next up is a brief one issue story that actually plays a big part in the Silver Surfer's character development. Surfer, being banished to Earth, is disgusted by how violent and cruel humanity is and decides to attack New York, which brings him to battle with the Thing and Human Torch. What's interesting here is this attitude of 'woe is me for being stuck here with these shitty people who hate me' sticks around for quite a bit and is the biggest setback, I think, of the early Surfer comics.

The last FF issues here are about Galactus returning and demanding the Surfer, who shrinks himself down to microscopic size because he could care less about what happens to humanity anymore. The male members of the FF go after him in an attempt to convince him to return. The really terrible villain, Psycho-Man, makes an appearance for some reason. This is basically the weakest of the storylines here, but it's where this epic collection gets it's name from.

All this is followed up with snippets from 2 issues of Tales to Astonish that feature the Hulk battling the Silver Surfer. Like the Thing issue, this is pure fan service with some decent philosophical musings typical of the Surfer thrown in. It would be a lot better if there wasn't at least 2 dialogue or thought balloons plaguing ever panel, but that's the true curse of these Silver Age Marvel comics, Stan Lee loved putting words over everything (for more on my thoughts of how bad Stan Lee's writing was in all his comics, see my Origin of the Inhumans review).

This is a solid collection though, not nearly the slog that some of the Silver Age comics were. You could definitely see things changing and even Stan Lee's writing was getting marginally better as he came up with more expansive stories as he developed the Marvel universe. Not to be missed, an essential read for an understanding of early Marvel history.

[Shannon Schmelzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I like, but that is very hard to recommend to anyone. This collection is of the earliest appearances of the Silver Surfer, mostly, at this point, confined to issues of the Fantastic Four. And in it you get some real classic stories. The first appearance of Galactus and the Surfer. Doctor Doom stealing the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer and terrorizing the world. Only the last story arc involving Galactus and the Psycho-Man did I really not care much for.

So why can't I recommend this? Well literally everything in here except for a really forgettable Hulk/Silver Surfer team up is collected in Fantastic Four collections and at this point Fantastic Four was basically a continuing narrative. So much to the point that storylines would switch mid-issue. The first half of the Galactus issue is an Inhumans story that is not collected here. And that's not the only issue that you only get a couple pages of.

If you like the Kirby/Lee Fantastic Four then I wholeheartedly recommend you go pick up the Fantastic Four collections. Like I said, everything worth reading in here is in those.

If you are more interested in the classic Silver Surfer, then, frankly I would recommend starting with the third Epic Collection, titled Freedom. That launches into a Silver Surfer ongoing that would bring us to Thanos and a lot of things that people would later associate with the character. And I say that because there isn't much to SS in these early appearances. With Lee's bipolar writing he swaps back and forth between "Humanity is amazing" and "Humanity is crazy" at the flip of a coin (or whenever Lee wants to have him fight the Thing. This is fun stuff, but in a vacuum like this, it is extremely repetitive.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not typically a Fantastic Four fan, but they are the title most featured here. The tropes of Ben's attitude and Johnny's youthfulness and inexperience, as well as Sue's helplessness and Reed's domineering personality wear thin relatively quickly. That said, the introduction and focus on Galactus and the Silver Surfer are the bright shining light in this run. We run across several other characters (Psycho Man, etc) as we learn about Silver Surfer and his ties to the cosmic obedience of being a herald to the most powerful being we've ever met (to this point)...Galactus.
Interesting the way Galactus is 'colored' initially, as compared to later and more modern times.
Kirby artwork throughout, and that is classic by any standard...
All said, a fun run, and neat to read the origins of some of the longest-running characters within Marvel. Onto the Silver Surfer solo title next...

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Silver Surfer has long been one of my favourite comic characters so this was a no-brainer when I saw it for sale. It's a collection of the Surfer's earliest appearances before he got his own comic and it forms one long narrative in several episodes. I loved it, however I wasn't a fan of the clipping of tiny parts of an issue so that continuity was satisfied for the story. I get that it sells more comics but for omnibuses like this - especially when there are a multitude of different artists involved, it can be a little distracting. Other than that, it was hugely enjoyable.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first appearances and stories of the galactic Silver Surfer. A good collection of Fantastic Four comics from the 60s. If you like the FF, Silver Surfer, Galactus and you're willing to read the humorous language of the 60s (especially what comes from the Thing's mouth), then you'll be especially pleased with this collection! Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at their best...

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty rough. I know the FF by Stan and Jack is classic, but the FF themselves have no agency in these stories. They don't have goals. Every issue is them sitting around until a villain shows up to start a fight with them. It feels very, very weak. I tried hard to like it, I did. 3 stars for being classic and all that came from the big ideas in it.

[Doug Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a hard time giving the book a four star since it was entirely made up of guest appearances, but they were all really good stories. Some really iconic silver age stuff, almost felt like a greatest hits for the fantastic four up until this point in their history too.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any book that includes the Coming of Galactus automatically gets 5 stars. Lee and Kirby at there absolute peak

[Alain Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first appearances of Galactus and Silver Surfer. Late-1960s Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. What else is there to say?

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is a reprint of the first issues of Marvel comics that introduced and developed the character of the Silver Surfer. He first appeared in Fantastic Four number 48, the series from which most of these stories were taken. Therefore, most of the stories also involve the Fantastic Four. The Incredible Hulk and Doctor Doom also appear in the role of the opponent of the Silver Surfer.
The coloration is outstanding, the production standards are of the highest quality. There is nothing more annoying than having a collection of stories where the images are in black and white. It makes for a lower price but I am like most people and are willing to pay more for the quality.
The dialog is vintage Stan Lee, the FF bicker, complain and there are jokes within the battle talk. Despite his problems, the Silver Surfer remains a noble creature, stuck on Earth and unable to fathom the ways of humans. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were a creative team that may have no peer, this book is an existence proof of that.