Essential Silver Surfer: Vol. 1

Essential Silver Surfer

by Stan Lee, John Buscema

Witness the birth of the Sentinel of the Spaceways, as humanoid being Norrin Radd becomes the Silver Surfer - Galactus' first cosmic-powered herald and one of Marvel's most noble heroes!
Collects Silver Surfer #1-18; Fantastic Four Annual #5.
All-new edition!

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

528 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1970

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

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know '60s Silver Surfer gets a lot of flack for being a little on the angsty side... Stan Lee has said that he basically used the Surfer as his outlet to express all his sorrows at the state of humanity while also providing an inspirational spark of hope. You know what, though? I actually don't mind it. I guess I'm just sappy enough to empathise with the Silver dude.

I'll be honest, though; when it comes to this book, I'm all about the artwork! John Buscema is a comicbook drawing GOD! Along with Neal Adams, Big John was instrumental in moving comicbook art into the realms of more realistic anatomy without losing a bit of the kinetic dynamism that made the 1960s work pop!

When I was a kid, I taught myself to draw studying (and, let's be honest here, copying) John Buscema's work (also both John Romitas and John Byrne... basically any comicbook artist called John). Johnny B. was my go-to guy for realistic but dynamic human anatomy, though. I owe this guy big time.

Buscema's work on this book is incredible. The man can draw anything. For two issues, he's inked by Chic Stone and the combo really looks great. I could send hours just studying these pages... in fact, when I was a kid, I did! :-D

The final issue in this volume isn't drawn by Buscema... but when the fill-in artist is Jack Kirby himself, you won't hear me complaining!

The only gripe I have with the book is due to the nature of the Surfer's power set. The Silver Surfer suffers from what I call 'cosmic character syndrome'. He belongs to a class of characters who are so powerful it's difficult to actually define what they can or can't do, which leads to some writers using them as deus ex machina generators. The other problem is that it can be tough for writers to keep their power levels consistent from issue to issue. This becomes a problem in this book. There are several moments where you find yourself thinking 'Hang on a sec... Last issue he said he couldn't use his powers to heal Shalla-Bal but in this issue he just healed twelve guys who were injured way worse than she was!' etc., etc... Also time travel. 'Nuff said.

[Portobellord · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Silver Surfer is actually a really cool character. He's all moody and space emo, laying about on meteors and bemoaning his fate of being stranded on Earth. John Buscema's artwork is beautiful, he makes the Silver Surfer so evocative. His use of shadow is amazing, in the scenes where the Silver Surfer is in space Buscema shades in parts of his body so the Silver Surfer looks like the night sky covered in stars. He blends into space, reminding you that he is an unearthly creature. I don't know how else to describe it.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most tragic characters Stan lee ever created and some of the best stories Marvel has ever done. Very nice collection of these early stories. Recommended

[mina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this just confirmed two things:

• that I don’t like black and white comics, and
• humans are horrible beings (I mean how many times the Silver Surfer was attacked because they didn’t know anything about him? The answer is too many times. It’s shot to kill first, then ask questions… maybe)

[Philip Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea how much I would enjoy this book--on a level way beyond nostalgia. The Silver Surfer is Stan Lee's most eloquent voice for peace and a post-war, post-hate civilization--it's shockingly relevant even 48 years on.

[Angela Sellers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who couldn't like a misunderstood humanoid who surfs around our atmosphere searching for the good in mankind, and does some kickin' butt along the way? I know I sure couldn't not like the silver surfer, and anyone who took the time to read the comics would feel the same way.

[Antonio Fanelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pessimo,
E' tutto un lamento, le storie sono poco leggibili.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

stupid 1970s Marvel comic books... terrible villains (except Frankenstein), over-dramatic angst. I can see why this kind of stuff would have seemed so extraordinary compared to DC and Superhero stories in general in 1975, but it's just not a very good read now. Some of John Buscema's artwork is great though. Really holds its own again Jack Kirby's.

What terrible collection will I read next? The Haunted Tank? Weird War?? Moon Knight??? Stay tuned!! (At least I didn't see the latest Fantastic Four movie...)

[Cal Brunsdon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential Silver Surfer was a reread of a black and white collection I bought circa 2008, and it was honestly MORE of a delight this time around. For my money, Stan Lee was never better than scripting SS. It’s slower than the usual 1970s fare, it’s ponderous, it’s downright Shakespearean, and yet there’s a strong undercurrent of love and longing stringing the run together. Lee explores the human condition in revitalising the ‘alien/outsider’ pastiche, all the while penning some of the best comic book soliloquies of all time. Coupled with Buscema’s clean pencils, I think it’s the strongest Silver Age Marvel output by a mile. Also, aliens and demons.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great artwork by John Buscema and Jack Kirby. Reading 18 issues of Stan Lee's pathos somewhat tarnishes the Silver Surfer with his purple prose.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Philosophically bent super-heroes were not exactly a common thing when Stan started to chronicle Norrin Radd's adventures, so I try to give it some leeway, but the ham-fisted whining of the Surfer certainly made it a challenge at times. Reading it in smaller chunks made the book much more digestable, and it was interesting to see Stan eventually start to spin the Surfer as a guy with just as many issues as the men that he so often spoke so lowly of.

Buscema's art is rock solid, and Jack Kirby gives some cosmic crackle to the final two chapters. Certainly no complaints about the art! But overall, I can't put myself in the mindset of comics at the time to overcome Stan's clumsy, repetitive and bludgeoning philosophy.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One more trip to nostalgia lane and it was a fun trip but the age of these comics is showing. It's pulpy as it can get. Writing is pretty rudimentary, everything is usually resolved within single issue, illustrations are peak sliver age and old adds in scans only add to atmosphere of times long past.
Honestly if I read this today for the first time I don't know how would I rate it and even if I would like it at all but it doesn't matter since it's not. Sliver surfer will always be one of quintessential pieces of my childhood and I will always enjoy going back to it.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the stars in this review is for the awesome Big John Buscema art and the little bit of Jack Kirby at the end. The story is a lot of hyperbolic, emo, superhero stuff by Stan Lee who seemed to "steal" the Surfer from Kirby. Some cool moments but the whole "humans are savages/miscommunication/fighting/using the Surfer" schtick got old fast. Mostly it is Space Jesus vs. Satan stuff. Surfer, like Green Lantern, works best as space superhero stuff and not being on Earth too much.

[Anna Hepworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Appalling bad writing, poor presentation of gender relations, very bitter attitude to the stupidity and violence of humans, poor attitude to race relations. I wouldn't give it to kids, who have to be the target market, as they wouldn't have the sophistication to not get really bad attitudes to the world out of it. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone, except as toilet paper.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never been a Silver Surfer fan but Stan Lee does a good job with writing and using the lost space travel as a platform to humanity.
John Buscema's art especially on the Mephisto story is some of the best comic art I have ever seen.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel's cosmic and one of it's most creative heros gets his own title. The Silver Surfer a silver guy who rides a surfboard through space. It really shouldn't work, but it does!

[Jacobo Zac · Rating 4 out of 5]

1-18

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Possibly the most overrated comic book in history.

[Robert Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Would have been much more entertaining in color. I do not like black & white comics, especially if they were originally in color.

[Mark Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories have their charms, but for my taste too much Jesus-complex. You gotta admit though, Norrin Radd got a bum deal.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Silver Surfer made his first appearance in Fantastic Four #48. This book collects his all eighteen issues of his first solo comic book series and his first solo appearance in a back up story in 1967's Fantastic Four Annual #5. While Jack Kirby created the character with Stan Lee. With the exception of the FF Annual #5 and Issue 18, John Bouscema handles the art duties.

The first seven issues featuring the Sky Rider of the Spaceways are doublelength stories. The Silver Surfer began as a 72-page magazine with a Watcher story back up.

During this period, the Surfer was Earthbound as he would be until the launch of his third series in 1987.

A 40 page comic book story with no need of extraneous recaps can work great if you know what you're doing and Stan Lee did. Though the books were without their first flaws. The first Issue and a half were very talk as our brooding hero could go on for pages about the insanity of humanity. But, this is more than balanced by the quality of the stories.

While the first issue is mostly a recap and set up with the Silver Surfer's origin more fleshed out. The next six that follow are epic and complex plots that use the 40 page format brilliantly.

Issue 2 has the Surfer stopping an alien invasion. Issue 3 introduces Mephisto, a demonic power who would be the Surfer's biggest rival and send ripples through the Marvel Universe. Issue 3 has the Surfer fighting Thor under the deception of Loki. Issue 4 has the Surfer trying to escape Earth and finding a human friend, and then facing off against the Stranger, a Marvel baddie who power could equal the Surfer's Issue 6 had the Surfer finding a way to escape present day Earth by travelling to the future, only to find a hostile post-apocalyptic world.Issue 7 has the Surfer meeting a descendant of Frankenstein who plans to use the Surfer for his own ends.

With normal size comics, Issues 8 and 9 were originally one double length story but tell of Mephisto's second attempt to gain the Surfer's soul with the help of a lost soul called the Flying Dutchman. Issues 10 and 11 have the Surfer in an oppressed South American country at the same time that Shala Bal is travelling from his homeworld of Zenn-la with a man who hopes to win her heart away from Norin Radd (the Surfer's actual identity) in a tale that has quite a few twists in it. Issue 12 is a battle against witches and the Abomination. Issue 13 has him facing the robotic doomsday man in a countdown to save Earth with several great twists along the way.

You could tell the book's sales were lagging despite good stories because the next five issues were crossovers. Issue 14 had a meeting between the Surfer and Spider-man which ended with an epiphany for Spider-man. Issue 15 had a meeting with the Human Torch when he becomes convinced the Fantastic Four is determined to capture him and turn him over to the military only to learn how wrong he was at the end. Issues 16 and 17 sees Mephisto return again, and try and make the Surfer destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. or see Shala Bal's life as forfeit. In Issue 18, the Surfer crashes into the middle of a Civil War amongst the Inhumans.

Overall, this was a good book. The stories (particularly in the first thirteen issues) were very good and expertly crafted. The Surfer despite his rough spots and weaknesses makes a good hero and his battles with Mephisto are some of the best good v. evil stories in comics. Some of the dialogue is over the top and there's some unintentional comedy here as a result of that. The Surfer is a noble soul at heart and that comes across multiple times.

On the downside, the latter issues did seem to suffer due to efforts to get people to buy the book somehow by introducing team ups that didn't let the Surfer shine. The worst of these was the final issues which ended on a very down note and seemed mainly designed to plug the inhumans.

This version of the Surfer also seems to have some very inconsistent morality. As the Surfer judges humanity for being bigoted and needlessly aggressive, he never touches on or recalls that he was the herald of the Devourer of Worlds. Indeed, if you read Issue 1, you get the idea that Earth was the first populated planet he led Galactus to even though logically that couldn't have been the case. While later comics addressed this, failing to do so in this one really seems like a major blindspot.

Also, in Issue 4, he steals a new scientific device from Reed Richards in hopes of ending his exile but then recoils in disgust when it occurs to him to steal money from a bank to get parts for the man he has working on it because it would be stealing something that didn't belong to him. You mean like the device you stole in the first place?

Still, despite these concerns, the book is worth a read. These stories are memorable with great art and truly good science fiction storytelling. While not Lee's best work, these Silver Surfer comics are a good read for fans of the silver age.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Silver Surfer (1968) #1-18 and Fantastic Four Annual #5

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Silver Surfer is maybe the most overlooked comic book character of all time. Yes, people generally tend to know about him, but not for his own solo adventures. This particular version of the character has gotten some flack even from its creator. Stan touted the Surfer as a vent character of sorts. Because it is true that the simple act of being good inspires good--and this is exactly why the superhero genre is so popular--but the question remains: will we be able to recognize that good when it comes? Or will we lump it in with all the other things different than us?

And that is precisely why the Silver Surfer is one of my favorite superheroes of all time. The crowds in this collection never react in amazement like they often do. Instead, they scrutinize the Surfer's every action in order to find an excuse to fear him. I understand Stan has never really been this cynical, and that's precisely why this version of Norrin Radd is seen as overly angsty, but it rings true, and that's why I think this assessment of the character is a little unfair. I think it's obvious by now that if any of Stan's characters were real we would shun them. And the fact that the Surfer faces that and still continues to do good, knowing that it may very well change nothing, is what makes this character so special to me.

Of course, this collection is far from perfect. The first half is nothing short of brilliant. I can't deny that. Some of the greatest single issue storylines can be found here, and they're all delivered with this gorgeous artwork. I especially like how psychedelic space is always portrayed. Still it falls hard into the pitfalls of '60s comics. The silver Surfer Vs. the Devil stuff was pretty boring from the beginning, so you can imagine how psyched I was to find out that it runs through the entire collection. And the back to back issues of "Silver Surfer Vs. More popular character," while displaying some interesting ideas, are so obviously click bait. By the last few issues I felt like all of it just kinda fell apart.

Still, that doesn't make this collection not worth reading. Like I said, some of my all time favorite single issues of any comic are in here. And that fact remains even if it does fall off by the end.

[Helmut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitsch in Breitbild und Dolby Surround (nur ohne Farbe)

Ja, hier treffen die Besten aufeinander: Stan Lee war nie grandioser, wortgewaltiger, epischer und dabei gleichzeitig kitschiger und schmalziger als hier (das gehört letzlich aber auch untrennbar zusammen). Nach einer gewissen Zeit wird das zwar stellenweise unerträglich, weil die 70er-Jahre-Marvelhelden insgesamt etwas heulsuserisch veranlagt waren (siehe Captain America), doch letztlich kriegt er immer wieder die Kurve. Und John Buscema - naja, darüber brauche ich wohl kein Wort zu verlieren. Einer der besten Zeichner der Comicgeschichte liefert hier eine Leistung, die sogar an seinen legendären Conan-Run heranreicht. Keiner hat so perfekte, ästhetische Körper gezeichnet wie er.

Zu bemerken ist, dass die Geschichten hier deutlich länger sind als die üblichen Marvel-Comics: 40 Seiten sind die Standardlänge. So richtig gefüllt mit Handlung sind sie nicht, aber das ist bei diesem Titel auch sekundär: Hier geht es tatsächlich nur um die Dialoge von Lee und die Zeichnungen von Buscema. Die Handlung ist Nebensache.

Telefonbuchpapier, manchmal etwas verwaschener Druck, das Schwarz ist eher grau - aber insgesamt natürlich ein einmaliges Preis-Leistungsverhältnis und ein schöner Blick in die Vergangenheit.

[Dan Weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitive stories and themes, but always interesting from a socio-anthropological sense. The audience was different AND it came out once a month so sometimes repetition is important for continuity's sake. Also, this is before the real cerebral stories started coming out. The Silver Surfer is all powerful which makes any physical battle he gets into pointless. The only real enemy is Mephisto, who takes an almost completely mental approach to the game; playing the Loki part to The Surfer's Thor. But as with any iconic character, it is always interesting to track some of the development of their personality, and their public reception, from the early stages.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure the stories in this Essentials volume are a little dated. And they're a bit wordy. But this book features some great artwork by John Buscema and more angst than double the number of Ditko Spider-Mans. It is just an all-around artsy series, and to me they always seemed to go out of their way yo make it classy.

You'll also find Spidey. the Torch, SHIELD, Thor and the first appearances of Mephisto in these pages.

[Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, Stan Lee's prose isn't the best, and yes, some of the story lines are repetitive but this is still a lot of fun. John Buscema's artwork is amazing, his Surfer is expressive, active and very intense, Buscema even manages to make the normally brilliant Jack Kirby look redundant in this volume. Also, the general themes of the stories are great and so it's well worth the effort to read through the 500+ pages, if only to get some time with the Surfer - easily my favorite super hero!

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remembered being very interested in the Silver Surfer when I was young. I read one or two of his comics and he didn't really do much, but he had an awesome implied power that I was curious about. Several years later, I bought this book in the hopes of seeing some awesome "power cosmic" shenanigans. Instead I find an overly philosophical little whiner. I made it halfway through and had to stop. Booooorrrriiinnnnngggggg

[Holden Attradies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty damn terrible. In its time maybe it was decent, but time has not been kind to it. Add to that the fact this isn't really a character I care about. It wasn't anything specific to Silver Surfer, just normal stuff for this era of Marvel: WAY to wordy, very repetitive stories, stupid villains for the most part, and way to wordy (worth mentioning twice). Anyways, hard to finish and only recommended for those that REALLY like the character.

[Joel Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction into the Silver Surfer story! This collection primarily focuses on Norin Rad's dilemma of exile/imprisonment on Earth by Galactus. It explores his origins more in depth and introduces many new characters including the first appearance of Mephisto (of Ghost Rider notoriety). A bit repetitive at times, the Silver Surfer is often pre-occupied with self-pity and depression as he longs to return to cosmic wonders of space and his homeworld, but overall, very enjoyable!