The galactic herald returns in this jam-packed one-shot! Silver Surfer recalls happier times with the Fantastic Four. With Norrin Radd becoming a distant memory with each passing day, will Surfer ever recover the man he once was? Surfer returns to his homeland Zenn-La to find absolute devastation. A new quest begins for Silver Surfer — one that involves finding his soulmate, Shalla Bal!
“Fantastic Planet”. The Surfer has taken Dawn Greenwood to the end of the universe, and now he’s going to show her the most fantastic planet of them all: Earth! It’s your homeworld like you’ve never seen it before: with monsters, magic and…a secret that will change everything!
JIm Starlin took over as writer with issue #34 after several fill-in issues, and incorporated Thanos, Adam Warlock, and Drax the Destroyer into the series. Under Starlin and later Ron Marz, the series would receive acclaim and sales boost due to Silver Surfer’s involvement with Starlin’s Infinity Trilogy, with George Pérez and J. M. DeMatteis also having brief writing stints on the series as well. Additional artists included Tom Grindberg, Ron Garney, and Jon J. Muth, as well as periodic guest spots by John Buscema. The title experienced great initial success which allowed Marvel to push the character into other media, including a 1990 video game, 1992 trading card set, and 1998 animated series, as well as spinning off a variety of other comics series including Cosmic Powers, Cosmic Powers Unlimited, Captain Marvel vol. 2, and Star Masters. It ran 146 issues, through 1998.
The Silver Surfer debuted as an unplanned addition to Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966). The comic’s writer-editor, Stan Lee, and its penciller and co-plotter, Jack Kirby, had by the mid-1960s developed a collaborative technique known as the “Marvel Method“: the two would discuss story ideas, Kirby would work from a brief synopsis to draw the individual scenes and plot details, and Lee would finally add the dialog and captions. When Kirby turned in his pencil art for the story, he included a new character he and Lee had not discussed. As Lee recalled in 1995, “There, in the middle of the story we had so carefully worked out, was a nut on some sort of flying surfboard”. He later expanded on this, recalling, “I thought, ‘Jack, this time you’ve gone too far'”. Kirby explained that the story’s agreed-upon antagonist, a god-like cosmic predator of planets named Galactus, should have some sort of herald, and that he created the surfboard “because I’m tired of drawing spaceships!” Taken by the noble features of the new character, who turned on his master to help defend Earth, Lee overcame his initial skepticism and began adding characterization. The Silver Surfer soon became a key part of the unfolding story.
Children all around the world are vanishing, spirited away by a gleaming figure from the stars! Are these just routine cases of alien abduction, or the harbinger of something far more sinister?
Although he lost part of himself when he became the Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd can never forget the woman he loved from his days on Zenn-La. With Shalla-Bal’s death never far from his thoughts, the Surfer is more haunted than ever. But when Pip the Troll delivers a message from Adam Warlock, Surfer’s hope sparks anew. Warlock claims Shalla-Bal is alive! But if so, where is she?
Cosmic Powers Unlimited was part of Marvel’s mid 90’s line of ‘Unlimited’ books alongside Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four & 2099 Unlimited. Each book was published quarterly, was giant-sized and was published on better quality paper stock.
Cosmic Powers Unlimited was an anthology series exclusively featuring Marvel’s Cosmic characters; each issue having a lead story then one or more shorter backups. Each issue’s lead story featured either the Silver Surfer solo or the Surfer with Quasar and Beta Ray Bill as the Star Masters. Characters featured in backup features included: Jack of Hearts, Ganymede, Sundragon, Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon, Pip the Troll, Thanos, Captain Mar-Vell and Her / Kismet.
The Silver Surfer delves alone into the furthest depths of the void; tangling with organ-stealing pirates, demonic beasts and a race of alien aristocrats. Everyone’s favorite Cosmic Wanderer discovers that even in the midst of a galactic utopia, horror is never far away…With electrifying artwork by the dynamic Tan Eng Huat (Doom Patrol, Batman) and an endlessly inventive script by Simon Spurrier.
The series sees Norrin Rad severed from Galactus and free to explore the universe with a human friend named Dawn Greenwood. Slott said, “The way I look at the Surfer is that he’s the embodiment of freedom. The character has really been two things since he became the Silver Surfer. He’s been a slave to Galactus, and he’s been a prisoner of Earth, trapped beyond that great barrier. There’s something about him where, the minute you take that barrier away, and the minute you take him away from Galactus, he’s the guy with the board who can go anywhere and do anything. It really is that kind of joy and freedom like you’re 16 and you just got the keys to the car. But imagine not just driving near your home – you can go anywhere in the universe. There’s something very exciting about that.”
A two-issue Silver Surfer miniseries (later collected as Silver Surfer: Parable), scripted by Lee and drawn by Moebius, was published through Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint in 1988 and 1989. Because of inconsistencies with other stories, it has been argued that these stories actually feature an alternate Silver Surfer from a parallel Earth. This miniseries won the Eisner Award for best finite/limited series in 1989.
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