Silver Surfer
| Silver Surfer | |
|---|---|
| File:Silversurfercommunion.jpg The Silver Surfer. Art by Joe Jusko, 2004. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Fantastic Four #48 |
| Created by | Jack Kirby Stan Lee |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Norrin Radd |
| Team affiliations | Galactus, Defenders, Star Masters |
| Notable aliases | Sentinel of the Spaceways |
| Abilities | Wields the Power Cosmic, giving him control over the four fundamental forces of the universe; thus giving him a vast array of superhuman abilities. |
The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero. Created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, he first appeared in The Fantastic Four #48 (1966).
The Surfer was originally Norrin Radd, a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La. He agreed to serve as a herald for the alien Galactus to save Zenn-La from the planet-consuming super being. Galactus granted Radd enormous cosmic powers, a silvery appearance and a surfboard-like vehicle, both after a childhood fantasy of Radd's. Thereafter, he roamed the cosmos, searching for new planets for Galactus to consume until, after an encounter with Earth’s Fantastic Four, he betrayed Galactus, who doomed the Surfer to exile on Earth.
In a heavily philosophical late 1960s series, which was popular in the hippie counter culture, the Surfer explored Earth. Another, more cosmically themed series with a freed Surfer was published in the 1980s and 1990s. Marvel is currently attempting another revival.
Publication history
The Silver Surfer is a unique product of the Marvel system of comic creation. Unlike in the full scripts employed elsewhere, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would discuss general storylines or plots initially but leave the specific story elements to the penciller (this was especially so in the case of Kirby). Reputedly, Kirby created the character of the Silver Surfer reasoning that a cosmic predator of planets should have some sort of herald. Lee was surprised by this creation but, taken by the noble features of the new character that Kirby had penciled, scripted him, adding to his characterization.
Though Kirby is clearly the primary creator of the Silver Surfer, Lee enjoyed the character and decided to feature him in his own comic magazine. Kirby was unavailable and penciller John Buscema was chosen as the artist for the brief run (18 bi-monthly issues). The Silver Surfer comic and character allowed Lee to script some of his most thoughtful and introspective stories. Thematically, the stories dealt with the inhumanity of man as observed by the noble yet fallen Surfer. After his own comic was cancelled, the Surfer continued to make sporadic appearances as a guest star or antagonist in other comic books. A personal favorite of Lee's, a number of specials and graphic novels featuring the character have been published over the years.
He was given a chance at a solo title for the second time in the 1980s where he finally managed to escape the confines of Earth and left for the spaceways. This series was originally written by Steve Englehart and illustrated by Marshall Rogers, and later written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Ron Lim. Starlin was later replaced by Ron Marz as writer, and later in the series' publication George Perez and J. M. DeMatteis had brief stints at writing the series as well. The series was ultimately cancelled in the 1990s due to low sales. A new Silver Surfer series began in 2003, but only lasted fourteen issues. He later made an appearance in Cable/Deadpool, where he was the final line of defense against an overpowered Cable. Most recently, he has been reunited with the superhero group he took part in, The Defenders.
The graphic novel The Silver Surfer: Parable (originally serialized in two parts in 1988-1989) was scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by Moebius.
Character history
Born Norrin Radd on the idyllic planet Zenn-La, he volunteered to serve the planet-eating entity Galactus, who travels the universe looking for energy-rich planets to consume, to save his homeworld. Galactus accepted the young mortal's sacrifice and imbued him with a portion of the Power Cosmic, transforming him into the Silver Surfer. He served Galactus for an unspecified amount of time until he came to the planet Earth.
On Earth, the Surfer encountered a number of individuals whose nobility and honor touched him, such as the Fantastic Four and their companion Alicia Masters. The Surfer chose to rebel against Galactus and attempted to prevent his master from consuming the Earth. Galactus was eventually driven off, but as punishment for his rebellion, Galactus confined the Surfer to Earth by creating an invisible barrier which affected only him.
Powers and abilities
The Silver Surfer possesses vast power known as the "Power Cosmic," which was granted him by Galactus as a part of the process of physically restructuring the Surfer's former organic body. He has the ability to channel ambient cosmic energy into his body at will, and expel it violently as concussive force or gently as a means to restructure molecules according to his mental design. He can generate beams of energy with sufficient destructive force to annihilate a planet or generate such subtle amounts of energy to restructure the molecules of the natural pigments within a plant to change its color. The Surfer can rearrange the molecules of matter to create other configurations, and can transmute elements.
The Surfer possesses Class 100 strength, allowing him to lift in excess of 100 tons. He can additionally increase his physical strength with the Power Cosmic, enabling him to move virtually limitless amounts of mass. In addition, his body can move and react at superhuman velocities.
The Silver Surfer has certain cosmic energy enhanced perceptions which enable him, through concentration, to become aware of the patterns of energy which surround him. Accordingly, he can sense great concentrations or deployments of energy anywhere in the world. He has a special affinity for the life energies of living beings, and can use his cosmic powers to augment them to a certain degree. While he can use his power to revitalize life energies and heal the wounded, he cannot create life or restore life to the dead.
The forces binding together the molecules making up the silvery material that composes the Silver Surfer's "skin" are so great that there are few known forces in the universe great enough to overcome them. The inner portions of his body have also been made highly resistant to injury. Thus, the Surfer is invulnerable to most forms of physical harm. He can withstand great extremes of temperature caused by the build-up of friction within atmospheres or the vacuum of space or the intense heat within stars. He has even flown near a star's core on at least one occasion. He can survive without difficulties in the vacuum of outer space and hyperspace, and his body can withstand the stresses of travel at near-light speeds in this universe and of even greater speeds, in hyperspace. He has maintained that he is no longer in fact "mortal," but this is most likely an inference that he has very little in common biologically with humans, rather than an assertion that he cannot be killed. Surfer's mind has also been restructured so that he has considerable resistance to telepathy and other mind control methods.
The Silver Surfer does not need to eat or breathe since he absorbs life-maintaining cosmic energy directly through his skin. Although his body does not require sleep, his mind must still rest in order to give it an opportunity to dream.
By using his board (see below) to exceed 99% of the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), the Surfer can shift himself into hyperspace, a dimension in which velocity is not limited by the speed of light. The Surfer can also compress his own bodily matter so as to shift himself into a so-called microverse. Additionally, he can phase his body's molecules to pass through solid matter or energy. He once used his powers to travel through time, but may be unable to engage in time travel under normal circumstances.
Paraphernalia and weapons
In flying the Silver Surfer usually makes use of an object known on Earth as his "surfboard," due to its resemblance to Earth objects of that name. The Surfer's "surfboard" is a construct of unknown materials created by the vast cosmic energies of his former master, Galactus. The board is composed of the same silvery substance that the Surfer's body is covered with, making it impervious to virtually all forms of physical damage. Few forces short of the cosmic power of Galactus could affect it at all. Even when the board was destroyed, the Surfer was able to reconstruct it easily.
The surfboard is psionically linked in an unknown way with the Surfer's mind. Apparently only a being possessing the Surfer's cosmic powers can cause the surfboard to fly, and it is controlled mentally by him. When he requires the board, he calls it to him by crying "To me, my board!". It is unknown whether this is necessary, or whether he is merely moving it telekenetically, and merely chooses to call out verbally. The surfboard apparently taps ambient cosmic energy in much the same way that the Surfer himself does. Although the Surfer can utilize his cosmic power to fly without it, the surfboard enables him to fly with greater maneuverability and without the expenditure of his own energy.
The Silver Surfer can utilize the surfboard to attain 99% of the speed of light, but seldom exceeds Mach 10 (ten times the speed of sound) within the outer layers of a planet's atmosphere, and Mach 5 within the inner layers.
In addition, the Surfer and the Fantastic Four realized that Galactus' means of imprisoning the Surfer on Earth was linked to the board since the entity knew that his former herald would not think of leaving the planet without it. As a result, the Surfer left the board planetside and the Four transported him off the planet in their spacecraft. Once he realized he was free of Earth, the Surfer remotely converted the board to energy, recalled it to him and reformed it in space. Then the Surfer met up with Galactus and did him a favor by rescuing his current herald, Nova, from the Skrulls. In return, the entity fully freed the Surfer.
Appearances in other media
Silver Surfer briefly had his own cartoon series on the FOX Network in 1998 after appearing in the Fantastic Four cartoon that ran in 1996. Although it was among the first to feature computer graphics, the series was too true to the comic and had too much of a serious tone for kids to take lightly, and it was cancelled after only thirteen episodes. The art style resembled the famous style of Jack Kirby incorporated with computer graphics. Eight more episodes had been written and begun production but were never animated due to the legal battle between companies. At that time, Marvel had also gone bankrupt.
In the Ultimate Marvel imprint, Warren Ellis' Ultimate Galactus trilogy has introduced the Avengers ally the Vision as the Herald of Galactus, as a robotic probe who travelled through space, warning civilizations of the coming of Gah Lak Tus. In the final part of the series, called Ultimate Extinction, Ultimate Silver Surfer will be introduced, as a somewhat altered Surfer is seen on the solicited cover image for the third issue of the miniseries.
References to Silver Surfer in other media
In the movie Crimson Tide, Denzel Washington's character breaks up a fight between two crewmen. The fight was over a disagreement about which Silver Surfer was better, the Jack Kirby Silver Surfer or the Moebius Silver Surfer. This scene was written by Quentin Tarantino in an uncredited rewrite of the script.
In the movie Breathless, Richard Gere's character reads, and comments on, an issue of a Silver Surfer comic. In a stirring moment, he compares his own alienation with the Surfer's profound cosmic aloneness.
In his song "Darkside of Aquarius," Bruce Dickinson gets help from the lonely Silver Surfer in keeping the Wheel of Dharma moving.
Classic art of the Surfer was featured on the cover of the guitarist Joe Satriani's album Surfing With the Alien. Both this album's title song and the song "Back To Shalla-Bal" from his next album Flying in a Blue Dream are Silver Surfer references. On his 1998 album Engines of Creation, Satriani reprised Surfer references with "The Power Cosmic 2000" parts one and two.
The character of Norrin Radd is also used by Bal-Sagoth in "The Scourge of the Fourth Celestial Host", a song from their album "The Power Cosmic".
In an episode of the Nickelodeon animated series, Doug, Doug and his friend, Skeeter, pretend to be superheroes. Doug's character, Quail Man, is accompanied by Skeeter's character, The Silver Skeeter, a clear referrence to The Silver Surfer.