Of all the cosmic heroes roaming around the spaceways of the Marvel Universe, none have
ever been as prominent as the Silver Surfer.
Created by Jack Kirby in the pages of Fantastic Four, he made his first appearance as the
herald of the world-devouring Galactus, and would grow to become one of the biggest cult
favorites on Marvel's roster.
From his unlikely origins to his his surprising prominence in cartoons and even video games,
here's the real truth behind Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer.
The Coming of Galactus
In 1966, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby plotted a story for Fantastic Four in which an unstoppable
cosmic threat showed up to devour the world.
When Kirby turned in the pages for Fantastic Four #48, though, Stan was surprised to find
that they featured a chrome-plated spaceman flying around on a surfboard.
Kirby explained that Galactus was such a big deal that he needed a herald to announce his
presence, and since surfing was all over pop culture in the '60s, from the Beach Boys
to Batman, his new character wound up on a cosmic surfboard.
"Surfing's not a sport, it's a way of life!"
Lee was initially wary of adding something so weird into the middle of a high-stakes
superhero drama, but it worked.
In a time when most of Marvel's competitors were still filling every issue with two or
three stories, "The Coming of Galactus" kicked off a modern, multi-part epic, with
its title villain only showing up on the last page.
The rest of the issue was devoted to the Watcher and the Silver Surfer, assuring readers that
if characters this powerful were the opening act, Galactus must be a truly big deal.
The Silver Symbolism
The initial fan reaction to the Surfer was more than a little divisive.
As the letters rolled into the Marvel offices in 1966, some readers commented that "Silver
Surfer is a corny name," while one wrote in with an angry screed asking "Why?
Why don't you give the Fantastic Four a person, a single person, to fight, and not a bunch
of space bums running around cluttering up the yarn and making the pages look utterly
disgraceful?"
Ouch.
Others were a little more kind, but the strangest commentary came from a Houston, Texas reader
named Greg Jones
"Galactus represented the Viet Cong, the powerful aggressor, but not realizing fully his error.
[...] The Silver Surfer, as America, helped a lesser people in their time of need, even
though he himself was not involved.
And Alicia characterized Stan, Marvel, the President, and all other loyal, patriotic
Americans."
Needless to say, that's a pretty wild interpretation of the a story about a space giant with a
big hat trying to eat the planet.
Even Stan Lee seemed surprised by this one, writing "We can't dot an i without someone
reading some deep subliminal message into it."
The Surfer goes solo
Despite his initial concerns, Lee clearly took a liking to the Surfer by the end of
that first story, likely because he allowed Stan to explore the kind of sci-fi storytelling
that he'd pursued before getting into comics.
Joined by artist John Buscema, Lee launched a series that would detail the Surfer's
exile on Earth.
They revealed that he was Norrin Radd, a would-be victim of Galactus's hunger who gave up
his humanity to become a herald for the Devourer of Worlds.
It represents some of Stan's best work of the era, with more philosophical stories than
the other action-packed tales he was scripting at the time.
"I made him a philosophical observer of the world and the universe."
There were, however, a few problems.
For one thing, the book just didn't sell.
Despite Stan's personal investment in the series and the Surfer's status as a cult
favorite, that original series ended after only 18 issues.
Even worse, it deepend the rift between Lee and the Surfer's creator, Jack Kirby, who
had a completely different idea for what kind of stories to tell.
Lee attempted to make amends by bringing Kirby in to tell the story of a more savage Surfer
who would act as cosmic power personified, but that story never happened, it was announced
to come next month in that final issue of the series.
Later that year, Kirby would leave Marvel for DC and the promise of more creative control,
summing up his reasons with the simple statement "I'm not going to give them another Silver
Surfer."
Now you're playing with the Power Cosmic
Given Stan Lee's affection for the Surfer, it's no surprise that Marvel would get behind
more than a few attempts to bring him to mass media.
There was a well-received but short-lived cartoon in 1998, but in 1990, the Surfer made
his video game debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
To give you an idea of where he ranked, the only other Marvel games on the NES at the
time starred the X-Men and the Punisher, two of the most popular franchises of the era.
He even managed to beat Spider-Man to his NES debut by two full years.
(the only thing worse than comic book-based NES games were their commercials)
Unfortunately, being early doesn't always mean being great.
While it boasted some pretty incredible graphics and a killer soundtrack, Silver Surfer is
mostly remembered for a staggering difficulty level that kept almost everyone who played
it from actually beating the game.
If they had, though, they would've been treated to a pretty bizarre plot.
Dispatched on a mission of cosmic importance by Galactus, the Silver Surfer faces foes
like Mephisto and Firelord.
The final boss, though, is Mr. Sinister, an X-Men foe with no real connection to the cosmic
side of the Marvel Universe, who is depicted as a 15 foot-tall purple hulk with a handgun
and a pair of white go-go boots.
Maybe it's for the best that nobody ever got to see him.
"I shall give birth to the future!"
Okay, weirdo.
The cinematic rise (and fall) of the Silver Surfer
In 1979, after Superman had become a massive box office success, Hollywood was suddenly
very interested in superhero movies.
In an attempt to get Marvel a foothold in the film industry, Stan Lee spent a year in
Los Angeles shopping around various projects, including a Silver Surfer pitch.
It was picked up, too, but despite being assigned a respectable $25,000,000 budget and having
Olivia Newton-John attached to star, the Surfer never managed to escape to the big screen.
28 years later, he'd finally make it, thanks to 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver
Surfer.
As the title implies, there were hints at plans to spin the skyrider of the spaceways
off into his own big-screen adventure.
Unfortunately, that film's failure at the box office put an end to that, and to plans
for a third FF movie that would've potentially involved the Skrulls and the Inhumans showing
up.
In 2015, Marvel's first family was rebooted with another movie that landed with an even
more resounding thud, managing to perform even worse than its predecessors.
"It's clobberin time."
But with 35 years of Marvel trying to bring the Surfer to the big screen, it's easy to
look at Rise of the Silver Surfer as a mere setback rather than the final nail in the
coffin.
The success of cosmic-focused films like Guardians of the Galaxy and the Surfer's prominence
in stories like the original Infinity Gauntlet mean that it's not too unlikely that we'll
see Norrin Radd surfing his way into the MCU… someday.
Dedicated fans are waiting.
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