On Day Five of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month, the prompt is Norrin Radd, AKA the Silver Surfer.
It’s been documented (in Stan Lee’s own words) that the Surfer was initially Jack’s creation. There was no mention of a character like him in any of their plot discussions, but Jack felt that a character as big (both physically and metaphysically) as Galactus needed some kind of a herald. Jack’s initial idea was that the Surfer had no previous existence, and was a creation out of nothing by Galactus. That gives more weight to his learning about humanity and turning on Galactus in Fantastic Four issues #48–50, which have come to be known collectively as “The Galactus Trilogy.”
Stan Lee later adopted the character as his own, and kind of developed his own ideas about what he wanted to do with him. He enacted them in the solo Silver Surfer title: giving him a previous existence as Norrin Radd, who offers himself up to Galactus as herald in order to save his home planet and the life of his beloved, Shalla Bal. Interesting ideas in their own right, but kind of undercutting what Kirby had in mind initially.
An interesting “What If” is the last issue of that run of the Silver Surfer title (issue #18), where they let Jack not just draw it, but also write it. For much of the run, the Surfer had often been depicted as depressed, bemoaning his imprisonment on Earth and the way humanity acted. In this last issue (done just before the King left Marvel to go to DC), Kirby had the Surfer finally get fed up with all the violence he was continually encountering on Earth. In a full page close-up on the final page, he angrily shouts, “Let Mankind beware! From this time forth–the Surfer will be the deadliest one of all!” The next issue banner at the bottom proclaims “Next: the savagely sensational new Silver Surfer!” It would have been interesting to see where that would have gone!
I’ve drawn the Surfer a few times myself. There’s something fascinating about how simple his design is, yet also striking. He’s a fun challenge to execute!
That’s it for today! Check back tomorrow for who’s up next.
Beautiful regal Silver Surfer. Really really excellent. I also have to agree with your comment on the character being undercut by the “new” origin Stan created. At the time, I found the solo Silver Surfer interesting but weird, in what it did to the the Galactus Trilogy. I understand the desire to keep the character alive, but the manner in which it was done it did not last long. I ended up giving all my copies away to a student to encourage his art interests. It was well worth doing. Allred had a better take. However, I have to wonder what might be if the character ended after the trilogy. I’ve got to believe he would be a fun draw. Thanks Mark.
Thank you, Joe. I bought the Slott/Allred Silver Surfer too, and enjoyed it as kind of its own alternate take on things, regardless of how it really fit with things or not.