Silver Surfer Saturday: The Simple Surfer

I ran into this parody while perusing the Silver Surfer Omnibus, from Not Brand Echh #13, circa 1969:

The Simple Surfer by Roy Thomas and Marie Severin!  Marie was always great at drawing these types of parodies, filling in countless sight gags across the page.  Tons of easter eggs are thrown about everywhere.

Roy Thomas used to love poking holes in Stan Lee’s creations in Not Brand Echh.  He’s taking a shot here at the Surfer’s penchant for whining about how isolated and sensitive he is.  We also see the real reason Borin Kadd (Norrin Radd) left his home planet—to escape his girlfriend, Shallo-Gal!

When Galacticus (Galactus) appears in the inevitable full page spread, he’s more menacing than a planet eater, because he’s super salesman.  “Galacticus!  The no-money-down King of the Used-Comet game!”  Galacticus kind of looks like Jack Kirby under the mask, especially with the cigar.

The rest of the story parallels the Galactus trilogy, but the ending is truly happy, where the Surfer finds a home out in Malibu.  Here we’ve got Archie and Jughead, Frankie and Annette, Little Orphan Annie and her dog.  There is a podium with a note that reads "Return to Billy by Sunday”, which must have been a reference to the evangelist Billy Graham—someone who also gave sermons like the Silver Surfer!  Nuff said.