Recently in Silver Surfer Category

Yesterday was Jack Kirby's birthday, which we celebrated here and on Giant-Size Geek.  I've still got a Kirby hangover, but luckily, this is not the kind of hangover that hurts.  There is a Silver Surfer cover by Kirby which is my favorite cover of all time featuring Norrin Radd: Fantastic Four #72 from 1967.

I think it's the greatest pose for the Surfer, gliding along the spaceways and blasting out bolts of cosmic energy.  The Fantastic Four aren't around to distract the viewer, even though it's their name on the masthead!  The Kirby Krackle cosmos in the background is just nifty and the red color just makes the Silver Surfer pop out in the foreground.  The Watcher is there in the background, so you just know that the Surfer is doing something vitally important for the universe.

This cover should have been a poster.  Asgard Press, are you listening?  :-)

The mind-blowing images of the Surfer didn't stop with just the cover--oh no, this interior pages had plenty of them.  Including this aerial view of the Silver Surfer flying above New York City.  It's a dynamic introduction to the Surfer's role in this story.  Notice how Kirby put a lake in the middle of the background, to allow the Surfer's body to be less obscured.

Philippe Queveau owns the original art to this piece.  I really like to Marvel (sorry for the pun) at the details of the cityscape below.  George Perez must have gotten inspired to do detailed backgrounds by pages like this one.  Joe Sinnott was the perfect inker for Kirby and this book, magic that was captured in the 1960s, never to be reproduced again.  Nuff Said!

Link: Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 2 HC (reprints FF #31-60 in a giant-sized hardcover)

Link:  Philippe Queveau gallery at ComicArtFans.

Around 1970, John Buscema did a self-portrait with himself among various Marvel Heroes.

Here's part of that poster with Buscema smoking in peace where the Silver Surfer be-devils him with cosmic rays.  Although I would be more worried about Mephisto rising up out of the smoke.

I found the pencil rough that John Buscema produced, showing a much larger piece.  It has Conan, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, etc.

Anyone know where I can get a scan of the full finished poster?  Nuff Said!

It's the weekend, which means it's time once again for the Silver Surfer.  He has a small role in this illustration, next to his master, Galactus.

Mike Deodato did a kick-ass job on this one.  Nuff Said!

This classic Silver Surfer image is by Jack (King) Kirby, inked by superstar Al Gordon.  Gordon took on this inking challenge for a class he was teaching in the bay area.  The colored version on the right was done by John Heebink.

Al Gordon has worked on so many comics; Justice League, Legion of Super-Heroes, Wildstar are but a few.  You can see a list of his accomplishments on Comic Book DB.

Want another take on this theme?  Check out the Craig Hamilton Silver Surfer pinup.  Nuff Said!

Here’s a 1989 Marvel Age cover by Moebius featuring the Silver Surfer.

This issue promoted the two issue “Silver Surfer Parable” story that Stan Lee and Moebius did together.  It wasn’t very successful story-wise, but seeing Moebius doing his version of Norrin Radd and Galactus was cool.  Nuff Said!

Marshall Rogers created this 1987 cover for Marvel Age 52, promoting the re-launch of the new series he did along with Steve Englehart.  I am sure the Jack Kirby purists will object…but I still like it!  Nuff said!

Yesterday, I received a very special poster from Asgard Press, featuring this classic cover from 1968 by Big John Buscema.

Silver Surfer #1, the very first solo issue featuring “The Sky-Rider of the Spaceways” (as the masthead would later say) .  For a long time, this was one of my holy grails of comic book collecting.  I remember a friend of mine who saw it at a flea market (at a cheap price), only to have his father pull him away from the scene.  When I did finally buy it in the 1970s, long before trades or collections were available, I reveled in the origin of Norrin Radd and his transformation by Galactus.

If you’ve ever wanted a poster of Silver Surfer #1, you can now obtain it for less the $20 at Asgard Press Vintage Marvel store.  Asgard’s Marvel posters are 20"x28" and printed on 100% recycled paper with soy-based inks.  This is high quality paper—thick and sturdy, it won’t crinkle up at the first touch of your hands.  In addition, the poster is reproduced in a way that mimics the visual of the 1968 comic.  And by that I mean it’s not overly glossy.  Asgard really preserves the vintage (which is what describes all of their products) look of the original cover.  I’m gonna frame this one and get it up on the wall real soon.

You can also get an 11"x14" reproduction of Silver Surfer #4, another John Buscema classic showing the Surfer hurtling down toward the Mighty Thor.  This print—with the same high quality as the aforementioned poster—is just one of 16 prints inside the 2010 Vintage Marvel Comics Calendar.  Asgard Press has designed this calendar in a very clever way that will appeal to all Marvel collectors.  You can display this calendar on the wall for 16 months, hang it on nail or tack.  When the year is over, you can separate the cover image from the calendar through perforations on the top or bottom, and it’s in perfect condition.  It’s still a Giant-Sized Marvel cover, ready for framing.

If you always believed (as Denzel Washington did in the movie Crimson Tide) that Jack Kirby is the one true Surfer artist, the Vintage calendar also has a month with Fantastic Four #50.  Check out Asgard Press site or look for the calendar in your comic book store.  Nuff said!

One of the opening chapters to the Avengers-Defenders war started with Avengers 116, with this fantastic cover.

Silver Surfer vs the Vision, as Wanda looks on somewhat helplessly in the background--never mind that she could wipe them all out with a hex spell!  This cover is really well executed by Johnny Romita, with the silver guy nearly flying into the viewer.  Nuff said.