Product Description: After years of Earthbound exile, the Silver Surfer soars the seas of space once more and finds plenty of peril awaiting when the Elders of the Universe try something new: all-out war on Galactus! Plus: space piracy, intergalactic war, doppelgangers and the Surfer caught in a four-sided interstellar love triangle! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four, the Eternals, and Annihilation's Ronan and Super-Skrull! Plus: a rare glimpse of a path not traveled on an alternate Earth! Collects Silver Surfer (1982) #1, Silver Surfer (1987) #1-18 & Annual #1 and Marvel Fanfare #51.
the absolute best of the surfer Yes collected here is the beggining of the silver surfers greatest era yet. The original Lee/Buscema/Kirby work on the surfer (collected in essential vol.1) defined the character, and created a small cult fan base, but failed to carry a solo book. A relaunch wasnt attempted until 1982, which didnt fly, then in '87, with the master and much under appreciated Steve Englehart at the helm.
The original series failed largely because it was too ambitious for its time. Englehart dropped the sometimes preachy philisophical tone without changing the surfers base persona, and free'd the surfer from the constraints of earthly exile. Here is where the character was meant to be. Marvels cosmic cache doesnt get any better than the first 70 or 80 issues of this suilver surfer series. This book collects i think the first 20 or so issues of the series, which could arguably be the best. If your a fan of space adventure, or pure fantasy scifi epics, this is truly essential.
The art for the most part, i did not like, but it does not hinder much the enjoyment. I think at issue 15 mr. Ron Lim takes over art, and goes on to do eighty some odd issues, creating the difinitve look for the surfer, and many other co stars and supporting casts. Englehart ends his run at #32, followed by Jim Starlin who begins the 'infinity' saga's in the SS books. This series was great fun for years, until ultimately it was ruined by cross over after cross over, but for now the comics collected here are definitely essential reading.
Free at Last! IMPORTANT NOTE: Like all of Marvel's Essential line, the stories reprinted in this book are black-and-white. That doesn't bother me, as the art stands well without color, but some people don't like it. This is a great collection. The first entry is a short story from Epic Illustrated about how the universe holds to its secrets. The second is from the Silver Surfer one-shot from 1982, a classic story by Stan Lee and John Byrne, where the Surfer finally returned to Zenn-La only to find his beloved homeworld in ruins. Though this story has some recycled plot elements (the Surfer moaning over his fate, a guest appearance by the Fantastic Four, and Mephisto kidnapping Shalla Bal and taking her to you-know-where), the end makes it a must-read. Plus, if you're new to the Surfer this story will tell everything you need to know. After that we get into the Englehart/Roger series, which starts by finally setting our hero free from his prison on Earth. Rogers is replaced on pencils by Joe Staton and then by Ron Lim throughout the book, but the high quality remains consistent. This series includes coflicts with the Skrull, the Kree, the Elders of the Universe, space pirates, and the In-Betweener, as well as another Kree/Skrull war. The final entry in this collection is a nice bonus: Back before this series saw print in the '80s, a double-sized #1 written by Englehart and drawn by John Buscema was completed before plans for the series' direction changed, and was eventually published in Marvel Fanfare #51. That issue is included here. It's not cannon, but those nostoligic for the days of double-sized Buscema goodness should be very pleased. The reason I didn't give this book five stars is because, as a footnote in SS#3 states, part of the storyline takes place in Avenger Annual #16 and West Coast Avengers Annual #2. I was disapointed that Marvel did not include those two issues here. However, everything is explained and nobody should have any trouble understanding what is going on. A storyline from the SS annual about the High Evolutionary wanting to map the Surfer's genenome seems to have been abandoned, but hopefully it will resurface in the next volume (or it could have been concluded elsewhere in the Marvel Universe). Overall, these are some of the best comics I've read. I give this my highest recomendation.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
