The Silver Surfer

THE SILVER SURFER Graphic Novel — August 1978

/ When I first started MARVEL TIME WARP, my approach was to just read the comic books and not do any additional research. So if there was some context that wasn’t in the books themselves, I wouldn’t know about it. This approach went by the wayside pretty quickly, probably when I started trying to figure out how “real” the stuntman character the Human Fly was. I realized that, aside from having fun reading fun comic books, MARVEL TIME WARP was an opportunity for me to do a deep-ish dive into a very specific period of comic book history. And that’s its own kind of fun.

Book: The Silver Surfer Graphic Novel

Published: August 8, 1978

Title: “The Silver Surfer”

Cover Price: $4.95

Format: Digital scan

When I first started Marvel Time Warp, my approach was to just read the comic books and not do any additional research. So if there was some context that wasn’t in the books themselves, I wouldn’t know about it.

This approach went by the wayside pretty quickly, probably when I started trying to figure out how “real” the stuntman character the Human Fly was. I realized that, aside from having fun reading fun comic books, Marvel Time Warp was an opportunity for me to do a deep-ish dive into a very specific period of comic book history. And that’s its own kind of fun.

Additional context really came in handy for this Silver Surfer graphic novel. It’s a story about the first time Galactus visited earth. Galactus is a giant who basically eats planets, and his plans to eat earth are thwarted by the Silver Surfer. The Surfer works for Galactus, scouting planets that might make good meals for his boss. But the Surfer has pity on humanity and ends up fighting Galactus to save the earth.

The thing is, the first time Galactus tried to eat the earth, the Fantastic Four also famously got involved. That story is, to this day, one of the iconic Fantastic Four stories. But the Four aren’t in this graphic novel.

When I looked to the ever-helpful Fandom.com Marvel wiki for context, I learned that this story actually takes place on an alternate earth with no Fantastic Four or any other superheroes. Writer Stan Lee provides a generally interesting four-page preface to this graphic novel, but I wish he’d spent a couple of sentences making it clear that this is an out-of-continuity story.

Confusion aside, the story is pretty good. But it’s the artwork, courtesy of penciler Jack “King” Kirby (with Joe Sinnott on inks and Glynis Wein on colors) that really shines. Kirby takes full advantage of the one hundred pages he has to work with here, delivering several splash pages and a couple of double-page splashes.

This graphic novel is a landmark book for a couple of reasons. As far as I can tell, it’s Marvel’s first original graphic novel. Marvel had previously published a few trade paperbacks through Simon and Schuster, but those books were reprints of older stories. This book, also published through Simon and Schuster, was all-new (at the time, of course) material.

It was also the last time Stan Lee and Jack Kirby worked on a project together. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are arguably the two principal creators of the modern Marvel universe, so their last team-up is a big deal.

This was also apparently the last book Marvel published in association with Simon and Schuster. They started publishing their own graphic novels in 1982. And Marvel started publishing their own trade paperback reprint collections in 1983.

Next time — Spider-Man! Or maybe Captain America!

Meta: Marvel Time Warp no. 302