Bigger SA key: Silver Surfer 1 or Fantastic Four 49 2 2

[1950's war comics]

FF49 no contest

[FoggyNelson]

Fantastic four 49 by a nose👍👍‼️

[Jaylam]

On 11/27/2018 at 10:22 AM, Chillax23 said:

I think it is easily FF49 - 1st full Galactus (one of the best Marvel Villains), 1st Surfer cover, and the second part of an epic trilogy!

While SS1 is great (and a book that is on my list) - it is arguable that SS3 and SS4 are equally as important.

As a Silver Surfer Fan I think you need FF48-50, and at Least SS1, SS3, and SS4 (I want to put together the full run) ....... but there are many other great Silver Surfer books

What??? No love for the Badoon, (1st appearance Silver Surfer #2)!

Also, I'm not a big fan of the cover of Silver Surfer #1. It just seems too static and does little to present how awesome the Silver Surfer is. The weakest cover of all the solo books Marvel launched that year in my opinion.

[Chillax23]

18 minutes ago, Jaylam said:

What??? No love for the Badoon, (1st appearance Silver Surfer #2)!

Also, I'm not a big fan of the cover of Silver Surfer #1. It just seems too static and does little to present how awesome the Silver Surfer is. The weakest cover of all the solo books Marvel launched that year in my opinion.

hahahaha I like the cover to issue #2 and as a completionist I would likely pick it up if I had the others.

I actually like the cover to SS#1 - I think it is a better cover than Iron Man 1, Thor 126 and Submariner #1 - but the clear winner is Cap 100 IMO

[KirbyJack]

I gotta take Thor #126 in that group, if you're including it in the class of '68.

It's from '66, but it makes sense to group it with the others. 

I agree that the SS1 cover falls a bit short of capturing the enormous scale of the character. 

Edited November 30, 2018 by KirbyJack

[Jaylam]

Less than a year before Silver Surfer #1, Kirby and Sinnott laid this masterpiece on us, so it's easy to see why #1 was a little bit of a letdown. 

I wonder if anyone has the original art to to either cover?

 

[Chillax23]

FF72 is an epic cover! 

[comicartfan]

3 hours ago, Jaylam said:

Less than a year before Silver Surfer #1, Kirby and Sinnott laid this masterpiece on us, so it's easy to see why #1 was a little bit of a letdown. 

I wonder if anyone has the original art to to either cover?

 

 

Bechara Maloof owns the cover to FF 72...unless he has sold it over the past few years. I got to see it in person and it is spectacular 

Edited December 1, 2018 by comicartfan

[Jaylam]

I think I've posted this before, but this sequence from FF #49 is truly a classic defining moment for Marvel where a non-super powered blind woman's encounter with the Silver Surfer plays an incredibly pivotal role in the story. Absolutely beautiful!

Edited December 1, 2018 by Jaylam

[@therealsilvermane]

Stan Lee himself has said that his favorite writing was on the Silver Surfer series, and his best writing on that series were the first ten issues. For me, SS #1-6 feature some of Stan Lee's finest writing ever.

[Jaylam]

10 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

Stan Lee himself has said that his favorite writing was on the Silver Surfer series, and his best writing on that series were the first ten issues. For me, SS #1-6 feature some of Stan Lee's finest writing ever.

I was always impressed by issue #6 and it's probably my favorite of the series. In some ways it reminds me of "The City on the Edge of Forever" from the original Star Trek series. 

[@therealsilvermane]

4 minutes ago, Jaylam said:

I was always impressed by issue #6 and it's probably my favorite of the series. In some ways it reminds me of "The City on the Edge of Forever" from the original Star Trek series. 

Yes! "Worlds Without End!" is also my favorite Surfer story, and maybe my favorite Marvel Comic story ever. I first discovered it in the Fantasy Masterpieces reprints, and now have my own VF+ copy below. Great Stan Lee story that touches on global destruction and time travel. Would love to have a Signature Series copy.

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 11/30/2018 at 2:54 PM, Jaylam said:

What??? No love for the Badoon, (1st appearance Silver Surfer #2)!

Also, I'm not a big fan of the cover of Silver Surfer #1. It just seems too static and does little to present how awesome the Silver Surfer is. The weakest cover of all the solo books Marvel launched that year in my opinion.

OK, maybe not THE weakest.

[bronze johnny]

Personal preferences aside, 1968 was a tremendous year for comic books and while I'm partial to the Kirby Silver Surfer (I'm partial to Kirby on just about everything the King did including what I believe is Jack's primary role in creating the Marvel SA), Buscema's "less muscular" Surfer is the version that has remained fixated in the mindset of most comic book collectors, with exception to the guys growing up during the Silver Age. Coming back to '68, I'm not just referring to the Marvel expansion, which was the first significant step toward the House of Ideas surpassing DC after November 1971. '68 gave rise to incredible changes for the comic book. Marvel saw Kirby's great Mangog story in Thor, Steranko's groundbreaking psychedelic Nick Fury series, and even Ditko's Blue Beetle with it's 1st appearance of the Question and his moral ambivalence about saving the life of villains in a sewer was a first for comic books. DC saw Neal Adams incorporate the realism he used in advertisements into the Strange Adeventures Deadman series and begin to move away from the 60s Batman in the Dark Knight's team-up with Deadman in Brave and Bold. Joe Kubert rises to his highest artistic peak with Enemy Ace in star Spangled War Stories 138 and the run up to #150. Kubert also incorporated the anti-war sentiment in Our Army at War when Sgt. Rock is "done" with war itself. Gene Colan gave us the definitive Iron Man with a mask that best defined the dualism existing in Shellhead and his alter-ego, Tony Stark (Yes, Ditko designed the new armor but Colan perfected it). Kirby would also make his final great contributuion to Marvel's Silver Age with the first appearance of Annihilus in FF Annual 6.

Circling back to the Silver Surfer, Buscema's Surfer, was not just about whether the Surfer's first issue is just the beginning of a series. It's much more than that. It represents the newer Surfer style and the one best recognized by collectors today. I'm not saying Buscema's Surfer is better than Kirby's, especially when I mentioned before that Jack's is my personal favorite. As for FF 49, this classic "battle book" has it's place in the midst of the greatest story of the Silver Age and while the collectors who grew up during that era hold it as a significant part of the their collecting consciousness (And I personally know some of the guys on the boards here who prefer 49 and respect their reasons why), FF 48 is the defining moment in the Marvel Silver Age of the mid '60s. It's important to put aside the speculation that is so prevalent in today's comic book hobby when defining the historical significance of these classic books and the impact they've had on collectors today. '68 was a much more significant year for all of comics than '66, and Buscema, who never expected to get the assignment (interesting that Stan assigned Buscema rather than the Surfer's creator but that's for another thread), went on to define the Surfer for the generations of fans and collectors who followed the first great class of Marvelites - including some of the great boardies who participated in this thread and expressed a position I deeply respect.

The Spirit of '68 not only expanded the distribution of Marvel's titles, but also re-defined characters and artwork while incorporating the social issues of the day in the comic book. An impression that exists in the consciousness of many collectors that grew up durung the '70s, '80s, and '90s and continues to inluence and challenge comic book creators today. 

-John

Edited December 2, 2018 by bronze johnny

[KirbyJack]

Great post. I always thought that Lee assigning the SS book to Buscema was a good choice for what Stan wanted to do with the character. Kirby and Lee had very different ideas about who The Silver Surfer was. Kirby conceived him as an alien aspiring to Humanity, while Lee wanted to use him as an outsider, seeing humans for what they really were. I prefer Jack Kirby's vision, as I never felt that The Surfer was on moral high ground, considering what he and Galactus had spent the previous eons doing. 

The readers of the time, however, focused on what was being said, and revere the character for it.

 

P.S. whenever I draw SS, I make him lithe and supple instead of Kirby's muscles, so Buscema did something right! 

[Sweet Lou 14]

2 hours ago, KirbyJack said:

Great post. I always thought that Lee assigning the SS book to Buscema was a good choice for what Stan wanted to do with the character. Kirby and Lee had very different ideas about who The Silver Surfer was. Kirby conceived him as an alien aspiring to Humanity, while Lee wanted to use him as an outsider, seeing humans for what they really were. I prefer Jack Kirby's vision, as I never felt that The Surfer was on moral high ground, considering what he and Galactus had spent the previous eons doing. 

The readers of the time, however, focused on what was being said, and revere the character for it.

 

P.S. whenever I draw SS, I make him lithe and supple instead of Kirby's muscles, so Buscema did something right! 

Just one small question though ... Shalla-Bal sure seems like she's still a very young lady.  How can it have been "eons" since Norrin Radd became the Surfer?

[KirbyJack]

48 minutes ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Just one small question though ... Shalla-Bal sure seems like she's still a very young lady.  How can it have been "eons" since Norrin Radd became the Surfer?

I apologize. I let my personal Surfer backstory get in the way. Apparently, when Galactus arrives in FF 48, Earth was the first inhabited planet he had ever threatened, so the existing story all works. Never mind! 

The Shalla-Bal thing does still bug me, tho. All that faster-than-light travel?

[Jaylam]

On 12/2/2018 at 4:14 PM, KirbyJack said:

I apologize. I let my personal Surfer backstory get in the way. Apparently, when Galactus arrives in FF 48, Earth was the first inhabited planet he had ever threatened, so the existing story all works. Never mind! 

The Shalla-Bal thing does still bug me, tho. All that faster-than-light travel?

I think Stan and Marvel in general did a pretty good job of incorporating as much accurate science as they could in their books. As far as speed of light or faster than light travel, about all sci-fi story telling suspends Einstein's realativity theories in order to keep events con-current or else the story wouldn't work or be impossible to tell. Star Trek, Star Wars, and even the current Marvel movies all do this. 

[KirbyJack]

True! I’ll just have to get on board with it.

(See what I did there?)

[Straw-Man]

i do see what you did there, but it was very surface humor.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Straw-Man