And speaking of the Silver Surfer, I thought I would make a mention about those early “tragic” Surfer issues scripted by Stan Lee. I purchased the Essential Silver Surfer in 2001 as I had been reading comics for many years, but I had never really delved into the Surfer’s character. I think I picked up a reprint here or there and I had seen the hero in battles with the Hulk in “ol’ greenskin’s“ book. But, I never actually sat down and read the original solo series.

When Essential Silver Surfer came out, I was curious to read about those legendary “tragic” tales. Yes, the Surfer was quite a bit of a complainer. He came off even worse than Captain America sounded in the late 1960’s. Actually, they both had similar tales. Cap woke up in the modern day after spending decades in hibernation and didn’t feel he belonged. The Silver Surfer was banished to earth and felt he didn’t belong. Of course, The Silver Surfer’s situation was made worse by the fact that he was a sliver coated alien from outer space. Nah, he really didn’t fit in. This all led to quite a bit of moralizing and sermonizing in his books.

When you consider the fact that most Marvel books of the era were fun, The Silver Surfer truly was a downer. But, we did get a lot of unique philosophy and emoting from the tragic character. Perhaps this was done to key in on the alienated youth quotient that made up a chunk of Marvel readers. If so, The Surfer was a little too depressed. He couldn’t sustain an audience and his book was short lived.
====================================================================================================