Silver Surfer

The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero. Created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, he first appeared in The Fantastic Four #48 (1966). more...

The Surfer was originally Norrin Radd, a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La. He agreed to serve as a herald for the alien Galactus to save Zenn-La from the planet-consuming super being. Galactus granted Norrin Radd enormous cosmic powers, a silvery appearance and a surfboard-like vehicle, all of which were modeled after a childhood fantasy of Radd's. Thereafter, he roamed the cosmos, searching for new planets for Galactus to consume until, after an encounter with Earth's Fantastic Four, he betrayed Galactus, who doomed the Surfer to exile on Earth.

In a heavily philosophical late 1960s series, which was popular in the hippie counter culture, the Earth-bound Surfer explored his new home planet. Another, more cosmically themed series with a freed Surfer was published from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, and a third short-lived series followed in 2004.

Publication history

The Silver Surfer is a unique product of the Marvel system of comic creation. Unlike in the full scripts employed elsewhere, creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would discuss general storylines or plots initially but leave the specific story elements to the penciller (this was especially so in the case of Kirby). Reputedly, Kirby created the character of the Silver Surfer reasoning that a cosmic predator of planets should have some sort of herald. Lee was surprised by this creation but, taken by the noble features of the new character that Kirby had penciled, scripted him, adding to his characterization.

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