| Silver Surfer | |
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The Silver Surfer #1 (Aug. 1968). Cover art by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Norrin Radd |
| Team affiliations | Heralds of Galactus United Front The Defenders The Order Star Masters God Squad Annihilators |
| Abilities | Endowed with the Power Cosmic |
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The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy".[1][2]
Originally, Norrin Radd, a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La, made a bargain with the cosmic entity Galactus, pledging to serve as his herald in order to save his homeworld from destruction. Imbued in return with a tiny portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic,[3] Radd acquired great powers and a new version of his original appearance. Galactus also created for Radd a surfboard-like craft — modeled after a childhood fantasy of his — on which he would travel at speeds beyond that of light. Known from then on as the Silver Surfer, Radd began to roam the cosmos searching for new planets for Galactus to consume. When his travels finally took him to Earth, the Surfer came face-to-face with the Fantastic Four, a team of powerful superheroes that helped him to rediscover his nobility of spirit. Betraying Galactus, the Surfer saved Earth but was punished in return by being exiled there.[4] In 2011 IGN ranked Silver Surfer was ranked 41st in the "Top 100 comic heroes".
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The Silver Surfer debuted as an unplanned addition to the superhero-team comic Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966). The comic's writer-editor, Stan Lee, and its penciller and co-plotter, Jack Kirby, had by the mid-1960s developed a collaborative technique known as the "Marvel Method": the two would discuss story ideas, Kirby would work from a brief synopsis to draw the individual scenes and plot details, and Lee would finally add the dialog and captions. When Kirby turned in his pencil art for the story, he included a new character he and Lee had not discussed.[5] As Lee recalled in 1995, "There, in the middle of the story we had so carefully worked out, was a nut on some sort of flying surfboard".[6] He later expanded on this, recalling, "I thought, 'Jack, this time you've gone too far'".[7] Kirby explained that the story's agreed-upon antagonist, a god-like cosmic predator of planets named Galactus, should have some sort of herald, and that he created the surfboard "because I'm tired of drawing spaceships!"[8] Taken by the noble features of the new character, who turned on his master to help defend Earth, Lee overcame his initial skepticism and began adding characterization. The Silver Surfer soon became a key part of the unfolding story.[5]
Following the Surfer's debut, Lee and Kirby brought him back as a recurring guest in Fantastic Four #55-61, 72, and 74-77 (ranging Oct. 1966 - Aug. 1968). The character made his solo debut in the backup story of Fantastic Four Annual #5 (Nov. 1967).
The following year, Lee launched the solo title The Silver Surfer. John Buscema was penciller for the first 17 issues of the series, with Kirby returning for the 18th and final issue. The first seven issues, which included anthological "Tales of the Watcher" backup stories, were 72-page (with advertising), 25-cent "giants", as opposed to the typical 36-page, 12-cent comics of the time. Thematically, the stories dealt with the Surfer's exile on Earth and the inhumanity of man as observed by this noble yet fallen hero. Though short-lived, the series became known as one of Lee's most thoughtful and introspective works.[9]
Following his series' cancellation, the Surfer made sporadic appearances as a guest star or antagonist in such comic books as Thor, The Defenders, and Fantastic Four. Lee remained partial to the Surfer, and with Kirby collaborated on a seminal 1978 graphic novel starring the character, the only original story featured in the Marvel Fireside Books series.
After a 1982 one-shot by writer-artist John Byrne, the Surfer appeared in his second solo, ongoing title in 1987. Here he escaped the confines of Earth and left for the spaceways. Originally written by Steve Englehart and illustrated by Marshall Rogers, the series would later be written by Jim Starlin and illustrated by Ron Lim. Starlin in turn would be succeeded by Ron Marz, with George Pérez and J. M. DeMatteis also having brief writing stints. Additional artists included Tom Grindberg, Ron Garney, and Jon J. Muth, as well as periodic guest spots by the aforementioned John Buscema. The title experienced great initial success and which allowed Marvel to push the character into other media, including a 1990 video game, 1992 trading card set, and 1998 animated series, as well as spinning off a variety of other comics series including Cosmic Powers, Cosmic Powers Unlimited, Captain Marvel (vol. 2), and Star Masters. Although the main book's popularity was buoyed by The Infinity Gauntlet and other company crossovers, it was eventually canceled in 1998 after 146 issues. It was followed in 1999 by the two issue miniseries, Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals.
A two-issue Silver Surfer miniseries (later collected as Silver Surfer: Parable), scripted by Lee and drawn by Moebius, was published through Marvel's Epic Comics imprint in 1988 and 1989. Because of inconsistencies with other stories, it has been argued that these stories actually feature an alternate Silver Surfer from a parallel Earth.[10] This miniseries won the Eisner Award for best finite/limited series in 1989.
A new ongoing Silver Surfer series began in 2003, focusing on the character's alien nature and messianic allegory. It lasted 14 issues. The Surfer later appeared in an issue of Cable & Deadpool and has twice been reunited with the superhero group the Defenders. In 2006-2007, he starred in the four-issue miniseries Annihilation: Silver Surfer and co-starred in the miniseries Heralds of Galactus, both part of the Annihilation fictional crossover.
In 2007, the Silver Surfer starred in a four-issue miniseries Silver Surfer: Requiem by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Esad Ribic. The first issue was released May 30, 2007 to coincide with the character's first movie appearance.[11][12] Published under the Marvel Knights imprint, Silver Surfer: Requiem portrays the character upon learning that he is dying as the silver shell he is encased in is deteriorating.
This was followed by the miniseries Silver Surfer: In Thy Name,[13] by writer Simon Spurrier[14][15] and artist Ten Eng Huat.[16]
After appearances in the "Planet Hulk" storyline in 2006 and its spin-off series starring the Hulk's son Skaar in 2008, both written by Greg Pak, the Surfer again starred in an eponymous 5-issue mini-series also written by Pak, debuting in February 2011.[17] He was also a core cast member in The Thanos Imperative (2010), Annihilators (2011),[18] , Fear Itself: The Deep (2011)[19] and The Mighty Thor #1–6 (May–September 2011).[20]
Norrin Radd is from the utopian planet Zenn-La, in the Deneb star system of the Milky Way galaxy. He is the son of Jartan and Elmar Radd, and he has a half-brother, Fennan Radd.[21][22][23] Zenn-La's ancient and significantly advanced civilization has lost the will to strive or explore, leaving the young scholar Norrin Radd restless and yearning for adventure. Facing the destruction of his world by planet-consuming Galactus, Radd bargains with the cosmic being. In return for the safety of Zenn-La and his lover, Shalla-Bal, Radd pledges to seek out planets for the world devourer to consume as his herald. Galactus imbues him with a portion of the Power Cosmic, transforming him into the Silver Surfer.[24][25] Radd had intended to lead Galactus to uninhabited planets, but Galactus tampers with his soul to prevent this.[26]
Radd serves Galactus for an unspecified amount of time. Eventually, the Surfer summons his master to Earth. Here the Surfer meets the Fantastic Four and Alicia Masters. Touched by their nobility, he rebels against Galactus, who is eventually driven off. Before he leaves, he confines the Surfer to Earth with an invisible barrier that affects only him.[27][28]
During his exile, the Surfer fights numerous villains, including Doctor Doom, who wants his power cosmic, and Mephisto, who wants his soul. The Surfer's only ally during these trials is a physicist by the name of Al B. Harper, who eventually sacrifices himself to save the world from the Stranger.[29]
Banding together with the Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner during these wanderings, the Surfer forms the "Titans Three," a group dedicated to battling evil on Earth.[30] Soon, Doctor Strange joins the group and it becomes "The Defenders." Surfer stays with them for a while, but his overwhelming desire to be free of Earth and his frequent collisions with Galactus' energy-draining barrier eventually drives him to leave the group.
The Surfer finally pierces Galactus' barrier with the aid of Reed Richards and temporarily escapes Earth. He discovers, though, that his homeworld has been ravaged by Galactus and Shalla-Bal has been abducted by Mephisto and taken to Earth. Even though it means trapping himself once more, the Surfer returns to Earth to battle and defeat Mephisto. Before being vanquished, Mephisto sends Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La, but the Surfer manages to endow her with a portion of his Power Cosmic, which she uses to revitalize the plant life of their ravaged homeworld.[31]
After the Surfer aids the Fantastic Four against Galactus' latest herald, Terrax,[32] Surfer finally manages to pierce Galactus' barrier by acting on the Thing's suggestion of trying to pass through on a spaceship instead of via his own power on his surfboard. He also manages to make peace with Galactus by rescuing his current herald, Nova (Frankie Raye), from the Skrulls and encounters the Champion, after which Galactus finally declares the Surfer's long exile ended.[33] He immediately revisits his homeworld, but Shalla-Bal, in his absence, had become empress of the rejuvenated Zenn-La and hence unable to renew their romance.[34]
Embroiled in fresh hostilities between the interstellar Kree and Skrull empires, the Surfer also intervenes in a series of plots by the Elders of the Universe, who plan to become supremely powerful by destroying Galactus and the universe with him. The Surfer thwarts this plot with the aid of his new love interest, Mantis, the Earth-born cosmic heroine also known as the "Celestial Madonna".[35] She seems to die in the process, and although she eventually returns, she never fully renews their romances.[36] After this loss, a grief-stricken Surfer turns to Nova and romantic feelings begin to develop between them.[37] The Surfer's influence gradually leads Nova to question the morality of her role as herald to Galactus.[38] Eventually replaced by the far more ruthless Morg, Nova dies in a conflict between the new herald and the Surfer and the other ex-heralds.[39]
The Surfer repeatedly battles space-born menaces, the chief of whom is Thanos, who attempts to kill half the life in the universe using the omnipotent Infinity Gauntlet.[40] Through Thanos, the Surfer learns how Galactus had altered his soul. He convinces Galactus to restore it,[41] but once Galactus has done so, the Surfer is overcome with grief until he is able to forgive himself.[42] The Surfer finds interstellar allies in Adam Warlock's Infinity Watch and the "Star Masters" team, and he begins attending occasional Defenders reunions.
The Surfer returns home to Zenn-La to find that the planet has vanished, and learns it was actually destroyed in the 1940s (Earth time) by the entity known as the Other. Zenn-La and its people which the Surfer repeatedly encountered since leaving Galactus' service were actually reproductions, created by Galactus so that the Surfer would have a home to return to.[43] Losing his capacity for emotion again, the Surfer returns to Earth. He later regains his personality during a time-travel adventure and sharing a romance with Alicia Masters.[44] The two ultimately part as friends after many adventures together.
Later, the Surfer works with the alien Annunaki race to gather and protect some of Earth's most extraordinarily gifted children.[45] In the end, one of these children, Ellie Waters, saves Earth from the godlike Marduk entity, preventing the apocalypse and reordering reality as if the Marduk crisis had never happened (though Ellie alone apparently retains her memories of these events).[45] The Surfer resumes his interstellar wanderings, but promises to be ready to aid his adopted homeworld should Earth ever need him.
During his travels, the Surfer is captured by a portal of the Planet Sakaar Empire. Left weakened and vulnerable by his trip through the portal, the Surfer is subdued and implanted with an obedience disk to ensure he remains loyal to them. Fighting as a gladiator (and believed to be the fabled 'Sakaarson' due to his appearance), the Surfer is finally forced to face the Hulk along with his Warbound. Through teamwork and distraction, the Hulk is eventually able to destroy the Surfer's obedience disk. The Hulk and several other slaves and gladiators are freed when the Surfer uses the Power Cosmic to remove their own obedience disks and give them a way out of the arena, although the Hulk declines the Surfer's offer to take him back to Earth.[46]
During the Annihilation war, the Silver Surfer again becomes Galactus' herald to help save the universe from the despot Annihilus.[47] Annihilus captures them[48] and gives them to Thanos for experimentation. Drax the Destroyer frees the Surfer, who in turn frees Galactus. An enraged Galactus destroys more than half the Annihilation Wave, and Annihilus is defeated.[49] Later, the Surfer is joined as herald by Stardust, a former herald the Surfer had replaced.[50][51]
The Surfer leads the world devourer to the populated planet Orbucen, which brings him into conflict with Richard Rider. He delays the planetary destruction to give the inhabitants more time to evacuate. [52]
The Silver Surfer returns to Sakaar in a plan to feed Galactus with the unique "Old Power" which he claims would sate his master's hunger for thousands of years, sparing many other inhabited worlds. He is opposed by the Hulk's son Skaar, and is enslaved by an obedience disc. The conflict is ended when Skaar's mother Caiera sacrifices her soul and Old Power as sustenance for Galactus.[53] Unfortunately, Galactus now seems addicted to the Old Power and has begun searching for other planets containing it to sate himself.[54]
After an encounter with the High Evolutionary,[55] the Silver Surfer and Galactus battled Thor and the Asgardians. The battle ended when the Surfer Surfer chose to leave his post as herald and guard an Asgardian artifact. Galactus "tethers" him to Asgard's location in Oklahoma, resulting in his powers waning the further he travels from Asgard, and grants him the ability to return to human form.[56]
During the Fear Itself storyline, Silver Surfer ends up coming to the aid of Doctor Strange, Namor, Loa, and Lyra in order to liberate New Atlantis from Attuma (in the form of Nerkodd: Breaker of Oceans).[57]
The Silver Surfer wields the Power Cosmic, granting him superhuman strength, stamina, durability, senses and the ability to absorb and manipulate the universe's ambient energy for a variety of effects. The Surfer can navigate through interstellar space, dimensional barriers, and hyperspace, which he can enter to exceed the speed of light when flying on his board,[58] and has even proven capable of time travel on several occasions, even able to make others time-travel with him.[59]
The Surfer sustains himself by converting matter into energy; does not require food, water, air, or sleep (although he occasionally enters a sleep-like meditation in order to dream); and can survive within nearly any known natural environment, including deep space, hyperspace, and even within black holes[60] and stars.[61] The Surfer can analyze and manipulate matter and energy, and molecularly restructure or animate matter at will such as causing vegetation to grow much quicker, even transmuting elements or creating objects. He can also project energy in various forms for offensive and defensive use, including the erection of force shields, bolts of cosmic force powerful enough to destroy entire planets,[62][63] and create black holes. He can utilize the Power Cosmic to augment his superhuman strength to indeterminate levels.[64] The Surfer can heal living organisms, though he cannot raise the dead,[58] and he has proven capable of revitalizing and evolving organic life on a planet-wide scale.[65] He can alter the size of himself or of other matter, cast illusions,[66] create interdimensional portals, [66] and phase through solid matter.[58]
His senses enable him to detect objects and concentrations of energy light years away and to perceive matter and energy in subatomic detail, including life energies of living beings.[67] The Surfer can even see through time, and with concentration he can achieve limited perception of past and future events in his general vicinity.[68] He has demonstrated telepathic ability, including mind-reading on occasion,[69] and has proven to be able to influence human emotion and sensation.[58]
The Surfer's board is composed of a nearly impervious, cosmically powered silvery material that is similar to his own skin. The board is mentally linked to the Surfer and moves in response to his mental commands even when he is not in physical contact with it.[70] The board is nearly indestructible, but on those rare occasions when it has been damaged or destroyed, the Surfer has proven able to repair it, or even recreate it, with little effort.[33] The Surfer can attack opponents remotely by directing the board against them, and the board is capable of absorbing and imprisoning other beings, at least temporarily.[71]
When Galactus exiled the Surfer to Earth, his means of imprisonment was linked to the board. When the Surfer and the Fantastic Four realized this, the Surfer put it to the test by leaving the board planet-side and entering space in the Four's spacecraft. Once he was free of Earth, the Surfer remotely converted the board to energy, recalled it to him, and reformed it in space.[33]
Norrin Radd also possesses some knowledge of the advanced alien technology of the planet Zenn-La.
Warren Ellis' Ultimate Galactus Trilogy originally suggested that the Ultimates' ally the Vision was the herald of Galactus, a robotic probe that travels through space warning civilizations of the impending arrival of Gah Lak Tus. In the final miniseries of the trilogy, Ultimate Extinction, silvery humanoids began to appear, sent to trigger mass suicides in order to reduce the population's resistance. Suicide cults founded by the creatures began to appear all across the globe as Gah Lak Tus drew near. These silvery beings had the ability to grow wings; morph into an ovoid; form spikes; or take an intermediary form, gliding on an oval surface. They also demonstrated the ability to manipulate large quantities of energy. All these traits are reminiscent of the Surfer, but their official name is the Silver Men or Silver Wings.
In Ultimate Fantastic Four #42, another Ultimate incarnation of the Silver Surfer appears, called the Silver Searcher. He is teleported to Earth after Reed mistakes him for a star that he is trying to harness. His appearance triggers planet-wide chaos and natural calamities. In #43, Reed comments that Gah Lak Tus seems to have modeled its drones on this surfer, and he gives his name as Norin Radd. The Searcher states that he will summon his "master", who will make the population of the Earth happier than they have ever been.[72]
In #44, the Surfer's master is revealed to be Zenn-La's ruler, Revka Temerlune Edifex Scyros III, "the king without enemies", who uses mind-control to make the population of Earth worship him (before it takes effect on the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch calls him "Psycho-Man"). It is revealed that the Surfer has been exiled from Zenn-La for destroying the control that Psycho-Man had over Zenn-La, but because of finding Earth for his master to "save" he may return. After Psycho-Man gains domain over Earth, the Silver Surfer, temporarily imprisoned in his own 'memorial' statue, rescues Mr. Fantastic, tells him his story, and asks him to save Earth. The Surfer then helps the Fantastic Four defeat other Surfer-like assassins of Psycho-Man. With the Surfers beaten and the insane Psycho-Man reprogrammed to experience the unthinking happiness he had imposed on others, Silver Surfer wanders the space ways.
In Ultimate X-Men, Jean Grey as Phoenix travels through space and is stopped by what is named as "A Silver Surfer". He informs Phoenix that the Watchers disapprove of the problems her flight across the universe is causing and briefly battles her before asking what she is looking for.[73]
On Earth 552, Norrin Radd had been a great military scientist who accidentally destroyed his own world with his greatest invention. Determined to bring it back to existence, he approached Galactus, Restorer of Worlds, and became his herald in the hope that Galactus would resurrect his world in exchange for his service. However, Galactus had taken an oath to only revive those worlds destroyed by the Blight. An enraged Silver Surfer then turned against his master, destroying those who worshiped him and attempting to kill Galactus himself in order to steal the knowledge of world restoration. This led to the destruction of Earth, the coming of the Exiles, the deaths of the Shi'ar Imperial Elite Guard, and inevitably the Surfer's own destruction at the claws of a cosmically empowered Sabretooth.[74][75]
The Silver Surfer is a victim of the Marvel Zombies on Earth-2149. Instead of coming to Earth and meeting the Fantastic Four, he is attacked by a horde of zombies. After fighting valiantly, he is killed by the Hulk, and his body is devoured by a few of the zombies (Hulk, Colonel America, Giant-Man, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and Spider-Man). His corpse grants the zombies a portion each of his cosmic powers, which they use to kill all of the other zombie heroes and villains whom they consider "competition" for what's left of the living. Afterwards, Pym creates a machine that concentrates the Cosmic powers they all share to create a massive blast that kills Galactus, at which point they eat him. Now imbued with the power of Galactus himself (and realizing they can now fly and survive in space), they adopt his role, traveling the universe and picking worlds clean of life.[76]
In Marvel Zombies 3 Silver Surfer makes a cameo when Vanessa Fisk explain to Machine Man and Jocasta the story about the origin of the zombie empire of Kingpin.
During the finale of Last Planet Standing, the Silver Surfer foils Galactus' plan to create a new Big Bang, merging with Galactus himself in the process to become a new being. Gaining control of Galactus' powers, the new entity undoes the damage done by the old Galactus.[77]
In the alternate timeline of Earth-691, notably the Guardians of the Galaxy issues #24 and #25 story arc, Norrin Radd was featured as The Keeper. This new version of the Silver Surfer sans his surfboard had Quantum Bands, which augmented his "Power Cosmic" and designated him as the Protector of the Universe, as with other bearers of the Bands before him. He works with the Guardians in an attempt to kill Galactus once and for all, his first attempt with Firelord and Dargo-Thor having failed. Eventually, the Keeper realizes that, with his augmented power, he can supply Galactus with the energy he needs and end the Planet-Eater's consumption of worlds. Eon, cosmic being and creator of the Quantum Bands, reveals that this was the ultimate purpose of the Keeper becoming the Protector of the Universe, and he enters into a symbiotic partnership with Galactus, who accepts the Keeper as an equal; he is last seen leaving with Galactus, riding a silver surfboard once more.
In issue 11 and 12 of the Earth X series, Black Bolt calls upon Galactus to come destroy the Celestial seed growing within Earth. The Silver Surfer accompanies him along with his love Shalla-Bal, who had now been turned into a silver herald of Galactus as well.
In Green Lantern/Silver Surfer, the Silver Surfer confronts Cyborg Superman over the destruction of a planet and is met by Parallax. Parallax beats the Cyborg, but the Silver Surfer lets him go and tries to sympathize with Parallax. The two return to Earth to find Kyle Rayner with Thanos, leading them to believe they formed an alliance when in reality Thanos tricked Kyle. Kyle convinces the Surfer to help him stop Parallax and Thanos from destroying the universe and that he was duped into giving Thanos Oa's power. The Surfer similarly gave most of his power to Parallax to reform the destroyed planet, forcing Kyle to use his ring to drain both villains of their enhanced powers before they can destroy everything. Unable to contain the power himself, Kyle channels the power from the two villains into the Silver Surfer, who opens a portal and sucks the two inside.
The two met again during Marvel vs. DC when they were selected as combatants to decide the fate of their universes, the Surfer winning the fight with Kyle but noting that he had never more regretted an enemy's defeat due to his normal friendship with Green Lantern.
In the main Marvel continuity, the Silver Surfer bonds with the Carnage symbiote in two issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, gaining the name "Carnage Cosmic ". He looks like the original Carnage from the Spider-Man comics, but still has the trademark surfboard of the Silver Surfer. In the first issue, the Carnage Symbiote leaves Cletus Kasady, to seek revenge for the destruction of its homeworld the only way it knows how, by using the Surfer as its new host. After the symbiote completes merging to the Surfer, he immediately rampages as a side effect to the two entities conflicting with each other. The Carnage Cosmic then flies off into outer space. Cletus Kasady, "symbiote-less," is taken to the hospital for the immense pain he suffers as a result of the separation (this is revealed to be the result of an advanced case of stomach cancer the symbiote had been guarding him from).[78] As Carnage Cosmic drifts along in space, the symbiote recants memories from Kasady and itself to Norrin Radd (the Surfer's former self). Radd sees how the symbiote remembers the Surfer summoning his master, Galactus, to the planet to consume it. Then the Surfer is shown memories of Kasady's abusive youth. The Surfer breaks free realizing what he must do. He returns to Earth as the Cosmic Carnage . After a brief roof-top battle with Spider-Man, the mismatched pair searches the city finding Kasady in the hospital, still screaming in pain. Upon immediately seeing Kasady, the symbiote re-bonds with Kasady, but to ensure Carnage will never hurt any one else again, The Surfer encases Carnage in an unbreakable shell of ethereal energy.[78]
In a What If? storyline, however, the symbiote remained bonded to the Surfer, forcing Spider-Man and the Avengers to battle him until Firestar was able to use her powers to disrupt the symbiote's control over the Surfer. After his powers were used to destroy dozens of New York City blocks and realizing that there was only one way to stop the symbiote, the Silver Surfer flew himself into the sun, seemingly destroying both himself and the creature.[79]
In addition to his history of publication in comic books, the Silver Surfer has appeared or starred in several prose fiction books:
The United States Postal Service in November 2007, released a series of $0.41 stamps honoring Marvel comics. One stamp shows the Silver Surfer on his board and another shows the first eponymous issue.[94] Associated paraphernalia (e.g. first day covers) were also available.
The Silver Surfer has appeared in several Marvel-based action figure and toy lines, including one celebrating the 30th anniversary of the character's first appearance, and three based on the 1998 animated series.[95] Other notable appearances in action figure lines include:
The Silver Surfer starred in his own "all-prism" trading card series in 1993, released by Comics Images.[96]
He has also appeared in many of Marvel's other trading card sets, notably each of the Marvel Universe Cards, Marvel Masterpieces, and Marvel Flair Cards trading card series as well as the Marvel Overpower trading card game.
The Silver Surfer appears on the cover of the Joe Satriani album Surfing With The Alien, and provided the inspiration for the title track. Additional songs by Satriani were inspired by the Surfer mythos: "Back to Shalla-Bal", on Flying in a Blue Dream; and "The Power Cosmic 2000", a two-part song on Engines of Creation.
The British metal band Bal-Sagoth named their fourth album "The Power Cosmic", and dedicated one song to the Silver Surfer - "The Scourge of the Fourth Celestial Host".[97]
The Silver Surfer was ranked as the 47th greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine.[98] IGN also ranked the Silver Surfer as the 41st greatest comic book hero quoting that "Silver Surfer has the coolest mode of transportation this side of Ghost Rider, but his powers come with a heavy burden."[99]
The Silver Surfer has been the focus of six eponymous series:
The Silver Surfer has starred in four original graphic novels:
The Silver Surfer has also headlined or co-headlined the following series:
Marvel has featured the Silver Surfer alongside characters from other companies in the following crossovers:
The character's various series have been collected into the following trade paperbacks:
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