THE SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL BY STAN LEE & JOHN BUSCEMA...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Cover art by JOE JUSKO

As all true Marvelites know, The SILVER SURFER had

his own mag in the '60s which lasted for 18 issues, the first 17 of

which were illustrated by JOHN BUSCEMA.  However, there's a

'sort of' 18th ish he got to do (with STAN LEE), in the form of the

1988 hardback graphic novel, which took the form of one big panel

per page.  As you'd expect from Big John, he delivered a superbly

drawn adventure, and this is one book that should be on the

shelves of every Silver Surfer fan.

When JACK KIRBY first introduced NORRIN RADD into

the pages of The FANTASTIC FOUR comic, he imbued him

with a strange, other-worldly quality that suited the character to

a 't'.  He also drew him in a fluid way, that captured perfectly the

way in which surfers 'bobbed and weaved' on their boards.  With-

in a very short space of time 'though, Jack's figure-work became

much more blocky and static, which is probably why Stan de-

cided to give the Surfer's regular mag to Buscema.

One only has to look at the 18th and final issue of the

Surfer's own mag (which Jack illustrated) to see the wisdom in

Stan's decision.  In contrast to Jack's Surfer, Buscema's version

is lithe, fluid and flexible, and has an innate nobility that was no

longer evident in Jack's rendition of the character.  You may dis-

agree with this assessment, but I bring convincing proof of it.

What's that you say?  Show it to you?  Okay, I will.  I now

present the following exhibits for your consideration.

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