Wait! What the heck? Silver Surfer's DEAD?!

[qtwerk]

I picked up Silver Surfer "Requiem" while browsing in the GN section of our local library and then stayed there for 45 minutes reading it.

I've never really kept up to date with any American comics (apart from the obvious Bats GNs, The Walking Dead, Preacher, The Punisher and Sandman) and the interminable "Death of Batman/ Superman/ Robin/ Spiderman/ Daredevil!" followed by the "Rebirth of Batman/ Superman/ Robin/ Spiderman/ Daredevil!" bollocks bores me to tears, but this felt rather final. And I felt a bit sad.

Maybe partly through guilt. My favourites have always been Bats, Spidey and The Punisher. The Silver Surfer was always rather minor. A bit silly maybe. A Fantastic Four sideshow. He's a surfer for Christ's sake. In space.

But from the depths of my memory I seem to recall that what I had read about SS and his elegiac, noble but often thankless guardianship of Earth from Galactus, was always rather well written, and often beautifully illustrated. And not silly at all.

I may start building up a collection, in memoriam. My own small tribute to....er, whatever his real name was. Something alien like NORAD, but not that.





He's not dead is he?
I bet he bloody well isn't dead. I can hardly bear to wiki. Someone tell me. Someone I trust.

[sheldipez]

He was still alive and kicking as of a few months ago as he was part of the Defenders (2011-2012 series)

[qtwerk]

He was still alive and kicking as of a few months ago as he was part of the Defenders (2011-2012 series)

I've just remembered why he struck such a chord with me. I used to have a run of The Defenders from about Issue One when I was a kid.

So he isn't dead, then.

[Colin YNWA]

So he isn't dead, then.

Well he might well have been comic book dead for a while!

Norrin Radd by the way (I'm being brave and not checking the internet to test my nerd skills)

[qtwerk]

So he isn't dead, then.

Well he might well have been comic book dead for a while!

Norrin Radd by the way (I'm being brave and not checking the internet to test my nerd skills)

I kept thinking "Namor" until I realised that was The Submariner's name. It's horrible how shitty your memory is, and I think Wiki is making it worse because you don't even have to try anymore.

[qtwerk]

So he isn't dead, then.

Has anyone in comics actually ever died and stayed dead?

Well he might well have been comic book dead for a while!

Norrin Radd by the way (I'm being brave and not checking the internet to test my nerd skills)

[JamesC]

I really like the Silver Surfer so I hope he isn't dead.

He's one of those Kirby creations that is inherently rather silly but somehow just works on the page. Rather like the even more ridiculous Black Racer - that somehow manages to seem perfectly reasonable when he pops up halfway through a New Gods comic


Here's a picture of the surfer surfin' the streets of New York. I don't know why it's cool - it just is.

[qtwerk]

Eeeek! I wish I had wiki-ed him. I totally forgot Jack Bloody Kirby drew him!

Although the version I remember was the other bloke who was a bit like him in style. Buscemi or whatever his name is/ was. Buscema? John Buscema?

WIKI-FREE ZONE!

[SuperSurfer]

Yeah, something cool about the Silver Surfer, though I'm only familiar with the Kirby and Buscema incarnations. I remember Stan Lee being interviewed on kid's tv in the 1970s and he said that the Silver Surfer comic was cancelled because it was such a strong idea that he felt it would be copied. Didn't make sense to me then or now. Well, that's how I remember it but it was a long, long time ago. 

[qtwerk]

Yeah, something cool about the Silver Surfer, though I'm only familiar with the Kirby and Buscema incarnations. I remember Stan Lee being interviewed on kid's tv in the 1970s and he said that the Silver Surfer comic was cancelled because it was such a strong idea that he felt it would be copied. Didn't make sense to me then or now. Well, that's how I remember it but it was a long, long time ago.

Yeah. Seems a silly idea, but reading Requiem I remembered why it wasn't. He's written very, very straight. And he always seemed really sad, and noble.

[HdE]

Don't quote me on this, but I do believe that Silver Surfer: Requiem is a kind of one-off, what-if, totally self-contained story. I don't think it has any bearing on the main Marvel continuity.

of course, if I'm wrong, I'll happily accept a public stoning.

[qtwerk]

Don't quote me on this, but I do believe that Silver Surfer: Requiem is a kind of one-off, what-if, totally self-contained story. I don't think it has any bearing on the main Marvel continuity.

of course, if I'm wrong, I'll happily accept a public stoning.

That seems a bit of a cop-out. A "what if?" story about a character dying. It would lack any emotional heft.

Although given that no fucker ever seems to really die properly in Marvel and DC, they're all guilty of that.
At least in 2000AD, if you die, you stay dead.





haha

[grthink]

Although given that no fucker ever seems to really die properly in Marvel and DC, they're all guilty of that.
At least in 2000AD, if you die, you stay dead.





haha

It's not like 2000AD would put everyone through the tortured, tortuous death of a character and then bring them back, is it? Good ol' 2000Ad.

Marvel's 'What If...' series is actually kind of fun sometimes -- it gives writers the chance to actually kill off characters and having their decisions stick, whereas usually the Editors will say 'yep, kill them, we'll bring them back'. The only characters I can remember staying dead were Tomahawk from the X-Men (and he was invented to be stunt-killed, I think?) and a whole bunch of people from Peter Milligan's run on X-Force (nearly all of the X-Force team get killed off in the first issue, and after that there's a very high mortality rate in the new team).

[sheldipez]

Don't quote me on this, but I do believe that Silver Surfer: Requiem is a kind of one-off, what-if, totally self-contained story. I don't think it has any bearing on the main Marvel continuity.

of course, if I'm wrong, I'll happily accept a public stoning.

Yeah you're right, Requiem was published under the Marvel Knights imprint which was (sorry had to use wiki search here!) a "self-contained limited series that think outside the box, that challenge readers to re-think their favorite Marvel characters and re-evaluate the legends that surround them. In other words, Marvel Knights will be a place for top talent to work without constraints, and deliver the kind of product fans deserve!""

[HdE]

Which begs the question: Who threw that stone just now?