The Top 100 Comic Sagas, Day 2
Aug 1, 2017 22:47:41 GMT -5
Prince Hal, hondobrode, and 2 more like this
Post by shaxper on Aug 1, 2017 22:47:41 GMT -5
Pssst...Make sure to check out the Advance Warning Thread before jumping in with your selection!
9. The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience (1978)
By: Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
Originally published in: The Silver Surfer (Fireside)
Stan and Jack's last word together on the Silver Silver before the two parted ways one last time and Stan finally surrendered the character, allowing him to be used by other writers. It was also one of the comic book world's first original graphic novels. Essentially, this is a non-continuity re-imagining of the Surfer's origin, very similar to the original in many respects, but highly different in others. It also works to reconcile the two different characterizations of the Surfer prior to this (Galactus' loyal herald who grows a conscience, and Galactus' unwilling servant who sacrificed himself to save his world). They do a nice job of this.
Beyond that, the story is 100 pages of the Surfer, Galactus, and (new character) Ardina engaging in philosophical debates with themselves and each other before finally arriving at a conclusion that never came in the regular continuity. The endless philosophizing felt tedious after a while in the pages of the first volume of SS, but it works better here, divorced of the need to impose a 20+ page story and conflict on top of it. Silver Surfer was always more an experiment in philosophy/existentialism than in action/adventure, and Kirby and Lee bring that to fruition in these pages. The exploration is relatively deep, it espouses some original ways of viewing the human race and life in general, Kirby keeps us visually glued throughout, and there are probably only about ten pages where the story seems to drag and become tedious in its moralizing and philosophizing (pp.76-85) before arriving at its unforgettable conclusion.
The work then ends on a note so cosmically tragic, so haunting and unforgettable, that it's lingered with me ever since. It wasn't until reading this work that I fully understood the Silver Surfer always had an inevitable end to his story from his very first appearance in Fantastic Four #48, but that ending could never be realized in an ongoing comic format. Truly, this work was everything the Surfer could and should have been had the dynamic duo of Lee and Kirby stayed together to explore the character to his logical end, and had there been no pressure to maintain an ongoing franchise that had to keep going indefinitely.
There's little doubt that the Surfer was Lee's favorite character, and possibly Kirby's as well. It's therefore not hard to see why this final effort by the two, fully understanding they'd likely never return to work together again, surpasses any other output either creator ever generated, whether together or separately. Even more than the original Galactus Trilogy itself, this is their masterpiece.
By the way, we still need more participants in order to make the final Top 100 list truly representative. If you're still on the fence about jumping in to this event, WE NEED YOU!
9. The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience (1978)
By: Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
Originally published in: The Silver Surfer (Fireside)
Stan and Jack's last word together on the Silver Silver before the two parted ways one last time and Stan finally surrendered the character, allowing him to be used by other writers. It was also one of the comic book world's first original graphic novels. Essentially, this is a non-continuity re-imagining of the Surfer's origin, very similar to the original in many respects, but highly different in others. It also works to reconcile the two different characterizations of the Surfer prior to this (Galactus' loyal herald who grows a conscience, and Galactus' unwilling servant who sacrificed himself to save his world). They do a nice job of this.
Beyond that, the story is 100 pages of the Surfer, Galactus, and (new character) Ardina engaging in philosophical debates with themselves and each other before finally arriving at a conclusion that never came in the regular continuity. The endless philosophizing felt tedious after a while in the pages of the first volume of SS, but it works better here, divorced of the need to impose a 20+ page story and conflict on top of it. Silver Surfer was always more an experiment in philosophy/existentialism than in action/adventure, and Kirby and Lee bring that to fruition in these pages. The exploration is relatively deep, it espouses some original ways of viewing the human race and life in general, Kirby keeps us visually glued throughout, and there are probably only about ten pages where the story seems to drag and become tedious in its moralizing and philosophizing (pp.76-85) before arriving at its unforgettable conclusion.
The work then ends on a note so cosmically tragic, so haunting and unforgettable, that it's lingered with me ever since. It wasn't until reading this work that I fully understood the Silver Surfer always had an inevitable end to his story from his very first appearance in Fantastic Four #48, but that ending could never be realized in an ongoing comic format. Truly, this work was everything the Surfer could and should have been had the dynamic duo of Lee and Kirby stayed together to explore the character to his logical end, and had there been no pressure to maintain an ongoing franchise that had to keep going indefinitely.
There's little doubt that the Surfer was Lee's favorite character, and possibly Kirby's as well. It's therefore not hard to see why this final effort by the two, fully understanding they'd likely never return to work together again, surpasses any other output either creator ever generated, whether together or separately. Even more than the original Galactus Trilogy itself, this is their masterpiece.
By the way, we still need more participants in order to make the final Top 100 list truly representative. If you're still on the fence about jumping in to this event, WE NEED YOU!
