{"id":33335,"date":"2025-07-15T16:10:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T16:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33335"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T16:10:04","slug":"silver-surfer-parable-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/07\/15\/silver-surfer-parable-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Surfer: Parable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong> & M\u00f6ebius<\/strong>; with Keith Pollard<\/strong> & Tom DeFalco<\/strong>, Josef Rubinstein, Jos\u00e9 Marzan<\/strong>, Chris Ivy<\/strong>, Paul Mounts<\/strong>, Michael<\/strong> Heisler<\/strong> & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-0-7851-6209-4 (HB) 978-0-7851-0656-2 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

As Marvel\u2019s cinematic arm tries once again to get it right with their founding concept and by extension ultimate allegory of God and Jesus, you can safely anticipate revisiting a selection of fabulous FF and associated material as well as new collections all culled from their prodigious paginated days\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The most eclectic and enigmatic of comic book cult figures, the Silver Surfer<\/strong>\u2019s saga began with the deservedly lauded and legendary introductory story. Although pretty much a last-minute addition to Lee\u2019s plot for Fantastic Four <\/strong>#48-50\u2019s Galactus Trilogy<\/strong>, Jack Kirby\u2019s gleaming god-adjacent creation became a watchword for depth and subtext in the Marvel Universe, and one Lee kept as his own personal toy for many years.<\/p>\n

Sent to find planets for star god Galactus to consume, the Silver Surfer discovers Earth, where the latent nobility of humanity reawakens his own suppressed morality. He then rebels against his master, helping the FF save the world. As punishment, Galactus exiles the star-soaring Surfer to Earth, the ultimate outsider on a planet remarkably ungrateful for his sacrifice.<\/p>\n

The Galactus Saga was a creative highlight in a period where the Kirby\/Lee partnership was utterly on fire: an adventure with all the power and grandeur of a true epic and one which has never been surpassed for drama, thrills and sheer entertainment.<\/p>\n

That one\u2019s not here, but it can be found in many, many other compilations. Sorry.<\/p>\n

In 1988-1989, \u2018Parable\u2019<\/em> was released as an Epic Comics micro-series. It featured an all-new interpretation of Galactus\u2019 initial assault on our backwards world, illustrated by legendary French artist Jean Giraud\/M\u00f6ebius. As with the 1978 Fireside Books\/Simon & Schuster Silver Surfer<\/a> <\/strong>by Lee & Kirby, the story was removed from general Marvel continuity, allowing a focus on the unique philosophical nature of the Surfer and his ravenous master without the added distraction of hundreds of superheroes disrupting the flow.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a beautiful piece of work and another one you really should read.
\n\"\"
\nBasically, when Galactus reaches Earth in search of his absconded servant and herald – a spectacular exercise in scale and visual wonder – the Silver Surfer is hiding amongst us: a vagrant living on the streets and well aware of humanity\u2019s many failings. However, when the star-god arrives and demands (like a huge cosmic TACO-PotUS) that everyone bows down and worships him, the solitary nomad is forced to confront his creator for the sake of beings who despise him.
\n\"\"
\nDriven to extreme actions by his intimate knowledge of earthlings good and bad, the Surfer instigates a conceptual and spiritual fightback which soon devolves into blistering battle against his maker. With the sky literally falling, soon the tempted and terrified world rallies as Norrin Radd exposes the cosmic blowhard as a petty opportunist and inspires humanity to reject what seems like another deal too good to be true…<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it odd how fiction so often anticipates fact?
\n\"\"
\nTacked onto the ethereal, unmissable episode – one far more in tune with M\u00f6ebius\u2019 beliefs and interests than Stan\u2019s – is an early Marvel Graphic Novel of the regulation Marvel Universe. The Enslavers<\/strong> is a rather self-indulgent but oddly entertaining slice of intergalactic eye-candy featuring the legendary icon of the counter-culture generation, and once again it depicts the ex-herald of planet-devourer Galactus as a tragic saviour and Christ metaphor. Now, though, it\u2019s not our troubled humanity but the overwhelming power of slavers from space that threatens, and there\u2019s a lot less breast-beating and soul-searching and far more cosmic action.<\/p>\n

The story by Stan Lee (and Keith Pollard) has a rather odd genesis. Commissioned in the early 1980s by Jim Shooter, Lee\u2019s original plot was apparently much transformed in the eight years it took to draw. By the time it was dialogued, it was a far different beast and Lee almost jokingly disowns it in his Afterword<\/em>. Nevertheless, there\u2019s lots to enjoy for fans who don\u2019t expect too much in this tale of love and death in the great beyond. It\u2019s inked by Josef Rubinstein, Jos\u00e9 Marzan & Chris Ivy, coloured by Paul Mounts and lettered by Michael Heisler.<\/p>\n

Here, after a frantic rush through cosmic gulfs, Silver Surfer Norrin Radd<\/em> crashes into the home of Reed<\/em> & Sue Richards<\/em>, just ahead of the colossal invasion craft of monstrous Mrrungo-Mu<\/em>, who has been drawn to our world by the well-intentioned but naive Nasa probe Voyager III<\/em>. Norrin\u2019s homeworld Zenn-La has already been depopulated by the pitiless space slaver and Earth is next…
\n\"\"
\nMoving swiftly, and exploiting the good intentions of an Earth scientist, the Enslavers incapacitate all our world\u2019s superbeings and prepare to enjoy their latest conquest, but they have not accounted for the vengeful resistance of the Surfer or the debilitating power of the love Mrrungo-Mu is himself slave to: for the unconquerable alien warlord is weak and helpless before the haughty aloofness and emotional distance of his supposed chattel Tnneya<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Despite being – in far too many places – dafter than a bag of photonic space-weasels jonesing for disco lights, there\u2019s still an obvious love of old, classic Marvel tales delivered at an enthusiastic pace informing these beautifully drawn pages, and the action sequences are a joy to behold. If you love cosmic adventure and can swallow a lot of silliness, this might just be worth a little of your time and money.
\n\"\"
\nAltogether a very strange marriage, this is a compelling tome spanning the vast divide of comics from the ethereal and worthy to the exuberant and fun: a proper twofer you can get your teeth into…
\n\u00a9 1988, 1989, 1990, 2012 Marvel Entertainment Group\/Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee & M\u00f6ebius; with Keith Pollard & Tom DeFalco, Josef Rubinstein, Jos\u00e9 Marzan, Chris Ivy, Paul Mounts, Michael Heisler & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-6209-4 (HB) 978-0-7851-0656-2 (TPB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. As Marvel\u2019s cinematic arm tries once again to get it right with their founding concept … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Silver Surfer: Parable”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,281,165,74,18,85,317,158,246,372,54,288,98,189,120,79,269,213,111,22,39,155,100,106,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-black-knight","category-black-panther","category-captain-america","category-captain-marvel","category-daredevil","category-doctor-doom","category-dr-strange","category-eternals","category-falcon","category-fantastic-four","category-hercules","category-hulk","category-inhumans","category-iron-man","category-marvel-superheroes","category-moon-knight","category-iron-fist","category-satirepolitics","category-she-hulk","category-spider-man","category-sub-mariner","category-thor","category-wolverine","category-x-men"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8FF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33335"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33345,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33335\/revisions\/33345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}