Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #101-110 (February – November 1995)
Written by Glenn Greenberg (#103)
Plot by Ron Marz (#101-102), Mike Friedman (#101-102)
Scripted by Mike Lackey (#101-102, 104-110)
Penciled by Tom Grindberg (#101-102, 104-109), Tom Morgan (#103), John Buscema (#110)
Inked by Bill Anderson (#101-102, 104-109), Steve Mitchell (#103), Geoff Isherwood (#110)
Coloured by Tom Vincent (#101-105, 107-110), Mike Rockwitz (#106), Adam Wallenta (#106)
Spoilers (from twenty-seven years ago)
By the time Ron Marz left the Silver Surfer, the book was stumbling a little, careening from a line-wide crossover to a multi-title mini-event, and then settling on a stream of guest characters. It didn’t feel like Marz had anything left to say about Norrin Radd, and the book wasn’t able to keep a consistent artist. I dropped the book during this time, but now have been morbidly curious enough to keep reading digitally.
This column looks at a short run by Mike Lackey, a writer I don’t know at all. I don’t have a lot of hope, as by the last half of the 90s, Marvel was itself very moribund and lost. But, maybe these are good?
Marz co-plotted two issues before passing things over completely, and had the Surfer returning to Zenn-La after he killed Mephisto (or at least thought he did). We also saw on the last page of issue 100 that Shalla Bal was in a relationship. Let’s find out what happens…
Let’s track who turned up in the title:
Villains
- Toady-Drone (Tyrant’s robot servant; #101-102, 104-109)
- Tyrant (#101-102, 106-109)
- Morg (#102, 104-109)
- Captain Hawmaw (The Bandits; #105)
- The Super-Skrull (Kl’rt; #105)
- Baby Driver (#106-107, 110)
- Doombot (#106-108)
- Nebula (#110)
Supporting Characters
- Shalla Bal (Empress of Zenn-La; #101, 104)
- Fennan Radd (Norrin’s half-brother; #101, 104)
- Galactus (#102, 105-109)
- Air-Walker (Gabriel Lan/Galactus’s computer; #102, 106-109)
- Legacy (Genis-Vell; #105-110)
Let’s take a look at what happened in these books, with some commentary as we go:
- A teacher at a Zenn-Lavian school recounts the Surfer’s origins, and one of the students ask why he doesn’t spend more time on their planet. Of course, that’s just when the Surfer does return, flying through the city which is depicted much more like an Earth city than usual. He notices some construction robots having trouble while building a skyscraper, and swoops in to catch them and destroy their debris before anyone below can be hurt. The citizens are very happy to see him (which is not how that always plays out, especially after he cost the long-lived race immortality in the Homecoming OGN). The Surfer heads out of the city to pay his respects at his parents’ graves, where he talks to himself a whole lot. He’s upset at being disturbed by an old lady, who looks like a very classic comic book witch. They talk about how she stays out of the city so as not to offend the others with her age, and cryptically wants the Surfer to go see Shalla Bal. He flies to her home, and detects that there’s someone else there with her. He embraces her and launches into a monologue about how he’s finally ready to continue their love, and when she finally speaks, it’s to introduce her new love, Fennan. He seems angry with the Surfer, and the Surfer acts like he’s owed Shalla Bal. Fennan launches into a speech about how stagnant Zenn-Lavian society is, and how if the Surfer stayed on the planet, it would make things worse. Fennan also reveals that he is the Surfer’s brother. The Surfer reacts to this news in anger, but suspects that it’s probably true. Fennan Radd explains that their father met Fennan’s mother after Norrin’s mother’s suicide, and then kept him a secret. The Surfer realizes that Fennan is right about Shalla Bal (who really can’t seem to speak for herself). Shalla Bal apologizes, and the Surfer heads outside to leave. The two former lovers say goodbye with a kiss, and the Surfer departs. Somewhere else, a robot rushes to its master, who we discover is Tyrant. He orders the robot to find Galactus.
- The Surfer approaches the Worldship, with the goal of finding Galactus to help him end his life as the Silver Surfer. The Surfer is grabbed by Morg, who is always up for a fight. The Surfer doesn’t want to waste time with him, and their fight ends when Galactus enters the room. Galactus chastises Morg for speaking for him, and then wants to know why the Surfer has sought him out again. The Surfer explains that he’s had two big issues. He talks about how he fell for Nova when she was resurrected, then realized it was really Mephisto, whom he killed. Galactus remarks that he never noticed Mephisto’s passing. The Surfer continues to explain what happened when he returned home to Zenn-La last issue (without confronting the fact that he was falling for Nova while expecting Shalla Bal to wait for him forever). The Surfer explains that he wants Galactus to take away his power cosmic so he can just be a simple man again, and live a regular life. Galactus refuses, so the Surfer makes demands of him. Galactus gets angry, and the Surfer blasts him. Galactus fights back, while listing all the times that he’s given in to the Surfer’s requests. He explains that a being like the Surfer is necessary in the universe. The Surfer is still annoyed at being denied, and prepares to leave. Galactus points out that they are similar in their isolation, but the Surfer rejects that too. He plans to find his own way to remove his powers, but on his way out, Air-Walker, who now lives in Galactus’s computer, stops him to speak. Gabriel points out that many in the universe would know despair without the Surfer’s protection and noble deeds, but the Surfer doesn’t see things that way. The Surfer leaves, more convinced that he needs to end things. On a distant asteroid, Tyrant learns that his robot knows where Galactus is, and Tyrant tells it to go talk to Galactus to plan a conversation which Tyrant hopes will give him a chance to strike. I like how in this issue, as soon as Galactus showed up, the story was told through splash pages. I also like how Grindberg uses a John Buscema-inspired style throughout.
- The Statement of Ownership for 1994 reports an average press run of 238 000, with average newsstand returns of 98 000.
- Issue 103 is a fill-in issue by writer Glenn Greenberg and ubiquitous 90s fill-in artist Tom Morgan. In it, an armada of survivors of worlds Galactus ate travel the galaxy looking for the Silver Surfer, wanting justice. When they find him, he is in the process of trying to restore an unstable star before it explodes, killing the beings on one of its planets. The armada’s leader orders the fleet to attack the Surfer, not believing he has good intentions. The Surfer fights back a bit, then has an idea. He stops fighting, giving them the chance to hold him in a stasis beam. The ships unload all their weapons on him, to the point that they expend all their energy reserves. The Surfer is in pain, but all that firepower charges him up, mixing with his power cosmic, so that he finally has the energy he needs to restore the sun, although only for a thousand years or so. He tells the leader of the armada that they should help the planet below to achieve space travel, and he flies off. It’s interesting that this fill-in issue would be slotted in a place where the Surfer is basically looking to end his life over his actions as Galactus’s herald. It doesn’t fit well.
- Mike Lackey and Tom Grindberg return with issue 104, and oddly, Lackey is credited only as the scripter, with no credit given for plotting – I’m not sure if he was working off Ron Marz’s plans for the book, or if Grindberg was working “Marvel-style” and kind of plotting. The Surfer is feeling pretty good about saving so many people last issue, but then he comes across the remains of the planet Lathkalos, which is one that he led Galactus to long ago. He remembers how the people welcomed him, and then how Galactus destroyed the place. This puts him back into a place of despair, as he wishes he’d never made his original deal with Galactus and just let his planet die. Far off in space, the robot we’ve seen working for Tyrant departs from Tyrant’s base. For the first time, it’s identified as a Toady-Drone, and even refers to itself as Toady. Strangely, it talks about having morphed its body into that of “a short range planet skimmer”, but it is later shown piloting that craft, having flown it a long way (90s editing, y’all). It is off to find Glaactus. On Zenn-la, Shalla Bal feels bad about having hurt the Surfer, and wonders if she picked Fennan Radd as a replacement for his brother. The Surfer decides that the best way to end things is to drain himself of his power cosmic by destroying the remnants of Lathkalos. He yells a lot and fires off his energy for a couple of pages. The Toady-Drone approaches Galactus’s Worldship, and carries on a monologue that I think is meant to be amusing (think of L-Ron in the JLI). Morg approaches and destroys the planet skimmer. Toady tries to explain that he carries a message from Tyrant, but that makes Morg more angry. The Surfer realizes that his efforts of destruction are pointless, so he goes to a nearby planet, called Lathkolas (seriously, why would these planets have such similar names?), which is in the end stages of environmental collapse, thanks to the lifestyles of its inhabitants. He decides to use his power cosmic to restore the planet the way he did Zenn-La back in the one-shot that came out in 1982. He pours his energy into the planet, and we see plants starting to grow. The Toady tries to fight Morg, who starts cutting it apart. Morg says he hates Tyrant because he caused him to have to work with the Silver Surfer (I guess that was in the Cosmic Powers miniseries). The Surfer feels good about what he is accomplishing, and prepares to spiritually transcend. As he does this, a spacecraft watches him, and two robots within talk about how their master will be pleased that they found him (I assume they are from Tyrant, as they have the same font in their speech as the Toady). The Surfer realizes that his gift of life is now causing uncontrolled mutation across the planet, and he loses control of things. The planet heats up and everything on it dies. The Surfer sinks further into despair, realizing that he’s killed once again, and on a planetary scale.
- The Surfer is in the middle of a confrontation with a group of generic space pirates called The Bandits. He rips their ship apart and leaves them floating in space. On another world, Legacy feels good about stopping a purse-snatching, but then discovers that he really assaulted the fan club of a famous actress. The Surfer is struggling with his mental health as he leaves this latest battle. A Skrull ship captained by Kl’rt, the Super-Skrull, picks up evidence of the Surfer’s energy, and Kl’rt, who is trying to work his way back into the favour of the Empress decides to go defeat him, having heard that he’s lost his mind (this is weird, because when they were last together in this book, the two men were friends). Galactus speaks to the Toady-Drone, learning that Tyrant wants to meet with him to settle their feud. Galactus agrees to meet, and sends the Toady flying back to its master. He tells Morg to find him a world to eat. The Super-Skrull has caught up to the Surfer and immediately picks a fight with him. The Surfer is in a rage, threatening to kill him, but then preserving him after ripping open his space suit (I thought it was established that Kl’rt could survive in space). Morg looks out on the universe and comes up with a good idea to prepare for Tyrant’s coming. On Lathkalos (although they mean Lathkolas), the two unidentified figures seen following the Surfer last issue arrive, and investigate what the Surfer did. Their sensors pick up where the Surfer is now. Kl’rt rallies and uses his flames on the Surfer. Their fight continues while the Empress calls the ship, looking for Kl’rt (this is clearly not S’byll, but I have no idea who the Skrull Empress would be at this point). The Surfer returns Kl’rt to his ship, and gives a short speech to his crew, explaining that he’s not a pacifist anymore. He flies off, thinking about how easily he lets his rage take over. He returns to the scene of his fight with The Bandits, dragging them all down to a planet so they’ll survive. As he leaves, he talks to himself about curing his power cosmic.
- The Surfer has gone to a world called Tanus, where a lack of resources has caused widespread warfare and chaos. He wants everyone to stop fighting, but of course they don’t listen to him. He stuns a bunch of them, and worries about the fact that because of the unique atmosphere of this world, the Tanusians couldn’t be relocated to a world that would better support them. He’s shocked to see something, but we don’t see what it is, because we move over to another planet that becomes food for Galactus. It has special biospheric energies that help to supercharge him, which Morg believes is important if Galactus is to meet with Tyrant. Galactus explains that he sees Tyrant as his offspring (I’m not sure where that comes from), and intends to take on a parental role with him. On Tyrant’s world, he feels pain, recognizing that Galactus has eaten one of the worlds that help support his own energy. This strengthens his resolve to meet with Galactus, so he and the Toady-Drone head off in a spacecraft. On Tanus, we see that the thing that so shocked the Surfer is a spacecraft that he identifies as having come from Earth. This is the same craft that we’ve seen following him for a few issues now. The Tanusians want to rush it for food, but the Surfer holds them back. He receives telepathic communication from the ship’s inhabitant, and learns that that person has been following the Surfer for months, knows what happened on Lathkalos (again, not the planet’s name), and can help the Tanusians. The Surfer takes offense that this being wants to bargain, and tries to blast his way into the ship, but cannot get through its hull. The door opens, and we see three beings in green capes and hoods come out – it looks like Doctor Doom and two Doombots, but for some reason, that’s not made clear to us. The Surfer recognizes him, and is a little confused (remember, he was told Doom died alongside Reed Richards). Maybe Doom (it’s strange that his speech bubbles are rendered in a wavy manner) offers a bargain – he can help the Tanusians, and satisfy the Surfer’s deepest desire. Legacy sits on an asteroid thinking about how difficult it is to be a hero, and wishing he had a role model. He’s thinking about the Surfer when a purple-skinned woman pulls up on a space bike that looks a lot like Lobo’s. On the Worldship, Galactus dismisses Morg, who goes to think about some plan he’s come up with. Air-Walker (who lives in the computer) contacts him to let him know Tyrant approaches. Air-Walker also tells Tyrant that he will help him with his plan, as he feels he has no choice. We learn that Maybe Doom wants the power cosmic, and since the Surfer wants to be rid of it, he convinces himself it’s a good idea. Maybe Doom has a harness for him to wear that pulls his power into the ship’s batteries. One of Maybe Doom’s companions (who no longer speak in the Toady Drone’s patterns, as they did before) worries that the ship can’t hold all of his power. When the Surfer emerges from it, he cannot feel the power cosmic in his body any longer, even though he still has his silver skin. He seems pleased, and we finally see in what is supposed to be a big revelation that it actually is Doctor Doom he’s dealing with.
- The Surfer is excited to be free of his powers, and reminds Doom of his promise to help the people of Tanus. Doom presses a button, fires the power cosmic from the ship, and blows the planet up. The Surfer feels tricked, but Doom employs semantics to justify his actions. He then reveals that he’s actually a Doombot that was tasked with tracking down the Surfer to steal his powers, and that he’s been hunting him for ages (this really makes me wonder how he was able to communicate telepathically with the Surfer last issue). The Doombot is able to contain the power cosmic, and wants to use it to destroy the Fantastic Four. The Surfer attacks him, but being only human now, is unable to do anything. On the Worldship, Morg is dismantling Air-Walker’s main monitor in an effort to get him to reveal the location of something he needs. Realizing he’s not bluffing, Gabriel tells him that the thing he wants is in steerage. Not wanting Gabriel to work against him, he transfers his consciousness into a pot (how does that work?) and goes looking for whatever it is he wants. Legacy is on that woman’s space-bike. The woman is now green, apparently goes by Baby Driver, and is coming on very strong to Genis, who is apparently more interested in finding the Silver Surfer. On the Doombot’s ship, two servants who previously looked like Doombots, but are now two blue-skinned beings in purple hooded jumpsuits (seriously, did this book have an editor) drag the Surfer into his new quarters (why is he being kept on the ship?). The Surfer feels badly about his decisions, and comes up with the idea of trying to communicate cosmically with Genis, hoping his “cosmic ESP” will pick up his message. Baby Driver keeps kissing Genis, but he tries to blow her off. He receives the Surfer’s message and asks her to take him to Tanus. At this point, the beautiful Baby Driver turns into a giant monster that wants to eat him. He blasts her, and launches the ejection seat on the bike (why would a motorcycle-like spacecraft need an ejection seat?). Tyrant and the Toady-Drone approach the Worldship, and land in a hangar. Tyrant tells the Toady to stay with the ship, and looks with admiration at Galactus’s technology. He’s somehow surprised to see Galactus enter the hangar, and refers to him as his father. They head off to talk. The Doombot comes to ask the Surfer how to control his surfboard, but the Surfer refuses to tell him. He punches the Doombot hard enough to rip half his metal face off. This doesn’t bother the Doombot, who talks a lot about how perfect he is. The Surfer asks how he can be perfect if he was built by an imperfect being, and this causes a bit of a breakdown in the Doombot. His solution to this illogic is to destroy all life, and he uses his power cosmic to destroy the ship he’s in, killing his two servants (how did he end up with them, anyway?). The Surfer floats in space, unable to breathe.
- As the Surfer’s body resists explosive decompression, he reflects on the error he made. We see his body distort, which makes the Doombot happy despite the fact that his programming doesn’t allow for emotion. It seems that the Surfer is dead, so after recapping the last two issues, the Doombot starts flying to Earth to kill the Fantastic Four. Legacy is rushing through space, and feels the Surfer die through his “cosmic ESP”. He speeds up, hoping to help his friend. On the Worldship, Morg finds the item he’s been looking for, while continuing to argue with Gabriel. Having what he wants, he destroys the pot that somehow contains Air-Walker’s consciousness, allowing him to return to the Worldship’s computers. Whatever it is that Morg has retrieved has Gabriel very nervous. Tyrant tells Galactus that since every time he feeds on a planet, he weakens him, one of them needs to die. Galactus blasts Tyrant with his eye beams, sending him right through the Worldship’s hull, but because Galactus’s energy is the same biospheric energy that he feeds on, it makes him stronger. Genis finds the Surfer’s body floating in space, and uses his nega-bands to try a form of cosmic CPR. It takes a few tries, but Genis pours enough energy into the Surfer’s body that he revives, his power cosmic restored. Genis is drained, but the Surfer feels the importance of stopping the Doombot, and retrieves his board to go after him. Galactus and Tyrant physically fight (remember that one is way larger than the other, so it looks awkward. Galactus has his energy converter reach out and grab Tyrant, and he plans on draining him of all of his energy. The Doombot approaches Earth, and thinks about destroying the entire planet. The Surfer catches up to him and punches him hard with both fists (but I guess not as hard as he did when he had no powers, and a single punch took off half the robot’s face). As the Surfer explains how his body is like a cosmic battery that’s been recharged, he starts tearing the Doombot apart, and breaking its back like the Surfer is Bane and Doombot is Batman. The badly damaged Doombot lies on the surfboard while the Surfer talks about his recovery, and then grabbing the robot’s head, drains it of the power cosmic. We see the robot’s eye go dark. His mission over, the Surfer flies off, thinking about how he is more committed than ever to doing good (he even paraphrases Uncle Ben in his thoughts, on the issue of power and responsibility). He returns to Genis (it’s a good thing space is so tiny), and tells him that they have business to finish with Tyrant and Galactus. On the Worldship, Tyrant uses his mastery of bio-technology to take over Galactus’s machine and start draining power from him. Galactus collapses, and Tyrant climbs onto his chest with plans to stab him in the face. He’s interrupted by the arrival of Morg, who is carrying the Ultimate Nullifier.
- Morg holds the Ultimate Nullifier, and both Galactus and Tyrant react with surprise. Galactus tells his herald to use the weapon on Tyrant, but the Toady-Drone, out of loyalty to Tyrant, prepares to act. The Surfer races through space, with Legacy holding on to him. He explains that he can sense Galactus’s fear, and enters ‘warp speed’. When he slows again, Legacy is gone, having apparently let go of him, but he can’t worry about that. He approaches the Worldship, but is attacked by the Punisher, the robot watchdog that Galactus employs to keep beings out of his home. As the Surfer fights it outside the ship, the Toady wraps itself around Morg’s arm, using a bio-mechanical morphing ability it just happens to have. It encases Morg’s arm and the Nullifier, and begins to take control of him. Morg reasserts control of his now gun-shaped arm. The Surfer finds he can’t defeat the Punisher through strength, so instead uses the power cosmic to make the robot recognize itself as an intruder, so it starts punching itself in the face. Morg fires the Nullifier and erases Morg’s legs (I’m pretty sure that whoever uses the weapon is also nullified). Galactus wants Morg to hurry and kill Tyrant, but it seems he’s enjoying torturing him. Air-Walker talks to Galactus just as the Surfer arrives. Galactus seems pleased to see him, admitting how weak he is (he is bleeding from just above his lip). Galactus is worried that Morg will get tired of toying with Tyrant and move on to other targets. The Surfer blasts him just before he finishes Tyrant, and they start to fight. The Surfer tries to convince him that vengeance isn’t worth pursuing as they fight. Galactus realizes that the Nullifier’s energies are building beyond Toady’s ability to contain them, and that the weapon is about to explode. He wants the Surfer to leave as a way of protecting him, but also insists on staying himself. He seals the Worldship so the explosion won’t spread outside the ship, but then Morg chops off his arm that’s holding the Nullifier, and uses his ax to cut his way out of the Worldship. That’s when the Nullifier explodes, and we see the Worldship turn white. The Surfer, who is already far away, is caught in the blast. He realizes that Galactus, Morg, Tyrant, and Air-Walker must be dead, and is not able to sense their energy. As the Surfer processes the magnitude of what happens, he worries about what will try to fill Galactus’s place in the food chain.
- John Buscema art? That’s a nice treat! Genis has taken the Surfer to Syllogonia, a planet that is basically one gigantic Go-Go Bar, populated by a dizzying array of aliens. Genis feels like they deserve a party, but it’s clear the Surfer isn’t all that interested. Genis buys the attention of a number of women, but when his credits run out, they abandon him. One of the dancers in the bar is Nebula, and once she sees the Surfer, she decides she has to get away before she gets caught. The Surfer decides this isn’t his scene, and tells Genis he’ll wait for him in orbit for an hour and then leave. On his way out, the Surfer spots but doesn’t recognize Nebula. He asks Genis if he knows her, and when he calls out, she runs. Genis decides he wants to talk to her and flies after her. She reveals who she is, and blasts Genis with her bionic arm, causing a scene when his money falls on the floor. She uses her image-shifting device to change her appearance (why wouldn’t she do that in the first place?). The two heroes pursue her anyway, and she fires on them with a big gun she got from somewhere. The Surfer says he wants to move their fight outside, and she follows with a jetpack that she probably wasn’t wearing while dancing. Genis recovers from being blasted, and is found by Baby Dancer. She seems confused, wondering why he never called her. He tries to get away from her, and she turns into a monster again and grabs him. Outside, Nebula blasts a passing ship so the Surfer has to go help the passengers instead of capturing her. He saves the ship, and then spies Genis holding on to the side of a building. He swoops over to help him, but it’s actually Nebula wearing his image. She sticks a grenade in the Surfer’s mouth. Baby Driver again tells Genis she wants to eat him, and he fights back. He notices that she’s crying, and pauses the fight. Baby Driver explains that she’s upset because Genis is so mean to her. She claims she’s just been flirting with him while in her true form, and he feels badly that he reacted as he did. The Surfer is now furious with Nebula, and uses the power cosmic to transmute her weapons and armor into restraints. He passes her over to some police, and then is introduced to Baby Driver. The Surfer and Genis leave the planet, and Genis talks about how he’s trying to be more mature in how he deals with people. The two friends split up (Genis is off to the first Captain Marvel series he starred in, by Fabian Nicieza and Ed Benes). The Surfer feels pretty good as he heads towards new adventures.
I came into this run with pretty low expectations, based on the fact that I’d never heard of Mike Lackey before. This was by no means a memorable run, but it was a little more cohesive and tighter than the tail end of Ron Marz’s run. In fact, it kind of felt like Marz might have plotted it without credit, which would explain why Lackey’s credit was always that of ‘scripter’ instead of writer.
The story focused more on the Surfer than the previous two year’s comics had, although the idea of him deciding he has to get rid of his power cosmic as penance for killing Mephisto was a bit of a stretch. It also didn’t make a lot of sense that he’d not recognize a Doombot for what it was, and would trust it to manage his powers responsibly.
The sudden appearance of the Surfer’s half-brother was a bit of a surprise, and I’m curious to know if they ever revisited that. I know that in Dan Slott and Michael Allred’s run, the Surfer was with a human woman, so I guess he eventually got over Shalla Bal, but I’m sure they reunited at some point in the last twenty years, because she’s a mandatory set piece.
I had no idea that they killed Galactus off in the 1990s, and now wonder when and how he came back to life. I was happy to see the end of Morg and Tyrant, two characters that I absolutely hated in every appearance.
I find it interesting just how determined Marvel was to use this title to launch Legacy’s career. He and the Surfer are an unusual pairing, and their friendship is unlikely and hard to swallow. I see that Genis left this title to his own solo book, and I never knew that he had another writer before Peter David’s well-loved run (which I think I need to start tracking down – I always loved the look that Carlos Pacheco gave him in Avengers Forever).
It’s interesting to see what Tom Grindberg’s art looked like in this run, considering that most of the issues he drew that I discussed in my last column (which were mainly Warlock comics from the Blood and Thunder crossover) looked like Mike Mignola rip-offs. I’m not sure that Grindberg had his own style yet, as many of his issues here remind me a lot of Ron Lim, but I liked seeing him grow as an artist, and improve in his storytelling.
After this run, the legendary George Pérez took over the book, not as artist, but as writer. I know that Pérez wrote sometimes (his classic Wonder Woman series, and some creator-owned stuff), but I never knew that he wrote for Marvel before. Since the internet and my Twitter feed have been full of Pérez tributes for months now, this seems like a timely moment to read this run. That’s next time.
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