Cosmic comic book hero Silver Surfer is finally starring in a modern-day series of his own.
Although the hero has appeared in J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic's Silver Surfer: Requiem and Simon Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat's Silver Surfer: In Thy Name, as well as in The Defenders, the character has not had his own comic adventure in quite some time. Now that Marvel is placing more emphasis on their cosmic comic franchises, Silver Surfer will be front and center with a new comic all his own, IGN confirms.
Marvel announced at their Inhumanity and All-New Marvel Now panel that writer Dan Slot and artist Mike Allred will create the book. The series, which is titled simply "Silver Surfer," will feature Norrin Radd freed from being bound to Earth and Galactus and paired with a human girl to go on a series of travels. The comic is scheduled to debut in March 2014. Readers can get a sneak preview of it when Slotta and Allred contribute a short story to this year's Point One special.
Slott spoke to IGN about his love for the intergalactic character as well as the challenges of separating him from Galactus.
The Surfer was in the first superhero comic that Slott ever read, which shows he loved the character from a young age. "I knew Spider-Man from the '67 cartoon, but the first comics I ever read -- not bought, read -- were from my cousin, Meyer," Slott said. "The one superhero book he followed was Fantastic Four. And when I'd come to visit him he'd let me read his FF comics. (...) The first superhero comics I ever read were the Galactus Trilogy. Surfer's in my blood. He's the first guy that I met in the Marvel Universe comic book world."
Slott said that Silver Surfer is so appealing because he's the "embodiment of freedom." "He's [Silver Surfer] been a slave to Galactus, and he's been a prisoner of Earth, trapped beyond that great barrier. There's something about him where, the minute you take that barrier away, and the minute you take him away from Galactus, he's the guy with the board who can go anywhere and do anything," Slott explained. "It really is that kind of joy and freedom like you're 16 and you just got the keys to the car. But imagine not just driving near your home - you can go anywhere in the universe. There's something very exciting about that."
Slott said that although Surfer is sci-fi, it has a realistic element to it, like modern-day Battlestar Galactica or the new J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" movies, and is less like "throwback stuff."
"There's something more real about it than the stuff we were growing up with with the rubber-suited aliens and the construction paper rocks," Slott said. "There's something more grounded about it. What we're doing on Surfer goes away from that. We're aiming right towards the weird parts of the Marvel Universe. If they're over there doing Battlestar Galactica and new Star Trek, we're over here Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who and Red Dwarf."
Slott shared that the idea for a Silver Surfer comic was brought up during a Marvel creative retreat. Although he wanted to work on Silver Surfer, he initially did not have time. Other writers pitched ideas for the comic, but none of them felt right. When Slott shared his ideas for Silver Surfer to his fellow writers, they knew he had to do it.
"And I'm like, "Dammit! I did not mean to pitch for this book!" Slott laughed. "So really, it just came out of love, just for this character and where he could go and the stories you could tell. And while I'm working on it, it got to the point where we were talking about artists. We're just throwing out ideas, like who would be good on this. And we're just tossing out names back and forth. Then Tom [Breevort] says, 'Oh, I know who would be perfect for this pitch.' And I go, 'Who?' And he says, 'Mike Allred.' And the minute he said it, it was like I couldn't imagine anyone else drawing it but Allred. It was such a perfect fit for what we wanted to do, and it made me realize that the book we're talking about is the Mike Allred Silver Surfer."
"It's going to be great," Slott continued. "I've never worked with someone so enthused about a project before. We're both just so into this. It really is going to be fun."
Slott also said that the Silver Surfer's human companion will humanize him, seeing as Silver Surfer is "very alien." He also said that there is an arc with Galactus planned.
The first three issues of the comic series will focus on how the new character, Dawn, meets the Silver Surfer, as well as their first big adventure together.
"The story in the Point One special kind of jumps ahead and shows you very much what one of these new Silver Surfer stories will feel like. It pretty much gives you the flavor. So if you like what you read in the Point One, that's the tone and the mood and where the book's going," Slott said.
Slott also admitted that he hopes the Surfer series will last. "I want to do the Surfer for a long time. We have so many ideas - Mike and I and Tom - we have so many things we want to do and places to go," Slott said.
"There must be so many more secrets to be revealed about the origins of this universe and how it works and where it's going and all this potential--the universe is infinite and ever-expanding, and one of the joys in this book is going to places that the Surfer has never been to before," he said.