Arts Publications
Topic: RSS FeedThe Silver Surfer
St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Bradford Wright
The Silver Surfer is a superhero appearing in Marvel comic books. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965, the Silver Surfer is a noble alien endowed with the "power cosmic." He travels throughout the universe on a surfboard championing good over evil. During the late 1960s the Surfer's comic book became unusually "adult" in tone as the character became a vehicle for Lee's existentialist musings and commentary on the failures of human civilization.
The Surfer won a sizable cult following especially among college students. But it was too small to support the series, which was canceled after only a few years. Nevertheless, Lee's ambitious writing influenced young creators seeking to "make a statement" even in a medium widely dismissed as ephemeral by the mainstream public. And the Surfer's audience later grew; Marvel revived the character's series in 1986, and it remained a popular title in the 1990s.
Most Recent Arts Articles
- Slumdog comprador: coming to terms with the Slumdog phenomenon
- Still mining his Winnipeg: an interview with Guy Maddin
- It doesn't seem 'Canadian': quality television' and Canadian-American co-productions
- Second city or second country? The question of Canadian identity in SCTV'S transcultural text
- Hop on pop: jiangshi films in a transnational context
Most Recent Arts Publications
Most Popular Arts Articles
- What makes a successful business person? Business people who are tops in their field have a lot in common, and art professionals can learn a lot from their successes and strategies
- It's urban, it's real, but is this literature? Controversy rages over a new genre whose sales are headed off the charts
- The Arnolfini double portrait: a simple solution
- The Horn identity: by day, Justin, Murdock is one of L.A.'s flashiest bachelors. By bight, he's Eliphas Horn, Goth antihero. (Eye).
- An Occasion of Sin



