Marvel Comics Library. Silver Surfer. Vol. 1. 1968–1970

Introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the fertile pages of The Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer quickly established himself as one of Marvel's most far-out characters. Enslaved by Galactus to prowl the cosmos for the demi-god's next planet-sized meal, the Surfer was as tragic a figure as any in comics-and he looked impossibly cool at the same time! A smash hit with fans and a regular supporting character in Fantastic Four, the character struck a creative nerve with Lee, who couldn't wait to begin to tell some Surfer solo stories, but the timing had to be right. In the spring of 1968, things came together for both writer and character, with Lee giving the Surfer Marvel's very first ongoing double-sized book. Lee also recruited artist John Buscema, who had recently been lending his extraordinary pencils to The Avengers. Together, they spun off a run of legendary tales that helped define the character forevermore. The feature stories from the entire 18-issue run of the 1968 Silver Surfer series are collected in this cosmic-sized XXL tome from the Eisner Award-winning Marvel Comics Library series. The most pristine pedigreed comics have been cracked open and photographed for reproduction in close collaboration with Marvel and the Certified Guaranty Company. Each page has been photographed as printed more than half a century ago, then digitally remastered using modern retouching techniques to correct problems with the era's inexpensive, imperfect printing-as if hot off a world-class 1960s printing press. A custom paper stock was exclusively developed for this series to simulate the feel of the original comics. Texts by author and critic Douglas Wolk and Marvel artist and brother of John Buscema, Sal Buscema, accompany original artwork, photographs, and rare memorabilia. © 2023 MARVEL

About the Author :
Douglas Wolk is a multiple-Eisner-winning author of All of the Marvels and Reading Comics and has written about comics and pop music for The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and The Believer, among others. He teaches comics history at Portland State University. John Buscema (1927–2002) began working for Timely Comics in 1948 drawing Westerns, crime comics, and horror/suspense. He left comics for commercial art but returned to Marvel in 1966, establishing at Marvel a singular style of elegance and realism. His long list of credits includes The Silver Surfer, The Avengers, Sub-Mariner, The Fantastic Four, and numerous Conan the Barbarian stories. In 1978, he collaborated with Stan Lee on a landmark instructional book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Stan Lee (1922–2018) is known to millions as the man whose super heroes propelled Marvel to its preeminent position in the comic book industry. His cocreations include Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and hundreds of others. While the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel, he was also the Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment, where he created numerous new characters and stories in areas including publishing, film, reality TV, stage, documentary, and multimedia.

Review :
Imagine a book so big and magical that you could almost use it as a surfboard to ride the entire galaxy. TASCHEN's Marvel Comics Library represents a sincere respect and appreciation for comics history. The latest volume in TASCHEN's Marvel Comics Library is a breathtaking celebration of Stan Lee and John Buscema's legendary Silver Surfer series. The colors are absolutely stunning - [it's] one of the best looking at most accurate reproductions of the original artwork. Nobody does opulent coffee table books like TASCHEN, and this is no exception. But it's not so much opulent as it is ridiculously cool. Form follows function, with a majority of the book printed on paper stock that feels something like the newsprint of the original comics, only better quality. Worth the splurge. A giant-sized, more than perfect reprint of the original classic. This thing is massive and a collector's dream. We had created a comic book for the older reader, for the more literate, more perceptive, more cognizant fan.