The Silver Surfer quickly became one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe after Stan Lee and Jack Kirby first introduced him in a Fantastic Four story. Bound to the world-devourer Galactus and condemned to scour the cosmos for the demigod’s next planet-sized meal, the Surfer was a tragic figure. And yet he looked incredibly cool on his board. Fans loved him, and he soon became a regular supporting character in Fantastic Four, now fighting at their side. Stan Lee’s imagination caught fire around him too, and he could hardly wait to tell some standalone Surfer stories. The timing just had to be right.

In the spring of 1968, Stan Lee gave the hero his first ongoing double-sized issue. He recruited John Buscema, who until then had been lending his magnificent pen to the Avengers. Together they created a run of legendary stories that would define the character forever.

This galaxy-sized XXL tome gathers every story from the Silver Surfer’s 18-issue series from 1968–1970. For our Eisner Award-winning series, pristine original issues were reproduced in close collaboration with Marvel and the Certified Guaranty Company. Each page was photographed exactly as it was printed more than half a century ago and then digitally refined using modern retouching techniques. Any imperfections from the printing methods of the time were corrected, as if the comics had just come off a top-tier 1960s press. To recreate the tactile feel of the original issues, a special uncoated paper was developed specifically for our Marvel series.

Texts by critic and author Douglas Wolk, as well as by Sal Buscema, himself a Marvel artist at the time, accompany the reproductions, photographs, and rare pieces of ephemera.

© 2023 MARVEL