•
Rating: "Silver Surfer-Parable" Script and story by Stan Lee (U.S.A.). Artwork, colors, and lettering by Moebius (Fra). Miniseries in 2 volumes (December '88-January '89) published in the States by Epic Comics (Marvel Group). In Italy, after being featured in various editions of other editorial titles in the '90s, it was published by Panini Comics/Marvel Italia in 2004 in a single volume titled "Silver Surfer-Parable".
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me"
The devourer of worlds returns to Earth, but this time, not to destroy it. Instead, presenting himself as a god, complete with an "evangelizing prophet," to corrupt it with a sort of ego-hedonistic monotheism. Silver Surfer will be the good shepherd attempting to bring the flock back to the fold: this is essentially the story.
On one hand, it is impossible not to notice parallels with the genesis of the three great monotheisms, yet, delving deeper, one realizes that this interpretation is quite superficial, if not incorrect. In fact, we are at the end of the '80s, and the American "superheroic" comic world is still digesting the "Moorish" turn. "New" authors like Neil Gaiman are emerging, radically changing the dynamics in the genre even more, and by now, in the consciousness of readers (American and otherwise), the Pop mythopoeia (I discuss this in depth here) of their "heroes" is wholly ingrained. The cunning Stan Lee, whose career as the god of the "true believers" is quickly overviewed below, could not remain still. So, in the context of a broad restyling campaign happening during those years with mixed fortunes in the Marvel universe, the silver herald also underwent a "transformation" that took him from a primarily objective view of the "superhero" (albeit quite unusual as it was), to a subjective one (seen from the "human" supporting characters' perspective), which he still embodies today.
The operation, in the immediate term, did not fully succeed as the miniseries ended up being solely a triumph for Moebius (discussed briefly below), thanks to his style that was more pictorial than comic-like and to the philosophy (practically invented by him) of the "full page" and the abandonment of schematization in boards: present here, however, are contaminations and concessions to the "American rules" of action-comic in a triumph of Pop art and experimentation. Lee's story, on the other hand, was seen almost as a clumsy attempt to adapt to the new standards and only over the years was it reevaluated, gradually discovering its poetic potential and interesting metaphorical vision (parable, as it were), which twenty years later appears very current (although some "devotee" of the old-fashioned Lee might still wrinkle their noses): if Silver Surfer (due to space constraints, I direct you to read about genesis here) has become the cult object, merely seemingly underground, that it is today, it is probably more thanks to this "turn" than to the adventures of the '60s and '70s.
Stan Lee: for better or worse, "The Man" was and is American comics: it is not only with Spider-Man, the, too often underestimated in Italy, Fantastic Four, X-Men, etc. that Lee made history. His was a metalanguage that went beyond comics panels, entering popular culture, even at the jargon level, establishing new rules both artistically and commercially (in production and marketing). Always attentive to the developments around comics, he rarely got caught off guard, always taking (without being too "citationist") the best from anything he saw around him (inside and outside the world of balloons).
Moebius: Besides his undeniable technical-artistic aspect, the greatness of the French artist lay in understanding that drawing had to break free from the tyranny of scriptwriters, becoming "its own story". The illustrator was to decide the evolution of the story, with the script adapting based on this progression. Not always fully understood, at least in its entirety, this concept nonetheless allowed for an artistic evolution of drawing in comics, enabling its entrance through the main gate into the world of Art (even "high" Art).
C.G. (Girlanachronism)
Loading comments slowly
