The second of the largely artist-driven Silver Surfer works that shone in the ’80s is Silver Surfer: Judgment Day from John Buscema, Stan Lee, Tom DeFalco, Christie Scheele, Phil Felix, and Vince Mielcarek. It’s a story of Mephisto attempting to gain Silver Surfer’s soul through manipulation of then-herald Nova’s personality and desires to in turn manipulate the Surfer and Galactus. Kind of a bizarre take on both Greek drama and Shakespeare.
“But hold! What wondrous spectacle now greets my eyes?”
John Buscema really shines in this book. Which makes sense given the apparent genesis of the work. According to the introduction from Stan Lee, Buscema wanted to do a Silver Surfer book himself with the concept of having one full page illustration per page (more or less, there’s a gorgeous double page spread, but who’s quibbling?). Lee then worked from the art to include narration and dialogue. Not far off from the traditional Marvel Method, it would seem, only the single panel pages apparently the difference. (Lee also states that this might be the first time that was done, but I think at least Will Eisner had done the approach beforehand, and surely someone else had by 1988.)
In any event, the full page approach gives the art an epic feel. Buscema packs each page with detail and an amazing scope to the characters. Mephisto and Galactus feel massive. Silver Surfer and Nova, despite their grandeur, feel like pawns in the web of Mephisto and Galactus’ actions. I also love Buscema inking himself. Often with looser lines, more fluid shading and textures blending through the characters compared to the thicker lines of when he’s inked by someone like Joe Sinnott.
Christie Scheele delivering an interesting colour scheme to the work. Backgrounds are mostly browns and whites, depending on location and sterility of the characters involved. It allows for the brighter and more specific colours of the main characters to standout nicely against the backdrop.
“All that remains is the ultimate cataclysm.”
It’s an interesting contrast between the art and the text. Like other Lee-penned pieces, he can have a tendency to overdo it. With Phil Felix here given a bit of a challenge with his letters not to cover up the gorgeous artwork. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Here again, his over-the-top loquacious tends to work, even if it is at odds with the original intent of the single page illustrations. Buscema, Mielcarek, and Scheele’s artwork absolutely tell the story on their own and I recommend going through the book at least once without reading the text. Yet, the approach to the prose helps put it further in the larger-than-life melodrama. Especially when it comes to Mephisto’s emotional manipulation of Nova.
The ’80s were definitely a good decade for the Surfer and Silver Surfer: Judgment Day from Buscema, Lee, DeFalco, Scheele, Felix, and Mielcarek was another highlight. It encapsulates the major themes of cosmic and infernal forces fighting over him and the various machinations that go on behind the scenes completely out of his control. To the depths of those machinations that Mephisto would stoop to manipulate the people that the Surfer cares about, without concern for broader life or the will of the people he’s manipulating. All with thoroughly stunning artwork.
Classic Comic Compendium: SILVER SURFER – JUDGEMENT DAY
Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (Marvel Graphic Novel 38)
Writers: Stan Lee (script) and Tom DeFalco & John Buscema (plot)
Artist: John Buscema
Art Assist: Vince Mielcarek
Colourist: Christie Scheele
Letterer: Phil Felix
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 19 1988
Available collected in Silver Surfer Epic Collection – Volume 4: Parable
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