THE SURF
The origin of Surf (from the word surface) is linked to the ancient Polynesian peoples (in the South Pacific) and to the Peruvians (in the Americas). The practice has historically been linked to mystical activities, sea worship and rituals of spiritual order, becoming an important element for social life while promoting the connection of man with nature and proposed challenges of self-improvement. All this long before it became a world-famous sport.
Surfing requires more than balance on the board, it requires the perception of the rhythm of the sea, the speed of the wind and the waves, it requires sensitive knowledge about the environment and its self, its own rhythm, its own physical capacities, the recognition of its own limits and the audacity to test these limits and the audacity to test these limits.
THE SILVER
Chemical element of symbol Ag, which comes from Argentum, Latin word derived from a Sanskrit term meaning white and bright. Silver is linked to the symbolic chain of the moon and water (which is therefore quitessentially linked to surfing). Unlike the male vigor of gold, silver has a connection with what is feminine, subtle, and with the dignity of royalty and divine cleansing. Contradictory to silver, which represents wealth provokes human greed which gives it a dynamic within its own meaning.
In proposing a herald to Galactus, the World Eater, Jack Kirby came up with the idea of a half-naked space explorer who navigated the waves of cosmic energies, solar winds, gases, magnetic fields, plasmas and space radiations on a rounded-edge plate. While his nakedness shows fragility, the silvery color of his whole body brings with it a purity that reflects his soul that is not seen a priori because of the alien aspect that it gives him.
The anguish that the Silver Surfer brings with him, isolated from his homeland, removed from the conviviality of his beloved, forced to find whole worlds that will be destroyed to satisfy the hunger of his Master, reflects well the dichotomy of the silver itself, which in some formats it becomes toxic (like silver powder) and under others (silver nitrate) have therapeutic uses.
While Jack Kirby's trait features a sturdy and audacious Surfer, John Buscema portrays him delicately, almost feminine. Notably at this stage we see the contradiction between the striking levels of power of the hero - able to stand up to the most powerful gods of Asgard - and his deep anguish and torment.
The genre of superheroes has been associated with two-dimensional characters, without depth and without drama, this is a common reading and a valid perception in a first analysis of its general aspects, however, from Will Eisner's Spirit to Lee & Ditko's Spider-man and culminating with Allan Moore's Watchmen Superheroes (or customized heroes) have shown that their depth depends not on their constitutive character, but on the approach of their authors. The Silver Surfer brings to the genre a thematic richness and dichotomy that well represented the hectic years of the 1960s with their struggles for civil rights, their wars, popular movements, and regimes of exception. The range of plots and conflicts that open before the Silver Surfer are in some ways an ocean (or a universe) of possibilities for character, authors and readers.
MORE:
-Silver Surfer at MARVEL.COM
-Surfando entre as Estrelas (original article in portuguese)
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