Silver Surfer: Parable

Silver Surfer: Parable 30th Anniversary Oversized Edition by Marvel Comics
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Galactus returns to Earth, an evangelist declares him a god and builds a religion around Galactus. As humanity heads down the path to destruction, a homeless man emerges to save humanity.... The Silver Surfer!

As a recent convert to Moebius, I was very interested in this but didn't want to pay a hundred bucks for it. Fortunately, it was reprinted and re-released not long ago.

The story isn't all that complicated but it's very believable. A powerful religious leader convinces everyone to follow Galactus and his message of doing whatever the hell you want. Having pledged not to attack earth, Galactus is content to wait for humanity to destroy itself so he can gobble up the Earth like a sack of White Castles. When the Surfer voices his objections, he quickly becomes a target.

Moebius is Moebius, his minimalist yet intricate style working its magic on every page. His Galactus is majestic, his Surfer noble, and his humans pretty average looking. He's equally adept at portraying mass destruction and touching human moments. In the afterword, Moebius admits to freaking out and doubting himself leading up to actually starting the project, which I find crazy since he hit this one out of the park. Moebius also did the coloring and the lettering, giving this a feel more like his European work.

I'll have to admit, I was skeptical as hell about Stan Lee being able to hold up his end of things. I've read a lot of his Silver Age Marvel stuff and find him ham-fisted at best a lot of the time. However, Stan rose to the challenge and help up his end admirably, producing a beautiful, thought provoking work.

With Parable, Stan Lee and Moebius produced a remarkably powerful tale. Five out of five stars.


View all my reviews