POP! Marvel – SILVER SURFER

Company: Funko

Series: Marvel

Year: 2013

RRP: $15.95AUD

THE BACKGROUND

Jack Kirby was a creative guy, and without his efforts the world of comics – and by extension, pop culture – would be substantially poorer. My favourite creation of his is the Silver Surfer. Originally appearing in the pages of Fantastic Four (who are probably my least favourite Jack Kirby creations), the Silver Surfer was originally the herald of Galactus, a cosmic entity who roams the (Marvel) universe in search of planets to devour. Also, before he became the Silver Surfer his name was Norrin Radd. Sounds weird? It is. But hey, it was the 1960s.   

THE POP

When this guy was released, he was one of the first Comic POP!s I’d seen that deviated from the “standard” POP body that was so commonplace – a lot of the early DC guys are essentially just repaints of the same base body, with new heads subbed in, and many of the Marvel guys weren’t miles away from it either.   

I think the results were a little mixed. If they had gone with the same body as Superman and just painted it silver, it probably would have looked a little too plain. But they’ve gone with a Michael Turner-style ultra-buff body, complete with buttocks. It works well in the comics, but looks a little too detailed in comparison to the other POPs. Though I’m not really a fan of his 1960s “trunks” look, I think it might have been the right approach on this occasion. Kudos to Funko for trying to mix it up a little though.

 

 

Still, taken purely on his own merits, Silver Surfer is definitely a success. His surfboard is included, attached permanently to his feet, to complement his surfing pose. They’ve even etched grooves into the surface, rather than leaving it blank, which would surely have been the easier option.    

Norrin Radd is entirely silver, so in theory it should be pretty easy to get it right. Yet the figure still had a couple of problems -- on removing him from the packet, some of the silver paint on his head tore a little, as it seemed to have stuck to the plastic tray. Not a lot you can do there, really.

However, aside from these minor flaws, he’s fine. The paint is nice and even, and the tears on his head aren’t super noticeable.

OVERALL

The Silver Surfer is a great addition to the collection. I’ve only bought a handful of Marvel POPs (though some of the Guardians of the Galaxy are tempting me) and I tend to have high expectations of them as I’ll only pick up characters I care about a lot. Paint tearing aside, the Surfer turned out very, very well and has been one of my most satisfying purchases.   

I don’t much care about getting a set of the Avengers in POP! form, but I would like to get some of the Infinity Gauntlet gang. Presumably Funko will bring out a Galactus sooner or later (and they already have in their Marvel blind-boxes), and hopefully also a Thanos, Adam Warlock, Dr Strange…the list goes on! Then the Surfer will be able to share the shelf with some worthy Marvel companions.