Ma, Simon :: Comic Art

Silver Surfer convention drawing – John Buscema

Artist: John Buscema (All)

6 Comments - 161 Views - 3 Likes

Silver Surfer convention drawing – John Buscema Comic Art

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John Buscema at UKCAC 1994

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Artwork Details

Title:	Silver Surfer convention drawing – John Buscema
Artist:	John Buscema (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Convention Sketch
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	161
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	6
Added to Site:	12/11/2024
Comic Art Archive:

Description

I remember reading years ago in the British humour comic Viz a suggestion that a reader (not me) had sent in and which was published in the column entitled Top Tips (which are known as Life Hacks in the US) – “Guys, impress the ladies by driving around with an ironing board strapped to the roof of your car”. I realise that humour is quite subjective but I found that comment very amusing. However, and at the risk of making a generalisation, there is some truth in what is implied, and discovering that talent in someone is always desirable. One need only think of the many films in which that activity plays an important role and the way its stars are then elevated to heart throb-status as a consequence. I try not to blow my own trumpet but I can proudly say that I am adept in that particular ability and attribute this to the very specific environment in which I was brought up such that at a tender age I was quite proficient and have since just built on this expertise – yes, I have great prowess in pressing my own garments.

In the early 1970s Marvel made a systematic attempt to break into the UK market, a market then dominated by weekly titles published in black and white and where adventure strips ran for only a couple of pages. The first title, The Mighty World of Marvel, starred the then big three – Hulk, FF and Spidey – whose stories ran in black and white or duotone. But my favourite Marvel UK comic was The Super-Heroes because the first 30 issues reprinted the 18-issue original Silver Surfer title. At the time I might have thought that I was hard-done-by as the interior pages did not have any colour but I did not know how lucky I was: they were magazine-sized with glossy colour covers which reprinted the original Lee/Buscema stories in crisp black and white, and what is more you had to wait only seven days between issues. Bliss. For the course of that 30-issue run (some of the earlier longer US issues were split up over a number of UK issues) the Surfer was my favourite superhero and I wonder what it was that resonated with me. It is generally accepted that people who are honest, open and demonstrative are more likeable than people who are guarded, secretive, inscrutable. With the former you know where you are, and the Surfer seemed to fit into that mould. He has had some flak for being too emotional – bemoaning his plight trapped on earth and constantly pining after Shalla Bal, but isn’t this just “being in touch with your feminine side” and assuming the role of a “new man” decades before these expressions and terms became commonly used? It is now also generally recognised that suppressing emotions is psychologically damaging. In the UK there is something known as the “British stiff upper lip” which refers to repressing emotions by putting on a brave face no matter how sad or depressed one feels because that is the “manly” thing to do. Is this why 75% of the suicides in the UK are of men? I had a friend who I did not keep in contact with after school but who as a grown man took his own life. When I knew him he was one of the most confident, social and sporty people I had ever met, but I was later told that he had a deeply traumatising experience which might have led him to act the way he did. I truly hope that this does not sound wrong in the way it comes out when I say that all men, myself included, could take a leaf out of the Surfer’s book in how we behave, although that is easier said than done and may need overturning millennia of received notions about masculinity

It is because of that original Stan Lee-scripted run on the Surfer that I have always considered John Buscema to be the definitive Surfer artist in spite of the many illustrious artists who have worked on him since or even the one before. So when I queued up with many, many other fans for a free – yes, free – head sketch from John Buscema at the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention in 1994 where he was Guest of Honour the choice of who to get him to draw for me was always a no-brainer. He probably took only a couple of minutes to draw my sketch but as the saying goes it was the decades of practice and expertise that allowed him to take such a short time to carry out the drawing. When collectors refer to a piece as a “one and done” they usually mean it is so unanimously awesome that they need never get another example of that character/work by that artist. I am thankful that I am much more low-maintenance so this is my “one and done” John Buscema and Silver Surfer.

In my opinion John Buscema was Marvel’s third most important artist and I would even go so far as to say his work stands up even better today than that of Kirby and Ditko; it looks still contemporary. Everything he drew he drew well. I could begin to list them but it would go and on. It was a great honour to meet one of Marvel Comics’ greats. Thank you to Frank Plowright and Hassan Yusuf, the organisers of UKCAC ’94, for enabling this.

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	Simon Ma ( 2 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2013
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED KINGDOM
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Comments on this Artwork

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Rick W
Member Since 2017

Posted on 12/12/2024

Very cool!

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 1/6/2025

Rick W wrote:

Very cool!

Thank you. You are very kind.

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 12/12/2024

A clean elegance to John Buscema's linework. This plain looking design of a human figure in silver embodied us at one point in our lives before encountering the full range of the human experience and knowing our place in the universe.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 1/6/2025

Marcus Wai wrote:

Yep, you might call the Surfer the original chrome dome. I am pretty much looking like that now, although not necessarily through choice.

Michael Kenyon
Member Since 2008

Posted on 4/16/2025

Met John one time and it meant the world to me, Love the drawing.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 4/17/2025

Michael Kenyon wrote:

Met John one time and it meant the world to me, Love the drawing.

Yep, John was a giant of the comics industry. In spite of the stern demeanour he seemed to put on whilst posing for photos, he was a really friendly guy. I “liked” your fantastic Silver Surfer page some time ago but I should add that your description is like poetry. Thank for your kind words.

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