With the remaining three hubs of my thirty days of thirty hubs on comic books I have decided to explain first the death of a character, then tomorrow the rebirth, and on Wednesday I will tell a more personal story about comic book collecting to finish the competition.  I feel like death and rebirth is the hottest thing going in comic books nowadays and it is not always a metaphor for Christ's resurrection, as resurrection so common would surely be a mockery of Christian belief.  Instead these stories are about the natural cycle of life, as one life dies it feeds new life to come, in a cycle that is as common as any in the world of nature.  Somewhere between a natural death and one laden with mythic consequence lies J. Michael Straczynski's treatment of the death of the Silver Surfer, in a four part mini series, "Silver Surfer Requiem."

"Requiem" begins with the Silver Surfer paying a visit to the Fantastic Four, his best friends and most trusted allies on Earth, his adopted home.  He has terrible news, the shell of silver energy that has protected him from the cold of deep space and the heat of nuclear stars has finally started to break down.  Mister Fantastic tries every test he can think of, working his elastic brain to it's very limits of it's creativity to come up with a solution to the breakdown of the suit.  But to no avail.  The Surfer is told he has three to four weeks to live, and that there is no known scientific method which could reverse the bond between suit and owner.  The Surfer's death is unavoidable.

Without giving away the ending or even too many details, let me say that the Surfer's interaction with Spider Man and Mary Jane is priceless, and before he dies he uses the power cosmic to some incredible ends, perhaps even speeding up his own deterioration for the sake of others.  I was never a huge Straczynski fan, but I am now and will always be.  Every note of his treatment of this subject rings true and I fully enjoyed the end product.

In this comic we see some of the crucial elements of the death of a character.  Here a super powered being is placed in a very mortal position: not a sudden death in battle, but an illness that will require a convalescence and a slow deterioration.  Too often in comic books the hero is simply vaporized leaving the rest of the characters to pick up the pieces.  In "Requiem" the Silver Surfer has time to put things right before he returns to his home to face the end.  This story was so human, so identifiable, while telling the tale of the death of a cosmic hero who had roamed through multiple galaxies, dimensions, and fought a thousand battles for a thousand reasons, and the combination of humanity and power cosmic was a wonderful feat.

Other comics have dragged out the death of a character unnecessarily, sensationalizing the death far beyond good taste.  "Requiem" is so understated it shines in comparison.  To be honest, before I read the graphic novel, I had no idea the Surfer was dead.  As a recent comic, first published as a miniseries in 2007 it already stands out as one of the greatest of all time, and as I end my month of comic analysis I will shift to more analysis of current comic trends.  "Requiem" served as a beautiful door into the realm of what modern comics are capable of.

With every panel beautifully painted by artist Esad Ribic, (I mean hang in the museum beautiful),  I cannot recommend this comic book more strongly.  If you can, get it in the Marvel Premiere Edition as it will be one you will want to have it on hand for a very long time.  The question remains, did he really kill the Surfer? And if he did, will the Surfer ever return?  Stay tuned fearless reader, the answers will be sure to shock and amaze!