If she had been presented as more of a love interest, then yeah, kind of a given; but he was maybe taken at the time: from 1998, Silver Surfer #1/2, "Suddenly...Sympira!" Story by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ariel Olivetti, inks by Pier Brito.
The GCD notes this story takes place between "story pages 20-22 of Silver Surfer (Marvel, 1987 series) #138." Um, okay. I have no current recollection of that one, so I don't know if it had to be slotted in there because of events at the end of the issue, but it's hardly required reading. The Surfer may be trying to seem his usual cool, detached self; but "his casual demeanor is a colossal sham!" The believed-dead Ben Grimm had returned from the Heroes Reborn universe, and the Surfer didn't know what that meant for his relationship with Alicia Masters. He had done the right thing, and given them time to themselves to figure it out; and was of course regretting that decision with every fiber of his being. Still, so often that's how you know you did the right thing, because it sucks and you hate it.
Luckily, space is distracting! The Surfer senses a mysterious psychic cry, and finds a bizarre, slimy cocoon within the corona of a distant sun. Rescuing it, he meets the exotic Sympira, an alien scientist who had tried to save her homeworld from a nova with a "solar enervator," buying time for her people to escape. When the star finally blew, she tried to escape in a pod that put her in suspended animation; so she didn't know if her people had escaped, or even how long it had been. Still, the whole incident had given her cosmic-like powers, so that's neat, huh? Sympira and the Surfer explore, searching, and talking; as the Surfer tells her of the foes he had recently faced (not a memorable bunch, excluding the Joker-looking Mephisto) and his feelings for Alicia.
Finding the world her people were to colonize, Sympira is immediately attacked: while it had been centuries, they still remembered her as the Great Destroyer. Not because she had failed, because she had succeeded: she had caused the nova, to give herself powers. That did seem a little convenient, but it's also something that happens in these comics! Sympira admits--with a really out of place "Oookay, so maybe I did go a little overboard"--that she sacrificed her world and a lot of its inhabitants, but now she could build them a better future. A noble and pure goal, much more so than the Surfer; who had caused untold destruction with Galactus, and in Sympira's eyes he could be doing more for earth than just pining over Alicia. It almost feels like she hit a nerve, like he might hesitate, but no: saving a child, the Surfer knows Sympira doesn't deserve her power, and takes it away. He leaves her to face justice at the hands of her people, which might be a straight lynching right there, but he heads back to see Alicia again.
I thought this one was a little slight...but, thinking about it, that's probably the right thing to do for one of those Wizard mail-in books. You don't want to have a vital piece of storyline in one of those; it isn't fair to everyone not reading Wizard at the time. Although, it feels like everyone was reading Wizard back then; this #1/2 could have better circulation than the Surfer's regular comic at the time! I got this copy from a dollar bin, although it has a tag for being seven bucks at some point. I really don't think I mailed in for them very often, but I have picked up more than a few over the years.
Poor Surfer. But hey, nothing like a easy win to help get you out of the dumps.
ReplyDeleteI want to say I had this because I definitely had a Silver Surfer 1/2 but I don't remember this story.