No sooner do I launch a post about Marvel Studio’s latest failure that the comics have to follow suit. They do suffer many of the same issues.
For the record I have never really gotten into the Silver Surfer. I blame too many writers focusing on the “woe is me” nature of his existence, but that’s another conversation. No, we’re here to talk about the latest news, that Norrin Radd isn’t just being replaced in the movies but in the comics…but not with Shalla-Ball
I’ve gone over the history of the Silver Surfer and various heralds of Galactus, most notably the female ones. The women have never taken on the Silver Surfer roll in the main universe comics. There have been other heralds or other continuities, but Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd, a bald space dude.
“Death Of The Silver Surfer” will see Norrin Radd killed off (who knows for how long given the nature of comics–I think everybody’s died at least once by now, even characters only introduced this century) and replaced with Major Kelly Koh, member of the Bureau of Alien Neutralization (or BAN for short because subtlety has yet to get through the revolving door of comic death) according to appearances. I’ll let you read the article if you want the full story thus far on that.
Instead we’re here to look at the media pecking order. The article’s writer suspects this is due to brand synergy, by having a girl Surfer in both continuities, but in that case why make a new character to replace Norrin instead of the gender swap they’re already going with? Even if that is the case, it’s another example of Disney’s Marvel doing it backwards, and it will only further injure comics’ reputation as a storytelling source.









BW’s Daily Video> Marvel Misuses Black Characters
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One comment stood out for me: “It’s not that they give diverse characters [crappy] stories. It’s that they have [crappy] stories, and use diverse characters to hope to deflect criticism.”
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on July 25, 2025 in Marvel Spotlight and tagged commentary, Marvel Comics.
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