Silver Surfer Rebirth

[robfj]

I've been looking into where to place the recent Silver Surfer Rebirth retro miniseries. The ids SSR or SS:R seem unclaimed for it.

There are a limited number of trackable chars involved:-
#1 SS, Thanos, Legacy
#2 SS, Th, Jack Of Hearts, Tyrant
#3 SS, Th, JOH, Ty
#4 SS, Th, JOH, Ty
#5 SS, Th, JOH, Ty, Leg

Everyone else is 1-off bit players or (eg Captain Marvel, Nebula) from unidentified alternate realities (which may be temporary realities created by Tyrant with the Reality Gem).

Because of the existence of Tyrant, Genis-Vell being called Legend and Thanos having the Reality Gem this series is obviously set in the period where its scribe Ron Marz was running those 3 chars.

Thanos sets bounds on the period available. He already knows about Tyrant so it's after the Cosmic Powers miniseries where he learned about him. And he still has the Reality Gem (except Tyrant has temporarily nicked it off him) so it's before the Infinity Watch lose all the Gems in WLOCK&TIW#42 ~ RUNE/SS#1 (I'm using ~ loosely here).

So for him it's somewhere within
THANOS
----
CP 6
SS3 98
CPU 1
WLOCK&TIW 40
WLOCK&TIW 41
WLOCK&TIW 42
RUNE/SS 1 (I'm assuming here that my changes in my RUNE/SS and CPU 4/2 get accepted.)
----

Legacy also has limited apps immediately after CP#6:- SS@7, SS@7/2-FB, SS@7/2, SS3#105-110 (which last for Surfer are beyond RUNE/SS#1).
In the main SS@7 Surfer meets up with Legacy in space who tells him what happened with Tyrant in the CP series (Surfer met Tyrant before in his #81-82). Surfer then goes off to do his own thing with Galactus.
In SS@7/2 Legacy leaves Titan to become a space-roving hero.
When Surfer meets him in SSR#1 he's already saving (Kree) lives from a black hole. So I figure the SSR series occurs after SS@7/2.

Ie we can write Legacy's amended chronology already.
LEGACY
----
CP 6
SS@ 7
SS@ 7/2-FB
SS@ 7/2
SSR 1 added
SSR 5 added
SS3 105
----

Tyrant also has minimal visibility after CP#6:- CPU#3, SS3#101-BTS, SS3#102, SS3#104-109 (but again Surfer has that last set beyond RUNE/SS#1).
His cameos in #101-102 are setting him up for #104-109 where he gets killed rather permanently. In the SSR series he gets dismembered but at the end we see his head is still alive because Ron knows his creation can't die here.
It makes sense to me to leave his apps in #101-102 firmly attached to #104-109. That just leaves a decision as to which side of CPU#3 to place the SSR series.

I'll park that for the moment and say that we have now at least established the period boundaries for Silver Surfer:-
SS@ 7 with Legacy and Galactus in space
IH2 417-418 Rick Jones' wedding on Earth
M/CP 172-175 in the Lunatik tale on an alien planet
CLAN 1-3 meets Adam Destine in space
SS3 93-96 visits the FF on Earth
SS3 97-100 tempted by Mephisto with Nova in space (including a meeting with Thanos)
SS3 101 on Zenn-La (with a Tyrant cameo)

SS3#93-96 are continuous and end with the discovery of Nova (Frankie Raye) which leads straight into #97-100. And #101 is written as happening immediately after.
#93 also claims that he's on Earth after attending Rick's wedding in IH2#417-418. But we've already ignored that by inserting space adventures from M/CP#172-175 and CLAN#1-3 in between. So I can without a qualm add SSR#1-5 in with them. In fact I'll add it last because #1 starts off meeting Legacy in space and #5 ends with Surfer and Legacy at Captain Marvel's grave on an asteroid in the Solar System, which at least provides a segue into his Earthly FF visit.

So I propose
SILVER SURFER
----
SS@ 7
IH2 417-418
M/CP 172-175
CLAN 1-3
SSR 1-5 added
SS3 93-101
----

This also fixes
THANOS
----
CP 6
SSR 1-5 added
SS3 98
CPU 1
----

Tyrant is still hanging and we still have Jack Of Hearts to consider.

Jack's apps after CP#6 are:- CPU#3, CPU#3/2. In the 1st story in CPU#3 the Jack/Ganymede duo is disrupted by the arrival of a 2nd surviving member of the Sisterhood, Persephone. They tangle with Tyrant and then the Sisters leave Jack to pursue their ancient foe. CPU#3/2 is set many weeks later, after Tyrant was destroyed in SS3#109. Jack has been searching for the Sisters and is angry with Surfer because they may have been killed along with Tyrant. (We see them unaware of Tyrant's demise and following a false lead to where he might be.)
In the SSR series Jack is alone and has been taken over by Tyrant. At the end he loses his memory of what happened in the series.
This suggests to me that it occurs while he's searching for the Sisters and Tyrant between CPU#3 and CPU#3/2.

JACK OF HEARTS
----
CP 6
CPU 3
SSR 2-5 added
CPU 3/2
----

This also resolves Tyrant's chronology.

TYRANT
----
CP 6
CPU 3
SSR 2-5 added
SS3 101-BTS
----


So the full set of SSR insertions is:-

JACK OF HEARTS
----
CPU 3
SSR 2 add
SSR 3 add
SSR 4 add
SSR 5 add
CPU 3/2
----

LEGACY
----
SS@ 7/2
SSR 1 add
SSR 5 add
SS3 105
----

SILVER SURFER
----
CLAN 3
SSR 1 add
SSR 2 add
SSR 3 add
SSR 4 add
SSR 5 add
SS3 93
----

THANOS
----
CP 6
SSR 1 add
SSR 2 add
SSR 3 add
SSR 4 add
SSR 5 add
SS3 98
----

TYRANT
----
CPU 3
SSR 2 add
SSR 3 add
SSR 4 add
SSR 5 add
SS3 101 remove -BTS
----

Notice that I've taken the -BTS off SS3#101 for Tyrant because he's really there in the last 2 pages.

I've also taken the opportunity to remove 2 more -BTSs:-

GANYMEDE
----
CP 6
CPU 3
CPU 3/2 remove -BTS

PERSEPHONE III
CPU 3
CPU 3/2 remove -BTS

The duo are actually shown on their quest in 1 page within CPU#3/2.
Note that this is their last app, and in fact these are Persephone's only apps.

[robfj]

I managed to insert SSR#1-5 without requiring any existing chronology entries to be shuffled. But there may be an overall neater solution.

For Silver Surfer I added SSR after M/CP#172-175 and CLAN#1-3 as just another outer space adventure between IH2#418 and SS3#93, contributing to the already broken link between those 2 comics. In SS3#93 Surfer says he's been on Earth for Rick Jones' wedding in IH2#417-418 and is taking the opportunity to pop in to see his pals the Fantastic Four.

Now I wondered if the M/CP and CLAN issues have to be where they are placed? I can't find any mention of this decision in the Forum or its Archives. Do they need to break the link? Can they be moved earlier? They are especially stand-alone tales as far as Surfer is concerned.

The M/CP part-issues are the 1st app of outer space char Lunatik (apart from a later FB) with Silver Surfer as a guest star. It's the 1st or only app for all other chars as well, so there's no barrier to pushing it back a bit.

Surfer's app in CLAN#1-3 is also in outer space where he meets Adam Destine. The rest of the issue concerns the other Earthbound Clan members. It's also the 1st app for all these chars except for all chars apart from Surfer and MODOK, and he's only in a flashback to much earlier. The ClanDestine pretty much keep to their own comics including prior flashbacks. Even their major app in the later FF Annual #33 is via the FF time travelling to meet them much earlier. So again I see no reason why they have to be *exactly* here in Surfer's chronology.

Looking backwards we see that Surfer was also in IH2#414-416 but these were set in space (the Troyjan War). Surfer then has SS@7, also in space, before IH2#417-418. Hulk has several things in between including the Future Imperfect 2-shot. So there's room to insert more space stuff for Surfer as well.

I suggest moving the M/CP, CLAN and SSR runs to before IH2#417-418. For a reason explained in the 1st post a want to keep SSR after SS@7. The other 2 could go either side of SS@7 but purely to keep it simple I'll keep them all 3 together.

This change only affects Silver Surfer.

SILVER SURFER
----
IH2 414
IH2 415
IH2 416
SS@ 7
IH2 417 move from here
IH2 418 move from here
M/CP 172/3
M/CP 173
M/CP 174/3
M/CP 175/2
CLAN 1
CLAN 2
CLAN 3
SSR 1 add here
SSR 2 add here
SSR 3 add here
SSR 4 add here
SSR 5 add here
IH2 417 move to here
IH2 418 move to here
SS3 93
----

Note that it's not mentioned in the comics anywhere but Hulk probably gave Surfer his wedding invitation in IH2#416.
But now Surfer's return to the Solar System in SSR#5 leads neatly into his visit to Earth for the wedding in IH2#417-418 rather than into a 'return' visit to Earth in SS3#93.