Comic Book Coloring Appreciation Post: Tom Vincent's Silver Surfer (over Ron Lim & Tom Christopher)

 

Thanks to the Marvel digital app, I've been re-reading the 1987 Silver Surfer series, started by Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers, and it has been a blast. I read these when they were originally published, and those early issues were fun, but for me, things really kicked into high gear when Ron Lim started as regular artist. Lim was the first artist, with inker Tom Christopher, to make the Surfer actually look metallic, with skin that reflected light. Before then, the Surfer was merely a white figure who surfed in space -- a pretty cool character, no doubt, but not 'silver,' as far as I could tell. 

Note the pink highlights on the Surfer, as he stands across from Galactus

Something I don't remember, though, but which really stood out to me during this read-through, was the coloring of Tom Vincent. He really took the reflective surface to a new level with his work, subtly coloring the Surfer to reflect not just light but also the coloring of his surroundings, at times, particularly if those surroundings were hulking antagonists like Galactus. 

  

And notice the brown highlights...

...mirroring the color of the Surfer's opponent

I only noticed this coloring toward the end of my read-through of those first 50 issues, but I have to guess that Vincent was doing this for far longer than the images I took from the last couple of issues, here. Regardless, it's an attention to detail that strongly appeals to me and makes me appreciate this fun series even more. 

And one last time, note the surface of the planet reflected on the Surfer's skin. Just fabulous!