574 SILVER SURFER, THE
the boundaries of superhero comics even further with its adult themes and political
commentary. For his work on these issues, Sienkiewicz won international acclaim,
receiving the 1986 Yellow Kid Award (Italy) and the 1987 Jack Kirby Award, presented
by Amazing Heroes magazine. He also worked on the graphic novel, Shadowplay: Th e
Secret Team, published in Brought to Light, with writer Alan Moore (Eclipse Comics
1988), about the history of the CIA. Sienkiewicz teamed up with Moore again in 1991
with the ambitious, but unfi nished, series, Big Numbers; he produced art for only the
fi rst two issues before dropping out of the project.
From January 1988 to April 1989, Sienkiewicz became a writer and artist for his
four-issue series, Stray Toasters (Epic Comics), which featured a detective hunting
down a serial killer. Freed from the restrictions of the superhero genre, Sienkiewicz
produced innovative text work and images that depicted the insanity of the killer and
the world of his disturbed characters in his nonlinear narrative. Alternating splash
pages with 9 and 12-panel pages, Sienkiewicz used a variety of media—from pen and
ink drawings to mixed-media collages, to lush oil paintings—in order to evoke the
inner chaos of his characters.
Since then, Sienkiewicz has worked on a variety of titles for DC and Marvel,
notably winning the 2004 Eisner Award for his contribution to Sandman: Endless
Nights, written by Neil Gaiman (DC-Vertigo 2003). Sienkiewicz’s chapter, cov-
ering the character Delirium, is a cornucopia of techniques, from washes, to pen
drawings, overlays, photographic images, and the combination serves the storyline
admirably, blending the chaos of Delirium’s mind with a pictorial delight in excess.
Other notable illustration projects include the 1995 Voodoo Child: The Illustrated
Legend of Jimi Hendrix (Kitchen Sink Press) and, in 1998, the children’s book,
Santa, My Life and Times (Avon Books). He also took his talent to other media,
producing CD covers, movie promotional art, and trading cards. Further, Sienkie-
wicz has been an active character designer for television, earning two Emmy Award
nominations in 1995 and 1996 for his work on Where in the World is Carmen
Sandiego?
Selected Bibliography: Lerer, Mark. “Th e Marvel Age Interview: Bill Sienkiewicz.”
Marvel Age 28 ( July 1985): 20–22.
Wendy Goldberg
SILVER AGE. See Ages of Comics
SILVER SURFER, THE. Th e Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics character created by
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He falls under the category of a “cosmic” superhero. Th e
character has powers on a vast scale and has been criticized as diffi cult to write for
a monthly title. Generally, the character serves the genre convention of the “other”
(or an outsider) used to provide an introspective perspective on a litany of human ills
and social injustices.
