Silver Surfer, the poster boy for morally ambiguous, tortured souls everywhere finally got his own animated series in 1998, after over 30 years of schlepping it out in comic books. Recounting the tragic story of the Silver Surfer, the cartoon pitted him against monstrous galactic forces threatening the universe.

The Surfer starts out as Norrin Radd, a young alien from the planet Zenn-La, who is faced with certain annihilation along with the rest of his race when the planet-eater Galactus invades their space. Norrin makes a deal with Galactus to spare his home planet, promising to act as scout and herald for the giant cosmic entity in his quest to discover more planets to devour. Galactus imbues Norrin with some of his own powers and presents him with a silver surfboard/spacecraft that can travel faster than light; Norrin is transformed into the Silver Surfer but his nobility and self-sacrifice are forgotten in the maelstrom of Galactus's evil gifts. Planet after planet falls to the fearsome herald until a battle with the villain Thanos releases Norrin's memories and moral center. The Silver Surfer rebels against Galactus who takes revenge by moving Zenn-La to another location, leaving the young alien to wonder the universe in search of his home and his lost love, Shalla-Bal.

The Silver Surfer's odyssey takes him to many planets where he tries to help out people in need but always keeping his eye on the prize of Zenn-La. Familiar characters from the comic books include Galactus, Thanos the mad titan, Ego the Living Planet, Drax the Destroyer and the Kree. Marvel characters sure got all the cool names.

The Silver Surfer aired 13 episodes in its first season but a second season fell through due to Marvel's financial difficulties. They were devoured by Galactus.