The pop culture industry has thoroughly explored the semiotics of surfing. And in comics, we can easily find these appropriations in more or less literal ways.
Waverider is one of those comic book characters whose name tells you almost everything you need to know.
But it can also be misleading. In other words, he is a surfer, but there is no ocean beneath his feet.
How could that be?
Created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist Dan Jurgens, Waverider first appeared in DC Comics' "Armageddon 2001," issue #1, in May 1991.
His real name is Matthew Ryder, a scientist who lives in a possible future where Earth has fallen under the rule of a powerful figure known as Monarch.
Ryder wants to stop that future before it happens.
His solution is suitably (comic-book) strange: he volunteers for an experiment involving time travel and enters the timestream.
He doesn't come back the same man, though. Shall we see how this unexpectedly different surfer comes to life?
Riding the timestream
So, the experiment gives Ryder powerful temporal abilities. He emerges as Waverider, a being who can move through time and investigate possible futures.
And this is where the name starts to make sense.
To be clear, Waverider does not ride an ocean wave - he rides the waves of time. The timestream is treated almost like a vast moving medium.
Waverider can enter it, move through it, and observe events at different points in history. His powers also allow him to examine possible futures, which becomes central to his first story.
In "Armageddon 2001," Waverider travels through the lives of DC superheroes to discover who will eventually become Monarch.
His mission is to identify the threat before the future he knows can take place.
Our character plays an unusual role.
He is not simply a time traveler who visits famous moments in history. He is trying to understand how one possible future can grow out of the present.
A superpower built around time
Waverider's abilities are closely tied to the timestream.
One of his most distinctive powers is the ability to see a person's probable future by touching them.
During "Armageddon 2001," he uses this ability to examine various DC heroes while searching for the future Monarch.
He can also travel through time and observe different possible outcomes, making him an unusual kind of superhero.
His greatest tool is information. He can look ahead and see where events may be heading, then use what he discovers to try to change history.
There is an obvious problem with that idea, and the story plays with it.
Waverider eventually discovers that his own attempt to prevent Monarch's rise has been manipulated. His journey through time is part of the chain of events he is trying to break.
Therefore, as a time traveler, our character gets himself involved in a particularly awkward situation.
Where does the wave come from?
The surfing imagery becomes more interesting when Waverider is drawn in action.
He is often shown moving on a flowing, wave-shaped energy form associated with his travel through the timestream.
It can look surprisingly similar to a surfboard beneath his feet, especially in artwork that emphasizes his movement through temporal energy.
A parenthesis is needed here, though.
Waverider does not traditionally carry a physical board like a surfer heading into the lineup.
The wave is part of the visual representation of his powers. It gives his movement through time a shape that readers can immediately understand.
Like an endless longboard - or carpet or blanket - that extends its core through time. Hard to picture, right?
The character therefore turns an abstract idea into something visual. Why? Because time is difficult to draw; a wave is much easier.
So, in a way, it's a rather clever and philosophical fit for a character called Waverider.
Instead of showing Matthew Ryder simply disappearing into a glowing portal whenever he travels through time, artists can show him riding a wave through the timestream.
A simple parallelism could be drawn here with surfing.
In truth, surfers don't control the ocean themselves. The skill we possess comes from moving with something much larger and more powerful - Nature, the ocean, water, etc.
Waverider's comic book version applies a similar visual idea to time.
Then there is the Silver Surfer
Now, here's a connection with another well-known superhero from another dimension.
Waverider appeared in 1991. Marvel's Silver Surfer had been around since 1966, when he first appeared in "The Fantastic Four," issue #48.
The Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd, an alien from Zenn-La who becomes the herald of Galactus. His defining visual feature is impossible to miss: he travels through space standing on a silver surfboard.
The board was part of Jack Kirby's original design.
Accounts of the character's creation describe Kirby drawing a figure on a flying surfboard as the herald of Galactus. Stan Lee later developed the character and gave him the name Silver Surfer.
So the two characters occupy remarkably similar visual territory.
One is a cosmic traveler riding through space; the other is a temporal traveler riding through time.
It seems like we've got all grounds covered, surf-speaking.
Surfing the universe
Therefore, the difference is what each character is surfing.
Silver Surfer uses an actual board - or at least something closer to that.
He can travel through outer space on it, making the surfboard a permanent part of his identity and one of the most recognizable images in Marvel Comics.
Waverider has no equivalent piece of equipment in the same sense. His wave-shaped energy form is connected to his powers and his movement through the timestream.
The Silver Surfer is essentially surfing the universe; Waverider is surfing time, like someone riding the "green room."
Again, neither character needs an ocean to justify the name. In both cases, surfing becomes a visual language for extraordinary movement.
Why call him Waverider?
The name works on several levels. At the most basic level, Waverider describes what he appears to do.
He rides a wave. The deeper meaning comes from the nature of his powers.
The wave represents the timestream, allowing the character to "ride" through different moments and possible futures.
It also separates him from the usual comic book time traveler.
A machine, portal, or glowing doorway can transport a character through history, but Waverider gives time travel a physical motion.
He moves through it, and he rides it.
The name is therefore less about "surfing water" than it first appears, but a description of his relationship with time.
Two surfers, two universes
There is no need to treat Waverider as a direct copy of the Silver Surfer.
Their stories, powers, and origins are different, and there is no solid evidence that Waverider was officially created as a Silver Surfer counterpart.
However, in essence, there is a resemblance.
Both characters take the familiar image of a person standing on a board or wave and place it in an impossible environment.
Silver Surfer turns outer space into his surfing ground. Waverider turns the timestream into his with something much bigger to ride.
If you wish to explore more about the Silver Surfer, we definitely encourage you to get Taschen's tribute book "Marvel Comics Library. Silver Surfer. 1968-1970" with all 18 stories from the original series.
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