title: Selective Service System

text: In February 2019, a challenge to the Military Selective Service Act, which provides for the male-only draft, by the National Coalition for Men, was deemed unconstitutional by Judge Gray H. Miller in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Miller's opinion was based on the Supreme Court's past argument in "Rostker v. Goldberg" (1981) which had found the male-only draft constitutional because the military then did not allow women to serve. As the Department of Defense has since lifted most restrictions on women in the military, Miller ruled that the justifications no longer apply, and thus the act requiring only men to register would now be considered unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. The government appealed this decision to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments on the appeal were heard on 3 March 2020. The District Court decision was reversed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. A petition for review was declined by the U.S. Supreme Court.


title: Selective Service System

text: In December 2019, the bipartisan "Selective Service Repeal Act", a bill to repeal the Military Selective Service Act and abolish the Selective Service System, H.R. 5492, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Rodney Davis (R-IL). This bill was reintroduced in both the House (H.R. 2509) and the Senate (S. 1139) on 14 April 2021.


title: Selective Service System

text: In January 2020, the Selective Service System website crashed following the US airstrike on Baghdad International Airport. An Internet meme about the event being the beginning of World War III began gaining in popularity very quickly, causing an influx of visitors to the Selective Service System website, which was not prepared to handle it.


title: Selective Service System

text: Under current law, all male U.S. citizens between 18 and 25 (inclusive) years of age are required to register within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. In addition, certain categories of non-US citizen men between 18 and 25 living in the United States must register, particularly permanent residents, refugees, asylum seekers, and illegal immigrants. Foreign men lawfully present in the United States who are non-immigrants, such as international students, visitors, and diplomats, are not required to register, so long as they remain in that status. If an alien's non-immigrant status lapses while he is in the United States and under the age of 26, he will be required to register. Failure to register as required is grounds for denying a petition for U.S. citizenship. Currently, citizens who are at least 17 years and 3 months old can pre-register so when they are eligible for registration, their information will automatically be added into the system.


title: Selective Service System

text: In the current registration system, a man cannot indicate that he is a conscientious objector (CO) to war when registering, but he can make such a claim when being drafted. Some men choose to write on the registration card "I am a conscientious objector to war" to document their conviction, even though the government will not have such a classification until there is a draft. A number of private organizations have programs for conscientious objectors to file a written record stating their beliefs.


title: Selective Service System

text: In 1987, Congress ordered the Selective Service System to put in place a system capable of drafting "persons qualified for practice or employment in a health care occupation" in case such a special-skills draft should be ordered by Congress. In response, the Selective Service published plans for the "Health Care Personnel Delivery System" (HCPDS) in 1989, and has had them ready ever since. The concept underwent a preliminary field exercise in fiscal year 1998, followed by a more extensive nationwide readiness exercise in fiscal year 1999. The HCPDS plans include women and men age 20–54 in 57 job categories.


title: Selective Service System

text: Until their 26th birthdays, registered men must notify Selective Service within 10 days of any changes to information regarding their status, such as name, current mailing address, permanent residence address, and "all information concerning his status ... which the classifying authority mails him a request therefor".


title: Selective Service System

text: In February 2019, the male-only military draft registry was ruled to be unconstitutional by a federal district judge in "National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System". Following the ruling, Selective Service System attorney Jacob Daniels told reporters: "Things continue here at Selective Service as they have in the past, which is men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register with Selective Service. And at this time, until we receive guidance from either the court or from Congress, women are not required to register for Selective Service." On 13 August 2020, the federal district judge's opinion was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The Court held that male-only military draft registration is constitutional on the basis that "only the Supreme Court may revise its precedent."


title: Selective Service System

text: Selective Service bases the registration requirement on gender assigned at birth. According to the SSS, individuals who are born male and changed their gender to female (trans women) are required to register while individuals who are born female and changed their gender to male (trans men) are not required to register.


title: Selective Service System

text: A congressionally mandated commission recommended in March 2020 that women should be eligible for the draft.


title: Selective Service System

text: In September 2021, the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, which included an amendment that stated that "all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 must register for selective service." This struck off the word "Male" which extended a potential draft to women; however, the amendment was removed before the National Defense Authorization Act was passed.


title: Selective Service System

text: In 1980, men who knew they were required to register and did not do so could face up to five years in prison, fines of up to $50,000 or both if convicted. The potential fine was later increased to $250,000. Despite these possible penalties, government records indicate that from 1980 through 1986 there were only twenty indictments, of which nineteen were instigated in part by self-publicized and self-reported non-registration.


title: Selective Service System

text: A principal element for conviction under the act is proving a violation of the act was intentional, i.e. knowing and willful. In the opinion of legal experts, this is almost impossible to prove unless there is evidence of a prospective defendant knowing about his obligation to register and intentionally choosing not to do so. Or, for example, when there is evidence the government at any time provided notice to the prospective defendant to register or report for induction, he was given an opportunity to comply, and the prospective defendant chose not to do so.


title: Selective Service System

text: The last prosecution for non-registration was in January 1986. In interviews published in "U.S. News & World Report" in May 2016, current and former Selective Service System officials said that in 1988, the Department of Justice and Selective Service agreed to suspend any further prosecutions of non-registrants. No law since 1980 has required anyone to possess, carry, or show a draft card, and routine checks requiring identification virtually never include a request for a draft card.


title: Selective Service System

text: As an alternative method of encouraging or coercing registration, Solomon Amendment laws were passed requiring that in order to receive financial aid, federal grants and loans, certain government benefits, eligibility for most federal employment, and (if the person is an immigrant) eligibility for citizenship, a young man had to be registered (or had to have been registered, if they are over 26 but were required to register between 18 and 26) with the Selective Service. Those who were required to register, but failed to do so before they turned 26, are no longer allowed to register, and thus may be permanently barred from federal jobs and other benefits, unless they can show to the Selective Service that their failure was not knowing and willful. There is a procedure to provide an "information letter" to the Selective Service for those in these situations, for example recent citizens who entered the US after their 26th birthday. The federal law requiring Selective Service registration as a condition of federal financial aid for higher education was overridden in December 2020, and the questions about Selective Service registration status on the FAFSA form will be eliminated by 1 July 2023.


title: Selective Service System

text: Most states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Virgin Islands, have passed laws requiring registration for men 18–25 to be eligible for programs that vary on a per-jurisdiction basis but typically include driver's licenses, state-funded higher education benefits, and state government jobs. Alaska also requires registration to receive an Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. Eight states (California, Connecticut, Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming) have no such requirements, though Indiana and Washington do give men 18–25 the option of registering with Selective Service when obtaining a driver's license or an identification card. The Department of Motor Vehicles of 27 states and 2 territories automatically register young men 18–25 with the Selective Service whenever they apply for driver licenses, learner permits, or non-driver identification cards.


title: Selective Service System

text: There are some third-party organized efforts to compensate financial aid for those students losing benefits, including the "Fund for Education and Training " (FEAT) and "Student Aid Fund for Non-registrants".


title: Selective Service System

text: Some registrants are not U.S. citizens, or have dual nationality of the U.S. and another country; they fall instead into one of the following categories:


title: Selective Service System

text: The Selective Service System is authorized by the Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution which says Congress "shall have Power To ... provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union;" The Selective Service Act is the law which established the Selective Service System under these provisions.


title: Selective Service System

text: The act has been challenged in light of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which prohibits "involuntary servitude". These challenges, however, have not been supported by the courts; as the Supreme Court stated in "Butler v. Perry" (1916):


title: Selective Service System

text: The amendment was adopted with reference to conditions existing since the foundation of our government, and the term 'involuntary servitude' was intended to cover those forms of compulsory labor akin to African slavery which, in practical operation, would tend to produce like undesirable results. It introduced no novel doctrine with respect of services always treated as exceptional, and certainly was not intended to interdict enforcement of those duties which individuals owe to the state, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc.


title: Selective Service System

text: During the First World War, the Supreme Court ruled in "Arver v. United States" (1918), also known as the Selective Draft Law Cases, that the draft did not violate the Constitution.


title: Selective Service System

text: Later, during the Vietnam War, a federal appellate court also concluded that the draft was constitutional in "Holmes v. United States" (1968).


title: Selective Service System

text: Since the reinstatement of draft registration in 1980, the Supreme Court has heard and decided four cases related to the Military Selective Service Act: "Rostker v. Goldberg", 453 U.S. 57 (1981), upholding the constitutionality of requiring men but not women to register for the draft; "Selective Service v. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG)", 468 U.S. 841 (1984), upholding the constitutionality of the "Solomon Amendment", which requires applicants for Federal student aid to certify that they have complied with draft registration, either by having registered or by not being required to register; "Wayte v. United States", 470 U.S. 598 (1985), upholding the policies and procedures which the Supreme Court thought the government had used to select the "most vocal" non-registrants for prosecution, after the government refused to comply with discovery orders by the trial court to produce documents and witnesses related to the selection of non-registrants for prosecution; and "Elgin v. Department of Treasury", 567 U.S. 1 (2012), regarding procedures for judicial review of denial of federal employment for non-registrants.


title: Selective Service System

text: The case "National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System" resulted in the male-only draft registration being declared unconstitutional by a district court. That decision was reversed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. A petition for review was then filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.


title: Selective Service System

text: The Selective Service System is an independent federal agency within the Executive Branch of the federal government of the United States. The Director of the Selective Service System reports directly to the President of the United States. Starting on the day of the inauguration of President Biden, the Selective Service System was under an acting director following the departure of the previous director, Don Benton, and pending the nomination and confirmation of a new permanent director.


title: Selective Service System

text: During peacetime, the agency comprises a national headquarters, three regional headquarters, and a data management center. Even during peacetime, the agency is also aided by 11,000 volunteers serving on local boards and district appeal boards. During a mobilization that required activation of the draft, the agency would greatly expand by activating an additional 56 state headquarters, more than 400 area offices, and over 40 alternative service offices.


title: Selective Service System

text: The agency's budget for the 2015–2016 fiscal year was about $23 million. In early 2016, the agency said that if women were required to register, its budget would need to be increased by about $9 million in the first year, and slightly less in subsequent years. This does not include any budget or expenses for enforcing or attempting to enforce the Military Selective Service Act. Costs of investigating, prosecuting, and imprisoning violators would be included in the budget of the Department of Justice.


title: Selective Service System

text: The description below is for a general draft under the current Selective Service regulations. Any or all of these procedures could be changed by Congress as part of the same legislation that would authorize inductions, or through separate legislation, so there is no guarantee that this is how any draft would actually work. Different procedures would be followed for a special-skills draft, such as activation of the Health Care Personnel Delivery System (HCPDS).


title: Selective Service System

text: If the agency were to mobilize and conduct a draft, a lottery would be held in full view of the public. First, all days of the year are placed into a capsule at random. Second, the numbers 1–365 (1–366 for lotteries held with respect to a leap year) are placed into a second capsule. These two capsules are certified for procedure, sealed in a drum, and stored.


title: Selective Service System

text: In the event of a draft, the drums are taken out of storage and inspected to make sure they have not been tampered with. The lottery then takes place, and each date is paired with a number at random. For example, if January 19 is picked from the "date" capsule and the number 59 picked from the "number" capsule, all men of age 20 born on January 19 will be the 59th group to receive induction notices. This process continues until all dates are matched with a number.


title: Selective Service System

text: Should all dates be used, the Selective Service will first conscript men at the age of 20, then 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 19, and 18. Once all dates are paired, the dates will be sent to Selective Service System's Data Management Center.


title: Selective Service System

text: If a draft were authorized by Congress, without any other changes being made in the law, local boards would classify registrants to determine whether they were exempt from military service. According to the Code of Federal Regulations Title 32, Chapter XVI, Sec. 1630.2, men would be sorted into the following categories:


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss is an Indian reality television game show franchise based on the Dutch reality show "Big Brother". It is produced by Endemol Shine India through Viacom18 and Disney Star. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally available through OTT platforms Voot and Disney+ Hotstar.


title: Bigg Boss

text: "Bigg Boss" was originally started in Hindi language and has been extended into seven languages spoken in the Indian sub-continent, including Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam.


title: Bigg Boss

text: There have been seven versions of the show in different languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The first show of the franchise was "Big Boss" in Hindi which debuted in 2006 through Sony TV and from season two onwards it moved to and continues on Colors TV. In 2013, the franchise extended its presence in Kannada through Colors Kannada and Bengali through ETV Bangla, later rebranded into Colors Bangla. In 2017, it extend its presence in Tamil through Star Vijay and in Telugu through Star Maa. In 2018, it ventured into Marathi through Colors Marathi and in Malayalam through Asianet.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Though only celebrities were selected to be as housemates in the initial seasons, members of the general public have been chosen to be on the show in the latest seasons of Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam versions of the show.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Contestants called "housemates" live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. Housemates are voted out, usually on a weekly basis, until only one remains and wins the cash prize. During their stay in the house, contestants are continuously monitored by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones.


title: Bigg Boss

text: The program relies on techniques such as a scripted back-to-basic environment, evictions, weekly tasks, competitions set by "Bigg Boss", and the “confession room” where housemates converse with "Bigg Boss" and nominate the housemates they wish to evict from the house. The housemates with the most nominations are then announced, and viewers are given the opportunity to vote via SMS or online through social media and smartphone applications for the nominee they wish to save from eviction. The last person standing is declared the winner.


title: Bigg Boss

text: The contestants are required to indulge in housework and are assigned tasks by the omnipresent authority figure known to them as "Bigg Boss". The tasks are designed to test teamwork abilities and community spirit of the housemates. The luxury budget is a weekly allowance to buy luxury food items other than the supplied essentials which depend on the outcome of assigned tasks.


title: Bigg Boss

text: "Bigg Boss" is a Hindi language adaptation of "Big Brother" created in Netherlands by John de Mol Jr., largely based on the "Celebrity Big Brother" model owned by the Endemol Shine Group. The show was named "Bigg Boss" and a house was constructed for the show at Lonavla for season one to four and six to twelve, in Karjat for season five and in Goregaon from season thirteen onwards. "Bigg Boss" debuted on television in 2006 through Sony TV with Arshad Warsi as the host. The show gained popularity after Shilpa Shetty emerged as the winner in "Big Brother 5" and replaced Warsi as the host in the second season of "Bigg Boss". From the second season, the show's broadcast moved to Viacom 18's Colors TV. For third season Amitabh Bachchan hosted the show respectively and Salman Khan continued as a host from fourth season onwards, while Sanjay Dutt also hosted for fifth season along with Salman Khan. Farah Khan hosted the spin off season of eighth season in absence of main host Salman Khan.


title: Bigg Boss

text: The show's acceptance and success among the Indian audience paved way for its expansion into other Indian languages. After the sixth season wrapped in 2013, "Kannada" and "Bengali" adaptions were created by Endemol through ETV Network. Sudeep hosted Kannada version. Mithun Chakraborty and Jeet hosted Bengali version respectively. While the Kannada version continued with subsequent seasons annually, similar to Hindi, became an instant hit and the Bengali version completed only two seasons in six years and did not turn out to be as successful.


title: Bigg Boss

text: In 2017, upon completion of ten seasons in Hindi, four seasons in Kannada and two seasons in Bengali, Endemol Shine India extended its presence in South India by creating Tamil and Telugu versions of the show with Star India. The Tamil version was hosted by Kamal Haasan. While the Telugu version started with Jr NTR as a host, later for second season Nani replaced the host and from third season onwards Nagarjuna continued as a host respectively. In 2018, the show was adapted into Marathi under Viacom 18 and hosted by Mahesh Manjrekar. The next language adaptation was Malayalam, which was produced by Star India and hosted by Mohanlal. Later in 2021 another version was adopted called Bigg Boss OTT where its episodes were shown on Voot which is hosted by Karan Johar.


title: Bigg Boss

text: "Bigg Boss" is the Hindi and the first version of the franchise. The first season premiered in 2006 on Sony TV It was hosted by Arshad Warsi. The prize money was The license for "Bigg Boss" was acquired by Viacom 18 and the next season was aired on Colors TV with Shilpa Shetty as the host. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan was roped in to play host for the third season while Salman Khan appeared as the host in the fourth season. The fifth season was jointly hosted by Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan while Khan alone continues to host the show consecutively since sixth season until present. A lavish purpose-built house, with annual modifications was built in Lonavala, Mumbai for the show. A new house was built at ND Studios in Karjat, Pune for the fifth season. The house at Lonavala was rebuilt and used again from the sixth season. The prize was reduced to since the fifth season. A spin off series, "Bigg Boss: Halla Bol" was launched and merged into the eighth season with five finalists from the eighth season and five previous runner ups which was hosted by Farah Khan.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss OTT (or Bigg Boss: Over-The-Top), a spin-off Indian Hindi-language reality digital series of the show Bigg Boss that aired exclusively on Viacom 18's streaming service platform Voot. The digital edition hosted by Karan Johar and the show premiered its first season on 8 August 2021.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss Kannada is the Kannada version of the Bigg Boss reality TV show and it was the first south Indian adaption of "Bigg Boss". Actor Sudeep was roped in by ETV Kannada to play the host of the show for the first season in 2013 and for second season Star India acquired the license of the show and aired on Suvarna with Sudeep continuing his role as the host of the show. The Bigg Boss house at Lonavala which was used for the Hindi version was also used for the first two seasons of Bigg Boss Kannada. A new and bigger house was constructed at Innovative Film City in Bidadi, Bengaluru and is being used since the third season. Sudeep's contract to host the show was extended to five seasons starting with the third season which returned to Viacom 18's Colors Kannada. The fifth season moved to Colors Super, a sister channel of Colors Kannada. It is notable that the Kannada version is the only adaption where the host, Sudeep alone would be hosting the show for seven consecutive seasons. All the seasons so far have had as the prize money. Commoners were allowed to be a part of the show from the fifth season through auditions. Three artists have been the 'voice' of "Bigg Boss" as of fifth season - Amit Bhargav for the first two, B M Venkatesh for the third and Srinivas Prasad since the fourth season. From third season onwards, the show is going to air from October month onwards on every year but the eight season get delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is likely to launch from mid February 2021 onwards.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss Bangla is the Bengali version of the show which was produced by ETV Bangla with Mithun Chakraborty as the host while the first season of the Kannada version was wrapping up in 2013. The second season was aired on Colors Bangla in 2016 and was hosted by Bengali actor Jeet. The Lonavala house used for Hindi version was used in both seasons and the prize money for the show has been lesser than the other adaptions with and respectively for the first and second seasons. This is the only adaption of the show that does not follow the annual format and the seasons have been produced once in 3 years. The reality show however has been discontinued after season 2 but a leading Bengali TV channel is planning to launch its new season and discussion about copyright issues is still on and show makers are yet to finalise it.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss Tamil is the Tamil version of the show and the second south Indian adaption of "Bigg Boss". Star India produced the show in 2017 with Kamal Haasan as the host on Star Vijay. This has been the only version to have none of its seasons shot at Lonavala. The house was constructed at EVP Film City, Chennai and is being used since the first season. All the three seasons so far have had as the prize money. The fourth season was planned to launch in June 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season eye logo tile revealed on 27 August 2020 and launching on 4 October 2020 onwards and finished on 17 January 2021. The fifth season telecast will be from 3 October as per latest promo released on 20 September. Half way through season 5, the main host actor Kamal Haasan fell ill and was replaced by actress Ramya Krishnan to host the show until he recovered.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss Telugu is the Telugu version of the Bigg Boss reality TV show and telecasted by Star Maa. The first season Jr NTR is being hosted the show and the Lonavala house was used for the show and premiered on 16 July 2017. The second season was hosted by Nani and premiered on 10 June 2018. From third season onwards Nagarjuna continued as a host for the show. The third season premiered on 21 July 2019. The fourth season is planned to launch in July 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and launching begin from 6 September 2020. Ramya Krishnan and Samantha Akkineni appeared as a guest host in Season 3 and Season 4 respectively in the absence of main host.From second season onwards a newly built house was constructed at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad is being used for the show. The Three Seasons so far have had as the prize money. the upcoming fifth season of the show planned to launch in June 2021 but it delayed due to second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and launching begins from 5 September 2021 onwards.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss Marathi is the Marathi version of the show and the first season is being aired on Viacom 18's Colors Marathi. The Lonavala house is being used for this version and Mahesh Manjrekar is playing the host. From the 2nd season onwards house is made in Goregaon flimcity, Mumbai .This is the first and only adaption of "Bigg Boss" so far to have its language affiliation in the show's official name. The prize money is announced to be . The third Season was scheduled to launch in May 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the show was cancelled for a year. On 21 June 2021, the makers had officially launched the season 3 promo. On 26 August 2021, the makers officially announced that the launch of season 3 will be on 19 September 2021 onwards.


title: Bigg Boss

text: Bigg Boss Malayalam is the Malayalam adaptation of Bigg Boss, produced by Star India and broadcast on Asianet. Veteran actor Mohanlal has been roped to host the show and the Lonavala house was used for the first season. The prize money for the first season was announced to be ₹ 1 crore (US$140,000). All episodes of the show are available on the ott Disney+ Hotstar digital platform.


title: Bigg Boss

text: The second season premiered on January 5, 2020, with Mohanlal returning as host and home located at EVP Film City in Chennai and due to the COVID-19 scare, Endemol Shine India suspended season 2 on the 75th day and all the contestants were sent home.


title: Bigg Boss

text: On February 14, 2021, the third season was released with Mohanlal returning as host for the third time and the house used for the second season was continued. All contestants entered the house following a 14-day period of quarantine and testing for COVID-19. The fourth season of the series will be launched on March 27, 2022 and will return to the house located in Lonavala with Mohanlal who is also still hosting the season.


title: Flags of the U.S. states and territories

text: The flags of the U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) exhibit a variety of regional influences and local histories, as well as different styles and design principles. Modern U.S. state flags date from the turn of the 20th century, when states considered distinctive symbols for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Most U.S. state flags were designed and adopted between 1893 and World War I.


text: The most recently adopted state flag is that of Mississippi, adopted on January 11, 2021, while the most recently adopted territorial flag is that of the Northern Mariana Islands, adopted on July 1, 1985. The flag of the District of Columbia was adopted in 1938. Recent legislation in Utah (2018–21) and Massachusetts (2021) has started the process of redesign for those state flags.


text: Despite a variety of designs, the majority of the states' flags share the same design pattern consisting of the state seal superimposed on a monochrome background, commonly a shade of blue, which remains a source of criticism from vexillologists. According to a 2001 survey by the North American Vexillological Association, New Mexico has the best-designed flag of any U.S. state, U.S. territory, or Canadian province, while Georgia's state flag was rated the worst (the latter of which has been changed since the survey was conducted).


text: These are the current official flags of the five permanently-inhabited territories of the United States. Dates in parenthesis denote when the territory's current flag was adopted by its respective political body.


text: In 2021, Utah commemorated its 125th year anniversary as a state with a special flag, coinciding with the formation of a task force to redesign the state flag.


text: Many Native American nations have tribal sovereignty, with jurisdiction over their members and reserved land. Although reservations are on state land, the laws of the state(s) do not necessarily apply. Below are the flags of some of the largest Indian tribes reservations by population and area:


text: The U.S. national flag is the official flag for all islands, atolls, and reefs composing the United States Minor Outlying Islands. However, unofficial flags are sometimes used to represent some of the insular areas in the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands:


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book "Fantastic Four" #48, published in 1966.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer is a humanoid alien with metallic skin who can travel through space with the aid of his surfboard-like craft. Originally a young astronomer named Norrin Radd on the planet Zenn-La, he saved his homeworld from the planet devourer, Galactus, by serving as his herald. Imbued in return with some portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic, he acquired vast power, a new body and a surfboard-like craft on which he could travel faster than light. Now known as the Silver Surfer, he roamed the cosmos searching for planets for Galactus to consume. When his travels took him to Earth, he met the Fantastic Four, who helped him rediscover his nobility of spirit. Betraying Galactus, he saved Earth but was exiled there as punishment.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In 2011, IGN ranked the Silver Surfer 41st in its "Top 100 Comic Heroes" list. The character was portrayed by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne in the 2007 film "".


title: Silver Surfer

text: Created by Jack Kirby, the character first appears in "The Fantastic Four" #48 (March 1966), the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy".


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer debuted as an unplanned addition to the superhero-team comic "Fantastic Four" #48 (March 1966). The comic's writer-editor, Stan Lee, and its penciller and co-plotter, Jack Kirby, had, by the mid-1960s, developed a collaborative technique known as the "Marvel Method": the two would discuss story ideas, Kirby working from a brief synopsis to draw the individual scenes and plot details, with Lee finally adding the dialogue and captions. When Kirby turned in his pencil art for the story, he included a new character he and Lee had not discussed. As Lee recalled in 1995, "There, in the middle of the story we had so carefully worked out, was a nut on some sort of flying surfboard". He later expanded on this, recalling, "I thought, 'Jack, this time you've gone too far'". Kirby explained that the story's agreed-upon antagonist, a god-like cosmic predator of planets named Galactus, should have some sort of herald, and that he created the surfboard "because I'm tired of drawing spaceships!" Taken by the noble features of the new character, who turned on his master to help defend Earth, Lee overcame his initial skepticism and began adding characterization. The Silver Surfer soon became a key part of the unfolding story.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Following the Surfer's debut, Lee and Kirby brought him back as a recurring guest in "Fantastic Four" #55–61, 72, and 74–77 (ranging Oct. 1966 – Aug. 1968). The character made his solo debut in the backup story of "Fantastic Four Annual" #5 (Nov. 1967).


title: Silver Surfer

text: The following year, Lee launched the solo title "The Silver Surfer". John Buscema was penciller for the first 17 issues of the series, with Kirby returning for the 18th and final issue. The first seven issues, which included anthological "Tales of the Watcher" backup stories, were 72-page (with advertising), 25-cent "giants", as opposed to the typical 36-page, 12-cent comics of the time. Thematically, the stories dealt with the Surfer's exile on Earth and the inhumanity of man as observed by this noble yet fallen hero. Though short-lived, the series became known as one of Lee's most thoughtful and introspective works.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Following his series' cancellation, the Surfer made sporadic appearances as a guest star or antagonist in such comic books as "Thor", "The Defenders", and "Fantastic Four". Lee remained partial to the Surfer, even asking other writers not to use him as a general rule, and with Kirby collaborated on a seminal 1978 graphic novel starring the character, the only original story featured in the Marvel Fireside Books series.


title: Silver Surfer

text: After a 1982 one-shot by writer-artist John Byrne (with scripting by Stan Lee), the Surfer appeared in his second solo ongoing title in 1987.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Initially written by Steve Englehart, the series was to be set on Earth and one issue was completed under this premise before Marvel agreed to let Englehart remove the long-standing restriction regarding Silver Surfer being imprisoned on Earth. This first issue was shelved and a brand new first issue was written, to set up this plot twist; the original first issue would ultimately be reprinted in "Marvel Fanfare" #51. The series marked the first Silver Surfer stories not written by Stan Lee, a fact which Lee was openly unhappy about. He explained:


title: Silver Surfer

text: Englehart introduced many villains for Silver Surfer, as well as featured space politics involving Surfer's homeworld Zenn-La, which was caught in the middle of a renewed Kree–Skrull War. However, issues regarding Englehart wanting to use his Avengers character Mantis as Silver Surfer's companion, as well as editorial refusing to let him use Thanos or other concepts conceived by Jim Starlin, led Englehart to leave the book with issue #31. Starlin took over as writer with issue #34 after several fill-in issues, and incorporated Thanos, Adam Warlock, and Drax the Destroyer into the series.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Under Jim Starlin and later Ron Marz, the series would receive acclaim and sales boost due to Silver Surfer's involvement with Starlin's Infinity Trilogy, with George Pérez and J. M. DeMatteis also having brief writing stints on the series as well. Additional artists included Tom Grindberg, Ron Garney, and Jon J. Muth, as well as periodic guest spots by John Buscema. The title experienced great initial success which allowed Marvel to push the character into other media, including a 1990 video game, 1992 trading card set, and 1998 animated series, as well as spinning off a variety of other comics series including "Cosmic Powers", "Cosmic Powers Unlimited", "Captain Marvel" vol. 2, and "Star Masters". It ran 146 issues, through 1998. The next year it was followed by the two-issue miniseries, "Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals".


title: Silver Surfer

text: A two-issue "Silver Surfer" miniseries (later collected as "Silver Surfer: Parable"), scripted by Lee and drawn by Moebius, was published through Marvel's Epic Comics imprint in 1988 and 1989. Because of inconsistencies with other stories, it has been argued that these stories actually feature an alternate Silver Surfer from a parallel Earth. This miniseries won the Eisner Award for best finite/limited series in 1989.


title: Silver Surfer

text: A new ongoing Silver Surfer series began in 2003, focusing on the character's alien nature and messianic allegory. It lasted 14 issues. The Surfer later appeared in an issue of "Cable & Deadpool" and has been reunited three times with the superhero group the Defenders. In 2006–2007, he starred in the four-issue miniseries "" and co-starred in the miniseries "", both part of the "Annihilation" fictional crossover.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In 2007, the Silver Surfer starred in a four-issue miniseries "Silver Surfer: Requiem" by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Esad Ribic. The first issue was released May 30, 2007 to coincide with the character's first movie appearance. Published under the Marvel Knights imprint, "Silver Surfer: Requiem" portrays the character upon learning that he is dying as the silver shell he is encased in is deteriorating.


title: Silver Surfer

text: This was followed by the four-issue miniseries "Silver Surfer: In Thy Name", by writer Simon Spurrier and artist Tan Eng Huat.


title: Silver Surfer

text: After an appearance in the "Planet Hulk" storyline in 2006, the Surfer was featured in its spin-off series starring the Hulk's son Skaar in 2008, both written by Greg Pak.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer received a sixth volume, an eponymous 5-issue miniseries written by Pak, debuting in February 2011. He was also a core cast member in "The Thanos Imperative" (2010), "Annihilators" (2011), and "Fear Itself: The Deep" (2011). Beginning in 2011, the Silver Surfer began appearing regularly in "The Mighty Thor" and a new volume of "Defenders", both written by Matt Fraction.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In March 2014, Silver Surfer volume 7 began as part of All-New Marvel NOW! by writer Dan Slott, artist Mike Allred, and colorist Laura Allred. In January 2016 Silver Surfer volume 8 began with a special 50th-anniversary edition expected release in March 2016.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In 2019, a 5 part mini-series titled "Silver Surfer: Black" was released featuring art from Tradd Moore in collaboration with writing from Donny Cates. The series is an extension of a Guardians of the Galaxy storyline which the Surfer was sucked into a black hole and ejected into unfamiliar space territory. This run follows the Surfer as he traverses the spaceways on a journey back home.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Silver Surfer later plays an important role in "King in Black" storyline. With the help from Hugin and Munin, Surfer helps Enigma Force to enter Earth and chose Eddie Brock/Venom as a temporary Captain Universe, in order to aid his fellow heroes against Knull and his army.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Norrin Radd is from the utopian planet Zenn-La, in the Deneb star system of the Milky Way galaxy. He is the son of Jartran and Elmar Radd, and he has a half-brother, Fennan Radd. Zenn-La's ancient and significantly advanced civilization has lost the will to strive or explore, leaving the young scholar Norrin Radd restless and yearning for adventure. Facing the destruction of his world by planet-consuming Galactus, Radd bargains with the cosmic being. In return for the safety of Zenn-La and his lover, Shalla-Bal, Radd pledges to seek out planets for the world devourer to consume as his herald. Galactus imbues him with a portion of the Power Cosmic, transforming him into the Silver Surfer. Radd had intended to lead Galactus to uninhabited planets, but Galactus tampers with his soul to prevent this.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Radd serves Galactus for an unspecified amount of time. Eventually, the Surfer summons his master to Earth. Here the Surfer meets the Fantastic Four and Alicia Masters. Touched by their nobility, he rebels against Galactus, who is eventually driven off. Before he leaves, he confines the Surfer to Earth with an invisible barrier that affects only him.


title: Silver Surfer

text: During his exile, the Surfer fights numerous villains, including Doctor Doom, who wants his Power Cosmic, and Mephisto, who wants his soul. The Surfer's only ally during these trials is a physicist by the name of Al B. Harper, who eventually sacrifices himself to save the world from the Stranger.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Banding together with the Hulk and Namor during these wanderings, the Surfer forms the "Titans Three", a group dedicated to battling evil on Earth. Soon, Doctor Strange joins the group and it becomes "The Defenders." Surfer stays with them for a while, but his overwhelming desire to be free of Earth and his frequent collisions with Galactus's energy-draining barrier eventually drives him to leave the group.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Surfer finally pierces Galactus's barrier with the aid of Reed Richards and temporarily escapes Earth. He discovers, though, that his homeworld has been ravaged by Galactus and Shalla-Bal has been abducted by Mephisto and taken to Earth. Even though it means trapping himself once more, the Surfer returns to Earth to battle and defeat Mephisto. Before being vanquished, Mephisto sends Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La, but the Surfer manages to endow her with a portion of his Power Cosmic, which she uses to revitalize the plant life of their ravaged homeworld.


title: Silver Surfer

text: After the Surfer aids the Fantastic Four against Galactus's latest herald Terrax, The Surfer eventually pierces Galactus's barrier by acting on a suggestion of trying to pass through on a spaceship instead of via his own power on his surfboard. He also makes peace with Galactus by rescuing current herald Nova from the Skrulls. Galactus declares the Surfer's exile ended. The Surfer immediately revisits his homeworld, but Shalla-Bal, in his absence, had become empress of the rejuvenated Zenn-La and is unable to renew their romance.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Embroiled in fresh hostilities between the interstellar Kree and Skrull empires, the Surfer also intervenes in a series of plots by the Elders of the Universe, who plan to become supremely powerful by destroying Galactus and the universe with him. The Surfer thwarts this plot with the aid of his new love interest, Mantis, the Earth-born cosmic heroine also known as the "Celestial Madonna". She seems to die in the process, and although she eventually returns, she never fully renews their romance. After this loss, a grief-stricken Surfer turns to Nova and romantic feelings begin to develop between them. The Surfer's influence gradually leads Nova to question the morality of her role as herald to Galactus. Eventually replaced by the far more ruthless Morg, Nova dies in a conflict between the new herald and the Surfer and the other ex-heralds.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Surfer repeatedly battles space-born menaces, the chief of whom is Thanos, who attempts to kill half the life in the universe using the omnipotent Infinity Gauntlet. Through Thanos, the Surfer learns how Galactus had altered his soul. He convinces Galactus to restore it, but once Galactus has done so, the Surfer is overcome with grief until he is able to forgive himself. The Surfer finds interstellar allies in Adam Warlock's Infinity Watch and the "Star Masters" team, and he begins attending occasional Defenders reunions.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Surfer returns home to Zenn-La to find that the planet has vanished, and learns it was actually destroyed in the 1940s (Earth time) by the entity known as the Other. Zenn-La and its people which the Surfer repeatedly encountered since leaving Galactus's service were actually reproductions, created by Galactus so that the Surfer would have a home to return to. Losing his capacity for emotion again, the Surfer returns to Earth. He later regains his personality during a time-travel adventure and sharing a romance with Alicia Masters. The two ultimately part as friends after many adventures together.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Silver Surfer temporarily bonds with and is controlled by the Carnage symbiote, which is seeking revenge for the destruction of its homeworld.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Later, the Surfer works with the alien Annunaki race to gather and protect some of Earth's most extraordinarily gifted children. In the end, one of these children, Ellie Waters, saves Earth from the godlike Marduk entity, preventing the Apocalypse and reordering reality as if the Marduk crisis had never happened (though Ellie alone apparently retains her memories of these events). The Surfer resumes his interstellar wanderings, but promises to be ready to aid his adopted homeworld should Earth ever need him.


title: Silver Surfer

text: During his travels, the Surfer is captured by a portal of the Sakaar Empire. Left weakened and vulnerable by his trip through the portal, the Surfer is subdued and implanted with an obedience disk to ensure he remains loyal to them. Fighting as a gladiator (and believed to be the fabled 'Sakaarson' due to his appearance), the Surfer is finally forced to face the Hulk along with his Warbound. Through teamwork and distraction, the Hulk is eventually able to destroy the Surfer's obedience disk. The Hulk and several other slaves and gladiators are freed when the Surfer uses the Power Cosmic to remove their own obedience disks and give them a way out of the arena, although the Hulk declines the Surfer's offer to take him back to Earth.


title: Silver Surfer

text: During the "Annihilation" war, the Silver Surfer again becomes Galactus's herald to help save the universe from the despot Annihilus. Annihilus captures them and gives them to Thanos for experimentation. Drax the Destroyer frees the Surfer, who in turn frees Galactus. An enraged Galactus destroys more than half the Annihilation Wave, and Annihilus is defeated. Later, the Surfer is joined as herald by Stardust, a former herald the Surfer had replaced.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer leads the world devourer to the populated planet Orbucen, which brings him into conflict with Richard Rider. He delays the planetary destruction to give the inhabitants more time to evacuate.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer returns to Sakaar in a plan to feed Galactus with the unique "Old Power" which he claims would sate his master's hunger for thousands of years, sparing many other inhabited worlds. He is opposed by the Hulk's son, Skaar, and is enslaved by an obedience disc. The conflict is ended when Skaar's mother Caiera sacrifices her soul and Old Power as sustenance for Galactus. Unfortunately, Galactus now seems addicted to the Old Power and has begun searching for other planets containing it to sate himself.


title: Silver Surfer

text: After an encounter with the High Evolutionary, the Silver Surfer and Galactus battled Thor and the Asgardians. The battle ended when the Silver Surfer chose to leave his post as herald and guard an Asgardian artifact. Galactus "tethers" him to Asgard's location in Oklahoma, resulting in his powers waning the further he travels from Asgard, and grants him the ability to return to human form.


title: Silver Surfer

text: During the War with the Serpent, Silver Surfer aids Doctor Strange, Namor, Loa, and Lyra in the liberation of New Atlantis from Attuma, who was transformed into Nerkodd: Breaker of Oceans.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Silver Surfer and Dawn meet Glorian the Maker of Miracles, who plans to rebuild our universe for the heroes to return to after they finish in Battleworld. Glorian has also enlisted the help of the Shaper of Worlds. Glorian then greeted Silver Surfer and Dawn with a tantalizing offer: ally with the Shaper of Worlds to rebuild the universe that was lost. Dawn agreed to use her memories to restore Earth while Silver Surfer left to restore the rest of the universe, but Silver Surfer unmade Galactus while Dawn unknowingly created another version of Norrin. The Shaper of Worlds is not happy with the changes. Dawn and the Surfer embark on more adventures which culminate in their entering a universe predating the main continuity.


title: Silver Surfer

text: When Silver Surfer was displaced in time, he had an encounter with Knull. Silver Surfer was infected by one of Knull's symbiotes only to be saved by Ego the Living Planet. Gathering the energy from the cosmos, Silver Surfer managed to defeat Knull.


title: Silver Surfer

text: During the "King in Black" storyline, Silver Surfer passes by the planets that were ravaged by Knull. At the advice of Thor, Hugin and Munin summon Silver Surfer to Earth. Silver Surfer arrives to where the Enigma Force is and frees it from the symbiotes. Knull reels in pain and Eddie Brock is chosen to be the new Captain Universe. As Silver Surfer faces off against him, Knull recalls his previous fight against him. Through the God of Light, Silver Surfer assumes a chrome form and turns his surfboard into a sword while Knull transforms his armor into one that would enable him to combat Silver Surfer. As Knull begins to fight Silver Surfer, the members of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men charge towards Knulls so that they can aid Silver Surfer. Just then, Venom appears having been transformed into Captain Universe stating that he will handle Knull for them. With their weapons separated from the battle axe form following Knull's death, Thor and Silver Surfer noted that things will not be back to normal soon.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer wields the Power Cosmic, granting him superhuman strength, endurance, and senses and the ability to absorb and manipulate the universe's ambient energy. The Surfer can navigate through interstellar space and hyperspace, which he can enter after exceeding the speed of light allowing traversing interstellar and intergalactic distances to other galaxies millions and even billions of light years away. He has proven capable of time travel on several occasions and can transport other people through time.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Surfer sustains himself by converting matter into energy; he does not require food, water, air, or sleep, but occasionally enters a sleep-like meditation to dream. He can survive in nearly any known natural environment, including deep space, hyperspace, black holes and stars. The Surfer can project energy in various forms for offensive and defensive use, including force fields, bolts of cosmic force powerful enough to destroy entire planets, and create black holes. He can utilize the Power Cosmic to augment his superhuman strength to indeterminate levels. The Surfer can heal both himself and other living organisms, though he cannot raise the dead, and he has proven capable of revitalizing and evolving organic life on a planet-wide scale. He can cast illusions, create interdimensional portals to other locations including microverses, manipulate and phase through solid matter, and exercise some level of control over the astral plane. However, when using these abilities, this results in him becoming greatly weakened, making the use of these abilities limited.


title: Silver Surfer

text: His senses enable him to detect objects and concentrations of energy light years away and to perceive matter and energy in subatomic detail, including life energies of living beings. The Surfer can even see through time, and can achieve limited perception of past and future events in his general vicinity with concentration. He has demonstrated telepathic ability, including mind-reading, and can influence human emotion and sensation.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Surfer's board is composed of a nearly impervious, cosmically powered silvery material similar to his own skin. The board is mentally linked to the Surfer and moves in response to his mental commands even when he is not in physical contact with it. The board is nearly indestructible, but on the rare occasions it has been damaged or destroyed, the Surfer can repair or recreate it with little effort. The Surfer can attack opponents by directing the board against them, and the board is capable of temporarily absorbing and imprisoning other beings.


title: Silver Surfer

text: When Galactus exiled the Surfer to Earth, his means of imprisonment was linked to the board. When the Surfer and the Fantastic Four realized this, the Surfer put it to the test by leaving the board planet-side and entering space in the Four's spacecraft. Once he was free of Earth, the Surfer remotely converted the board to energy, recalled it to him, and reformed it in space.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Surfer has displayed the ability to shed his silver skin and revert to his original appearance as Norrin Radd, masking the Power Cosmic and allowing him to be more inconspicuous when needed. In this state, he can properly eat, drink and sleep.


title: Silver Surfer

text: Warren Ellis's "Ultimate Galactus Trilogy" originally suggested that the Ultimates' ally the Vision was the herald of Galactus, a robotic probe that travels through space warning civilizations of the impending arrival of Gah Lak Tus. In the final miniseries of the trilogy, "Ultimate Extinction", silvery humanoids began to appear, sent to trigger mass suicides in order to reduce the population's resistance. Suicide cults founded by the creatures began to appear all across the globe as Gah Lak Tus drew near. These silvery beings had the ability to grow wings; morph into an ovoid; form spikes; or take an intermediary form, gliding on an oval surface. They also demonstrated the ability to manipulate large quantities of energy.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In "Ultimate Fantastic Four" #42, another Ultimate incarnation of the Silver Surfer appears, called the Silver Searcher. He is teleported to Earth after Reed mistakes him for a star that he is trying to harness. His appearance triggers planet-wide chaos and natural calamities. In #43, Reed comments that Gah Lak Tus seems to have modeled its drones on this surfer, and he gives his name as Norin Radd. The Searcher states that he will summon his "master", who will make the population of the Earth happier than they have ever been.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In #44, the Surfer's master is revealed to be Zenn-La's ruler, Revka Temerlune Edifex Scyros III, "the king without enemies", who uses mind-control to make the population of Earth worship him (before it takes effect on the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch calls him "Psycho-Man"). It is revealed that the Surfer has been exiled from Zenn-La for destroying the control that Psycho-Man had over Zenn-La, but because of finding Earth for his master to "save" he may return. After Psycho-Man gains domain over Earth, the Silver Surfer, temporarily imprisoned in his own 'memorial' statue, rescues Mr. Fantastic, tells him his story, and asks him to save Earth. The Surfer then helps the Fantastic Four defeat other Surfer-like assassins of Psycho-Man. With the Surfers beaten and the insane Psycho-Man reprogrammed to experience the unthinking happiness he had imposed on others, Silver Surfer wanders the space ways.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In "Ultimate X-Men", Jean Grey as Phoenix travels through space and is stopped by what is named as "A Silver Surfer". He informs Phoenix that the Watchers disapprove of the problems her flight across the universe is causing and briefly battles her before asking what she is looking for.


title: Silver Surfer

text: On Earth 552, Norrin Radd had been a great military scientist who accidentally destroyed his own world with his greatest invention. Determined to bring it back to existence, he approached Galactus, Restorer of Worlds, and became his herald in the hope that Galactus would resurrect his world in exchange for his service. However, Galactus had taken an oath to only revive those worlds destroyed by the Blight. An enraged Silver Surfer then turned against his master, destroying those who worshiped him and attempting to kill Galactus himself in order to steal the knowledge of world restoration. This led to the destruction of Earth, the coming of the Exiles, the deaths of the Shi'ar Imperial Elite Guard, and inevitably the Surfer's own destruction at the claws of a cosmically empowered Sabretooth.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer remains uninfected in the "Marvel Zombies" on Earth-2149. Instead of coming to Earth and meeting the Fantastic Four, he is attacked by a horde of zombies. After fighting valiantly, he is killed by the Hulk, and his body is devoured by a few of the zombies (Hulk, Colonel America, Giant-Man, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and Spider-Man). His corpse grants the zombies a portion each of his cosmic powers, which they use to kill all of the other zombie heroes and villains whom they consider "competition" for what's left of the living. Afterwards, Pym creates a machine that concentrates the Cosmic powers they all share to create a massive blast that kills Galactus, at which point they eat him. Now imbued with the power of Galactus himself (and realizing they can now fly and survive in space), they adopt his role, traveling the universe and picking worlds clean of life.


title: Silver Surfer

text: During the finale of "Last Planet Standing", the Silver Surfer foils Galactus's plan to create a new Big Bang, merging with Galactus himself in the process to become a new being. Gaining control of Galactus's powers, the new entity undoes the damage done by the old Galactus.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In the alternate timeline of Earth-691, notably the "Guardians of the Galaxy" issues #24 and #25 story arc, Norrin Radd was featured as The Keeper. This new version of the Silver Surfer, sans his surfboard, had Quantum Bands, which augmented his "Power Cosmic" and designated him as the Protector of the Universe, as with other bearers of the Bands before him. He works with the Guardians in an attempt to kill Galactus once and for all, his first attempt with Firelord and Dargo-Thor having failed. Eventually, the Keeper realizes that, with his augmented power, he can supply Galactus with the energy he needs and end the Planet-Eater's consumption of worlds. Eon, cosmic being and creator of the Quantum Bands, reveals that this was the ultimate purpose of the Keeper becoming the Protector of the Universe, and he enters into a symbiotic partnership with Galactus, who accepts the Keeper as an equal; he is last seen leaving with Galactus, riding a silver surfboard once more.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In issue 11 and 12 of the "Earth X" series, Black Bolt calls upon Galactus to come destroy the Celestial seed growing within Earth. The Silver Surfer accompanies him along with his love Shalla-Bal, who had now been turned into a silver herald of Galactus as well.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In "Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances", the Silver Surfer confronts Cyborg Superman over the destruction of a planet and is met by Parallax. Parallax beats the Cyborg, but the Silver Surfer lets him go and tries to sympathize with Parallax. The two return to Earth to find Kyle Rayner with Thanos, leading them to believe they formed an alliance when in reality Thanos tricked Kyle. Kyle convinces the Surfer to help him stop Parallax and Thanos from destroying the universe and that he was duped into giving Thanos Oa's power. The Surfer similarly gave most of his power to Parallax to reform the destroyed planet, forcing Kyle to use his ring to drain both villains of their enhanced powers before they can destroy everything. Unable to contain the power himself, Kyle channels the power from the two villains into the Silver Surfer, who opens a portal and sucks the two inside.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In Warren Ellis's "Ruins", the Silver Surfer is briefly seen when described by Mar-Vell to reporter Phil Sheldon. When the Kree Liberation Force set forth to invade Earth, they found the floating mutilated corpse of the Surfer near Earth's moon. Mar-Vell says that he and his comrades concluded that the Surfer had been driven mad because of his lack of need for oxygen and clawed open his chest in order to expose his lungs to the atmosphere, but died of shock.


title: Silver Surfer

text: In addition to his history of publication in comic books, the Silver Surfer has appeared or starred in several prose fiction books:


title: Silver Surfer

text: The United States Postal Service, in November 2007, released a series of 41¢ stamps honoring Marvel comics. One stamp shows the Silver Surfer on his board, and another features the cover of the first issue of the 1968 series.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer is referenced in the Marc Bolan and T. Rex song "Teenage Dream", a 1974 single from the album "Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow".


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer appears on the cover of the Joe Satriani album "Surfing with the Alien". Satriani was actually unfamiliar with the character at the time; the album's production manager suggested the character's usage. However, later compositions by Satriani were inspired by the Surfer mythos: "Back to Shalla-Bal", on "Flying in a Blue Dream"; and "The Power Cosmic 2000", a two-part song on "Engines of Creation".


title: Silver Surfer

text: The British metal band Bal-Sagoth named their fourth album "The Power Cosmic", and dedicated one song to the Silver Surfer—"The Scourge of the Fourth Celestial Host".


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer has appeared in several Marvel-based action figure and toy lines, including one celebrating the 30th anniversary of the character's first appearance, and three based on the 1998 animated series.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer starred in his own "all-prism" trading card series in 1993, released by Comics Images.


title: Silver Surfer

text: He has also appeared in many of Marvel's other trading card sets, notably each of the Marvel Universe Cards, Marvel Masterpieces, and Marvel Flair Cards trading card series as well as the Marvel OverPower trading card game.


title: Silver Surfer

text: The Silver Surfer was ranked as the 47th-greatest comic book character of all time by "Wizard" magazine. IGN also ranked the Silver Surfer as the 41st-greatest comic book hero quoting that "Silver Surfer has the coolest mode of transportation this side of Ghost Rider, but his powers come with a heavy burden."


title: Silver Surfer

text: The 2014 series was given a negative review by Newsarama's Pierce Lydon, who cites Laura Allred's coloring as the issue's biggest flaw. Iann Robinson, writing for CraveOnline, said the issue misses the point of the Silver Surfer character altogether. ComicBooked writer Cal Cleary gave the issue a perfect score, citing deep characterization and intricate design, praise largely echoed by Comics Alliance's Matt D. Wilson.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, was a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was India's first interplanetary mission and it made ISRO the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, after Roscosmos, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted-off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota Range SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25 at 09:08 UTC on 5 November 2013. The launch window was approximately 20 days long and started on 28 October 2013. The MOM probe spent about a month in Earth orbit, where it made a series of seven apogee-raising orbital manoeuvres before trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013 (UTC). After a 298-day transit to Mars, it was put into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The mission was a "technology demonstrator" project to develop the technologies for designing, planning, management, and operations of an interplanetary mission. It carried five scientific instruments. The spacecraft was monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae at Bengaluru, Karnataka.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 2 October 2022, it was reported that the orbiter had irrecoverably lost communications with Earth after entering a seven-hour eclipse period in April 2022 that it was not designed to survive. The following day, ISRO released a statement that all attempts to revive Mangalyaan had failed and officially declared it dead, citing the loss of fuel and battery power to the probe's instruments.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 23 November 2008, the first public acknowledgement of an uncrewed mission to Mars was announced by then-ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair. The MOM mission concept began with a feasibility study in 2010 by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology after the launch of lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 in 2008. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the project on 3 August 2012, after the Indian Space Research Organisation completed of required studies for the orbiter. The total project cost may be up to . The satellite costs and the rest of the budget has been attributed to ground stations and relay upgrades that will be used for other ISRO projects.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The space agency had planned the launch on 28 October 2013 but was postponed to 5 November following the delay in ISRO's spacecraft tracking ships to take up pre-determined positions due to poor weather in the Pacific Ocean. Launch opportunities for a fuel-saving Hohmann transfer orbit occur every 26 months, in this case the next two would be in 2016 and 2018.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: Assembly of the PSLV-XL launch vehicle, designated C25, started on 5 August 2013. The mounting of the five scientific instruments was completed at Indian Space Research Organisation Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, and the finished spacecraft was shipped to Sriharikota on 2 October 2013 for integration to the PSLV-XL launch vehicle. The satellite's development was fast-tracked and completed in a record 15 months, partly due to using reconfigured Chandrayaan-2 orbiter bus. Despite the US federal government shutdown, NASA reaffirmed on 5 October 2013 it would provide communications and navigation support to the mission "with their Deep Space Network facilities.". During a meeting on 30 September 2014, NASA and ISRO officials signed an agreement to establish a pathway for future joint missions to explore Mars. One of the working group's objectives will be to explore potential coordinated observations and science analysis between the MAVEN orbiter and MOM, as well as other current and future Mars missions.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 2 October 2022, it was reported that the orbiter had irrecoverably lost communications with Earth after entering long eclipse period in April 2022 that it was not designed to survive. At the time of communications loss it was unknown whether the probe had lost power or inadvertently realigned its Earth-facing antenna during automatic maneuvers.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The total cost of the mission was approximately 450 Crore (), making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date. The low cost of the mission was ascribed by K. Radhakrishnan, the chairman of ISRO, to various factors, including a "modular approach", few ground tests and long working days for scientists, ( 18 – 20 hours ). BBC's Jonathan Amos specified lower worker costs, home-grown technologies, simpler design, and a significantly less complicated payload than NASA's MAVEN.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The primary objective of the mission is to develop the technologies required for designing, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission. The secondary objective is to explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The main objectives are to develop the technologies required for designing, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission comprising the following major tasks:


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The mission would also provide multiple opportunities to observe the Martian moon Phobos and also offer an opportunity to identify and re-estimate the orbits of asteroids seen during the Martian Transfer Trajectory.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: In May–June 2015 Indian scientists got an opportunity to study the Solar Corona during the Mars conjunction when earth and Mars are on the opposite sides of the sun. During this period the S band waves emitted by Mangalyaan were transmitted through the Solar Corona that extends millions of kms into space. This event helped scientists study the Solar surface and regions where temperature changed abruptly.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network performed navigation and tracking operations for the launch with ground stations at Sriharikota, Port Blair, Brunei and Biak in Indonesia, and after the spacecraft's apogee became more than 100,000 km, an and a diameter antenna of the Indian Deep Space Network were utilised. The dish antenna was used for communication with the craft until April 2014, after which the larger antenna was used. NASA's Deep Space Network is providing position data through its three stations located in Canberra, Madrid and Goldstone on the US West Coast during the non-visible period of ISRO's network. The South African National Space Agency's (SANSA) Hartebeesthoek (HBK) ground station is also providing satellite tracking, telemetry and command services.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: Communications are handled by two 230-watt TWTAs and two coherent transponders. The antenna array consists of a low-gain antenna, a medium-gain antenna and a high-gain antenna. The high-gain antenna system is based on a single reflector illuminated by a feed at S-band. It is used to transmit and receive the telemetry, tracking, commanding and data to and from the Indian Deep Space Network.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: ISRO originally intended to launch MOM with its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), but the GSLV failed twice in 2010 and still had issues with its cryogenic engine. Waiting for the new batch of rockets would have delayed the MOM for at least three years, so ISRO opted to switch to the less-powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Since it was not powerful enough to place MOM on a direct-to-Mars trajectory, the spacecraft was launched into a highly elliptical Earth orbit and used its own thrusters over multiple perigee burns (to take advantage of the Oberth effect) to place itself on a trans-Mars trajectory.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 19 October 2013, ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan announced that the launch had to be postponed by a week for 5 November 2013 due to a delay of a crucial telemetry ship reaching Fiji. The launch was rescheduled ISRO's PSLV-XL placed the satellite into Earth orbit at 09:50 UTC on 5 November 2013, with a perigee of , an apogee of , and inclination of 19.20 degrees, with both the antenna and all three sections of the solar panel arrays deployed. During the first three orbit raising operations, ISRO progressively tested the spacecraft systems.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The orbiter's dry mass is and it carried of fuel at launch. Its main engine, a derivative of the system used on India's communications satellites, uses the bipropellant combination monomethylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide to achieve the thrust necessary for escape velocity from Earth. It was also used to slow down the probe for Mars orbit insertion and, subsequently, for orbit corrections.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: Several orbit raising operations were conducted from the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bengaluru on 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 and 16 November by using the spacecraft's on-board propulsion system and a series of perigee burns. The first three of the five planned orbit raising manoeuvres were completed with nominal results, while the fourth was only partially successful. However, a subsequent supplementary manoeuvre raised the orbit to the intended altitude aimed for in the original fourth manoeuvre. A total of six burns were completed while the spacecraft remained in Earth orbit, with a seventh burn conducted on 30 November to insert MOM into a heliocentric orbit for its transit to Mars.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The first orbit-raising manoeuvre was performed on 6 November 2013 at 19:47 UTC when the spacecraft's liquid engine was fired for 416 seconds. With this engine firing, the spacecraft's apogee was raised to , with a perigee of .


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The second orbit raising manoeuvre was performed on 7 November 2013 at 20:48 UTC, with a burn time of 570.6 seconds resulting in an apogee of .


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The third orbit raising manoeuvre was performed on 8 November 2013 at 20:40 UTC, with a burn time of 707 seconds, resulting in an apogee of .


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The fourth orbit raising manoeuvre, starting at 20:36 UTC on 10 November 2013, imparted a delta-v of to the spacecraft instead of the planned as a result of underburn by the motor. Because of this, the apogee was boosted to instead of the planned . When testing the redundancies built-in for the propulsion system, the flow to the liquid engine stopped, with consequent reduction in incremental velocity. During the fourth orbit burn, the primary and redundant coils of the solenoid flow control valve of 440 newton liquid engine and logic for thrust augmentation by the attitude control thrusters were being tested. When both primary and redundant coils were energised together during the planned modes, the flow to the liquid engine stopped. Operating both the coils simultaneously is not possible for future operations, however they could be operated independently of each other, in sequence.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: As a result of the fourth planned burn coming up short, an additional unscheduled burn was performed on 12 November 2013 that increased the apogee to , a slightly higher altitude than originally intended in the fourth manoeuvre. The apogee was raised to on 15 November 2013, 19:57 UTC in the final orbit raising manoeuvre.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 30 November 2013 at 19:19 UTC, a 23-minute engine firing initiated the transfer of MOM away from Earth orbit and on heliocentric orbit toward Mars. The probe travelled a distance of to reach Mars.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: Four trajectory corrections were originally planned, but only three were carried out. The first trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) was carried out on 11 December 2013 at 01:00 UTC by firing the thrusters for a duration of 40.5 seconds. After this event, MOM was following the designed trajectory so closely that the trajectory correction manoeuvre planned in April 2014 was not required. The second trajectory correction manoeuvre was performed on 11 June 2014 at 11:00 UTC by firing the spacecraft's 22 newton thrusters for 16 seconds. The third planned trajectory correction manoeuvre was postponed, due to the orbiter's trajectory closely matching the planned trajectory. The third trajectory correction was also a deceleration test 3.9 seconds long on 22 September 2014.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The plan was for an insertion into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, approximately 2 days after the arrival of NASA's MAVEN orbiter. The 440-newton liquid apogee motor was test fired on 22 September at 09:00 UTC for 3.968 seconds, about 41 hours before actual orbit insertion.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: After these events, the spacecraft performed a reverse manoeuvre to reorient from its deceleration burn and entered Martian orbit.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: The orbit insertion put MOM in a highly elliptical orbit around Mars, as planned, with a period of 72 hours 51 minutes 51 seconds, a periapsis of and apoapsis of . At the end of the orbit insertion, MOM was left with of fuel on board, more than the necessary for a six-month mission.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 28 September 2014, MOM controllers published the spacecraft's first global view of Mars. The image was captured by the Mars Colour Camera (MCC).


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 7 October 2014, the ISRO altered MOM's orbit so as to move it behind Mars for Comet Siding Spring's flyby of the planet on 19 October 2014. The spacecraft consumed of fuel for the manoeuvre. As a result, MOM's apoapsis was reduced to . After the comet passed by Mars, ISRO reported that MOM remained healthy.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 4 March 2015, the ISRO reported that the MSM instrument was functioning normally and are studying Mars' albedo, the reflectivity of the planet's surface. The Mars Colour Camera was also returning new images of the Martian surface.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 24 March 2015, MOM completed its initial six-month mission in orbit around Mars. ISRO extended the mission by an additional six months; the spacecraft has of propellant remaining and all five of its scientific instruments are working properly. The orbiter can reportedly continue orbiting Mars for several years with its remaining propellant.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: A 17-day communications blackout occurred from 6 to 22 June 2015 while Mars' orbit took it behind the Sun from Earth's view.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 24 September 2015, ISRO released its "Mars Atlas", a 120-page scientific atlas containing images and data from the Mars Orbiter Mission's first year in orbit.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: In March 2016, the first science results of the mission were published in "Geophysical Research Letters", presenting measurements obtained by the spacecraft's MENCA instrument of the Martian exosphere.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: During 18 to 30 May 2016, a communication whiteout occurred with Earth coming directly between Sun and Mars. Due to high solar radiation, sending commands to spacecraft was avoided and payload operations were suspended.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 17 January 2017, MOM's orbit was altered to avoid the impending eclipse season. With a burn of eight 22 N thrusters for 431 seconds, resulting in a velocity difference of using of propellant (leaving 13 kg remaining), eclipses were avoided until September 2017. The battery is able to handle eclipses of up to 100 minutes.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 19 May 2017, MOM reached 1,000 days (973 sols) in orbit around Mars. In that time, the spacecraft completed 388 orbits of the planet and relayed more than 715 images back to Earth. ISRO officials stated that it remains in good health.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 24 September 2018, MOM completed 4 years in its orbit around Mars, although the designed mission life was only six months. Over these years, MOM's Mars Colour Camera has captured over 980 images that were released to the public. The probe is still in good health and continues to work nominally.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 24 September 2019, MOM completed 5 years in orbit around Mars, sending 2 terabytes of imaging data, and had enough propellant to complete another year in orbit.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 1 July 2020, Mangalyaan was able to capture a photo of the Mars satellite Phobos from 4200 km away.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: On 18 July 2021 Mars Colour Camera (MCC) captured full disc image of Mars from an altitude of about 75,000 km with spatial resolution about 3.7 km.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: In October 2022, ISRO admitted that it has lost the communication with MOM in April 2022, when it faced increasingly longer duration eclipses, including a seven-hour long eclipse that it was not designed to withstand. ISRO said the spacecraft was likely out of propellant and not recoverable.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: In 2014, China referred to India's successful Mars Orbiter Mission as the "Pride of Asia". The Mars Orbiter Mission team won US-based National Space Society's 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category. NSS said the award was given as the Indian agency successfully executed a Mars mission in its first attempt; and the spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit with a high apoapsis where, with its high resolution camera, it is taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars. Very few full disk images have ever been taken in the past, mostly on approach to the planet, as most imaging is done looking straight down in mapping mode. These images will aid planetary scientists.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: An illustration of the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is featured on the reverse of the currency note of India.


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: An image taken by the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft was the cover photo of the November 2016 issue of "National Geographic" magazine, for their story "Mars: Race to the Red Planet".


title: Mars Orbiter Mission

text: ISRO plans to develop and launch a follow-up mission called Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2 or "Mangalyaan-2") with a greater scientific payload to Mars in 2024 or 2026. The orbiter will use aerobraking to reduce apoapsis of its initial orbit and reach an altitude more suitable for scientific observation.


title: The Eminence in Shadow

text: A manga adaptation with art by Anri Sakano has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "seinen" manga magazine "Comp Ace" since December 2018. A spin-off manga by Seta U titled has also been serialized via "Comp Ace" since July 2019. Both the light novel and main manga have been licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation produced by Nexus premiered in October 2022.


title: The Eminence in Shadow

text: A boy in modern-day Japan desires to be a mastermind who exerts power from the shadows, but in the process of training, gets hit by a truck and dies. He reincarnates in a fantasy world under the name Cid Kagenou, where he maintains a perfectly mediocre appearance as to not stand out but instead pursue his dream of manipulating from the shadows. One day, he stumbles upon an elven girl infected by a mysterious disease and cures her. Cid makes up a story, explaining that this world is secretly run by the "Cult of Diabolos", and his secret organization, "Shadow Garden", are the only ones that can fight them. The elven girl, now named Alpha, joins this organization and begins recruiting new members. However, the stories Cid made up were actually true, but he believes it to be total delusion. Cid continues fighting the "Cult of Diabolos" under the alias "Shadow", completely unaware that he is involved in a complicated power struggle.


title: The Eminence in Shadow

text: The series is written by Daisuke Aizawa and illustrated by Tōzai. It began serialization online in May 2018 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was acquired by Enterbrain in November 2018, who have published four volumes. Yen Press licensed the series for English publication.


title: The Eminence in Shadow

text: A manga adaptation with art by Anri Sakano has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "seinen" manga magazine "Comp Ace" since December 2018 and has been collected in ten "tankōbon" volumes. Yen Press also licensed the manga adaptation.


title: The Eminence in Shadow

text: A spin-off manga by Seta U titled has also been serialized via "Comp Ace" since July 2019. It has been collected in four "tankōbon" volumes.


title: The Eminence in Shadow

text: An anime television series adaptation was announced on the fourth volume of the light novel on February 26, 2021. The series is produced by Nexus and directed by Kazuya Nakanishi, with scripts written by Kanichi Katou, character designs by Makoto Iino, and music composed by Kenichiro Suehiro. It premiered on October 5, 2022, on AT-X and other networks. The opening theme song is "HIGHEST" by OxT, while the ending theme song is "Darling in the Night" by Asami Seto, Inori Minase, Suzuko Mimori, Fairouz Ai, Hisako Kanemoto, Ayaka Asai, and Reina Kondō. Sentai Filmworks licensed the series for a North American release, and HIDIVE will be streaming it.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine", then included in the collection "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" in 1840. The short story, a work of Gothic fiction, includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: The story begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country, complaining of an illness and asking for his help. As he arrives, the narrator notices a thin crack extending from the roof, down the front of the house and into the adjacent tarn, or lake.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: It is revealed that Roderick's sister, Madeline, is also ill and falls into cataleptic, deathlike trances. Roderick and Madeline are the only remaining members of the Usher family.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: The narrator is impressed with Roderick's paintings and attempts to cheer him by reading with him and listening to his improvised musical compositions on the guitar. Roderick sings "The Haunted Palace", then tells the narrator that he believes the house he lives in to be alive, and that this sentience arises from the arrangement of the masonry and vegetation surrounding it. Further, Roderick believes that his fate is connected to the family mansion.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Roderick later informs the narrator that Madeline has died. Fearing that her body will be exhumed for medical study, Roderick insists that she be entombed for two weeks in the family tomb located in the house before being permanently buried. The narrator helps Roderick put Madeline's body in the tomb, whereupon the narrator realizes that Madeline and Roderick are twins. The narrator also notes that Madeline's body has rosy cheeks, which sometimes happens after death. Over the next week, both Roderick and the narrator find themselves increasingly agitated.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: A storm begins, and Roderick comes to the narrator's bedroom (which is situated directly above the house's vault) in an almost hysterical state. Throwing the windows open to the storm, Roderick points out that the lake surrounding the house seems to glow in the dark, just as Roderick depicted in his paintings, but there is no lightning or other explainable source of the glow.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: The narrator attempts to calm Roderick by reading aloud from a medieval romance entitled "The Mad Trist", a novel involving a knight named Ethelred who breaks into a hermit's dwelling in an attempt to escape an approaching storm, only to find a palace of gold guarded by a dragon. Ethelred also finds a shining brass shield hanging on a wall. Upon the shield is inscribed:


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Ethelred swings his mace at the dragon, which dies with a piercing shriek. When he attempts to take the shield from the wall, it falls to the floor with an unnerving clatter.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: As the narrator reads of the knight's forcible entry into the dwelling, he and Roderick hear cracking and ripping sounds from somewhere in the house. When the dragon's death cries are described, a real shriek is heard, again within the house. As he relates the shield falling from off the wall, a hollow metallic reverberation can be heard throughout the house. At first, the narrator ignores the noises, but Roderick becomes increasingly hysterical. Roderick eventually declares that he has been hearing these sounds for days, and that they are being made by his sister, who was in fact alive when she was entombed.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: The bedroom door is then blown open to reveal Madeline, bloodied from her arduous escape from the tomb. In a final fit of rage, she attacks her brother, scaring him to death as she herself expires. The narrator then runs from the house, and, as he does, he notices a flash of moonlight behind him. He turns back in time to see the moon shining through the suddenly widened crack in the house. As he watches, the House of Usher splits in two and the fragments sink away into the lake.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: In "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe's unnamed narrator is called to visit the House of Usher by Roderick Usher. As his "best and only friend," Roderick writes of his illness and asks that the narrator visit him. The narrator is persuaded by Roderick's desperation for companionship. Though sympathetic and helpful, the narrator is continually made to be an outsider, watching the narrative unfold without fully becoming a part of it. The narrator also exists as Roderick's audience as the men have not remained close. Roderick is convinced of his impending demise and the narrator is gradually drawn into this belief after being brought forth to witness the horrors and hauntings of the House of Usher.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: From his arrival, the narrator notes the family's isolationist tendencies, as well as the cryptic and special connection between Madeline and Roderick, the final living members of the Usher family. Throughout the tale and her varying states of consciousness, Madeline completely ignores the narrator's presence. After Roderick Usher claims that Madeline has died, the narrator helps Usher entomb Madeline in an underground vault despite noticing Madeline's flushed, lifelike appearance.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: During one sleepless night, the narrator reads aloud to Usher as eerie sounds are heard throughout the mansion. He witnesses Madeline's reemergence and the subsequent, simultaneous death of the twins. The narrator is the only character to escape the House of Usher, which he views as it cracks and sinks into the mountain lake.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Roderick Usher is the twin of Madeline Usher and one of the last living members of the Usher family. Roderick writes to the narrator, his boyhood friend, about an ongoing illness. When the narrator arrives, he is startled to see Roderick's eerie and off-putting appearance. He is described by the narrator as having:gray-white skin; eyes large and full of light; lips not bright in color, but of a beautiful shape; a well-shaped nose; hair of great softness — a face that was not easy to forget. And now the increase in this strangeness of his face had caused so great a change that I almost did not know him. The horrible white of his skin, and the strange light in his eyes, surprised me and even made me afraid. His hair had been allowed to grow, and in its softness it did not fall around his face but seemed to lie upon the air. I could not, even with an effort, see in my friend the appearance of a simple human being.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Roderick Usher is a recluse. He is unwell both physically and mentally. In addition to his constant fear and trepidation, Madeline's catalepsy contributes to his decay as he is tormented by the sorrow of watching his sibling die. The narrator states: He admitted [that] much of the peculiar gloom which thus affected him could be traced [to] the evidently approaching dissolution [of] his sole companion. According to Terry W. Thompson, Roderick meticulously plans for Madeline's burial to prevent "resurrection men" from stealing his beloved sister's corpse for dissection, study, or experimentation as was common in the 18th and 19th centuries for medical schools and physicians in need of cadavers.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: As his twin, the two share an incommunicable connection that critics conclude may be either incestuous or metaphysical, as two individuals in an extra-sensory relationship embodying a single entity. To that end, Roderick's deteriorating condition speeds his own torment and eventual death.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Like Madeline, Roderick is connected to the mansion, the titular House of Usher. He believes the mansion is sentient and responsible, in part, for his deteriorating mental health and melancholy. Despite this admission, Usher remains in the mansion and composes art containing the Usher mansion or similar haunted mansions. His mental health deteriorates faster as he begins to hear Madeline's attempts to escape the underground vault she was buried in, and he eventually meets his death out of fear in a manner similar to the House of Usher's cracking and sinking.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Madeline Usher is the twin sister of Roderick Usher. She is deathly ill and cataleptic. She appears near the narrator, but never acknowledges his presence. She returns to her bedroom where Roderick claims she has died. The narrator and Roderick place her in a tomb despite her flushed, lively appearance. In the tale's conclusion, Madeline escapes from the tomb and returns to Roderick, scaring him to death.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: According to Poe's detective methodology in literature, Madeline Usher may be the physical embodiment of the supernatural and metaphysical worlds. Her limited presence is explained as a personification of Roderick's torment and fear. Madeline does not appear until she is summoned through her brother's fear, foreshadowed in the epigraph, with a quote from French poet Pierre-Jean de Béranger: "Son cœur est un luth suspendu; / Sitôt qu'on le touche il résonne", meaning "His heart is a tightened lute; as soon as one touches it, it echoes".


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: "The Fall of the House of Usher" was first published in September 1839 in "Burton's Gentleman's Magazine". It was revised slightly in 1840 for the collection "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque". It contains Poe's poem "The Haunted Palace", which earlier was published separately in the April 1839 issue of "Baltimore Museum".


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: In 1928, Éditions Narcisse, predecessor to the Black Sun Press, published a limited edition of 300 numbered copies with illustrations by Alastair.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Poe's inspiration for the story may be based upon events of the Hezekiah Usher House, which was located on the Usher estate that is now a three-block area in downtown modern Boston, Massachusetts. Adjacent to Boston Common and bound by Tremont Street to the northwest, Washington Street to the southeast, Avery Street to the south and Winter Street to the north, the house was constructed in 1684 and either torn down or relocated in 1830. Other sources indicate that a sailor and the young wife of the older owner were caught and entombed in their trysting spot by her husband. When the Usher House was torn down in 1830, two bodies were found embraced in a cavity in the cellar.


title: The Fall of the House of Usher

text: Another source of inspiration may be from an actual couple, Mr. and Mrs. Luke Usher, the friends and acting colleagues of his mother Eliza Poe. The couple took care of Eliza's three children (including Poe) during her time of illness and eventual death.