BORGO/the FRANKENSURFER

Real Name: Borgo

Identity/Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Former servant

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: former servant to Ludwig von Frankenstein; former ally of Children of the Damned, Silver Surfer, Victoria von Frankenstein

Enemies: Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Victoria von Frankenstein

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Silver Surfer replica/duplicate/imposter, Pseudo-Surfer, Experiment X

Base of Operations: Castle Frankenstein, in the Swiss Alps

First Appearance: Silver Surfer I#7 (August, 1969)

Powers/Abilities: Borgo possessed no superhuman abilities or advanced training, although he was experienced with assisting in von Frankenstein's work. He was initially a stereotypical, cringing, somewhat kyphotic ("hunchback") servant.
The Frankensurfer possessed cosmic power on a level comparable to the Silver Surfer, and possessed virtually all of his capabilities.

History: Borgo's past life is unknown, but at some point he became a servant of Ludwig von Frankenstein. Ludwig abused Borgo, who followed him loyally.

(Silver Surfer I#7) - After several failures in an attempt to create new life as his ancestors did, Ludwig von Frankenstein had become desperate. The villagers knew of his experiments and threatened to break into the Castle, and slay him. The Silver Surfer happened by and drove off the villagers, thinking Frankenstein to be an innocent victim. Ludwig duped the Surfer into assisting him in "Experiment X", in which Frankenstein drained his power and placed it within a lifeless lump of clay, which was transformed into a duplicate of the Surfer himself (complete with its own surfboard). The duplicate easily overpowered the weakened Surfer and then assaulted the villagers, attempting to force them to become Frankenstein's servants.
Ludwig prepared to slay the Surfer to prevent him from interfering with his plans, but Borgo grew a spine and stopped his evil master, long enough for the Surfer to escape. The Surfer located the duplicate and battled it on the edge of the atmosphere, but the Frankensurfer held him to a standstill. The duplicate flew down to Earth and assaulted New York City, hoping to force the true Surfer to leave himself vulnerable while trying to save the civilians. Norrin, however, unleashed his full power on the duplicate, which ultimately melted into nothingness under the onslaught. Meanwhile, the villagers had regathered at Castle Frankenstein and prepared to storm it once again. Frankenstein turned his laser weapon on them, but Borgo tackled him out the window, and they both plunged to their deaths...or so it would seem.

(Dr. Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#37(fb)) - The weakened Borgo was recovered by a local family, the Müllers, who felt gratitude for his sacrifice to stop Frankenstein. He lived with them for some time, and they nursed him back to health, but his injuries had left him crippled.
In more recent years, Borgo contacted Victoria von Frankenstein, and asked to come to live within Castle Frankenstein once again. Borgo convinced Victoria that the X-Machine could repair his damaged body. He had her servants, the Children of the Damned, recover some of the clay out of which the Frankensurfer had been created. Borgo had them cover him in the clay, and had her train the X-Machine on him, which, as he intended, transformed him into a second Pseudo-Surfer (also complete with board). The new Frankensurfer then imprisoned Victoria and the Children in the dungeons of the Castle, and having apparently gone mad from his years of pain, set out to take revenge on the world

(Dr. Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#37) - The Frankensurfer attacked Dr. Strange, but was driven off. Strange traveled to the Swiss Castle Frankenstein, where he found and freed Victoria and the Children. Borgo returned and attacked him anew, and blasted Strange into a stupor. However, when Borgo unleashed a powerful blast to finish Strange off, he inadvertently killed Mrs. Müller, who had seen Strange hurtled to the ground and had rushed to his aid. The shock of killing the woman who had cared for him in his time of need pushed him over the edge. Borgo summoned all of his power and flew full speed into one the snow-tipped mountains. The impact carried him halfway through the mountain, and it stripped his silvery form from his body, and brought an end to his tortured existence. Borgo was buried by herr Müller, who managed to forgive him.

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee and John Buscema.

You have to wonder if Ludwig's clay came from Mount Wundagore, like a lot of other "magic" clay, wood, etc. You have to, man!

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Frankensurfer has no known connection to:

• Bartak, the Silver Surfer imposter, a skrull, @ Death of Captain Marvel GN, Silver Surfer III#14
• The Silver Surfer robot, a creation of Dr. Kaer-Linn, used by Ael-Dann and Dar-Benn to overthrow Clumsy Foulup @ Silver Surfer III#53
• The Silver Surfer duplicate, created by Puppet Master from the clay of Wundagore, @ Silver Surfer III#127
• or any other Silver Surfer imposters/duplicates/replicas/robots/androids/simulacra/clones/evil twins/whatnot