Silver Surfer is not a comic that I would normally read. I’ve read it before, back in the 90′s, but that was about it. However, when they announced this comic and that the creators would be Dan Slott and Mike Allred, well, I didn’t really have to hear much else to be interested.
Slott (Amazing Spider-Man) and Allred (Madman, FF) sound like the perfect pairing and, based on this first issue, they are. We don’t get a lot of backstory, but they cover the basics. Silver Surfer is a former herald of Galactus. He found worlds for Galactus to devour and carries the burden of helping to end billions of lives. Surfer has the power cosmic, which just means he is pretty darn powerful. In fact, he is shown saving a dying world by keeping their sun from burning out. Saving those lives does nothing to reduce the guilt and burden he feels over the lives that were lost when he pointed Galactus towards a world.
I had mentioned in my first look of Silver Surfer that Dan Slott called this book his Doctor Who. With him being such a big fan of the Doctor I became even more excited for this book and I can see some similarities. The introduction of Dawn to the story reminded me very much of when we first met Amy Pond in Doctor Who. They even have a panel in England, with a phone booth and the words “time and space” over it. Could be coincidence, but I prefer to think of it as an homage.
We get totally spoiled with some amazing Mike Allred art in this issue. He has a very playful style that works great with Silver Surfer. His panels are designed to where they really give you a feeling of space, which is easy to overlook. You might think it is just a bland panel with not a lot going on, but that is the beauty of it. Laura Allred does such a great job on colors that they take those same open panels and suck you in. Many times space is represented as black with tons of white dots. Here, it is varying shades of blue with white dots, but it gives a feeling of vastness. Then after all that, there is a two page spread that will blow you away. At first glance it reminded me of something I would see in a Dr. Seuss book. It was beautiful, colorful and somewhat warped. What sealed it was the itty bitty tiny Surfer you almost miss down at the bottom. Magnificent.
I mentioned Dawn earlier, and her story intersects with the Surfer’s throughout this issue until they finally meet. It was not what I expected and certainly piqued my interest. I’m already trying to figure it out based on the set-up, but Slott has me guessing once again.
Any fan of the Silver Surfer should definitely pick this up. If you are not a fan, then this might make you one. It’s a great first issue and I’m really looking forward to what this creative team has in store for us.
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Michael Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
