Written by Greg Pak
Illustrated by Stephen SegoviaA new beginning for the SILVER SURFER!

The sentinel of the spaceways walks the Earth once more, a stranger feared by many. Only the HIGH EVOLUTIONARY understands his true potential, but the Evolutionary’s mysterious grand design may cost the Surfer everything and change the cosmic balance forever! He’s traded blows with Thor and matched wits with Mephisto, but can the herald of Galactus survive the judgment of NORRIN RAND, the man within the Silver Surfer? It’s a character-defining epic showing the Silver Surfer as you’ve never seen him before, brought to you by “Planet Hulk” writer Greg Pak and “Dark Wolverine” artist Stephen Segovia.
We seem to be entering a brief window of time wherein Marvel is attaching some relatively big name talent to some “heavily used in other books but lacking their own ongoing” characters in attempt to, I would assume, potentially test the waters to see if a new ongoing for any of them could be financially viable. Which brings us to this most recent revival of everyone’s favorite sentinel of the space ways. That said, writer Greg Pak has made no secret of his lifelong love of the Silver Surfer in the build-up to this series, so how does the Surfer fare under his guiding hand? Click below to find out!
I’ve always been a strictly casual fan of the Silver Surfer. I’ve enjoyed nearly every story I’ve read featuring him, but have never really gone out of my way to read them, except this time. Something about this particular reboot sent up a signal flare in my mind…and that something was probably Greg Pak. I honestly can’t recall a time reading a book penned by him and not being entertained, combine that with my fervent belief that if a creator is as gaga for a character as Pak seemed to be for Norin Radd then the book will undoubtedly clock in better than most and now you know how this issue ended up in my pile this week.
Opening right after the final minutes of Chaos War was a smart move on Pak’s part. Its easy for these quick, five issue mini-series to abandon continuity a bit in order to just tell their one and done story. However, right off the bat establishing where in the chronology that this story takes place adds a lot of credibility to the proceedings. Pak quickly dispatches Galactus and frees the Surfer to operate independently for a spell. Using this mini-break, he returns to Earth to reflect on his various adventures on the planet and with it’s denizens. It’s not long though before he is drawn into conflict with a shady militarized organization with as yet undetermined intentions. After using his immense power to save an innocent girl from the brink of death after getting caught in the crossfire. However, before he can see the girl to safety, he is ambushed by current Marvel villain of the week The High Evolutionary. After some mysterious experimentation on the Surfer, he breaks free only find himself unable to control his board. I won’t ruin the dramatic last page, but needless to say this is Silver Surfer unlike any I have read before and that it is immensely intriguing to see one of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful characters thrust into that particular situation.
On the art side of things, Segovia really manages to capture the epic, widescreen cosmic imagery Pak threw his way. His crisp, lifelike pencils and his use of perspective really simulates the low gravity of the space scenes and the sheer detail of his work makes a panel filled primarily with dirt just as detailed as any off the characters and locations the book worked with. I’m not sure exactly why his profile isn’t higher than it is, but I think his work perfectly fits the high action concepts of most mainstream super hero books today, and can’t even count the number of books I think he’d fit well with.
Overall, this story was a great start to this self contained series (and, honestly, would have been a great start to an ongoing as well.) It seeks to do something new and different with the character and Pak’s love for him really shines through the characters words and actions here, and you can’t ask for much else from a super hero book than that.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
