Silver Surfer #1 Interior Reviews 

The Galactic Herald Comes Home In “Silver Surfer” #1 [Review]

By | January 22nd, 2016
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Silver Surfer has had a pretty good gig traveling the universe with Dawn. But what does this recent retreat back to Earth mean for his adventures going forward? Find out in our review below! Oh and spoilers ahead.

Written by Dan Slott
Illustrated by Michael Allred

The Surfer has taken Dawn Greenwood to the end of the universe, and now he’s going to show her the most fantastic planet of them all: Earth! It’s your homeworld like you’ve never seen it before: with monsters, magic and…a secret that will change everything! The perfect jumping-on point for the book everyone’s talking about!

I love three things in this world: my dog, Dan Slott, Michael Allred. So I have to come up with some pretty strong justifications as to why I haven’t been keeping up with their latest “Silver Surfer” run. I think it had something to do with how everyone was hyping it up as “Marvel’s Doctor Who” which gave me war flashbacks to all the times I swore Steven Moffat’s scripts would come together to mean something. So, for that reason I kind of skipped out on the last “Silver Surfer” run. But with this new volume, I made a vow to try again. And now I can see where the “Doctor Who” comparisons are coming from in a much more positive light, as “Silver Surfer” skillfully balances character sensibility with the type of sci-fi wonder you’d expect from a really good Silver Age comic or a great episode of, yes, Doctor Who.

To be completely frank, Allred and Slott aren’t even trying to hide their influences as Silver Surfer

A) Travels around space with a human girl.

B) Grows a more human side in contrast to his alien origin as human girl contends with the emotional logistics of traversing space.

C) Saves the day thanks to said human girl saying something to the evil aliens about the power of friendship(???)

And that’s not even bringing up the alien dressed as Tom Baker. But if Slott and Allred seem too ready to show the cards up their sleeve, it’s only because they’re confident in what they have to bring to the table. And what they bring to “Silver Surfer” is an engaging about the wonders of life and family but a really fun adventure where aliens sap Earth’s cultural energies so they can transform into Alex from A Clockwork Orange and Marty McFly.

If you’ve ever read a Micahel Allred comic, then you’re sure to expect that surreal kind of adventure from the guy who brought you “iZombie” and “X-Statix.” And in “Silver Surfer”, Allred maintains the same level of wonder in all his visuals, from the sight of the world’s pop culture being sucked into an alien ship to the joyous family reunion between Dawn and her family. Allred’s art has always been engaging, no matter what level of action is going on in the page, and that’s thanks in no small part to colorist Laura Allred’s vibrant coloring.

Slott, represented in the comic by Dawn’s bearded and loving dad, shows why he’s a perfect collaborator for Allred by going toe to toe with him on the wacky sci-fi ideas while never letting go of thhe emotional core that keeps these characters grounded in who they are. That said, I’m a little disappointed that Dawn’s family disappears right before she and Surfer go off to the fight the aliens, but the twist that motivated these invaders to dress up as Droogs leads to a new enemy that presents a neat personal component that’ll definitely get at Surfer.

Other than that, I really have nothing else to say about this book. It exceeded my expectations by being a fun book that fully believes in itself and the attitude its projecting.

Final Verdict: 8.6 – A strong relaunch for one of the most interesting and light-hearted Silver Surfer tales of the past decade.


James Johnston

James Johnston is a grizzled post-millenial. Follow him on Twitter to challenge him to a fight.

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