Silver Surfer #1 Review

As a number of Marvel Comics series get relaunched in the post-Secret Wars, All-New, All-Different Marvel initiative, fans often get new creative teams and can wonder how the relaunched series will be different from the old. With Silver Surfer #1, readers who followed the last Silver Surfer don’t have to wonder because the creative team is the same – writer Dan Slott and artist Michael Allred. They had already crafted 15 issues of a fun and affecting Silver Surfer series. So it’s no surprise that the relaunched Silver Surfer #1 is entertaining, both playful and powerful.     Dawn Greenwood is an Earth woman who has been accompanying the Silver Surfer on his quests across numerous galaxies (his cosmic powers keep her safe in space). In Silver Surfer #1, they return to Earth, to Dawn’s hometown, as she meets with her father and twin sister Eve to make up for all of the holidays she’s missed in space (which are basically all of them). Meanwhile, a group of aliens somehow manage to steal all of Earth’s existing culture, leaving Earthlings unable to recognize or remember any artistic work. Silver Surfer and Dawn manage to convince the aliens, called The Hordax, that this is wrong and they relent. However, The Hordax also give the Surfer a warning – that they were just trying to preserve Earth’s culture because something is coming that could end it.   In many ways, Silver Surfer #1 works nicely as both a continuation of the previous volume of the series and as an introduction to new readers. The issue shows what Slott and Allred do well with Silver Surfer. The relationship between Norrin Radd (The Surfer's alter ego) and Dawn has developed slowly, but it is now a pretty compelling bond. She shows him about humanity and he shows her wondrous things in space. Meanwhile, most issues have an interesting or emotional hook. In Silver Surfer #1, the loss of Earth’s culture is a cool sci-fi move that makes readers think about what that would actually mean.     The art of Silver Surfer #1 is a big part of what makes the issue (and previous series) so enjoyable. Michael Allred’s drawing style is bright, bold, and a bit trippy at times, and this works very nicely for space scenes. Allred also gets a fun thematic gag because The Hordax warriors eventually don the guises of Earth’s greatest culture, so Allred gets to draw Hordax as Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Dr. Who, Robocop, The Terminator, Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill and many others. It adds a fun layer of cultural references in a comic book battle scene. This moment in Silver Surfer #1 epitomizes how Allred and Slott make the comic fun without being silly.   If there is one complaint that could often be directed at Slott and Allred’s Silver Surfer, it would be that the “villains” are often pretty minor and non-threatening. This isn’t really a big, dramatic type of series. However, towards the end of the last series, the creators started to up the stakes. In Silver Surfer #1, it works both ways. Really, The Hordax while pursuing a fascinating theft of Earth's culture are not antagonists that are very intimidating. So they are also not that interesting. However, the hint towards the end of the issue – that there is a major threat coming is exciting because it could pull Silver Surfer into even better ground, by becoming a series that combines the fun, entertaining elements with the tense, dramatic ones.     Overall, Silver Surfer #1 is good barometer of what the Slott-Allred issues are like. It establishes the tone and cleverness that have been the hallmarks of their issues while also keeping a light touch. The issue doesn’t feel repetitive for readers of the last series, though, because we get to see Dawn and The Surfer return to Earth. I think this series can appeal to a wide range of comic book readers, and Silver Surfer #1 is a great time to begin if you haven’t read previous issues.