Simplified Series - Silver Surfer

Nice comic books, NEEERRRDDD!

My feverish pursuit of MOAR content brought forth this feature: Simplified Series. Here's the pitch: quick synopses (I'll try and keep them spoiler-free, but, you know, most of these are past the statute of limitations on spoilers) of the entries in a series followed by the reasons you should or shouldn't read it. This week:

Silver Surfer (Volumes 7 and 8) written by Dan Slott, drawn by Michael Allred, colors by Laura Allred

Background Info: The Silver Surfer was created by Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #48. He was the herald of Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, who ultimately turned against his master and helped the Fantastic Four drive him away. For his betrayal, Galactus dismissed the Surfer but placed a barrier around the Earth trapping his former servant on Earth. Since then he's been the star of several limited series from Marvel, each one making up a "volume," the most recent is the only one I've actually read, and that's what we'll be discussing here today. For the tl;dr, it's a lot like the rebooted Doctor Who, which I guess has been going on long enough now that I don't need to point out it's a reboot (well, kinda, it keeps all the continuity, but . . . wait, why I am I explaining the Doctor Who reboot?). Getting back to Silver Surfer, according to Michael Allred's afterward in volume 5 (look, in comics there are volumes and volumes) individual issues were created using the "Marvel method" where the writer gives the artist a brief synopsis of the story, letting the artist plot out the whole thing visually before going back into to insert dialogue and other text. Neat, huh? 

Volume 1: New Dawn (Volume 7: Issues 1-5) (2014): The place: Earth! The time: twelve years ago! Twins Dawn and Eve Greenwood wish on a shooting star (but really the Silver Surfer, scoping out Earth for Galactus). Eve wants to see the world, Dawn wants the star to go on forever so that everyone can get a wish (no, the comic will not be getting less corny after this, deal with it). Twelve years pass, and now in the present, Eve's been traveling, sending postcards to Dawn and their father at the family B&B in Anchor Bay, somewhere in New England. Meanwhile the Silver Surfer has been press-ganged into saving the Impericon from the Queen of Nevers. How does the Incredulous Zed coerce the Surfer into fighting such a dangerous foe? By kidnapping the most important person in his life who turns out to be: you guessed it, Dawn Greenwood, someone whom the Surfer has never met or interacted with. Can the Surfer and his board, soon to be nicknamed "Toomie" solve the mystery of the seemingly impossible Impericon and save billions of innocents? Will Dawn continue to tag along with the Surfer like a Doctor Who companion even after he brings her safely back to Earth? Are the last two issues in this trade paperback stand-alone issues?

Volume 2: Worlds Apart (Volume 7: Issues 6-10) (2015): The first two issues in this collection are light-hearted adventures in which the Surfer (whose real name is Norrin Radd, by the by) and Dawn do things like eat the best ice cream in the universe or traverse a lightless void. Oh, and also potentially destabilize an entire planet's economy. Don't worry, it turns out okay. In the final three, the Surfer's chickens come home to roost when Dawn's attempt to pilot Toomie crashes them on a planet populated by refugees who have managed to escape death at the hands of the Surfer's former master, Galactus. And what's this, Galactus has followed Toomie's cosmic trail to that self-same planet. Yikes! Will the Surfer and Dawn be able to save millions of people from losing their home planet again? Will Dawn even want to help the Surfer after learning that he was a willing participant in the destruction of countless worlds? Is it hard to write up a light-hearted summary of this volume?

Volume 3: Last Days (Volume 7: Issues 11-15) (2016): After the climactic events of the previous volume, the Surfer performs penance by trying to find a new new home for all those refugees. Unfortunately, the first thing they encounter is a time loop. Let me just break in here to say that this is one of the my favorite comic book layouts. There's a several page Möbius strip thing going on that you break the characters out of through the use of a fold-in a la Mad magazine. Anyway, after they break out of the time loop, the Surfer finds a seemingly perfect planet. Maybe too perfect. Don't worry though, there's always the end of the universe to outrun. That's right, the Surfer can fly Toomie so fast that they can surf on the apocalypse. Can Dawn and the Surfer rebuild the universe from memory? Will they be able to resist the temptation to remake it without all of its faults? So wait, Eternity, the personification of everything that has been and is and ever will be is in a relationship with the Queen of Nevers, the personification of everything that wasn't and isn't and won't ever be?

Volume 4: Citizen of Earth (Volume 8: Issues 1-6) (2016): That's right, we're back at issue 1 again, comics are weird. Speaking of coming back to the beginning, the Surfer finally takes Dawn back to Anchor Bay to visit her family again. Eve's married, and pregnant! Otherwise things are about the same, except that all of Earth's art and culture is being stolen by the Surfer's ex, Shalla-Bal is invading Earth with the remnants of his homeworld of Zenn-la. Dawn, who has grown quite attached to Norrin Radd's literal chrome-dome, is understandably jealous. Will the Silver Surfer be forced to turn his back on his people to save his adopted home? Can our heroes recover the art and culture that Shalla-Bal tried to steal? Will this be the volume where we find out what happened to Dawn and Eve's absent mother?

Volume 5: A Power Greater Than Cosmic (Volume 8: Issues 7-14) (2016): Well, there's a lot going on in this one. And not to spoil it, but the power referred to in the title is love. I mean, I'm pretty sure you saw that coming. But yeah, this volume sees births, deaths, and even an adventure in the universe that existed before ours (and two cameos by Galactus, once in his new form as the Bringer of Life, and once as Galen of Taa, a scientist who saw that his universe was dying and built a vessel to travel into the new one (ours) where, surprise, he accidentally turned into Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds eventually to become the Bringer of Life, I guess). With stories set in the Grandmaster's casino, Earth, and a planet whose inhabitants have forsaken their physical bodies to live forever as holograms. Can the Surfer and Dawn beat the house? Will the Surfer call in a favor from a powerful friend? Are the final issues more than a little corny?

Why should you read Silver Surfer? I mean, you like having fun, right? Who doesn't? These comics are fun. Dan Slott writes breezy dialogue and the stories are often about exploration. And like I said, it basically cribs the formula from Doctor Who (magic space man whisks human away on adventures). And Michael and Laura Allred's art is beautiful, with lots of bright colors and Kirby krackle. Oh! And one of my favorite gimmicks is that they made Toomie (the board, remember) semi-sentient and it's able to display its emotions in the reflection of whoever it's talking to. Plus, there's that totally rad Möbius strip issue in volume 3. Plus, because the Silver Surfer has always been kind of a tertiary character, his decades of backstory can be summed up pretty quickly.

Why shouldn't you read Silver Surfer? If you're not into comics, probably keep away. These are particularly comic-book-y comics. Full of goofy characters and fun adventures. Oh, right, why shouldn't you read this? Well, it might just not be your thing. I may have already mentioned that it's more than a tad corny. In fact, I know I have. And there's something that's always bothered me about the Silver Surfer. His whole character kind of relies on that trope where a former bad guy helps the good guys once and is suddenly accepted as a good guy. And the thing is, the Surfer (admittedly under some duress) has been a willing participant in the destruction of countless worlds. Though, that is a plot point in several of the stories. Hmm. Anyway, the point is, if any of this ridiculousness sounds like it's outside your interest, give it a pass.

Links:

Dan Slott is apparently working on the new Fantastic Four comic, did you know that the Fantastic Four disappeared? Well, kinda.

You may know Michael Allred from his other work, including several cover's for the Batman '66 comic, based on the old tv show.