Silver Surfer, Vol. 1: New Dawn
Dan Slott, Mike Allred, Laura Allred
(Marvel Now!)
Things had gotten so heavy and ponderous in the Marvel Universe at one time that it desperately needed a lighter touch. It’s no wonder, then, that the two Marvel titles that delivered that lighter touch - Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye and Mark Waid’s Daredevil - instantly garnered high praise from both fans and critics. Now along comes the Silver Surfer, a character who’s often so mired in philosophical musings and moroseness that he could use either a night on the town with the boys or a guest appearance on The Big Bang Theory (where he’d actually fit right in), or maybe both.
Slott and the Allreds deliver some much-needed lightness with Silver Surfer, Volume 1: New Dawn, a five-issue arc that begins with a little girl named Dawn Greenwood, wishing on a star with her twin sister (who thinks Dawn’s wish is “the stupidest wish ever”). Enter the Silver Surfer in the vastness of space, being flagged down by a strange being named Zed, who appoints the Surfer the next champion of the Impericon, a sort of gargantuan shopping mall/World’s Fair all rolled into one. But why does the being known as the Never Queen want to destroy the Surfer? And how in the world does the adult Dawn Greenwood get involved?
Answering those questions is all part of the zany fun that is Silver Surfer: New Dawn. Slott and Allred show us that you don’t have to have the entire universe threatened every five pages for a comic to be good. This story arc is light, fun (often ridiculously so) and strangely addictive. (The Hulk and Doctor Strange also get in on the act.) While some have accused the placement of Dawn as the Surfer’s traveling companion as an flagrant imitator of Doctor Who, I say “So what?” Even if it is, it’s a fun journey that I intend to keep following. I hope you will, too.
4/5
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