By: Dan Slott (Writer), Michael Allred & Laura Allred (Artists)
The Story: Surfer, I have a feeling you’re not in Kansas anymore.
The Review: This issue begins a new story arc for the Silver Surfer and Dawn Greenwood, one that essentially tells a pretty straightforward tale of a family reunion but with enough humor and hints of mystery as to genuinely leave the reader guessing about what’s really going on.
The Greenwood family seems more extended than I remember, but with the characteristic “down-home” attitude that made Dawn such a contrasting figure to the Surfer’s “alien-ness.” I love the line about how some people don’t follow sports or politics, so why do we expect everyone in the Marvel universe to know about the superhero gossip? Still, in a very intriguing visual sequence, in one panel the entire family is present, and in the other, a repeated panel is presented as an empty haunted house. Whether these people exist at all is even in question, and if that’s true then it would suddenly cast the whole scene as quite tragic; the warmth and comfort from the Greenwood family is poignant and sincere.
That warmth and comfort is in distinct contrast from the absolute strangeness of the past four issues, even with the horror/suspense backdrop. For those expecting wall-to-wall off-the-walledness from Slott and Allred might be surprised how quaint these issues feel by comparison (even the Silver Surfer was surprised– shown by his mistake of Dawn’s twin as a shape-shifting alien) and especially with such good-natured and sweet humor coming from the family. This is helped by art, too. The clean line and graphic style is just as fitting for the simplicity of domestic life, which of course makes the incursion of ghosts/monsters so incongruously suspenseful. One touch that I’m noticing as becoming distinct is the use of textures and patterns in the coloring. The Sufer’s skin looks almost burnished with a dry brush effect, and several spacescape panels use dot matrices for a vibrant effect.
There’s another reunion in the making, of course, with Doctor Strange and (some version of) the Hulk making a subplot that mirrors the strangeness of the Greenwood household. This one falls more on the humor side of the spectrum despite the horror elements (the monsters are expressly “old-timey” Universal movie monsters,) and we expect these storylines to converge in with the Defenders reuniting. There’s one more factor in play, too, and that’s the trap captures the Surfer and serves as our cliffhanger. This makes what could be two fairly-typical mysteries suddenly not as straightforward as we might expect. The cliffhanger then is in how we anticipate all these fragments coming together.
What I’m genuinely not sure of is the appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who feature so prominently on the cover. On one hand, they provide an opportunity for humor (Rocket and Groot as customs officials) and exposition, but really their appearance is quite gratuitous, so entirely tacked-on that it feels disruptive and annoying.
The Bottom Line: In balancing the mundane with the cosmic, this issue shows how the Silver Surfer works best– when he’s put in situations that both highlight his strangeness and his humanity. There’s also plenty of humor and suspense, thanks to both the script and the art, keeping things exciting, even with such a gratuitous and nearly pointless appearance with the Guardians of Galaxy.
The Grade: A-
-Danny Wall
Other Tidbits:
— I’m not the first to complain about the fact that a team that purports to be guarding the *galaxy* spends its time in orbit around Earth, not to mention the fact that half their number are from Earth in the first place. But that’s a rant for another time.
— I like the fact that the surfboard is shown displaying its own personality. I wouldn’t want it to become a fully-fledged character in its own right, but it’s such an important object that it deserves some narrative attention.