Silver Surfer #9

There’s always been a bit of a childlike quality to Silver Surfer—it’s hard to escape that feeling when the series literally started with a wish upon a star—but each issue seems to simplify the plot a little more, leading us to this one, the substance of which is really a glorified outline. I say that with some confidence because when I wrote the actual outline for this review, it came out to about five lines, none of which came together very well.

For example, it seems a bit bizarre to get into Norrin’s by now overdone origin story nine issues in, and delivered so briskly, too. It reminds me of those two-pager origin stories that came in the back of DC comics post-Infinite Crisis.* Slott gets points for brevity, but that very succinctness robs Norrin’s tale of much of its drama, and it’s not really clear how what he has to say here adds to what Dawn already knew from last issue.
Once we return to the crisis of Galactus’ arrival, things proceed fairly predictably. Dawn might say that she doesn’t want to know Norrin after discovering his role in the consumption of so many worlds, but he’s also kind of the only guy who can save Newhaven from the same fate. That leaves Norrin to go on a suicide mission to confront Galactus, which sounds crazy even in this desperate situation. You’re talking about someone with a fraction of the Power Cosmic trying to defeat the being that gave it to him in the first place, something Galactus notes when Norrin ultimately fails. Norrin takes the David and Goliath tale perhaps a bit too literally in using the moon as a slingshot for this particular giant, but at least it gives us a rather amazing, outsized superhero moment in an uneven issue.

The fact is you don’t really believe Newhaven’s in any danger here. It’s possible Slott may go forward and have Galactus destroy Newhaven, but it’s unlikely, because that’d just be too damn cruel for a world composed entirely of people who’ve already lost one. This means some kind of sea-change to Galactus’ thinking is coming, and how much do you want to bet that change is gonna come from Dawn, who’s proven to be a good talker, if nothing else, on the series?

Allred’s art reminds me of the old-school Cartoon Network cartoons, your Johnny Quest and He-Man and Scooby Doo and all that. That’s not really a criticism, just an observation, although it does play into that childlike, almost innocent feeling that pervades the issue. Even the scene of Norrin riding Newhaven’s moon straight to Galactus’ head plays off less like your contemporary action sequence and more like pages from some fantastical picture book. The thrill is all there, but not much of the heavy suspense, even when Norrin doesn’t succeed.

Some Musings:

* Or was it Final Crisis? With the New 52, does it really matter?