Silver Surfer: New Dawn
This is a new(ish) Silver Surfer solo series from Dan Slott and the always fantastic Mike Allred. It’s a pleasantly light-hearted story (I desperately wanted to use the word “romp” there, but it doesn’t really facilitate the voice I’m trying to cultivate here) for a character that I’ve always considered an emotionally heavy persona. He’s always worn the weight of not only his entire planet, but also all of the lives he help Galactus take when he served as his herald. He’s got a sad, burdened loner persona that seems most at peace in the isolation of deep space, despite his often being imprisoned on Earth and his curiosity about human nature. Plus, every time he’d make an appearance in Fantastic Four, you’d know it was going to be some gigantic world threatening terror (if not galaxy or all of reality threatening) Kind of a bummer to see him pop up, even if you do enjoy his company.
Treating him like a kind of milquetoast straight man to the sassy, irrepressible character of the human co-star of the story is a brilliantly unique treatment of the Surfer. The basic plot line Slott and Allred have come up with is really more of a story about Dawn, the human woman who was perfectly content to live her entire life in a Martha’s Vinyard-esqu New England beach town called Anchor Bay (maybe as an homage to the one time straight to VHS/DVD schlock slinging independent distributor or indy horror movies, which has since gone legit) and work in her family’s bed and breakfast, despite the protests of her twin sister, Eve, who needs to escape and see the world. It’s the juxtaposition of the homebody, Dawn getting kidnapped as a hostage to force the cooperation of the Surfer that shows her true spirit. The odd part is that Dawn and the Surfer do not know one another, so the reason she is chosen as the instrument of coercion is a mystery to him, but his comic book moral code forces him to acquiesce to the kidnappers plan (which he probably would have done without a hostage…he’s the hero after all) While the Surfer is off getting to the bottom of a very Nexus-like mystery of power consumption on an unfathomable scale, Dawn is finding out that something in her personality, while it prefers quiet beach town hotel administration, is perfectly suited for a pan-galactic species jailbreak. She manages to lead the team of hostages out of their prison cells into a full on revolt against their captors and the tyrants who have forced the Surfer to be their champion.
These events work to the Surfer’s advantage, because he has discovered that the being he was sent to battle on behalf of Dawn’s captors, is really the one who needs saving. She is a cosmic embodiment of possible and potential futures who’s heart has been stolen in order to power the fantastic city that consumes an impossible amount of energy. The Surfer’s sense of obligation to the beings of the galaxy is put into flux as he tries to decide whether helping the cosmic being outweighs the needs of all the beings who live in the city that stole her power. Obviously the simplified comic book morality tale here makes him choose to help the cosmic being since the power has not been earned, but stolen by people who also use hostages and coercion to keep their lifestyles going.
The Surfer goes back to the city, confident that his power cosmic will be sufficient to release his hostage and gain back the heart of the cosmic being, but he arrives to find his job already half done, but also complicated by Dawn’s actions and her take charge ability. He is confounded by her abilities and sort of mucks up her plans with his “shoot cosmic rays first, ask questions later” idea of a rescue. They eventually have to split up so Dawn leads the escape plan while the Silver Surfer takes on the guy with the with the big scary axe that originally cut the heart out of the celestial being. It all works out for them and they go back to Earth. This is the point where either the creative team got a little too excited to play in the Marvel Sandbox or the editorial oversight forced some hing profile crossovers on them because we have both a Guardians of the Galaxy crossover and a Dr. Strange crossover before this five issue arc ends. Plus there’s a whole bunch of “be at peace with who/where you are” life lessons that get imparted to the Silver Surfer (who spends some time as Norrin Radd, and a whole issue essentially asleep)
Slott and Allred certainly weren’t hired to put a tidy bow on some bit of complicated Silver Surfer continuity conundrum. They were hopefully hired to provide a playful corner of the Marvel Universe for the Surfer to find some new life, because I think they really delivered on that. I’ve always been a huge fan of Allred’s work, especially when it gets colored by his wife. They have an unmistakable style that has the feel of 1960's pop poster art, and a chaotic, almost psychadelic pacing to the pages. This book feels like an entirely Allred creation to me, but I’m much more educated in the way of Mike and Laura Allred than I am Dan Slott. It certainly has much of the same style and chaotic storytelling that his Madman, Red Rocket 7 and Atomics stories did, but those were all his creator owned books where he was free to do what he wanted. It’s almost disconcerting to see him pull the same stunts with a Jack Kirby creation. Not that I think Jack would have minded. If the New Gods and the Fourth World books proved anything about Jack Kirby it was that he had a capital G “Groovy” streak in him. It’s hard for me to describe what I see in Allred’s work, because it’s so much about a feeling rather than an explicit item to be picked apart. There’s an innocence that comes from retro style. A full blown kitch, without a sense of irony. He’s fully bought into what he’s presenting to you and he wants you to fully buy in as well.
Silver Surfer is a good vehicle for Mike Allred’s art. The monochromatic protagonist fits his flat style very well, and the ability to defy normal gravity makes his quirky poses seem almost normal. And the pan-galactic city scapes filled to the brim with crazy retro-future designs and insane alien lifeforms is a great chance for him to show off his great designs.
Comic read on 12/11/2015 in the car, waiting.
