The revelations of his past have seemingly destroyed the Surfer’s relationship with Dawn Greenwood, and he has rededicated his life to finding a new planet for the survivors of previous Galactus attacks, a task he takes on with a silver broken heart… Your Major Spoilers review of Silver Surfer #11 awaits!
SILVER SURFER #11
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Michael Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Previously in Silver Surfer: Having gained a companion in the form of Earthwoman Dawn Greenwood, the Silver Surfer began showing her the universe, without ever admitting to his own past nature. When she discovered the truth,Dawn also met Galactus himself, and had her perceptions of her shiny new boyfriend shattered. Now, the Surfer has agreed to find a new planet for billions of aliens, each of whom survived his previous work as a herald, while dealing with the loss of his most important relationship…
THE RETURN OF THE NEVER QUEEN
Our issue opens with the Never Queen (introduced in an earlier issue, a cosmic embodiment of all possibilities), sadly monologuing about the broken relationship between Norrin and Dawn, explaining that they have become trapped in a world beyond her reach, a world of NO possibilities. Cut to the Giraud Expanse (a nice tip of the hat to French illustrator, Moebius), where the Surfer has led the survivors of planet Newhaven in search of a home. Their latest attempt ends in failure, as a portion of the population (around 1200 beings, a fraction of the six billion survivors) finds the world inhospitable. The Surfer attempts to bend space and time to escape marauding aliens, but is struck by their attack…
Cut to the Giraud Expanse (a nice tip of the hat to French illustrator, Moebius), where the Surfer has led the survivors of planet Newhaven in search of a home. Their latest attempt ends in failure, as a portion of the population (around 1200 beings, a fraction of the six billion survivors) finds the world inhospitable. The Surfer attempts to bend space and time to escape marauding aliens, but is struck by their attack…
Cut to the Giraud Expanse (a nice tip of the hat to French illustrator, Moebius), where the Surfer has led the survivors of planet Newhaven in search of a home. Their latest attempt ends in failure, as a portion of the population (around 1200 beings, a fraction of the six billion survivors) finds the world inhospitable. The Surfer attempts to bend space and time to escape marauding aliens, but is struck by their attack…
TRULY EPIC STUFF
Repeating the same events over and over can be difficult, but the use of the “real estate” of the comics page in this issue is jaw-dropping, with the story tracks moving from the top of the page to the bottom and back (a literal Mobius strip, mirroring the recursive nature of the story) with each iteration of the time loop giving us more background and additional characters’ perspectives (including the shocking viewpoint of Newhaven’s leader, Keen) and continuously stabbing readers in the heart with the notion that Dawn & Norrin’s courtship/friendship/whatever is truly destroyed. Slott’s script repeats events, but doesn’t get boring or repetitious, making tiny variations in the telling that emphasize different aspects of the story, with some bits of dialogue only making sense further into the issue, ala ‘Memento.’ The revelation of what is causing Surfer’s failures is both triumphant and heart-rending, and as the issue ends, even the Never Queen isn’t sure there’s still hope of salvaging the relationship between Surfer and Dawn. Mike Allred proves himself once again to be a genius this issue, and even as the sequences repeat, nothing in the issue ever feels stale or repetitious, and the shape and placement of the panels to tell the story is nothing short of masterfully executed throughout the issue…
THE BOTTOM LINE: WHOA
I’ve said for several months that this is the best book Marvel Comics is putting out every month, and this issue proves that it’s also the bravest, taking a very difficult concept and making it into a fascinating comic book issue. Silver Surfer #11 is pretty amazing, even if Dan Slott wants to make me terribly sad by rubbing my face in the crushed dreams of a once-promising relationship, with Allred at the top of his (and pretty much EVERYBODY’S) game, earning a truly deserved 5 out of 5 stars overall. You should be reading this book, but even if you’re not, you should check out this issue…
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2 Comments
The only flaw in this amazing comic is a slight french mistake, “La Victoire ou la morte” should have been “La victoire ou la mort”(“Mort” doesn’t take the feminine form when it’s about the concept of death instead of a specific dead person, it’s the kind of misake that native english speakers often make). Otherwise fantastic comic.
Mike & Laura? Sold.