Silver Surfer #6 Review

Don’t be frightened by the big “200” on the cover, it’s just Marvel’s way of having their numbering cake and eating it too.  What’s on tap for the big #200 celebration?  Your Major Spoilers review of Silver Surfer #6 awaits!

SILVER SURFER #6
Storytellers: Dan Slott & Michael Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in Silver Surfer: To save his home planet from the world-devourer, Galactus, Norrin Radd agreed to be imbued with the Power Cosmic and become big G’s herald, The Silver Surfer.  A chance encounter with the Fantastic Four on Earth led him to rebuke his purple commander, leading the Surfer to a long exile on Earth.  Those days are gone, but he still has a fondness for our world, even taking Dawn Greenwood, a young Terran woman, with him on his travels.  In order to save his adoptive world, Norrin was forced to sacrifice his planet of Zenn-La (including ALL his memories thereof) to an existential threat, and now he has to rebuild everything he has every known…

A MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION

After his own personal loss, Norrin Radd has taken it upon himself to track down Dawn Greenwood’s absent mother, taking Dawn to her very doorstep.  Of course, that’s not where the issue begins, as we open as Horizon University, as the always Amazing Spider-Man (in his secret identity of Peter Parker) and his colleagues deal with strange creatures that have somehow crawled out of the Earth’s core.  Using shapeshifting powers, they’re able to transform into anyone’s greatest fear (including a terrifying spectre of the Green Goblin for Spidey) and are searching for food.  As Dawn decides to visit the mother who abandoned her, The Surfer flies off into San Francisco to give her space, leading to a lovely team-up between Spider-Man and the Surfer, fighting the “Terra Forms.”

“I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT.”

It’s particularly lovely to see Slott playing his two books’ main characters off one another, as Spider-Man quips and flips, while the Surfer chides him about his jokes.  (He also refuses to believe that Spider-Man defeated Firelord, but it did happen, way back in Amazing Spider-Man V1 #270.  I was there, kids!)  Allred gives us his usual brilliance, as the Terra Forms transform into all the Silver Surfer’s various villains in their attempt to find the food they want.  At the same time, Dawn finds a hostile woman who tells her point-blank that she never wanted to be a mother and has not idea why Dawn would have tracked her down.  The Silver Surfer realizes what it is the creatures want, but not before Dawn is badly injured, losing a lot of blood in the fray.  As she loses consciousness, Dawn sees her mother guiltily looking on, as The Surfer tries to find a compatible donor…

THE BOTTOM LINE: CRUSHING, IN ALL THE BEST WAYS

The real magic of this book is how simple the creators make it look.  Mike Allred’s art channels the raw power of a Jack Kirby with a modern sensibility (and INCREDIBLE coloring work by Laura Allred) while Slott’s script shows us hidden sides of Norrin, Dawn and Spider-Man, all while maintaining fast-pacing and enough action to keep even the shortest attention span engaged.  In short, Silver Surfer #6 (and or #200) is another nigh-on-perfect issue from a skilled creative team, giving us a Surfer who is at once familiar and entirely new and earning a well-deserved 5 out of 5 stars overall.  If you’re not reading this book, you’re missing some of the best stuff Marvel has done in the 21st century….

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