The first herald of Galactus meets the WORST herald of Galactus, and reality itself may hang in the balance. Your Major Spoilers review of Giant-Size Silver Surfer #1 from Marvel Comics awaits!

GIANT-SIZE SILVER SURFER #1

Writer: Mat Groom
Artist: Tommaso Bianchi
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Martin Biro
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $6.99
Release Date: July 10, 2024

Previously in Giant-Size Silver Surfer: Terrax the Tamer is determined to escape the Silver Surfer’s shadow for once and for all – and to do so, he has created a deadly trap that the Surfer cannot escape! But in the midst of Terrax’s brutal campaign to destroy the Surfer’s reputation, can the Surfer maybe find a way to save Terrax himself?

THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF Fantastic Four #50

Far out in the deepest reaches of the galaxy, a group of aliens sees something gleaming in the sky. A being swoops down from deep space and announces that he is the former herald of Galactus! “The Silver Surfer?”, they all gasp in surprise. But instead, they’ve welcomed Terrax the Tamer, the evil one with power over rock and dirt. Annoyed at being mistaken for his brother herald, Terrax quickly concocts a plan, holding the aliens hostage, and setting off a cosmic beacon that will summon the being formerly known as Norrin Radd. When the shinier herald arrives, Terrax informs him that he has an impossible choice: Either surrender all his power to Terrax, leaving him trapped forever as Norrin, or watch all the aliens die horribly, crushed into pulp by Terrax’s boulders.

It’s a difficult proposition, and one for which The Surfer has a single-word response: “No.”

“ALL YOU WILL FIND… IS A WORTHY OPPONENT”

Among the dumb takes you find in comics fandom is the assertion that it’s “impossible” to do anything interesting with Superman because of his powers. The Silver Surfer is often portrayed as more powerful than that, sometimes orders-of-magnitude more powerful, but this issue cleverly gets around that issue without turning him into a mindless slugging machine or a laser emitter. Instead, we get a Norrin Radd who has made peace with his past, has even come to terms with Galactus, and for whom the primary problem of Terrax is not one of sheer power, but helping a fellow cosmic being come to grips with his own past and problems. The art in this issue is very well done but makes the very odd choice to make Terrax’s head look indistinguishable from Jim Lee’s illustrations of Darkseid. It’s a distracting choice, one that is actually exacerbated by the coloring. The Silver Surfer himself is a little over-rendered as well, with endless, noodly shadows and reflections that are a bit distracting to look at.

BOTTOM LINE: THE BIGGEST FLAW IS THE FORMAT

By far the worst part of the original Giant-Size Marvel line was the reprints, and Giant-Size Silver Surfer #1 feels that weakness as well, with a well done story followed by a remastered Marz/Lim story, increasing the page count and the price tag more than I’d have liked, but shaking out to 3 out of 5 stars overall. As a fan of Lee/Romita, Englehart/Rogers, Marz/Lim, Slott/Allred, and several other eras of the Silver Surfer, I enjoyed what this issue had to say about the Sentinel of the Spaceways, even if I don’t feel like the new material was well-served by the way it was delivered.

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