Silver Surfer #1

By Dan Slott, Michael Allred and Laura Allred

Having a bit of an aversion to the whole “Superior” thing going on with Spider-Man these days, it was difficult to really be excited for Silver Surfer, even if the character is a personal favorite. Fortunately for Marvel, they had the crazy talented duo of Michael Allred and Laura Allred attached to the project to do the visuals. Then, in a great move from Marvel, they release that All-New Marvel NOW point one issue, which had a sneak peak at Silver Surfer in the hands of Dan Slott. Well, after that all fears or trepidation was washed away. It was a great sneak peak and, after reading it, an even greater first issue.

Dan Slott does a great job with Surfer and the support cast. Everything really flows nicely and there’s no disjointed moments or over explanations or anything that might plague other “superior” titles. It’s really about reintroducing a character from the minds of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to the fans now in a fun and interesting way. It really feels like Slott is having fun and enjoying this character and the endless possibilities that go along with him. From insane mega-space cities, which was by far one of the most amazing spreads in comics today, to a tiny planet and fantastic action sequences, Silver Surfer just might have had it all, and then some.

It’s no secret that Mike Allred is a fantastic artist. Everything he does is just gold, time and time again. For whatever reason his work stands out even further here. It’s taking a character created by the legendary Jack Kirby and putting his own twist and feel to it, while still maintaining that hint of classic character design. It almost feels like an homage to the King, and nobody in their right mind can complain about that. The action, the characters, the giant impossible cities, the Kirby crackle; everything is done with such care and expertise you can’t help but be sucked into it as you’re reading. Add in the coloring talents of Laura Allred and you’ve got nothing short of a winner, again, from these two. It’s impossible to ever grow tired of seeing this team work, so here’s hoping we get a longer series than FF.

Truly, Silver Surfer surpassed and exceeded all expectations. Slott and the Allreds have a story more than worth the cover price with a character that has sorely needed a new solo series. Hats off to Slott and Mike and Laura Allred, because not only does Silver Surfer get the series he needs and deserves if this issue is any indication he’s getting a fun and light, but exciting, series from Marvel. Maybe even a contender to fill the void left by FF after it ended. Time will tell, but another 30 days can’t go by soon enough to get into issue two.