Silver Surfer #14

By Dan Slott, Michael Allred, Laura Allred

“All right! Let’s do this! Let’s bring everything in the universe back!“

And you’re worried about the presentation you have due at the end of the semester. Imagine being on a timed schedule to rebuild the entire universe!

Silver Surfer #14 has Surfer and Dawn enjoying the benefits of limitless power (unlike that movie with Bradley Cooper) as they go about rebuilding the universe from nothing – Dawn first bringing back her family through the power of imagination! It’s like Figment from that ride at Disney World got set loose and was given unreasonable amounts of power.

Writer Dan Slott once again brings an original story to the forefront, as he’s been doing with much of this story since the beginning. We’re given a look at how both Dawn and Surfer approach the task of creating the worlds they remember – and by the issue’s end we’re even given a new mystery to unravel. What could possibly go wrong when creating the entire universe from memory?

Something Slott does well here is have Surfer struggle with some of the wrongs he’s committed in the past. It forces you to think how he should handle those memories. Is it really his place to bring back all those planets he helped destroy? Could it disrupt the flow of the universe? And what about his old master? Surfer battles with a lot in this issue and reminds readers that limitless power doesn’t necessarily give you all the answers. Surfer’s decisions this issue will certainly make things interesting come issue #15 however.

The artist on this series is Michael Allred along with colorist Laura Allred. First, just stare at the cover for a bit (look below). Now check your watch (it’s probably been at least an hour right?). It’s that same cosmic imagination that fills up plenty of pages in this issue of Silver Surfer. A great example comes when Surfer is bringing back all of the friends he and Dawn met along their journeys. It takes up an entire page and shows five Surfer’s flying about creating different planets from memory – all the same Surfer, just showcasing how much he’s getting done. Laura loads this page with impressive amounts of color as some familiar characters once again make an appearance. The dark void of space in the background is even speckled with plenty of color, much like the areas of space seen in the cover. The planets in the foreground are all brightly colored, either pink, lime green, purple, blue. The planning of this page seems like it would have been a lot of fun.

Silver Surfer #14 plays into the aftermath of Marvel’s Secret Wars and tasks Dawn and Surfer with huge responsibilities. Sure, they can recreate the universe however they want…but how creative should they really be with their own ideas? Letting their emotions get in the way can’t cause anything to go wrong…right?