Silver Surfer #1

By Dan Slott, Michael Allred, Laura Allred

“How can you hope to defeat… Every protagonist ever?!”

Is that Doctor Who? Zorro? …Will Wonka? This is the craziest version of Space Jam you’ll ever see.

Dan Slott and Michael Allred make their return to the pages of Silver Surfer with a brand new issue #1. This issue comes loaded with the creative energy of both these storytellers as Slott packs in nods to various literary characters – all brought to life by the pencils of Michael Allred and the colors of Laura Allred.

Surfer and Dawn Greenwood return to earth after months exploring the cosmos only to be summoned back into space to stop a new threat – one taking the worlds culture! Slott uses this concept to create an issue much like that one Futurama episode where the giant brain jumps around from book to book and Fry has to make him leave for “no raisin”. It’s pretty much Futurama meets Space Jam…yeah, your dreams have come true. Slott continues to make his take on Silver Surfer one of the most creative comics out there. You really can’t guess what’s going to happen from one issue to the next, and the chemistry between Surfer and Dawn is strong as ever as we enter into a whole new storyline starting once again from #1.

The artwork side of this series gives us the distinctive pencils and inks of Michael Allred alongside the complementing colors of Laura Allred. The depiction of the outfits of various literary characters makes for some great scenes, and gives this issue another reason to stare at the panels to see if you can figure out how many characters you can recognize. A great panel showcases Silver Surfer flying around a spaceship as he fights off the aliens that surround him. Dawn looks on from the corner of the panel as she tries to figure out what exactly is going on – are these aliens friend or foe? A couple of the character depictions we see around Surfer in this panel are Tin Tin, Mary McFly, and Willy Wonka, among many others. Michael makes sure to have each character focused on Surfer, something that Dawn notices as well. Laura gives this panel a grey background as each of the characters stand out, all dressed in different colors as they float about while staring down the wielder of the power cosmic.

Dan Slott and Michael Allred make a strong return to the pages of Silver Surfer. This issue #1 shows they’ve spent their time away from the character coming up with even more creative stories to showcase the power cosmic. The artwork by Michael and colors by Laura are spot on just as they were before. The story by Slott sets us up for another wild ride through space. And we get introduced to a brand new holiday – Happy New-Hallow-Givings-Birth-Mas!