AUTHOR: DONNY CATES | ARTIST: TRADD MOORE | PUBLISHER: MARVEL | FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Famously Stan Lee’s favourite character to write for, this is the debut issue of the first Silver Surfer series to be released since Stan the Man’s passing. As such, there is a lot riding on this slim conveyance to herald in a new era for the cosmic hero. Did you see what we did there? [Yes, now stop it – Ed].
Opening where Guardians of the Galaxy #1 left off [SPOILERS] (and setting in place threads to be picked up in upcoming GotG releases) our titular hero has helped defeat Thanos and save the Guardians and is now plunged into… well, nothing. Conveying the epic vastness of space in comic book form has always been a challenge, not to mention the voidal absence of form, but artist Tradd Moore picks up on Stan Kirby’s mastery of the trippy space vista and treats us to some suitably mind and character bending visuals when trying to explore the very concept of empty nothingness.
The Silver Surfer also has enough time floating about in the blackness of the void to do some existential musing about the deep guilt of his backstory and the nature of existence in an infinite cosmos, which is just the kind of territory Stan the Man wanted the character to be surfing through.
Undaunted by the apparent emptiness of life falling endlessly through space on the wrong side of a black hole, the Surfer navigates himself to civilisation, of sorts, and things immediately get worse. To be honest, even for the page count there’s not a crazy amount of plot, especially given the amount of space handed over to an extended and slightly predictable (albeit visually stunning) fight scene. But the appearance of a particularly big big bad certainly sets up plenty of plot possibilities to come. Also, as mentioned, the issue does carry enough sorrowful philosophising from the Silver Surfer alongside particularly lush and psychedelically cosmic artistic treats from Moore to make a stamp in the Silver Surfer canon and lay out a possibly even darker prospect (darker than black?!) for the fate of the character in the rest of the series to come.
