Marvel Pick Of The Week – November 12, 2014

Pick Of The Week:

Silver Surfer 7, by Dan Slott and Michael Allred

It took me a long time to really get Dr. Who. I know the show has thousands of dedicated fans, but I had a tough time understanding what made this show so popular in my geek circles. Over time, I have grown to appreciate what that series does. Using a series of outlandish plots and the range of interactions between the inscrutable alien Doctor and a variety of human companions, the episodes explore what it means to be human, often pulling deep emotional meaning out of otherwise light entertainment.

Dan Slott’s Silver Surfer is Marvel’s answer to Dr. Who. I’m not the first person to say it; heck, Dan Slott’s said it. And so far, we’ve gotten six great issues that pitch the famously glum Surfer as a pompous being with a slight sense of humor, growing into a wider range of emotion by spending time with super-charming Dawn Greenwood, a generally ordinary girl from Earth who’d like to have space adventures. This issue takes a framework – Dawn is kidnapped, and the Surfer has to find her – to display a staggering montage of two-page scenes of adventures the pair has had. It’s creative and silly and funny, which is no surprise coming from the man who has yet to miss a step on the immense Spider-Verse crossover. But more than that, Surfer is remembering so many adventures with Dawn because he has learned a lesson in each of them, and if he can put those lessons together, he can save her. And by the end, his quest has led to a couple of deeply emotional panels that challenge this couple’s platonic status quo.

Any one of the memories Surfer has while seeking Sawn would make a great comic. Once, he rescued Dawn from space hillbillies by throwing Hostess fruit pies at them; once, Dawn helped Surfer’s sentient board navigate a maze that the reader can trace on the page. I hope Slott revisits some of these in future issues. But in the meantime, this book stands as a great pitch for the potential this series has, and I hope interested new parties enjoy this accessible jumping-on point. By the time this series closes, I think we will all have a better understanding of what our humanity means.

Honorable Mentions:

She-Hulk 10, for this cryptic collection of panels proving our cocktail-loving super-hero super-model, Patsy Walker, would indeed make the best friend ever.

AXIS: Hobgoblin 2, for the panel of Wildstreak that warms my 90’s-loving heart. I fondly recall a time when a paralyzed Olympic-level gymnast used an amazing exoskeleton to help the Fantastic Four beat a bad guy named Dreadface, and it’s nice to see that she made an impression on this creative team.

Nightcrawler 8, because I had “Issue 8” in the Bam Smack Pow office “When will Claremont pull out a way to mind-control the X-Men to fight Nightcrawler?” pool. And hey, if he’s going to go there, again, at least he’s using the Shadow King. That guy’s pretty scary.

Captain America And The Mighty Avengers 1, for a nine-panel page of Spider-Man trying to apologize for all the jerk things his body did when Superior Spider-Man was on the team. I think we all have had the experience of digging ourselves so deep into a hole by panel six (Peter holding his head and mumbling, “I have literally no idea why I’m reminding you of that.”) and realizing we still have three panels left to embarrass ourselves.

Avengers & X-Men: AXIS 5, for Peter Parker’s inability to fully rise above making a dirty joke out of the original Nova being named “Richard Rider.” I have not really enjoyed the event, but now that Remender has made the Inversion bit more clear (yes, it only affects a couple dozen characters, but they are taking over the world and drunk on power), I’m having a great time. I whine a lot about how Remender is a decent writer but his versions of the characters rarely suggest that he has read much in the way of their previous appearances, so this Inversion tactic is a great fit for him, and now I kind of want a The Jerk Avengers title.

Thor 2, for the evil Roxxon CEO’s decision about his employees: “I want them all fired. And by that, I mean unleash the napalm… I don’t care how many job listings we have to post come Monday.” Dark comedy gold.