The Creators – Greg Pak – Writer, Sumit Kumar – Artist, Frank D’Armata – Colours, VC’s Joe Sabino – Letters

The Players – Silver Surfer, Kelly Koh, Fantastic Four

The Story – The Bureau of Alien Naturalization is looking to raise their stakes, so to speak. They intend to do that by way of the Silver Surfer.

The Take – With a title like Death of the Silver Surfer, it evokes big feelings in the reader and one expects there to be a tremendous storyline leading to that titular event. As this is the series’ first issue, he has not passed beyond the veil as of yet, but writer Greg Pak and artist Sumit Kumar provide an opening salvo that draws their audience into what should be a fascinating event. It all begins with a little inner monologue, something the Surfer is wont to do and it finds him giving others another chance at life, a little something that Norrin Radd can do after witnessing so much death. Elsewhere, a woman named Kelly Koh is rounding up aliens and taking care of extraterrestrial problems as part of her job at the Bureau of Alien Naturalization. If one wanted to make a comparison, the closest would be Men in Black, without the humour. The Bureau is in a bit of a predicament at the moment because while they do have a mandate, they are also looking to make a little profit along the way and by a little, they mean a lot. They think they have the answer to their problem and it lies in the Silver Surfer. So it is that Kelly goes after the Surfer and just when she thinks she has the better of him, she ends up realizing that he is far more than he seems. On the other side of it, he ends up saving Kelly as well and afterwards when she reports in, her boss has another target for her which will help get to the former herald while they try something else. Pak leaves the book on a cliffhanger, one that is both thrilling and exciting and one that could end up going any number of ways. For one, it would unleash a terror upon the universe that everyone thought was gone and secondly, enslave the Silver Surfer once more, tethering him to the most destructive force in the galaxy. It could also mean bad things for planet Earth, but those who are in search of profit do not care about consequences; they only serve themselves first. As for the rest of the book, Kelly Koh is an interesting character, as is her mom and should the Surfer ever get an ongoing title, depending on how things play out here, they would make for a great supporting cast. The artwork by Sumit is quite incredible and it would be no surprise to see this guy on a top title in the next couple of years. As of this moment, Death of the Silver Surfer has started strong out of the gate and it is definitely worth a buy whether a fan of the character or not.

Worth It? – Yes.