The Silver Surfer is trapped inside the Soul Gem, meets a bunch of other characters, walks around for a bit, and has an inconclusive chat with Adam Warlock. Meanwhile Gamora fights Drax in order to distract him so he doesn't destroy the Soul gem -- and everyone trapped within -- through sheer force of will. Or something.
At the time the comic was published, the characters the Surfer meets in the Soul Gem had not been seen for over a decade, and after such a long time it would probably be quite exciting to see them again. In 2021, when the same characters -- apart from Pip the Troll -- are, if not household names, at least well known through being the stars of a successful film franchise, the impact is somewhat lessened, and the actual weakness of the story is clear. The big selling point is the return of these characters, and without that there's not much going on.
Ron Lim's artwork is okay. The linework and storytelling are clear, but there's nothing that impresses or surprises. It's a good, solid, functional job, but it's far from exciting.
All in all, it's fine but stripped of its main schtick it just feels flat. Time has not been kind to Silver Surfer #46, and I award it just two Cables.
That takes me back. The Vol #3 Marvel silver surfer run was pretty wild stuff, not quite on par with the insanity of the original 18 issues or the batshit insane Adam Warlock comics, but it had its moments, especially under Jim Starling. I hesitate to ask, but are you a fan of Rom Spaceknight?
ReplyDeleteThe Rom comic was a bit before my time, and I'm not sure the toys ever made it to the UK, or if they did, they were swept aside by the bigger franchises. So I've never read any of his comics; I think he may have turned up in one of the Abnett/Lanning cosmic events in the early 2000s and I probably encountered him there.
DeleteStarlin wrote this issue, but yeah, it's lacking in cosmic insanity.
But, you know, if any of the Rom comics are any good, I'm happy to take recommendations. I read 300+ issues of Transformers, after all.
DeleteTake with a grain of salt since its been a while and I can't quite pin down your taste yet, but the original run is a lot better then it has any right to be. Cybernetic space knights that leave their organs in stasis so they can someday be restored to their human shapes fight a race of shape-changing wizards from the dark galaxy. Just try some early issues, see if you like it.
ReplyDeleteBut if you are going to read any marvel comics from the 80s the Starlin run on Dreadstar precedes all others of course.
They turned up in Annihilation: Conquest, under Phalanx control. Damn I have not read comics in almost a decade and I still remember that. The Abnett/Lanning cosmic stuff was the last Marvel I could stomach.
ReplyDeleteI have definitely read Conquest. It's possibly one of the ones that quotes me on the back cover, as it was during my former life as a comics reviewer.
DeleteUnless you wrote for IGN or Wizard, it wasn't Volume 2, but that's still pretty dope. I read a lot of comics in my teens but I moved on to books. What's your favorite series?
ReplyDeleteIt varies. Ask me the same question tomorrow and I will likely have a different answer!
DeleteThe most recent series I enjoyed was Coda by Si Spurrier, and I'm more fond of The Umbrella Academy than I probably should be.
Most of my favourite comics are short blips of about four to six issues. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen v2 is a favourite, as are the Rocket Raccoon and Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series Mignola drew. I'm very fond of Grant Morrison's Vimanarama and Warren Ellis' nextwave.
The series I've followed for longest -- aside from Transformers -- was Marvel's Avengers, but Bendis and umpteen crossovers ruined that for me.
Oh! And I just read the first year or so of Rogue Trooper from 2000AD and that holds up quite well given its age and format.
DeleteEarly 2000 AD has a type of naive ultraviolent charm to it. There was one about a british guy in a lorry that shoots commies ('Volgans') with a shotgun that still brings a smile to my face, and you had entire runs on premises that were clearly dreamed up by a 13 year old on a sugar rush like cowboys travelling back in time to harvest dinosaur meat to solve the food problem or an ultra-violent jetpack football tournament that were kind of awesome.
DeleteEllis' best work is somewhere between Transmetropolitan and Planetary I think.
Any takers for the overseas Euro stuff like Jodorowski's Metabarons, Abinatti's Atomika, Druillet's Lone Sloane or Suske & Wiske?
I must admit that I'm a bit woolly on the European stuff. We all grow up on Asterix and TinTin, of course, and I did read Metabarons years ago, but I don't remember much about it.
DeleteI did read, and enjoy, Sillage a few years ago, but it's tricky to get hold of them in the UK so I lost track of the series.
I didn't get on with the handful of Transmetropolitan issues I read, but I'm with you on Planetary; although it had a lot of Ellis' tics, they didn't distract as they often do, and the series as a whole is solid.