ADVANCED REVIEW: ‘Silver Surfer: Rebirth,’ #1

Silver Surfer: Rebirth #1 is written by Ron Marz, penciled by Ron Lim, inked by Don Ho, colored by Israel Silva, and lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino. It’s published by Marvel Comics. Years ago, Norrin Radd—better known as the Silver Surfer—assisted Genis Mar-Vell aka Legacy, son of the original Captain Marvel, in a rescue mission. However, in a flash of light things have changed. Captain Marvel is now alive and needs the Surfer’s help in taking down a Skrull invasion. The Surfer must find out who has rewritten reality, which leads him to form the most unlikely of alliances.

The Silver Surfer is a character that’s always intrigued me. From his time as a herald of Galactus to his ascension into a hero, Norrin Radd has multiple layers that are ripe for exploration, and Rebirth starts to scratch at the surface of those layers. After they save a Kree cruiser from falling into a black hole, the Surfer and Legacy talk about their respective trials. The Surfer says he is able to relate to the challenges Legacy is facing, as he knew the younger Mar-Vell’s father and even had his own challenges to overcome on the road to heroism. It all leads up to a shocking moment when reality reforms and Radd’s confronted with the original Captain Marvel.

Thankfully, that moment doesn’t feel too jarring thanks to Marz’s skilled scripting. Marz is best known for revitalizing characters: in addition to the Surfer being his first-ever comic assignment, he also shook up the Green Lantern mythos by introducing Kyle Rayner and revamped Witchblade for the modern era. In Rebirth, it feels like Marz’s run on the Surfer never ended, albeit, with the same sense of strong characterization and high-concept story. Marvel’s taken a similar approach with other creators, such as Peter David returning to script several Maestro stories and the X-Men Legends anthology, and it seems to be paying off immensely.

Marz’s script is brought to life by a top-tier artistic team, including Lim who previously worked with him on their original Silver Surfer run. Under his pencils and Ho’s inks, the vast cosmic reaches of the Marvel Universe are rendered in stunning detail, making action sequences such as the Surfer saving the Kree ship or battling a legion of Skrull soldiers feel particularly cinematic. Silva’s colors add a hypnotic sheen to the Surfer, letting him live up to the “silver” part of his name, and when he summons his Power Cosmic it’s depicted as a bluish-white glow of energy. Sabino also perfectly captures how comics were lettered back in the ’90s. Words feel a bit more slanted and the opening credits are part of an action sequence instead of being on their own separate page.

Silver Surfer: Rebirth #1 works as both a throwback to the ’90s era of comics and as an exploration of Norrin Radd’s character development. Whether you enjoyed Marz’s original run on Silver Surfer or you’re looking to learn more about the Sentinel of the Spaceways, this is a great start.

Silver Surfer: Rebirth #1 will be available on January 19, 2021, wherever comics are sold.