"... He Soars Alone" - Silver Surfer (v3) #111

Today I felt like rereading an old issue of Silver Surfer, #111—also entitled “111”—and billed as the “first issue in a bold new era of greatness!” It’s also the first issue written (but sadly not drawn) by “Gentleman” George Perez. The art is by Tom Grindberg, whom I used to severely dislike, but whose work I’ve come to appreciate over the years. He and inker Bill Anderson did a good job in making the Surfer and his surroundings look alien and different without making things ugly. I’m particularly fond of the way they would over-emphasize his silvery sheen, showing his face or hands reflected in his chest or shoulders and such.

Colorist Tom Vincent also deserves credit in the way he gives the Surfer an intriguingly metallic look; combined with the rippling muscles, you get an alien who’s at once sleek and bulky, which in this particular instance I find appealing. I’m pretty certain that a lot of people would disagree, but that’s why they say you can’t argue taste!

The story here is a nice mix of typical Surfer fare with a sci-fi slant: several beings designated in binary code (1010, 101, 100, the titular 111) attempt to breach our universe. Those who fail are faintly perceived by such beings as the Asgardian Heimdall, the alien Beta Ray Bill, and protector of the universe Quasar, but none of them can make any sense of it. It’s a nice way of showing the cosmic corner of the MU (and of course we get the obligatory plug for another title, the Starmasters mini-series, which was written by editor Mark Gruenwald—I should really get around to mailordering those back issues one day!)

111 though, in actuality called Oclin, collides with the Silver Surfer and is able to make contact while the Surfer floats unconsciously through space; it’s “as if [they] have entered each other’s brain”. Through this connection, Norrin Radd flashes back to the destruction of the planet Inasis—courtesy of a creature ominously called the Blackbody. It’s not really a flashback though, but a vision experienced by the planet’s leader, Grand Practitioner Harquis Tey (I’m really digging the alien names here).

The nice wrinkle is that the flashback/vision may be Tey’s, but the Surfer experiences it as if the people on planet are those he knows and/or cares about: Shalla-Bal, the FF, and so on. Even Galactus shows up, but he too is consumed by the energy-absorbing Blackbody. If the Blackbody looks familiar, then there’s good reason for that, which back then, when I first read it, I didn’t pick up on. Looking back on it now, I like how it's obvious, yet not.

One of the downsides of the story is that it gets bogged down in very lengthy dialogue (or rather, monologue) that tries to explain the back story by telling, not showing. I realize that by showing they’d end up with a double-sized issue, but you know something, that would’ve been preferable over the few pages that were crammed with words. What it boils down to is that the Blackbody will destroy Inasis unless outside help arrives. The Outriders, as they were called, were designated to find said help in our galaxy, which is on the other side of the known universe from their point of view. The only way to reach them swiftly is by going back the way they came, through the cosmic swells, a way fraught with danger, but of course perfectly suited for a character who rides a cosmic surfboard!

Oclin dies as he terminates his link with the Surfer, who then ruminates on his previous mission of atonement and this new destiny that’s been given him: to go where he’s never gone before, starting over in the process and aid those who are in need of it, rather than being reviled for being Galactus’s herald in the past. The Watcher observes him as he decides to fly off to the cosmic swells, and so ends this first issue of Perez’s run.

Summarized like this it’s as if nothing much happens, which is in essence true. Yet enough does happen so that, even though it’s really a prologue to the saga as a whole, it stands on its own while giving one the sense of a new beginning where new things can happen. I clearly remember liking this a lot when I read it originally, and I still do (though not as much). As far as set-up issues go, this is a good one. Knowing that all the set-up will lead somewhere interesting is even better.

Despite Perez’s problems with too many word balloons on certain pages, he manages to make everything sound alien enough without making everything so distant as to be incomprehensible. There’s a nice enough empathic hook, there’s some cool imagery when the Blackbody does its thing, and the Surfer does sound like the self-reflecting, noble skyrider that Stan and Jack envisioned him to be.

Art-wise I have no complaints, really. Cool opening shots of the exploding alien ship and of Heimdall on the Rainbow Bridge, although I must say that the rendition of Quasar is a bit shifty. The bulgy look doesn’t work as well on someone who’s meant to be clearly human. Making the inhabitants of Inasis humanoid yet thoroughly alien on the outside is also well done. I like Grindberg’s layouts quite a bit, they’re dynamic but not messy, there’s a nice flow throughout the issue. His depiction of the Blackbody laying waste to all before him/it is pretty eerie in a cool, cosmic way too.

I must say I miss having a Silver Surfer comic around. It’s the perfect avenue to tell some large-scale stories that can still have a decent philosophical impact. It’s a fine line though, and when the scale tips too much in either direction, the book becomes dull real fast. Still, I hold out hope against hope that eventually someone’ll do the Surfer justice again. Who knows, maybe the rumoured JMS (of Babylon 5, Rising Stars, Supreme Power and Amazing Spider-Man fame) mini-series will be just the thing. Or maybe he’ll have Shalla-Bal boink Galactus or Morg and Norrin Radd has to deal with her artificially aged twin children, who happen to look exactly like him and her, while the actual father is someone else entirely. Yes, I’m still all bitter about that ASM storyline, what of it? :p

In any case, on a scale of 6, where 1 is your average Liefeld comic and 6 is your average Alan Moore story, this issue gets a 4. It gets better though, just you wait!