Annihilation Omnibus: Silver Surfer

This is a review of the Silver Surfer miniseries, written by Keith Giffen with art by Renato Arlem, which appears in the Annihilation Omnibus. You can read my reviews of Drax the Destroyer and Nova here and here. 

The Annihilation Wave is coming, so lock your doors! On second thought, don’t bother. Since The Annihilation Wave is a space armada hailing from the Negative Zone led by bug warlord Annihilus, it won’t do any good. Annihilus is invading us because our universe is expanding and the Negative Zone is shrinking. This is a crazy reason to declare war on a universe, but you don’t get to be a bug warlord by being sane.

This miniseries features the Silver Surfer, a silver dude who flies around on his cosmic surfboard. I kid you not. He’s also known as Norrin Radd, ex-Herald of Galactus. Who is Galactus, you ask? Why, he’s a big purple and pink dude who travels the universe devouring planets. The Silver Surfer was his original herald, which means he found worlds for Galactus to eat.

In other words, the Surfer is an accessory to genocide, mass murder, Armageddon – whatever you want to call it. He leads Galactus to Earth and then has a change of heart and turns against him. The Purple World Eater doesn’t take this well and gives the Surfer the boot. That’s why he’s an ex-herald.

Whew, that’s a lot of exposition! Anyway, the Surfer is being stalked by Annihilus’ minions, a bunch of big grey hardbody dudes with space-dogs led by Ravenous. Annihilus wants to harness the Power Cosmic, and since Galactus goes through heralds like socks, Ravenous and his boys have been busy. 

After beating up on Ravenous but not killing him, the Surfer once again becomes Galactus’ herald. But not before the Silver One has a crisis of faith. What is the difference between the Annihilation Wave and what Galactus does?

The difference, apparently, is that what Galactus does is part of the Galactic Order. How do we know this? Well, Galactus tells us. I mean, if I was Galactus, I might say the same thing, but I digress. We also see Thanos, who I think starred in some movie, meet up with Annihilus. Afterwards, Thanos has a pow-wow with Tenebrous and Aegis, two beings on par with Galactus. Seems like trouble might be brewing!

The Silver Surfer is an interesting character, quiet, introspective, thoughtful. Perhaps these qualities are what make him a good herald? I dunno. Anyway, this storyline seems mostly about advancing the plot for the upcoming Annihilation miniseries, so it’s not as interesting as the others. But you do need to read it, if you want to read Annihilation, which I think is a good idea. Recommended for lovers of space opera comics and dudes on cosmic surfboards.