Silver Surfer: New Dawn Review

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the GeekCatch Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to the Comic Concierge Podcast. The podcast that

believes comics are for everyone, and the key

is finding the right one. This is another one

of my Concierge episodes where I bring someone

on and recommend a comic to them based upon their

interests in other fields. Today, I'm very happy

to have one of my fellow cinema geeks, Mad Fiddly

Sent. How's it going, man? Hey, Dan. We've, like,

never just had just the two of us on a record.

It's interesting. No, no. Now we know what song

to play for the intro for this episode. There

we go Yeah, that's first time and what we're

gonna be talking about actually it possibly to

two episodes We'll see how it goes the dance

lot and Mike already silver surfer with volume

one a new dawn But before we get to that, I know

with your background you have some comics background

We've you know, we talked about it on cinema

geeks previously but going into this, you know

What have what's your experience with comics?

We know what has gotten you into them gotten

you out of them Oh man, so I think what got me

into comic books was a childhood of the greatest

superhero cartoons that we've probably ever had.

I was born in the mid to late 80s, so I had the

Spider -Man, the Batman animated series, Justice

League Unlimited by high school, and there was

just a run of it. Constantly every year there

was something great. when I was in a Walden Books,

which might be a local store. I don't know, I

think it's a chain. No, yeah, I've been to one

before. It's been a while. I don't know if it

exists anymore. I think they got bought up by

Borders and I think Borders went out of business.

So there we go. I was in the D &D section right

next door. It was the trade paperback comic book

section. And I spied a Teen Titans graphic novel

by Jeff Johns. And it was like seven bucks. And

I read that and... And it was great. It was something

I didn't know that I ever really wanted. My parents

had bought me comic books when I was younger,

but I'd never really got hooked. But I'd watched

the Teen Titans cartoon, and now I have this

comic book, and there's even more there than

there was on the TV. Just as those came out,

I started picking up, you know, each trade, and

by about the fourth or fifth one, I had some

friends that were somewhat interested in comics,

and then we found a local comic shop that we

actually started going, and I ended up picking

up the floppies of that same series, and ended

up tracing them all the way back. I ended up

getting down to the first issue, which, by that

point, I was going to Comic -Cons, and I got

the first issue signed by Jeff Johns, and I actually

have a picture of when I met Jeff Johns at a

Wizard World... which was a pretty big moment

for me. But really what got me into comic books,

I guess, is community and conversation. And that's

also what got me out of comic books. Like from

from like 2006 to 2009 I want to say I was spending

20 to 40 dollars a week on comic books and It's

some of my best memories are from that time Like

picking up 52 and going out to lunch with with

a buddy and reading it right there in the in

the fast food place and discussing it like it's

some of my favorite memories, but by 2009 all

my friends had stopped like not having money

or not having time, and without that community

to discuss, I just fell out. I can't sit there

and read a comic book and then think about it

by myself and just be done. It just doesn't do

it for me. So like that's what got me out. Interesting.

I was somewhat similar to where when I was in

college is when I was in like full full tilt

with comics and then I moved away for most of

my friends and you know I didn't have the same

community down here so I was collecting them

but like you said it wasn't the same and there's

like message boards and things of that nature

but it doesn't have the same before I started

this podcast to force people to talk to me about

podcasts I guess about comics. Mean you could

force me whatever you want Dan. I love the things

Yeah, that that's so as of right now. You're

not do you pick up a trade here and there or

you're pretty much out of it full force Well,

I still buy every Star Wars one because I have

to keep up with Star Wars Continuity like I have

to have all of the canon stuff. I'm very particular

about that Beyond that, if something really grabs

me, when the New 52 happened, I actually went

to the comic shop and picked up just floppies

for a couple of months, and then beyond that

I bought the trades of the Aquaman and Supergirl,

but the thing that I knew about had gone away

at this point, because we're throwing everything

out except for Batman. So it was even more...

daunting to try to get into that alone. Well

now it's all back, kind of, so it's, you know,

it's with Rebirth and all that. Which has been

kind of helmed by Jeff Johns, like he's been,

he hasn't written a lot of comics, but he's been

like the person that was like overseeing it all,

for the most part. That kind of brings us to

Silver Surfer, and I recommended a number of

comics to you. A lot of them were fantasy based

because I know you're a huge fantasy fan, but

really the reason I did Silver Surfer was mostly

because I know you're a huge Doctor Who fan,

and the dance slot has made no qualms about the

fact that this very much is taken from... the

framework of a Doctor Who type of universe. I

mean, even someone like myself that's only watched

a little bit of Doctor Who can see just the similar

feelings and similar characters and things of

that nature. So I was curious based upon that

how much you enjoyed this first volume of Silver

Surfer. Oh, man. It's so Doctor Who, even in

ways that may not be intentional, because the

older iterations, from the 60s and 70s, he was

a way more violent character, not against killing

and stuff, and then by the early 2000s, they

switched the character over to this more pacifist

character, who's just an explorer rather than

a, I'm gonna right every wrong no matter what

I have to do. And so the Silver Surfer's whole

herald past is very - similar in that way this

first volume I enjoyed it it was great but I

feel like it took a bit to get off the runway

so to speak it was kind of a slow build it was

good throughout and then by the time it got to

that last one like the which was like a backup

strip from a from like an all -new Marvel thing.

Like that last story was just like perfect. It

was like we were where we needed to be. We had

had all the setup that we needed and it would

just work for me really well. I loved that last

story. Yeah, it is very, I mean for the first

bit of it, it's really I think kind of establishing

the relationship between Silver Surfer and Dawn.

And I will say this because I've read through

this entire series and if we continue going through

this, there's like five volumes I think at this

point. What dance lot is done is really he puts

a lot of bread comes into his final story, which

is kind of amazing, which we can eventually get

to how it all kind of correlates to one another.

It's one of the best stories to reread, which

is, you know, doesn't really mean anything to

you. But I can kind of understand the slow build

because it very much is like getting you acclimated

to this different type of. Style, I love Mike

already art. I know a lot of people don't because

it's very There's a certain aesthetic that is

maybe not super appealing It's not a type of

aesthetic you typically see with a superhero

comics all that much though. He's written written

a lot or drawn a lot of Marvel books, but I Could

see where the the slow build to that once it

once it kind of gets the ground running in here

He's they're off exploring the galaxy. It kind

of hits a new gear It's an interesting comment

that you don't feel like he does a lot of super

we not you know suited for superhero maybe but

like it feels like he's drawing so much on Jack

Kirby like like not only like Like the art style

itself is kind of like a modern Kirby, but like

the poses are straight out of Jack Kirby's old

word Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I mean I guess I

shouldn't say that he did ecstatic in the 2000s

I've been the Kevin Smith retrospective and he

was actually in that for a period of time He

did like the credits for mall rats. You see the

man -man comic Okay. Yeah, it is a very retro

feel to it, which I know some people don't have

don't have the huge appeal for. I personally

love it, but there's almost like a weird lack

of depth at times, just the way the characters

work, but I feel like it works really well. And

just like the timeless quality of his art, this

is pretty phenomenal. His character designs and

especially Don, like he has a certain way he

draws, like they're called like all red girls,

I think they're something of that nature. And

like just the facial features, the lips, they're

very like, you know, timeless retro feel to them.

Yeah It's made all the more apparent because

like she's got a lot of detail and silver surfer

can't just can't have a lot of detail Which makes

him look otherworldly. It's a great it like the

art like really serves the book Like I got no

complaints about the art. Yeah You mentioned,

you know, we talked about the the Doctor Who

piece of it. Does it like do any of the like

the plots or like the characters outside of Silver

Surfer and Dawn feel from that world like you

know as a newbie to that I really don't know

but I was curious if you're like oh wow I can

correlate that character with this Doctor Who

character or you know this very much feels like

this plot from from that Doctor Who story like

I actually I don't think I could I can point

out any that direct correlation which almost

makes it better to me where it's like oh this

is very inspired by but it's definitely not just

stealing it's like he didn't just put the master

in here like there's no there's no daleks in

here may you know maybe the uh the guys who are

who are kidnapping champions from around the

world like that might be out of some 80s story

that i haven't seen yet but like it doesn't feel

Like it's like it's really thieving in any way

just inspired in the best ways to become the

best kind of story. Yeah, that's good. I was

always because it's always that thing where it's

like the best form of flattery is what is it?

I can't think of a saying imitation. But I don't

like you said, I think it's certainly imitating

it or, you know, influenced by it. But I think

really where it seems to correlate with that

a lot is the way it kind of. The plots and the

conflicts resolve itself, you know, usually with

a superhero story It's like whoever has the most

power or you know hits the hardest but there's

more of an like intellectual solving of a puzzle

or something of that nature or like some sort

of like human quality that tends to actually

be the the way that they solve whatever, you

know conflict that they're trying to come to

whether it's like, you know getting the heart

where Set up where you think the one person is

the bad guy or you know the person that they

need to save but in fact that you know that Yeah,

that world that they go to and you find out like

why it was created because they kind of stole

the heart from that one character I just think

it's interesting like how they solved all those

different quandaries, but did it in a more intellectual

way? Yeah, because I feel like silver server's

got to be a hard character to write to be interesting

because Toe to toe, he can beat almost anyone.

But beyond Galactus and the other heralds, there's

very few people who can stand up to him and be

an interesting fight. just because he can just

he the power cosmic can do almost anything that's

like it's thing like you even posted up a page

on twitter just like yeah like it was written

in the time where i don't know i feel like forethought

wasn't the best thing in comic books uh back

when the first five times a fan has reported

encounter someone they just like die and so there's

not a longevity to it from the 60s and so like

this power cosmic where it's like yeah i can

show up and i can do almost anything but there's

one more guy who's strong So to make a story

that is interesting and dynamic, I mean, it's

a Superman problem all over again, just in a

different universe and on a more cosmic scale.

Yeah, yeah. I do like, you know, you mentioned

that the one thing where, why can I breathe?

It's the power cosmic. Why can I understand?

It does very harken back to that 60s style where

a lot of the details weren't necessarily explained.

And that was OK. I mean, obviously, it was a

different audience back then, but. It opens the

door for more interesting exploration into things

where everything doesn't necessarily make sense,

and we'll especially get that in Volume 2, which

we'll get to, which gets into some even like...

Stranger characters and how like why would they

be aliens anyways, but I do really love the sense

of humor That's in this like dance a lot does

have a very unique sense of humor like he obviously

is real Well known for his work in spider -man

of course like that's a book that is has a lot

of humor in it And he did she Hulk and this you

know you see that too I mean there's even like

a reference to the three stooges which you know

I was not expecting to see in a silver surfer

book, but I think just that tone of it it does

feel like a like a slight modernization of like

a stanley type of book minus just endless exposition

that you typically provide oh man i guess the

worst thing about those old books is that they

would they would be nothing but words and they

like didn't tell you anything yeah i was recently

rereading you know the fantastic four which will

dance a lot ironically will be or serendipitously

will be taking over in a few months and uh going

back and reading the first few volumes of it

and it's interesting it's uh different it's a

very different style but it definitely Seeing

that reading that and then coming back and reading

this first volume like okay I can see what he

was kind of going for he kind of did an amalgamation

of like all these different types of styles and

created its own unique thing. It's just like

the perfect melding of approach of art and it

just I don't know it's something that just ended

up being rather special and unlike really any

Silver Surfer book like I know huge Silver Surfer

fans and I'm like I don't know if they would

like this because it's such Unique type of take

on the character that is unlike, you know, that's

Jim Starlin type of stories It's much more, you

know It's not as action -packed. It's more dramatic

in a way that the stories themselves even though

they're taking place in galactic level Places

and galaxies far away they ended up being rather

small even when we get to the what one of the

final stories before the with with the nightmare

guy and like it's just Then in Cape Cod and I

don't know. I just I like how they utilized on

in her world to humanize the character so surfer

it makes sense and it worked effectively. Yeah,

like the the play is great since I don't know

how much background you have with the character

silver surfer or you know or more of all in general

and this does have like a lot of references to

different things and you know from some of them

eternity and all these other. worldly characters

was ever hard to kind of get your bearings of

everything considering like all the different

you know there's not exact references or callbacks

to stories but it certainly i think has some

assumption that you know how the marvel universe

functions yeah i've got a pretty pretty great

understanding of the marvel universe i like to

think I'm the type of guy who when I get into

it I get a little too into it so when I got into

comic books even though I definitely focus DC

a lot more than Marvel I would still buy plenty

of Marvel and what I didn't read in comic book

I would probably read on the internet because

there's there's plenty of great resources to

figure out like like you know like hey I need

to know who Eternity are and I know you need

to know how the universe is in it both a thing

and a person and I need to know about the eternal

judges maybe like there's all there's all kinds

of like especially when you go into the heavy

cosmic stuff like you're gonna get from a silver

surfer or the eternal is there eternals you have

the eternal yeah like all of those you're gonna

have a lot of weird cosmic stuff so like I'm

pretty well versed I can't say that I've read

a a nightmare story before but like he looks

familiar And it's like I feel like they did a

good enough job getting you introduced to the

things yeah, you know, I know I'm assuming like,

you know, like who the defenders are and And

things and they kind of like we talked about

like the origins of silver surfer, which are

retouched upon here But they're not I don't think

you necessarily have to know everything about

them, but I think it helps certainly a little

bit Like I I don't know everything about the

original Galactus story, right? I didn't know

that silver server got sequestered to earth Like

I knew that he turned I knew that he blew up

the machine or whatever that the Galactus was

building To eat the planet, but I didn't know

that he got stuck there like and you know I know

some of the defender like I had yeah enough to

get by and I feel like What I didn't have they

did a good enough job filling in One thing we

see with this first volume too is like because

it's more isolated in earth we get a lot of you

know other characters kind of show up the guardians

of the galaxy and which is what I'm like I don't

know because it's like the agent venom which

I know is like a something people might be confused

by it's like why is that venom and why does he

look like it's weird but uh and then obviously

Dr. Strange and the Hulk like we mentioned did

you feel like their presence at all felt like

Unnecessary or like forced in or did it fit within

the story for you? As weird as it sounds like

the Guardians of the Galaxy are the ones I would

expect more because they're the ones that are

out there in space But that felt really like

a little weird because it was just like they

just did like a three page pit stop but like

dr. Strange and the Hulk Who you know who were

teammates, uh, you know of the silver server

Like they felt normal because I felt more like

a doctor strange story than a silver server story

anyway Yeah, yeah, so like the the ones that

were more like the ones I expected to be there

less ended up feeling and fitting more properly

Yeah, I felt like for the guardians of galaxy

They were just there to be on the cover because

it's like I think this was out when the movie

was really hot or around that time so it's like

yeah, let's throw them on the cover so that we

can sell some bucks and They didn't really do

much. I don't remember if they ever play another

role within this. I get kind of lost when it

comes to like the different eras of Marvel because

this was all new all different Marvel now and

then there was like all different and there was

like all new all different and it was I don't

know. It's hard to keep track of all the different

relaunches when it comes to Marvel but but you

know I did like the interaction between you know

Doctor Strange and especially when they first

appear and there was that great scene of like

the guy driving by in the truck and then backing

up and then you know, Hulk pretending that he's

Banner the entire time, but I thought that flowed

a little bit more, made a little bit more sense,

and how it was built where the Guardians of the

Galaxy kind of just came out a little bit of

left field, and I'm not really sure I understood

what exactly they were doing. I thought that

was gonna lead to something, but it didn't really

lead to anything as of right now, at least by

the end of this first volume. Yeah, and I enjoy

that he draws the Hulk in the classic style just

fitting even more into that art niche You mentioned

like the the last story. Did you did you read

this and you read the physical form, right? Like

not the digital copy. Yeah. Yeah I was curious

cuz like I have the digital volume in like the

the last story is done in what they call like

infinite comics I'm so not even sure what that's

supposed to mean, but it's like One panel per

page. It was weird reading it. How was it presented

in the actual like physical form was it just

a normal comic? Yeah, yeah, it just looks like

I couldn't tell that there was anything different

about it Like if they hadn't posted the name

of the thing I would have just assumed it was

you know issue number six. Okay. Okay. I was

curious cuz it like what reading and digitally

it It operates a little bit different where like

you'll have the panels and then it's you know,

it's meant for I think The panel reader it's

like designed for that and it the way it presents

itself So it's a little it was a little odd to

get because I would I would be I'd be missing

panels because I think I read this already But

actually the words are changing just the panels

work and I was like, that's all I was like, how

do they do that in the physical form? But I guess

I just handle it normally you mentioned like

that's where the story really started to kind

of kick in for you was that you know because

of the you know, the fact that you have that

one where it's like full of creepy creatures

and you know a little bit more out there was

that Why is that piece worked a little bit more

for you than some of the other stories? So the

characters know each other and they're interacting

like that rather than trying to rub against each

other in weird ways because he's an alien and

she's not. I'm a sucker for anthropomorphic characters

and so when you've got like these ferret people

and a dolphin person and a turtle person like

it just it's very charming and then you've got

these sharks where like shark people wielding

uh like old timey flintlock pistols but they're

actually laser guns i love that like absurdity

silly funness to it but then like it's also got

like a moral quandary sort of situation a lot

like you would see in like a star trek which

i i love star trek too And it's like, can the

silver surfer who's got this past, you know,

just enjoy life? And he has to figure that out

while deciding whether he's hiding his past.

Well, deciding how long to hide his past from

this character, because everywhere they go, everyone's

like, oh, no, it's the Herald. And she's like,

oh, is your name Herald? Like, yeah, yeah. And

and so like, I feel like this finally like it's

finally hit its stride by this last story. Yeah,

yeah. Like you said, it was a lot of setup to

like, okay, this is what it's going to be. You

know, it's like the pilot before the second,

you know, the pilot, that's good, but it just

really gives you the idea of setting the stage.

And then that last issue was like, okay, now

we're off and running. But I do like a lot of

the little like fish out of water, like how she

thinks she calls the board to me. Like, like

you think that's, she thinks that's its name.

And these little things that you certainly, I

think a commentary on just the absurdity of comics,

but I think it works. Well, it's great because

she's not reading it. So she doesn't know where

those spaces are like like it's a level of Self

-awareness that I wouldn't have expected that

I love and like what it when Silver Server sees

her twin and thinks she's a scrawl like I love

how How comic books it is and how aware it is

that it's comic books Yeah, it's like approaching

breaking the fourth wall, but never quite getting

there it's like right there on the edge and you

know but it never like, it's actually like then

pointing at the camera and saying hi, but it

gets pretty close. It's a little more subtle

than your Deadpools. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.

All right, was there anything else about this

first volume that you wanted to discuss or anything,

the topic regarding it at all? I do want to point

out, like, and I hate to be another person who

does this same, I don't know, complaint. I listened

to some of your previous episodes and someone

else brought this up. This one's a particularly

difficult one if you're holding it to know what

panel comes next. Because there will be two -page

spreads that'll just be like, you know, three

panels. There'd be nine panels, right? And like,

they look very similar, and it's not obvious

whether you're supposed to read all the way across

the double. the double page spread or or just

one page at a time and I encountered problems

with that in the first volume maybe three times

and like I I don't know I feel like a seasoned

comic book guy and like when I get tricked by

that or I have that flub like it it bothers me

probably more than it should was that like specifically

I'm thinking of like the the story with dr. strange

and hulk where you have the two double page spreads

or this where There are like four six panels

up. There's three rows really and the last row

is the interaction between Hulk and dr. Strange

and the two above are all the panels that with

with with Dawn and in Silver Surfer with their

interaction was was that the panels that you

had trouble with I wasn't sure if that was the

one because those were two specific double -spaced

spreads where you kind of had multitude of stories

going on in the same page You know I think that

actually that those might have been the problem,

but I know what happened in the second book too

So like I know that that's not the only thing

but like Yeah, I mean it's like it wasn't enough

to turn me off in any way But like it's just

it's something I encountered that I figured I

should bring up so that it's not just up 30 minutes

of us going Hey, this is a really good book and

I enjoyed it Yeah Like I said, I think there's

a lot of people who would read this and not like

it because it goes for a certain style and Approach

that it's not universal and I'm surprised that

you know I like it when Marvel does give freedom

like this to to some of their creators like I've

listened to some interviews of dance law and

talking about the series and where it kind of

came from and it was they do these writer summits

and kind of just came up through conversation

with other writers and Pitching I think he was

pitching something else or pitching it for someone

else and then He ended up taking over on writing

it and then someone mentioned Mike already and

it just all kind of Went together really well,

but I could see for a while a lot of people would

read this to me Like it's kind of weird. She's

carrying an evil monkey at one point like I don't

understand what's happening And like I said,

there's not like a lot of action like I love

Mike already as an act as an artist But I would

say like he he's best search for a story like

this if you're having like a action -packed fighting

sequence His art doesn't flow that well and when

it comes to that, it's it's a little bit more

staticky for the most part There's a lot of power

to it. But it's not like I think that might be

sometimes to why some of those panels that you

had or Coherency with them can be off because

he he just filled the page with a lot of things

But with that it can get kind of disorienting

at times Like I don't know. That's one of the

things I actually love about comic books is Like

the the the way different artists can approach

things differently. Yeah Yeah, I think it's all

about consistency and kind of making sure the

right style flows with the right story like I

I don't think you could do the story this same

art with like a, like a Tardy McFarland just

throwing a name out there. Like I don't think

it would work as well. Maybe I'm wrong, but with

a Michael Redd, it just, I don't know. It's just

like the perfect mixture of, it's like almost

like if Wes Anderson did a superhero story, that

type of aesthetic. Maybe I'm wrong and people

are getting angry at that type of idea, but it

just reminds me, just the retro feel of it, just

how it's so uniform at times, but. Like, I tend

to prefer styles like Mike Allred, the more cartoony

styles like the Darwin Cooks, the Chris Sammies,

more than like the realistic tick, but for the

right story it could work. But yeah, anything

else before we bring this episode to a close?

No, no, I think I've said my piece. Alrighty,

well, if more people wanted to get in touch with

you and follow what you do, what would be the

best way to do that? I'm like on Twitter at Fridley

sent like if you want to talk about comic books

or Star Wars I would love to discuss anything

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