Silver Surfer #3 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors)

The Story: To save the universe, Silver Surfer calls upon the powers of Larry, Curly, and Moe.

The Review: I’ve never much liked characters who had too many powers at their disposal, and Marvel definitely has a big share of them. From a storytelling standpoint, these kinds of characters just make things harder for the writer. It’s pretty hard to devise serious challenges for people like the Phoenix, Thor, or the Hulk, and even when you do, the power levels are so high that the story risks spilling out over the top. Superpowers too easily become an all-purpose tool in a character’s belt.

Take Norrin and his Power Cosmic, whose deus ex machina qualities make it virtually indistinguishable from magic. In this issue alone, Norrin uses the Power Cosmic to disguise himself, shield Dawn from the freezing vacuum of space, distract all of the Impericon’s guardsmen, and keep the entire pleasure planet running long enough for all its denizens to escape. The sheer utility of his powers causes Dawn to remark, somewhat uncomfortably, “That’s very…convenient.”