Sounds great although I’m not feeling that retro font. But that’s just a minor complaint.

Holy shit, Slott and Allred? Where do I sign up?

I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t care for the art. It’s the flatness of his action scenes and there seems to be no real interaction between the characters and the backgrounds, like the former are just Colorforms laid on a painted landscape. His characters just seem to be superimposed on scenes, like when Medusa is sitting on a bed in FF, you don’t really get the impression that she actually is because there’s nothing like the bed appearing to be feeling her weight or whatever; rather it seems, like I said, that he had a scene drawn and then placed a picture of Medusa on top of it like a set of Colorforms. That and all his characters tend to look alike.

Surfer here looks like Madman without hair who looks like the future Johnny in FF, etc. The girl here looks like Darla in iZombie who looks like the girl in FF who looks like Medusa with short hair.

His sameness in characters is the same thing I tend to dislike about Land and Dillon. His backgrounds are often pretty and I enjoyed him on iZombie but I can only take the same 6 poses and 2 or 3 faces. Oh well, I do hope it does well because it’ll likely be someone’s favorite book and I know I hate it when MY books are canceled!

Allred is an artist I really love but who I can totally understand someone else not liking. I totally get Charles critiques, although those aspects of Allred he describes don’t bother me.

I’ll definitely try this.

I love the idea of this but hate Slott’s writing in general. I also dislike (but am not surprised) by the fact that he’s anchoring the surfer on earth, seems like a total waste of a good cosmic character. Still, I’ll stick around for Allred for at least a little while, I feel like he’s going to bring the best out in Slot’s scripts, in the same way Quitely elevates Jupiter’s Legacy for Mark Millar.

Thanks, T. I agree. There are just some artist who have little things that people either like or hate. I’m someone who LOVES Yu, but I know some people don’t like the “sketch” type quality of some stuff, and I still like JRJR despite the line heavy styles. But like I said, I DO hope it does well because every book is someone’s favorite!

FF was one of the worst comics of all time. It’s nice that Allred’s talents aren’t going to be wasted on such a steaming pile of shit anymore.

This Silver Surfer ongoing looks like it has the potential to be excellent. Slott’s already written Cosmic Marvel during his She-Hulk run and he did an awesome job of it. If this is anything close to that in tone then we’ve got nothing to worry about.

John, from what little I’ve read, I think the premise is that Slott is going to have the Silver Surfer “connecting” with this Earth woman, and taking her out to “show her the universe.” Sounds like a Marvel spin on Doctor Who, of which I know Slott is a huge fan. Should be fun, especially if Slott is writing towards Allred’s far out sensibilities, which I imagine it’d be hard not to want to do.

Is it too late to just call this series Silver Surfer ’66?? I mean, that’s basically what it is, right? But yes, I’m in. It looks awesome.

Yeah that logo does seem a little “Beach Blanket Bingo” to me too…I dunno; Surfer gas always been kind of tragic and serious, so while it’s good he’s getting lightened up a bit, j hope it’s not TOO much. Has Allred ever drawn anything that wasn’t generally lighthearted? On the other hand, Slott has rather expertly (IMHO) managed all sorts of effective tones throughout his Spidey books (which I adore) so I’m over the moon with announcement.

I just hope it isn’t all silly.

I loved Allred’s art on X-Force/X-Statix, but his style just doesn’t work on SS.

(@John) What you talking about, man? This book isn’t anchored to Earth at all–it’s all about the Surfer and his new friend travelling around the universe. There’s hardly been any mention of Earth in interviews. (heck, Slott mentions how the Surfer is no longer tied to it and free to go wherever he wants)

Also, I strongly disagree with anyone that says Allred’s style doesn’t work on a book like the Silver Surfer.

I’m certainly interested in at least trying this, but I’m not sure how much I’ll like it. Hopefully it will be better than it seems just from this brief description.

Sorry, but Allred’s Surfer looks like Iceman on his way to see The Cure.

It’s been awhile since I’ve looked forward to a comic book as much as this one — I adore Allred’s art, and I’m a huge fan of Slott’s more lighthearted work (Thing, She-Hulk, Spider-Man/Human Torch among others).

yeah, i don’t dig his art that much, but i can over look art i don’t like for writing i love. And if Superior Spiderman is anything to go by, this is gonna be great.

Big win for Marvel and fans!

Will definitely give this a try. Allred’s a great artist (though I think the critiques voiced so far are all valid). Slott’s She-Hulk was very good, though I haven’t read much of his other work. And I’m a big Silver Surfer fan. And although the Surfer tends to be more serious and melodramatic, a fun Slott/Allred take is definitely worth a try. Sold.

Like:
- Mike Allred
- Laura Allred
- The Allreds on the Silver Surfer

Dislike:
- the price tag
- the Surfer’s character in general

How does Marvel expect anyone to buy this? As soon as I found out Marvel was putting out new books that were not new Avengers and X-Men titles, I had a heart attack. I’m in no condition right now to buy any books. Maybe when I get over the shock of that announcement.

@Third Man– Silver Surfer ’66

Really? It’s just a Silver Surfer comic with stylized art. How is that “retro”?

Oh man, this whole thing sounded awesome until the penultimate sentence.

I’d love to see Allred doing something retro-cosmic and I always thought the Silver Surfer character had tons of potential. But grounding it with a POV character and doing the whole “random pseudo-real-life character/fish out of water/exposition and faux-witty baner bonanza” that I know is coming with this just kills it for me. Seems more like a committee of television execs idea for a “wacky” sitcom.

edit: faux-witty banter, that is.

…and you know this comic will be full of it.

I was trying to figure out how this would tie in to the Surfer’s role in “Infinity”… and actually, if this is his way of recovering from the wholesale slaughter caused by the Builders, it makes a lot of sense.

Guess I will have to wait and see.

I loved Slott’s She-Hulk and I generaly like Allred, but I’m not sure his pencils work well with the Surfer.

As for Surfer himself, he has a tendency to fall into the extremes; his stories are either really good or really pointless.

I think Slott handled Gamora and Warlock fairly well (albeit briefly) in She-Hulk, so I am willing to give his perspective on cosmic characters at chance.

@Luis Dantas– Silver Surfer has only ever really worked when Stan Lee or Jim Starling wrote him. And Requiem.

But Slott’s handled Cosmic Marvel reasonably well (see: She-Hulk vs. The Champion), so I’m reasonably confident in this series’ potential. Whether or not it’ll sell well enough to justify keeping it around is another matter, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The Englehart issues had their moments as well.

Ron Marz, however… and even Ron Lin… not so much.

I really liked Englehart’s Surfer, I think I will like this one too. I am on board with those looking forward to Allred’s art. Hopefully when he needs a break Marvel will get Ron Frenz to do the fill ins.

I am also pleased that Marvel is going with some non-Avengers/X-Men titles. When I have extra money to spend in the comic shop now, I look around and every thing I do not get is Avengers or X-Men. Now I will have some choices.

Starling

FFS, F’N AUTOCORRECT!

@kdu2814– Agreed on the increased focus on non-Avengers/mutant titles. Personally I’m lukewarm on Avengers and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the X-books, so this makes the company as a whole all the more appealing.

Silver Surfer is not a character that usually does it for me, but Slott and Allred are so right for each other that this is going to be impossible to resist.

I love Allred’s artwork but I just have trouble seen him do anything other than Madman. I don’t know why. I didn’t like X-Statix and I haven’t read FF. But I’m glad he’s still getting work and we are still getting artwork from him.

This is going to be fucking awesome. Slott and Allred have both been on a roll lately.

“FF was one of the worst comics of all time. It’s nice that Allred’s talents aren’t going to be wasted on such a steaming pile of shit anymore.”

Why?

@Anonymous

Umm, how is it retro? Let’s see…

In all of the interviews and press, the creators specifically bring up how Kirby-ish they want the series to feel, the plot line of the series is very much influenced by Doctor Who (a show originally from the 60′s), and Slott talked about how they want to have a very different feel from the ultra-modern take on sci-fi happening in Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. There’s no doubt they’re going for a 60′s vibe.

Plus the logo is obviously designed with retro in mind, and even recalls the original Star Trek logo from the Gold Key comics of the 60′s.

But regardless, I’m not knocking retro. I’m really looking forward to this series and I have high expectations for it. I’m just saying that it’s obviously hoping for some success in the same demos as titles like Batman ’66.

Yes! It is sad that FF is ending! This book does not deserve such a cruel fate!
It is simply not fair.
I will definitely check new Silver Surfer because
1) Allred
2) Slott & Allred doing stuff together
3) It’s the best that you can get from marvel as of now. Forget X-Men (except Legacy), and Avengers.
This will be the best marvel book of the decade.

But it will probably only be Slott and Allred for 4 issues. The Marvel Now policy seems to be to debut with star artists for the first few issues ONLY. See Wolverine (Alan Davis 4 issues), Nova (Ed McGuinness 5 issues), Guardians of the Galaxy (McNiven 3 issues), Uncanny Avengers (Cassaday 4 issues) etc.

Alan Davis did Wolverine 8 and 9, and is listed as being on 10-12.

Allred’s a workhorse. I suspect he’ll be semi-regular on Silver Surfer with appropriate fill-ins and Laura’s coloring helping to provide aesthetic unity.

Allred is one of those artist who I really WANT to like, but his work always seems just a bit too “off” to me.

In the early 90′s Toth commented that he was one of the few artist that gave him hope, and I’m certainly not going to dispute the master.

I think Charles J Baserap pretty much nailed it with his assessment. The flatness/stiffness just gets to me.
His work is unique and I’m glad he has a following, anything that’s different from the ultra serious and overly rendered comics is a welcome relief.

Still, a light hearted retro Silver Surfer comic sounds like a lot of fun, I may have to check it out.

@David

Allred has proven he’s one of the few artists that breaks that trend. He’s done almost every issue of FF. (I think he’s had two fill-ins in 12 issues.)