Silver Surfer Omnibus by Dan Slott, Mike Allred, Laura Allred

Look, when the writer of a book tells you there’s a 30% off sale online, you take them up on that offer. Because if you do, then you might find of the best books you’ve ever had the fortune to read.

I started this series when it was first coming out in 2013. Then, you know, life happens, you divorce, you move cities, you meet someone new who changes everything, typical stuff. Sold all my comics to make some ends meet but I always told myself I would come back to this.

And I’m glad I did.

The Silver Surfer, I feel, coming from a guy who has read comics nearly all his life (take that for what you will), is a hard individual to crack down. He’s cool to look at, and a wonder for the guest appearances he’ll make in other character’s books. But, I usually put him in the same camp as someone like Doctor Strange or The Eternals: they don’t need their own ongoing book, and even a mini-series in a non-capable writer’s hands will fall flat.

Slott and the Allreds changed that.

The Silver Surfer is free to surf the cosmic spaceways, but when a random encounter with a young earth woman named Dawn Greenwood opens his yes to the true beauty of the universe, only fun cosmic adventures await.

This is some of the best comic book sci-fi I’ve ever read (including the Eisner Winning Issue #11) in my life, where the “rules” are made up but the rules are in place. Everything has consequences, everything is at stake, and while that sounds crazy, it matters so much when you’re playing in a park as big as ALL OF THE UNIVERSE.

To see the Surfer finally come to life is a joy for the 30-ish issues Slott and the Allreds allow us to spend with him.

A perfect book.

Wonder Woman: Historia by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, Nicola Scott

Wonder Woman Historia The Amazons Cover

Okay, I liked this book, I just don’t think I loved it. I feel it would have been better served if it just dropped the “Wonder Woman” in the title. I mean, I get why they did it, got to sell copies, but it does cast an immovable shadow over the story that could let readers down once they figure out they’re not going to get what they want. Imagine like advertising The Rock for a wrestling show, only for him to now show up. (Besides the times he’s done that, recently.)

Kelly Sue wanted to fix what as wrong with Wonder woman, an origin that was out of place. (I personally loved the New 52, child of Zeus, Percy Jackson “half-blood” family drama take myself, but have learned recently that it’s not quite so universally beloved.) So she, and her artistic collaborators, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, and Nicola Scott, set out to change that.

And, apparently, channel the artistic powers of the entire collective consciousness of Earth because good golly miss molly this is one beautiful book to look at.

Hippolyta is on the run, and just when she thinks she’s at the end of her rope, she encounters a tribe of powerful, mighty women, set on undoing the wrongs of men, and leading the charge for women everywhere. What Hippolyta doesn’t know, though, is that she’s stepped into a powerful game of chess between the gods above and sets in course a series of events that will lead to the creation of one of this planet’s greatest champions, Wonder Woman.

And it’s brilliant. It’s epic. It’s sweeping.

I guess what’s holding me back from loving it entirely is personal preferences to another part of the long and storied lifespan of Wonder Woman. Still, this is more than worth your time. In fact, it’s basically recommended reading at this point.

Thanks for reading,

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