Embrace the Abyss (Silver Surfer Black #4 Review)
SILVER SURFER: BLACK #4
Story: Donny Cates & Tradd Moore
Artist: Tradd Moore
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Rating: 10/10
Song I listened to while writing this review: Mural by Lupe Fiasco
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Friedrich Nietzche
In the fourth installment of Cates & Moore’s Shakespearean romp through the Spaceways, our Silver Sentinel finds himself making pivotal decisions. Decisions that could change the Galaxy for eons to come. The coming of Knull is at hand and the Surfer finds himself losing more and more of his Power Cosmic as the Black continues to consume his body. For Norrin, the decisions to be made are ones of personal merit. Is he the herald of death?
After being blasted through a black hole, he finds himself at the beginning of all things. Issue 3’s finale left Norrin in the presence of Lifebringer One, the incubator for the Eater of Worlds, Galactus himself. Considering all that he knows of his once former master, Norrin pulls the Incubator to a nearby star. “One. Slight. Push.” Is all it takes. One push and the Surfer saves countless millions from utter destruction. He can save planets from the impending doom that writhes and grows within the Lifebringer and maybe, he can have the life with beloved that he so longs for. With his hand ready to release the box into a burning star, he is stopped by a voice. Uatu makes one of his rare appearances to stop Norrin from a grave mistake and implores him to seek advice from the being who would become Galactus, Galan. It is there Norrin finds an understanding in Galactus’ role with the rest of the cosmos. It isthere, in the presence of his former master, he finds the answer he seeks.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Norton’s journey at the beginnings of all things has been some of the best writing currently being published by Marvel at the moment. The humanization of a Demi-god seems to be a popular theme, but Norrin’s journey is the most beautifully scripted and most imaginatively drawn that it’s easy to see that this story, amongst the myriad of Silver Surfer tales, will stand the test of time. With one issue left in this 5-part tale, I can imagine that even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are up there in the heavens, anxiously waiting for the finale of this adventure just like the rest us who have fallen in to the Black.