Silver Surfer 2, Hulk 2

Silver Surfer 2
Slott (w) and M. Allred (a) and L. Allred (c) and Cowles (l)

Silver Surfer briefly gets his first up-close glimpse of Dawn Greenwood as she's pulled into the Impericon's holding cells. He agrees to fight on her behalf and goes forth to battle the Never Queen. If he should flee or somehow abandon the fight, Zed and the others will kill Dawn. As Surfer approaches, he's almost immediately nearly torn apart by the information the Never Queen has at her disposal: the information of every possible timeline all at once forced into Surfer's head. The battle changes, though, as Dawn enacts an escape plan with her fellow prisoners and they manage to make their way to the main power source of the Impericon, which turns out to be the Never Queen's heart. As Dawn makes a new wish on the Never Queen's heart (to explore everything), it distracts the Never Queen and she stops her attack on Surfer. She explains what's happened and Surfer realizes he's been duped and that the Never Queen is the victim here. He vows to help her and begins his return to the Impericon, where he quickly runs into Dawn. She vows to help rescue him.

Story
Lots happening here as we learn a little more about Dawn and the kind of person she is and as we see a little more of the improbable situation in which she's found herself as well as learning a bit more about the Never Queen. The only real problem with the story so far is that Zed and the other inhabitants of the Impericon that we've met are all sort of goofy, either explicitly or just in their actions, which makes it difficult to really take their threat seriously. Obviously the pose a threat but we only really know it because we've been told it's so. I like, in a way, that they're not your standard dark and dreary villains but when you see villains like this, it can be easy to see why most villains end up dark and dreary or sociopathic or something because these villains just don't seem competent enough to have pulled off a threat this huge. 3/5

Character
The biggest character developments we're seeing right now are from the new Dawn Greenwood. We see a bit of new characterization out of Silver Surfer but Slott is more concerned with establishing who Dawn is, particularly necessary because she begins to really drive the plot here. Slott's doing a pretty good job already to show Dawn as something more than just your stereotypical strong female lead sort of character (it still would have been a welcome relief even to see that). She's more specific than that. She's capable of getting herself out of the prison and doesn't need to wait for Surfer to turn up or anything but we know that she's capable of it because she's the sort of person who fixes problems. She practically runs the B&B back home and overcomes any sort of obstacles that crop up here, as we saw in the first issue, and she's quick on her feet and takes charge instantly here in the second issue. It's important to start to establish that sort of thing now so that she doesn't just suddenly become a strong character when the plot needs it. 5/5

Writing
As I said in the story section, it's not bad writing, per se, but it is a little incongruent to have this giant threat posed by these ridiculous people. Of course, we've only seen a couple of them so it's entirely possible that the people pulling the strings of the likes of Zed are more competent than he is and that would negate some of these issues, but right now it hurts the book a little to have Silver Surfer falling to a few kind of stupid villains. 3/5

Art
Michael Allred's art is ever Michael Allred's art. It doesn't look like almost anything else out there and you can almost immediately tell if it's for you or not. He's a very strong artist and the book has a very specific look to it and a very specific feel for that look. I think that Allred may be, along with wife Laura, the only one who can slot someone's very colorful outfit and the very imaginative Impericon into a comic and make it all work. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I'm still a little hung up on the tone of this book but that kind of thing usually takes a few issues to develop anyway.

Total score: 4/5


Hulk 2
Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

Maria Hill has come to check up on Banner. He's been placed in a small town with a couple of members of that community in the hopes that keeping him off the grid will keep him (and everyone else) safe. The mystery surrounding his shooting is still out there but Bruce himself is removed from the decision-making as he's effectively turned into Lennie from Of Mice and Men. Hiding him from whoever is after him hasn't stopped them from searching though and the shady organization after Hulk has another trick in its arsenal as they send Abomination, who has been rebuilt by those same people and who is drawn to Hulk by that rebuild. Maria gets Bruce to Hulk out just in time but the fight crashes through the small town like nothing and assassins from the organization appear to try to take Hill out.

Story
There are still a lot of mysteries surrounding the story of this issue and this new series and it's making it a little difficult to get wrapped up into the plot. Obviously the mystery is the plot but it's still a little bit meaning that we're not seeing the forest through the trees. There's a bigger story here but the emphasis on the mystery and all of these new characters aren't quite compelling enough to overcome the confusion of what's happening. I'm reminded a little of the final arc of DARK AVENGERS, where the Dark Avengers were transported to another timeline or dimension or something where everything had gone completely backwards and the superheroes were divided into bitter factions. We had no idea what was happening, thrust into this brand new universe, but the mystery of it was made more interesting by the fact that the story was readable without having to wonder about that. We'd like to know, sure, but the story stood without knowing. This one feels like it's not quite hitting that point and the overall issues are worse off for it. Of course, that could all turn around as things start to come to light but it likely won't change the way these issues look. 3/5

Character
It's perhaps a bit hard to judge what are character developments are here as we see more of Bruce but he really does read like Lennie (that's about the best comparison I can make) and so we're not likely to see much character evolution until such time as Waid has established that. Hopefully that means next issue we start to see more but who could really know? Hill has a tiny bit of character as she attempts to keep Bruce safe and shows genuine regret that she'll have to resort to bullying to get him to Hulk and save himself but there's ultimately not that much that needs to be looked at here. 3/5

Writing
Most of what I'd have to say about writing in this issue has been said in the story section. I think that the issue overall suffers from a sort of lack of focus where the mystery has already become a little convoluted and it's mystery for a mystery's sake and so everything feels less important than it should feel. SPEAKING OF LACK OF FOCUS, that last sentence. ANYWAY, I guess this issue was kind of like that sentence. 2/5

Art
Bagley's Hulk continues to be the strongest part of the issue. His other characters are pretty good but the Hulk really does come off huge and impressive, as does his Abomination. Jason Keith's colors are also top quality here and the fight scene, which is intentionally big and brutal, feels like a huge fight between two monsters while a small town suffers. 5/5

Miscellaneous
Guys, I taught Of Mice and Men, alright? This is like reverse that, where he gets shot at the beginning.

Total score: 3/5