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Silver Surfer by Slott & Allred

Silver Surfer, Vol. 4: Citizen of Earth

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Collects Silver Surfer (2016) #1-6.

Everything changes for the Silver Surfer! He's taken Dawn Greenwood to the end of the universe, and now it's time to show her the most fantastic planet of all: Earth! But how will this trip lead to a fight with the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing? Who is Alicia Masters, and why has the Surfer never mentioned her to Dawn? And what action could put him in the sights of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? The Silver Surfer will be made to pay the price, but will any allies still stand at his side? Whatever happens, there may be worse devastation to come that could leave Dawn scarred for life! Featuring the Thing, Spider-Man, the Avengers and more major players, it's a mythic tale in the Mighty Marvel Manner that celebrates the Surfer's 50th anniversary!

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 28, 2016

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188 people want to read

About the author

Dan Slott

2,000 books454 followers
Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

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5 stars
221 (33%)
4 stars
284 (42%)
3 stars
141 (21%)
2 stars
12 (1%)
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4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Dan.
3,219 reviews10.8k followers
April 29, 2017
The Silver Surfer faces an earth threatening menace when Dawn Greenwood meets two of his former girlfriends. Oh, and there's a machine that's threatening to turn earth into a Utopia like Zenn-La, the Surfer's home world.

Dan Slott and Michael Allred's take on the Silver Surfer through a Doctor Who lens continues. The Surfer, Dawn, and Toomie adjust to life in Anchor Bay and save the earth a couple times. The Silver Surfer even becomes a celebrity.

I love the way Allred and Slott make the Silver Surfer feel like a comic from years ago while still having it feel modern and fresh at the same time. The charm of the series is the relationship between Surfer and Dawn and the Surfer's innocence and naivety.

Michael Allred's art is stellar, as always, and Dan Slott manages to make a character that has been pretty inaccessible at times to the Marvel Universe's equivalent to Doctor Who. The only thing I don't like about this run of the Silver Surfer is that it has to end at some point. Four out of five stars.
Profile Image for Sam Quixote.
4,815 reviews13.4k followers
March 16, 2017
Oh lordy I yawned a lot during this one! Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd’s people of Zenn-La try to remake Earth in their supposedly superior image and Norrin has to decide: his people or his adopted homeworld? Ah, why even pretend this is a real conflict – he punches the Zenn-Lavians! He also has a team-up with Spidey in Frisco where they punch more terribly exciting aliens… zzz…

I used to enjoy Dan Slott and the Allreds’ Silver Surfer but four volumes is at least one volume too many it seems. Boredom is the watchword as Norrin and Dawn Greenwood peddle the same schtick they’ve been doing for four books now. “I’m the Surfer and I’m a fish out of water!” “I’m Dawn and I’m his girlfriend – boy, the Surfer’s a wacky dude, eh?” - I couldn’t muster up an ounce of enthusiasm for it this time around.

Dawn meets her long-lost mother which was ho-hum at best – Slott showing his limitations as a writer by failing to wring any emotion out of the encounter. And that crap with Spidey in Frisco – actually, the Zenn-La story too - was so Marvel-generic and pointless.

Silver Surfer is still one of Marvel’s most beautiful books thanks to Mike Allred’s illustrations and his wife Laura’s incandescent colours but it definitely feels like Dan Slott’s run out of ideas at this point. Silver Surfer, Volume 4: Citizen of Earth is unfortunately a snoozefest and easily the weakest book in the series so far. I think I’ll check back in with the Surfer when a new creative team takes over.
Profile Image for ♥Milica♥.
1,927 reviews752 followers
September 9, 2025
Oh boy, crossovers galore!! For a volume mostly set on Earth, this was so fun, I love ladybug Dawn so much, she's the cutest. The last issue pulled at my heartstrings due to her story, not gonna lie. I'm sad it's gonna end soon.
Profile Image for Sean Gibson.
Author 7 books6,125 followers
July 25, 2019
Slott and Allred continue their excellent run with an array of guest stars from across the Marvel U milieu, and ol’ Surfy even gets the “He’s OUR Silver Surfer!” treatment from the good people of Earth, a la Spidey in Spider-Man 2. All it took was saving the world.

Man…Earth people are easy.
Profile Image for Paul.
2,822 reviews20 followers
March 11, 2017
Perfection thy name is Surfer! My favourite volume of this book so far. Long may it run.
Profile Image for Calista.
5,435 reviews31.3k followers
January 2, 2018
I'm really enjoying this run of the Silver Surfer, not that I have read other runs. I think Dawn is a wonderful character and she brings so much warmth to the surfer. I think the story is going in great directions. It is such a trippy comic.

The action pretty much all happens on Earth. Zinn-La invades Earth and the surfer has to whip out his own culture - it's all a blank slate. Even Utau, the watcher on the moon is different and I love that character. Does anyone know if there is a novel that goes into that character and what it's about. I would love to read it. Dawn also finds her mom and Spiderman shows up in this volume.

It's exciting. I'm so glad I picked this up. I see there is a 5th volume I will have to check out.
Profile Image for Anthony.
816 reviews62 followers
September 5, 2016
Still really enjoying this. I think a lot of it is down to the Allred art, but the writing from Slott deserves credit too. If he spent more time writing and less time on social networks sites arguing with people trivial stuff, he'd probably be a top writer.
Profile Image for Robert.
2,198 reviews148 followers
September 4, 2020
I hadn't touched one of these Surfer books in a long while but I'm glad to report the storytelling and art are still utterly delightful.



After a long voyage through space, saving all of existence once or twice along the way, Norrin and Dawn return to Earth to find some things have changed a lot (the Avengers Mansion is an Airbnb now?), while others (constant alien invasions!) more or less stay the same.

Not an ideal jumping in spot but if you're caught up with the previous volumes you're sure to enjoy.
Profile Image for Marcos GM.
437 reviews289 followers
April 5, 2022
4° tomo de las aventuras espaciales (no tanto en este tomo) de Estela plateada y Dawn Greenwood, que tras los eventos del número anterior deciden volver a casa.

Aquí pasan un montón de cosas, y el número acaba de una manera algo dura, no en el mal sentido sino para la historia.

Miedo me da el final que va a tener esto, quiero leerlo ya pero a la vez no quiero...
Profile Image for Chris Lemmerman.
Author 7 books124 followers
September 24, 2016
[Read as single issues]

Dan Slott and Mike Allred continue their Eisner Award winning run on Silver Surfer with this new volume (although continuing with the trade numbering, because Marvel), collecting not only the 50th Anniversary issue of the character, as well as the 200th issue (issues 3 and 6 respectively).

In this opening story, the Surfer and his travelling companion/girlfriend return to Earth, trying to deal with the events of Secret Wars and their newfound relationship, only to find that things have changed on Earth too - Dawn's sister has gotten married and is pregnant, and the citizens of Zenn-La are on the warpath. Same old, same old.

In the process, the Surfer must re-examine his relationship with Zenn-La and Earth, fighting against his previous life as he tries to embrace his new one. The character work is top notch, and the Doctor Who fanfiction feel has definitely lessened which was probably the biggest drawback in the previous stories.

Mike Allred's pop-art style and Laura Allred's colours work amazingly well with the plot that Dan Slott throws their way. There may not be massive aliens or Galactus, but this Earth-bound story lets the art team flex a new set of muscles for a while.

This series has a big heart, and it's no wonder it's winning awards.
Profile Image for Keith.
Author 10 books286 followers
October 24, 2016
As always, what really makes Surfer work is that it's a love story. Vol 4 is still recovering from Secret Wars-itis, as the Surfer is inspired to call in the superhero cavalry to help fight off an alien invasion of Earth. All the current Marvel muckymuck continuity sort of throws a wrench into the adventure, and most of Slott's attempts at ensemble dialogue-writing are pretty thin.

But there's a theme in this volume around the discomfort of change, and with that in mind it kind of works when the Surfer discovers that the versions of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers he's familiar with are gone, or unrecognizable. By extension, Citizen of Earth is also the first volume that doesn't cater so completely to new readers, as it brings in characters from Surfer's past that required some looking up. After 3 volumes of 100% fan service, this was a bit of a bummer.

And of course the good guys win, but this volume also marks a shift in the romance between the Surfer and his girlfriend Dawn. The Surfer's wanderlust, loneliness, and attraction to chaos always seems to haunt those closest to him, and, well....

Anyway. Still a book I'm really enjoying, and I love how a tear floating through space tugs at the ol' heartstrings.
Profile Image for Sud666.
2,343 reviews199 followers
December 28, 2017
Ugh! What the HELL just happened? I love Silver Surfer stories. They are truly cosmic in scope and the beings that populate the stories are of varying degrees of power. Then there is this abortion by Dan Slott. Artwork that is a nod towards the crap from the '70-'80s (why? No seriously..why?!!) and a god-awful plot. Surfer and his new beau-some random brunette are out and about. Um...yeah..there is a story but it's too awful to bother with. I could write a review, but why? If I did a lengthy review someone might be motivated to read this dreck. That I do not wish to be responsible for. Read this crap at your own risk- about the worst Surfer story I've ever come across. Ugh. 'Nuff said- ignore this piece of trash.
Profile Image for Dan.
684 reviews21 followers
October 2, 2016
Hurrah, a new volume of the best comic book being published! The comic itself has been renumbered post- Secret Wars but pleasingly the trades continue with the same numbering.

Here the Silver Surfer and Dawn Greenwood return to Earth. Inevitably aliens come too and cause problems. First there's an attempt to mine Earth for all it's culture. Then the Surfer's homeworld of Zenn-La tries to make Earth as perfect as Zenn-La itself. Thankfully the Surfer is here to stop them, with a little help from the Avengers! Plus squid like monster fighting with Spider-Man!

With this being set almost entirely on Earth, it is a little more super-heroey than this comic usually is. It's essentially about the Surfer saving the planet and changing his reputation. There is some deep stuff hidden amongst this crazy stuff though with Dawn still learning about the Surfer's past and dealing with her own in the form of a runaway mother. That thread is pulled and then left so Dawn still hasn't really dealt with it properly.

It was fun to have the Avengers here and Spider-Man later on too. As Dan Slott is the write of Spider-Man he gave us an authentic and fun version of the character as well as some the supporting Spidey characters he has created that we haven't seen for a while.

The artwork, as ever, is spectacular. Here Allred gets to show us his take on a fair few Marvel superheroes and villains and they all look spectacular. His style is my favorite of any current comic book artist.

Whilst good, this didn't feel quite as special or original as previous volumes thanks to being set on Earth and being more of a traditional superhero story. I can see why Slott did it though and it's important for Dawn's character development to go back home now and then.

Another great volume and I look forward to the next volume with huge anticipation.
Profile Image for Derek.
526 reviews5 followers
September 21, 2017
Dan Slott and Michael Allred continue to make magic. The best Marvel book not enough people are reading.
Profile Image for Sean.
4,221 reviews25 followers
April 9, 2025
Once again, this book isn't for me. While Dawn continues to be charming and Surfer aloof, the book itself is just unimportant. Nothing ever seems to matter and its quirkiness never hits with me. Mike Allred's art is the same. I'm sure this book blow some fans away and that's great for them but this is not my cup of tea. Overall, boring and unspectacular.
Profile Image for Ian.
1,217 reviews7 followers
September 4, 2018
Messy. Slott raises a ton of fun premises and plotlines and then crams them all together without giving them room to breathe. It's still charming and readable, but it's disappointing to have the series hurried along like this.
Profile Image for Idan  Luisa Sanchez.
54 reviews
September 1, 2020
The Silver Surfer and his companion Dawn Greenwood are pushed to the limit. This is poignant and touching and ultimately heartbreaking for both as enemies and concepts attack the very idea of what it means to be a hero and a child of a culture and parents. The ultimate sacrifice is made as both fight for the survival of their society and their sanity. This is as strong as the strongest parts of Dan Slott and Michael Allred’s take on the Silver Surfer. Oh, and some common tropes such as alien invasions and the appearance of your worse enemies make this an Earth-centric story, unlike most of the previous volumes, which had deep space adventures a la Doctor Who.

The art, as consistently strong as always, shows expression and detail and is packed with nuance and flavor. In some ways it is rather simple, but do not mistake that to mean that it is careless. There is something so free-spirited and child-friendly about this art that anyone would be able to immediately grasp and relate to it.

The pacing of these stories is excellent—this graphic novel was lovingly put together and crafted by masters in this art form, and there is a steady release of pay-off balanced with setup.

I recommend this to anyone who wants to discover the core of these characters, the heroic pair of the Surfer and Greenwood. Dan Slott and Michael Allred, take my money!
Profile Image for Alex Sarll.
7,097 reviews365 followers
Read
September 15, 2016
I may have mentioned this series' heavy Doctor Who influence before; here we reach the wilderness years/new series staple of the story about stories, with aliens trying to steal or overwrite all Earth's culture, everything which makes us us - thus also enabling a sneaky Who cameo or two. Still a charming comic rich in heart and strangeness, and thank goodness it's been left unmolested (and in collections, un-renumbered) by the post Secret Wars relaunch bug.
Profile Image for Edward Davies.
Author 3 books34 followers
November 2, 2016
The series continues to be great fun and I love the relationship between Norrin and Dawn as they save the world together.
Profile Image for Joni.
819 reviews46 followers
July 27, 2025
Otro gran tomo, sin descollar pero super entretenido, bien dibujado, bien contado, bien y a pesar que se repita la fórmula imposible aburrirse y no leerlo de un tirón.
Profile Image for Alex E.
1,731 reviews13 followers
November 15, 2019
I've loved Dan Slott's run on the Silver Surfer so far. I love Dawn Greenwood, and I love the Doctor Who-esque vibe that Slott uses to tell the Surfer's stories. And I can easily say that this is my favorite volume so far.

Which is saying a lot, because this has been a great title overall. And the amazing thing is that this story is not so much about cosmic calamity, though there is a fair share of alien goodness as always, but instead, brings things back down to Earth, literally, to further the characterization of Norrin Radd and Dawn. Slott manages to tell a story that deals with the Surfer's identity and origin, his search for a home, his ongoing redemption, and the blossoming love between him and his companion. All while still being a super fun, funny, and action packed story.

And Allred's art. Good lord. Its soooo good. It is classic and modern at the same time. Its looks deceptively simple and effortlessly gorgeous. I hope this guy never stops drawing the surfer. And we are treated to Allred drawing multiple characters from the Marvel universe as well as comic book writers and artists. Just awesome stuff.

The highlight of the story is the love between Norrin and Dawn. The way that slot navigates what are, I'm sure, complicated feelings felt by both these characters for each other is subtle in a way that it leaves you desiring to see its culmination in the best way possible. But the fact that Slott takes his time letting the relationship grow and evolve naturally is an amazing writing feat. Dawn asking the Surfer to be his home was one of those moments in comics that is beautiful and fantastically scripted by Slott and brought to life by Allred. This is just an awesome book, and I cant say enough good things about it.

Bonus points for the nod towards Doctor Who in issue one. This book is one of my favorites right now, and I highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Krzysztof Grabowski.
1,877 reviews7 followers
July 17, 2023
A Slott dalej udowadnia, że od jakiegoś czasu bardziej rozumie postać Srebrnego Serfera niż Spider-Mana, choć oczywiście wkładu tego autora w rozwój Pajęczaka niż można pominąć.

Po kilku zakręconych przygodach w kosmosie, czas wrócić na Ziemię. Dawn troszkę przykrzy się do bliskich, a także czeka przed nią kilka zmian w najbliższym otoczeniu. Greenwoodowie to zakręconą rodzina, która zdumiewa nie tylko srebrnego bohatera. Tym bardziej, że czwarty tom to opowieść dużo bliższa sercom obojga wiodących postaci.

Bo Dawn spotka się z kimś jej bliskim, a i Srebrny przeżyje tu solidną niespodziankę. Będzie musiał nawet wybrać pomiędzy swoją przeszłością, a ocaleniem planety, która zrobiła mu się z wielu powodów bliska. Dołóżcie do tego kosmiczne zagrożenie, paczkę innych herosów, fanów Srebrego, a wyjdzie unikalny miszmasz, który podlany jest sporą dozą humoru. Co prawda specyficznego, ale pociesznego i łapiącego za serducho.

W dodatku przekonałem się też do kreski, jaką okraszona jest całość. Prace pary artystów Allred mimo początkowego słabego odbioru, są tutaj idealne. Postacie potrafią wyglądać miejscami karykaturalnie, ale to taka konwencja, którą trzeba kupić. Jak się to zrobi, to zostanie się zauroczonym.

I teraz w sumie jest mi żal, bo przede mną ostatni zeszyt z serii. Dobre w końcu nie może wiecznie trwać. A szkoda.
Profile Image for Michael Emond.
1,285 reviews24 followers
October 15, 2019
The penultimate volume of Slott and Allred's Silver Surfer series is here and it continues the same quality of previous issues. While I will admit it lacks the dramatic impact you might look for (even with the Silver surfer saving the Earth) I still love this series for its sense of whimsy, the fun pop-art of Allred, the relationship between Dawn and Surfer and super bonus points for giving me a Surfer I am interested in. In the past Surfer was too angsty and too one-dimensional. Here we get a Surfer who has some layers and is someone interesting enough that I want to spend time with. The romance dimension between him and Dawn works because she also has a great personality and isn't simply "the love interest".

Although, as I said, Surfer saving the world and even the end story of Dawn finding her mom didn't hit me like it should have I still enjoyed the stories and love their creativity. And whenever you need a smile Michael Allred's art will always bring one out.
Profile Image for Francisco Silva.
364 reviews22 followers
January 12, 2018
Me gusta que contra lo que se tenga que enfrentar Silver Surfer no sea una entidad gigantesca que quiera destruir el mundo, sino, nada más y nada menos que toda una civilización (su pueblo de hecho) que quiere homogeneizar a la raza humana bajo su concepto de cultura ¿Raro? Sí ¿Maravilloso? También.

Es cuático que en definitiva lo que más temamos perder sea lo que nos distingue como humanos y encontremos en el arte esa identidad. Acá se ve literal como todas las canciones,cuadros, etc se desvanecen y es que ¿no será que al final ese es nuestro bien más preciado? ¿Habrá música en otros lados del universo? No sé. No creo tampoco.

La resolución entre la madre de Dawn y ella por otro lado tiene otro cariz, que si bien es interesante, probablemente encuentre su desarrollo en el siguiente y último tpb de esta serie.

Profile Image for Anchorpete.
759 reviews6 followers
July 28, 2017
Yet another charming marvel book. Why doesn't Marvel just stick to books like this, and stop trying to tie everything into a Major event? Besides that, stop relaunching every title, every year. Just put out books with the same quality creative team, and let them plan out years worth of storytelling.
this book, even though it has had the same creative team for four volumes does not actually feel mapped out. there is a lot of seat of the pants storytelling here, where you couldn't possibly expect what is coming next. I think that is where the book gets its strongest quality from- its sense of whimsy.
Profile Image for Dakota Morgan.
3,448 reviews54 followers
November 8, 2018
Citizen of Earth is mercifully much more grounded than the previous volume, but that also means it's kinda dull. Silver Surfer and Dawn must save the Earth from it being turned into a new incarnation of Zenn-La, the Surfer's home world. There are interesting repercussions to the fight (what does it mean to have a species' culture wiped away for good?) and some satisfying plot developments (Dawn meeting her mother, for instance). It's overall a tad yawn-y, though - didn't we just fight some cosmic space rangers and almost die in the process?
Profile Image for Jesús.
378 reviews27 followers
October 11, 2019
Dan Slott and the Allreds’ 2014 run on Silver Surfer was an unexpectedly fun, retro-campy, sci-fi, screwball comedy. But here in their 2016 run, campiness has turned into corniness, and tongue-in-cheek experimentalism has turned into mainstream self-referentiality.

What was in 2014 a comic that could only exist as a comic has become in 2016 a comic that more closely resembles the inoffensive tone and broad humor of its counterparts in the MCU. This 2016 run is still solid reading, but it’s sacrificed its former inventiveness for greater polish and a wider appeal.
Profile Image for Just a Girl Fighting Censorship.
1,959 reviews124 followers
November 6, 2020
Meh. Behold, Silver Surfer in the most boring setting possible - Earth.

There is the benefit of several cameos, The Thing, Alicia Masters, Spiderman, and the Avengers, but I enjoy seeing new planets and meeting aliens.

The last issue in particular was weird. It involved Dawn reuniting with the mother who abandoned her.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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