Title says it all - this seems to be a book in which Marvel's comic universe says last good bye to the Silver Surfer. I dont know if this means Silver Surfer did not show up in any of the follow up books but event seem to be rather very definite and dont leave much room for possible retcons.

We follow our hero from the moment when he comes head to head with notion of his mortality to him finally going back to his home-world of Zenn-La. And on this final journey we witness his love for all life, vast galaxies, Earth especially and its illogical human population. It is a touching story in which we see some of the major Marvel universe super heroes and villains saying final good-bye to Silver Surfer as a recognition of all his contributions to establishing peace among the stars.

Art is done by Esad Ribic and this means it is just stunning. I especially like illustrations depicting Silver Surfer roaming through the space and amazing galaxies.

Recommended to fans of Silver Surfer and SF adventure in general. ( )

Une très belle oeuvre, stylistiquement superbe, un magnifique écrin pour un personnage emblématique qui n'a peut-être plus sa place dans le monde super-héroïque contemporain. L'ex-héraut de Galactus, pacifiste convaincu, répugnant à la violence mais doté d'un pouvoir cosmique terrifiant, aborde ici son dernier voyage, lui qui a vu naître des étoiles et mourir des civilisations.

Construit sur le schéma quaternaire des requiems en musique, l'histoire commence avec une révélation, qui s'impose rapidement à l'esprit de notre héros : un mal l'affecte, auquel il ne peut rien. Peut-être sur Terre quelqu'un parviendra-t-il à l'aider : Red Richards est sans doute l'un des êtres les plus savants qu'il connaisse, et ils ont oeuvré ensemble à maintes reprises pour la sauvegarde de l'Univers. Las ! Le leader des Fantastiques se rend à l'évidence : Norrin Radd va mourir. Son enveloppe inaltérable est en train de s'effriter, et il ne peut rien y faire. Les marvelophiles assidus y reconnaîtront aisément la trame de départ de l'immense graphic novel La Mort de Captain Marvel : les héros font l'amer constat que, s'ils ont des poings et des pouvoirs pour combattre les plus grands vilains de la Création, ils ne peuvent rien contre certains autres fléaux, plus vicieux, plus pernicieux, moins visibles mais tout aussi létaux. Alors le Surfer sait qu'il lui reste une dernière tâche à accomplir avant de quitter cette existence - et c'est là que le récit diverge : alors que Marvel était cloué au lit avec tous les héros de la Galaxie à son chevet, le Surfer est encore apte à sauver des vies et accomplir ses miracles habituels. Pourquoi par exemple ne pas faire cesser cette stupide guerre ancestrale entre deux peuples ? Entreprise homérique et symbolique, qui lui servira d'épitaphe s'il y parvient, avant de finir sur la planète qui l'a vu naître, et pour laquelle il a donné sa vie.

Bien que moins surprenant et dense que les scripts habituels de Straczynski, Requiem bénéficie de l'élégance de son écriture et de la sensibilité extrême de l'auteur, qui sait à merveille dépeindre les tourments dans lesquels se trouvent des êtres confrontés à des choix cruciaux. Une histoire pleine de délicatesse transcendée par quelques très beaux dessins d'Esad Ribic qui opte pour une iconisation discrète. ( )

This is a very good end-of-life story. It hits most of the usual targets of the genre - the superhero learns they have a few days to live, so they say goodbye etc. etc. - but it's done tastefully and without too much pandering to trivia nerds. Recommended. ( )

Det kan virke som en underlig kritik, men jeg er ikke i tvivl om, hvad der er det mest skuffende ved afskeden med Silver Surfer: Der er for meget sentimentalitet. Selv Galactus, der rutinemæssigt udrydder hele planeter, står og småpiver til sidst.

Præmissen er ellers interessant nok. Efter mange år med usårlighed og nærmest guddommelige kræfter bliver Norrin Radd konfronteret med sin egen dødelighed. Reed Richards stiller diagnosen og må konstatere, at selv han ikke kan gøre noget ved det. Dernæst tager han afsked med Jorden – og fjoller lidt rundt med Spiderman – inden han sætter kursen mod sin hjemplanet. Undervejs involverer han sig i en bitter krig mellem to planeter, inden han vender hjem til Zenn-La for at dø.

Det er selvfølgelig en trist historie, men Straczynski hælder lige lovlig meget sentimentalitet ud over fortællingen, og samtidig bliver rumvæsenerne for menneskelige. Som sagt kommer det så vidt, at Galactus, som John Byrne gjorde til en kosmisk kraft, sørger over tabet af et enkelt individ. Selvfølgelig afspejler rumvæsener næsten altid aspekter af den menneskelige natur, men hvis det skal være interessant, så skal de også bevare en kerne af fremmedhed.

Hvis historien halter lidt, så er billedsiden til gengæld fremragende. Ribic har en dynamisk stil og en vild fantasi, så rumsekvenserne er fornøjelse at følge. Det alene gør albummet værd at læse. ( )

I've never been a big follower of Silver Surfer. He seems to usually show up in close association with the Fantastic Four, who I can't stand, so I don't get much exposure to him. But after reading Earth One, I noticed that the author, Michael Straczynski also wrote a one-shot of the Surfer, and I've been reading a lot of comic books lately to procrastinate with my schoolwork, so I figured why not.

The basic plot is that Silver Surfer finds out he's dying, and the story follows his final few days tying up loose ends with his life. Due largely to him being a super-powerful cosmic being bordering on some kind of a god, most of his concerns and thoughts are pretty heavy stuff, bordering on pretentious writing. He has a heart-to-heart with Spiderman, visits random parts of the universe, encounters some aliens, and eventually returns home. I thought it was a bit weird that he's had the power to return to his home and see the love of his life all this time and declined to do so until his last days.

This was a pretty good introduction to his character, I felt, which is funny considering that it's following his death. The art is dark and boording, which I think works well for the surfer character but not particularly well for Spiderman, as I found the visuals to largely clash with Spidey's sarcasm and humor.

I particularly liked the 3rd part, where Surfer visits two warring alien factions who hate each other for believing in different things. It's kind of heavy-handed, with the aliens actually spelling out "we hate them because their myths do not match our myths" or some such thing, and it's quite preachy, but I enjoyed it quite a bit nonetheless.

Surfer spends most of his time chastising humans and aliens for creating divisions between themselves and fighting each other in wars. The sentiment is nice, but it's preachy and a bit simplistic. I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't have to go into too many comic books to find Silver Surfer fighting "bad guys" alongside the "good guys". Seems like a division and a war, Surfer, you're not being a hypocrite now are you?

Overall, a good book, fun to read, self-contained, and quite short. ( )