Greg Pak’s mini-series, Death of the Silver Surfer, is hitting its emotional peak with issue #4, and honestly, this one is a heavy hitter. If you were looking for a simple, heroic send-off for Norrin Radd, you might be thrown off your guard. This issue is less about a noble sacrifice and more about the devastating consequences of human fear and blind obedience, setting up a terrifying new path for the finale.
The creative team of Greg Pak, Sumit Kumar, and Tiago Palma drops us straight into the chaos. Earth is on the brink of being annihilated by the terrifying Blood of Galactus, a horde of monsters that makes the situation look dire. The story opens with a strangely mundane phone call. Major Kelly Koh’s mother calls her from the Bureau of Alien Neutralization (B.A.N.) Substation, mentioning that the robot Beeper is more agitated than usual. That small, almost domestic detail is immediately shattered by the monstrous reality: the Blood of Galactus is heading straight for Earth.
This grounded moment quickly gives way to the real human villain of the story: Director Harmon. He embodies the cynical, “us vs. them” political mentality, preparing to use the crisis to make humans more powerful than the aliens, the mutants, the heroes, or the gods. He’s chillingly unconcerned with the immediate danger, ordering Kelly to stay put even as his safest location, the Substation where her mother is, is about to be overrun.
The action is thrilling as the Fantastic Four struggle to protect a B.A.N. shuttle. Things look bad for Sue Storm and the rest of the crew until a much-needed cavalry arrives: Korg and Skaar, the powerful Sakaarians that the Silver Surfer called in. This unexpected team-up allows the heroes to reach the Substation for the final confrontation.
The aliens, the Surfer, Korg, and Skaar, work together to form a brilliant trap, using Skaar’s Old Power and some rock material to contain the horde. But this is where the theme of blind obedience tragically takes center stage. Beeper, the robotic defense system, strictly following its outdated directive to neutralize the aliens, mistakenly fires on the rock barrier, shattering the trap and causing the disaster.
Pak’s writing truly shines in this sequence. The fact that a bureaucratic machine (Beeper) causes a fatal action by adhering to a rigid, outdated order, even while the “aliens” are actively saving the planet, is a powerful and compelling critique of the ‘us vs. them’ mentality.
The issue ends on a profoundly dark and uncertain note. Kelly holds her dying mother, and the Silver Surfer, a character long struggling with his relationship to humanity, tells her, “The humans killed her.” This final statement, blaming humans for the death, suggests that Norrin Radd’s decades-long troubled relationship with our species has finally reached a breaking point.
This moment sets up a shocking potential twist for the final issue. It’s suggested that the Surfer may give Kelly a temporary power boost, and that his own sanity might be cracking, leading to a dark and enraged path. While some fans were hoping for a simple, heroic sacrifice, this turn, the idea of Norrin going “crazy” about killing humans, is certainly controversial, but it undeniably ratchets up the drama.
Death of the Silver Surfer #4 is a decent issue that successfully brings Pak’s core idea for the mini-series into sharp focus, even if that idea (a critique of humanity leading to a crazy Surfer and a new “Silver Surfer” in Kelly Koh) is not to everyone’s liking. The art, particularly Kumar’s pencils, continues to be a highlight, really selling the scope and emotion of the cosmic sequences. Overall, it’s a gut-wrenching read that swaps a neat, heroic send-off for a complex, tragic portrayal of human nature, leaving you desperate to see how this cosmic tragedy is resolved in the finale.
‘Death Of The Silver Surfer #4’ Delivers a Cosmic Tragedy Gut Punch
Death of the Silver Surfer #4 is a decent issue that successfully brings Pak’s core idea for the mini-series into sharp focus, even if that idea (a critique of humanity leading to a crazy Surfer and a new “Silver Surfer” in Kelly Koh) is not to everyone’s liking.
