Issue(s): Silver Surfer #60
Cover Date: Dec 91
Title: "Finale and prelude"
Credits:
Ron Marz - Writer
Ron Lim - Penciler
Jim Sanders III - Inker
John Lewandowski - Assistant Editor
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
Adam Warlock teleports the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, and Thor back to Earth. They arrive at Dr. Strange's house, and Strange finds that Wong, who was among those disappeared by Thanos, has returned.

Thor takes his leave, saying that he's heading home for a "hot bath". As he leaves, the Surfer notes that he seems different than the regular Thor, and Dr. Strange vaguely agrees.

You'd think he'd be more definitive about that, since Eric Masterson straight up told him in Doctor Strange #35 that he wasn't the real Thor, and even gave Strange his real name (albeit spelling Eric with a K). Maybe it's something that got forgotten with Nebula's continuity reboot, although i notice that she declined to fix Dr. Strange's window (which, to be fair, i guess happened before the 24 hours that she reset).

The Surfer leaves for space with the intention of returning to Thanos' floating monument to Death and destroying it. But he's instead immediately beset upon by his next challenge. Midnight has been waiting for him.

Midnight just wants to talk, but the problem is that he's mute, so he can't talk. So they fight for a while, with the Surfer still not showing any patience despite all the issues devoted to character growth during Infinity Gauntlet.

In the Surfer's defense, Midnight could have tried charades or pantomime or something.

Anyway, they fight for a while...

...landing on the moon where they destroy the remnants of the Apollo landing.

Then the Inhumans show up.

Not sure how they are able to talk, since i'm pretty sure NASA didn't land in the Blue Area of the Moon, and there shouldn't be any atmosphere to carry their voice elsewhere. But anyway, Black Bolt knows about not being able to talk, so he invites Midnight to stay with the Inhumans.

Then the Surfer returns to space, and this time is interrupted by the Collector.

Poor Silver Surfer is busy. So much so that we have to assume there is a gap between the Silver Surfer leaving the moon and the Collector contacting him, so that we can fit in more appearances while he's still in the vicinity of Earth.

I like the look for Midnight and i'm glad to have Ron Lim back on art. But frankly this story is not much of an improvement on the non-events of the last 9 (!) issues of this title. Nothing really happens with Midnight; it's just a matter of moving pieces around. Midnight is now with the Inhumans. And after the build-up of the Collector plot over the last two issues, the Surfer is simply summoned to come participate. On top of that the Surfer is showing no sign of actually having been improved by his soul searching. The events of the past 9 issues - the assassination of Clumsy Foulup, the rebirth of Reptyl, the announcement of the Collector storyline, and Silver Surfer's soul searching - could have all been done as an issue or two instead of having been dragged out so much. Nothing wrong with any of those events; the problem has been the way they've been slowly dripped to us.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This begins in the immediate aftermath of Infinity Gauntlet #6, with the Surfer, Dr. Strange, and Thor getting teleported back to Earth by Adam Warlock. The MCP place a number of stories during this issue, before the very end when Silver Surfer is contacted by the Collector.

References:

• Adam Warlock teleported Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, and Thor to Earth in Infinity Gauntlet #6.
  
• We saw Midnight get rebuilt and then escape the Kree in Silver Surfer annual #4.
  
• When Karnak says that people have been disturbing the Inhumans far too often lately, that may be a cumulative reference to New Warriors #5-6, X-Factor #65-68 and Avengers #334-339. They have been getting a lot of visitors.
  
• The Silver Surfer last saw the Collector in Silver Surfer #19.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A