Silver Surfer #60: Review

Dec 1991

Ron Marz, Ron Lim

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Story Name:

Finale & Prelude

Review & Comments

Rating:

Silver Surfer #60 Review by Rob Johnson (May 22, 2021)

This issue doesn't have the Infinity Gauntlet brand but does begin within IG#6, and I believe that's what the Finale part of the title refers to.

Midnight was introduced and killed off in Special Marvel Edition #16 as a boyhood companion of Shang-Chi forced now to fight him. He appeared in Avengers #131-132 and Giant-Size #3 as part of Kang's Legion Of The Unliving.
The Kree recreated him as Midnight Sun in an enhanced cloned body but without memories. They sent him to fight Silver Surfer in #29-30 but SS deactivated(?) him. The Kree revived him again in a backup tale in Annual #4, but he escaped from them and found himself on the Moon where we encounter him here.
I don't think there was any previous hint of a scarred face?

He'll find Shang-Chi again in a tale in the SC: Master Of Kung Fu (2009) 1-shot. But he next appears as a villain in Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu (2014) #3-4, Domino (2018) #4-5 and (as I write this) Iron Fist: Heart Of The Dragon #2.

The Inhumans home Attilan moved to the Blue Area Of The Moon in Fantastic Four #240.
Black Bolt, Gorgon and Karnak had a cameo in Infinity Gauntlet #2. Before that they were with Lockjaw in Avengers #334. This was the beginning of the Collection Obsession storyline, and Lockjaw was with his mistress Crystal when she joined the team in later episodes in #336-338.
Lockjaw will continue to be more popular than the others. He'll be with Crystal's estranged husband Quicksilver in X-Factor #71-72 as he joins *that* team. Then it's back to Crystal again in Av#343 (it's easy for a teleporting dog to alternate between parents) before rejoining the other 3 Inhumans for Guardians Of The Galaxy (the team from the 31st Century) #27 where the GOTG seek Inhuman help for their sick Inhuman teammate Talon.

The Collection Obsession (Av#334-339) was the last place we saw Collector before his cameos in the last 2 issues. His spacecraft actually crashed in the Blue Area Of The Moon in #334 and beings called the Brethren escaped and attacked Earth. Collector pretended to help the Avengers but it turned out he'd deliberately released them as a weapon against Earth. In #339 they turned on him and appeared to kill him in his crashed ship. Then in our #58 we saw him crawling from the wreckage.
Now of course he will be in our next storyline sending our hero after a dangerous alien but, again of course, his motives will turn out to be not what he claims.

Thor (Eric Masterson) will be there when Impossible Man annoys the Asgardians in a tale in IM Summer Vacation #2. Then he tackles power couple Absorbing Man and Titania in his #436 before helping the Avengers face the 1st of the Gatherers in the above-mentioned Av#343 (and #344).

Warlock continues with the end of IG#6 where he, Gamora and Pip The Troll find Thanos living as a simple farmer.
Then godhood goes to his head, and Gamora and Pip recruit Dr Strange in his #36 to bring him to his senses.
This leads to the Warlock & The Infinity Watch series.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Silver Surfer #60 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

It's near the end of Infinity Gauntlet #6 and Adam Warlock now has the god-like power of the Gauntlet. Dr Strange, Silver Surfer and Thor prepare to challenge him, so Warlock wishes them away back to Strange's Greenwich Village house where his servant Wong has returned with no memory of having been 1 of the half-population of the universe that Thanos wiped from existence.

DrS suggests there's nothing they can do about Adam having the Infinity Gems, so they'll just have to hope he's a more benevolent and sane god than Thanos or Nebula. (But Gamora and Pip The Troll will persuade him differently in DrS, Sorcerer Supreme #36.) Thor flies off back to his own life as Surfer comments that he didn't seem like the Thunder God they know. Stephen Strange agrees but pretends that Thor didn't reveal his new secret identity Eric Masterson to him (DRSSS#35). Norrin Radd declines Stephen's offer to stay here for some much-needed rest because 1st he intends to head back to distant space to destroy the palace Thanos built for Death. (But as usual events will prevent him from carrying out his plan until he (or the writer) seemingly forgets about it.)

That's the end of this issue's (and Surfer's) involvement in the Infinity Gauntlet event.

But as his cosmic Surfboard takes him past the Moon he is stopped by a previous foe Midnight Sun (who the Kree sicced on him in #29-30). The guy is still voiceless and amnesiac but is hoping that Surfer knows something of his past and identity, and that he can somehow get him to tell him about it. But of course they just start fighting. Sun's enhanced body and martial arts moves enable him to hold his own against the cosmic might of the Surfer until they crash to the surface of the Moon next to the Apollo Moon lander.

But then a cosmic blast renders MS apparently dead. But he's only playing possum and renews his attack when the solicitous Surfer bends over him. So SS throws the Moon Lander at him (sacrilege!). Sifting through the wreckage he finds the body again and removes his mask to check for life. And is horrified by the scarred face he sees. So of course MS attacks him again. The fight escalates until ...

... a spoken word from Black Bolt stops them with a moonquake. He has come with Gorgon, Karnak and Lockjaw from the Inhumans' current home in the Blue Area of the Moon to see what the ruckus is all about. Surfer says he'll gladly stop fighting and leave. He tells them what little he knows of Midnight Sun. The Inhumans offer the mystery man sanctuary and what help they can give. He agrees to stay.

But on the way back into space Surfer is stopped again by a mental apparition of the Collector who asks for his help. His collection has been destroyed or scattered, and 1 missing item in particular will kill millions unless he gets it back. Noble Norrin Radd of course agrees to help.

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