Silver Surfer #14 - "A Power Greater Than Cosmic" [Final Issue]

[laughing_tree]

If I don't type "The End" on the last page of this Silver Surfer #14 plot, maybe we could just keep surfing through space? -- Dan Slott

I can't remember being more satisfied with an ending to a story. -- Mike Allred







The Surfer goes to Inkandessa, the planet where a holographic AI copy of Dawn was accidentally created earlier in the series:

Comments

[q99]

Aww, Kirbydots!

[nightauditguy]

Anyone else reminded of Rose and Doctor Who 10.5?

[crinos]

That is probably the sweetest retcon I have ever seen.

Norrin made Kirby Krackle look the way it does as a sign of his love for his best gal.

Dawwwwwwww.

[lizard_of_aus]

With a mix of Moffat's lame pun-based plot twists.

[malitia]

I loath when anglophone writers* assume their language/culture is universal somehow.

Dawn is named the same by every alien race? Have you f~ing see how many different words for the concept exist in all across human languages**? Or even how it evolved in English? Apparently: NO.

So so incredibly STUPID!


* It happens with non-anglophone people too... but they can't go as easily without interacting with anybody outside of their language/culture bubble so generally learn their lesson when they get laughed out of the room.
** EDIT: For starters https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/dawn

[laughing_tree]

This isn't the kind of series that tries for nor requires that kind of realism.

[bmaryott]

I'm not crying; YOU'RE crying!

[bmaryott]

...but a guy flying the cosmos on surfboard is fine?

[malitia]

To my knowledge the Power Cosmic doesn't exist in our world so I don't mind it acting however the writer wants it. :3

But I'm not a native English speaker, so when an anglophone writer assumes the universalness of their language they also instantly destroy my suspension of disbelief and sink any effect they were aiming for with their work.

[draganoche]

There is no assumption of the universality of the english language. The plot specifically creates a scenario where a single word is made universally relevant.

[malitia]

Sure. I mean, my suspension of disbelief only concerns my reading experience of it... (English is my second language, so I can't switch my language comparison/translation part of my brain off so easily while reading in it.)

[locuatico]

I remember joking how this would apply in reality.
"Even earth languages, like spanish, use Dawn now. "Amanecer" was replaced by "dawn" it is incredibly awkward because it is still pronounced according the the english laws for some reason yet everything else obeys the spanish laws. don't get me started on alien languages that don't have vowels nor Ns"

[malitia]

*sniker* XD

[leoboiko]

I took it to mean that all sentient beings have a symbol in their language for the first light in the dark, and though this symbol's materiality (auditory or otherwise) varies, its meaning or spirit is universally connected, unconsciously, to the impact made by Surfer's formative Dawn-bean.

That is, I took "the word is always the same" to refer to spirit, not to phonetics.

[lieut_kettch]

Omg, Kirby Krackle is actually Norrin Radd’s memorial to Dawn Greenwood!

Wait, so does that even apply to that the mother box and boom tube energies of New Genesis and Apokalips?

[crinos]

It was early enough in history that it became consistent throughout the multiverse.

[beyondthefringe]

Like every species in the universe has a word that somehow means "Doctor" and...

yeeeeah. :)

[locuatico]

I think they mean New Genesis and Apokalips are DC...

[crinos]

Yeah I know.
I'm saying that Norrin went back so far to do this that he did it before the multiverse split between Marvel and DC. so whenever Kirby Krackle shows up ANYWHERE, in any book regardless of if its Marvel or not, its because of what Norrin did.

[shakalooloo]

No Prize answer: In the Marvel universe, every language uses Dawn as the word for Dawn.

[bj_l]

Nah. Rose is completely awful and selfish for a start.

[amaniwolf]

Don't care what anyone says, this was a beautiful way to end this. Love it.

[commodus]

This was one of the most beautiful comic series I have read in a long time. It's true that sometime Norrin can come across as overly melancholic and dramatic, but that's part of his charm. The whole appeal of his character is that he's not a smart aleck like Spider-Man or some grotesque mass murderer like The Punisher, he's introverted and introspective and far more of a wanderer than a hero.

Also, does he know what Facebook is? Because there needs to be a story about him using it :D

[scorntx]

Hey, she's not completely awful.
She showed basic human decency by being appalled with the treatment of the Ood.
And she saved Donna and Wilfred from being killed by a falling Titanic.

And, uh... oh, she told the Cult of Skaro they weren't making anyone the designated redshirt.

... see, three examples over thirty-six episodes and an X-mas special! Not totally awful.

Now, selfish, on the other hand...

[bestiasono]

Except in Spanish, the word isn't "Dawn". Nor in any other non English language. So... that doesn't work at all. And even in that comic world, "Dawn" isn't found in any other non English earth language.

[q99]

Still, her name is named after a concept, and the concept is universally translateable.

Sure, the aliens are saying dawn because we need to read it, but that doesn't mean they aren't saying (their word for the concept of dawn).

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Fantastic end to a pretty fantastic series. I hope I can read it in its entirely someday.

More comics should be written with this kind of goal in mind.

[lissa_quon]

Wha? Someone else dislikes Rose as much s me?! I thought I was alone.

[remial]

add me to the list.

the only companion I like less than Rose is Donna Noble.

[malitia]

My language in its standard version* literally doesn't have the sound for the "aw" part of "dawn".


* There are some dialects that have. Not the majority though.

[mesmiranda]

So much so that it's kind of pulling me out of the story a little bit.

And I can't decide whether Dawn being named after dawn itself which was named after her is heartmelting or just really cheesy.

Overall I genuinely don't know how I feel about this--not positive or negative.

(It's worth noting that I adored how Martha in DW just peaced out with all the love and respect in her heart for the Doctor, confident, tall, knowing her worth. "You know what? I am good.")