—Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd)To me, my flying board! With you once more beneath my feet-- our speed shall serve instead of strength!"
Appearing in "The Power and the Prize!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mephisto (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- female captured by Badoon
- Soviet Space Program
- NASA
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Silver Surfer's Surfboard
- Shalla-Bal's space ship
Synopsis for "The Power and the Prize!"
The Silver Surfer's power and nobility catches the attention of Mephisto. He sees the Surfer as an obstacle in his plan to tempt all of humanity into becoming his slaves. He brings Shalla-Bal to Earth as a way to torment the Surfer. But neither this or any other temptations can get him to falter. Mephisto resorts to brute strength by his demons and then himself to fell the Surfer, but nothing is successful. His only solace is the pain that the Silver Surfer feels when Mephisto sends Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La.
Detailed Summary:
The Silver Surfer tracks down the woman that was severely injured by the Badoon. He tries to finish healing her with his cosmic powers, but the hospital staff and police try to intervene. Despite the police’s laser attack, the Surfer is able to save her life. However, angered by the human’s continued aggression towards him, he swears to get his revenge on mankind.
Flying above the Earth, the Silver Surfer uses all his power to bring civilization to a standstill. A series of his cosmic bursts envelope the entire planet, which shuts down all machinery, dims all lights, and blocks all communications. This attack causes mass panic everywhere and catches the attention of Mephisto.
The Earth is one of Mephisto’s prized places for lost souls and any threat to this planet concerns him. His mystic vapors reveal that it is the Silver Surfer that is the cause of mankind’s current panic. The Surfer’s nobility and power is a threat to Mephisto’s control over the Earth and he begins to devise a plan for his demise.
Mephisto transports himself to Zenn-La, into Shalla-Bal’s quarters. He promises to bring her to Norrin Radd if she does as he commands. Desperate to be with her beloved, she agrees to his request. They board a spaceship and head to Earth.
The Surfer, calming down and realizing the mass fear that he has caused, reverses the cosmic field that he had created, and the world was restored to order. Just then he notices a Zenn-Lavian spaceship entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Before he can react, the Earth’s nuclear defenses attack it. The Surfer destroys the weapons, but not before Shalla-Bal’s ship is damaged and she is injured. The Silver Surfer races to the crash site to find Shalla-Bal gravely injured. He uses his power cosmic to revive her, but Mephisto appears and vanishes with her.
Duel in the Depths
Mephisto retreats to his underworld lair with the captive Shalla-Bal. He doesn’t want to just kill the Surfer but make him his slave. Before he can continue with his plans, though, the Surfer surprises him by appearing before him. He had no problem tracking them to Mephisto’s realm. Mephisto warns him that he holds his beloved hostage and that he must destroy the Surfer so that his control over Earth is not diminished. He tries to tempt the Surfer with wealth, lust, and power, but fails to win him over.
Angered by this defiance, Mephisto attacks the Surfer with his demons. While each subsequent creature is stronger and deadlier than the last, none can stand up to the might of the power cosmic. Mephisto envelops him with amoebic energy, draining his strength and restricting his movement. While physically defeated, his soul is still not Mephisto’s to have. So Mephisto implants the Surfer into his own brain to slowly bend him to his will. However, Surfer’s purity caused Mephisto too much pain and he was forced to release him.
Finally, Mephisto threatens to send Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La unless the Surfer swears his allegiance to him. Tormented to see their long-anticipated reunion cut short, both Shalla-Bal and the Silver Surfer realize that she must go back so that Mephisto’s plan will fail. Satisfied with their anguish, Mephisto sends them both away and vows to one day defeat the Surfer.Notes
- Only the main story is reprinted and not the Watcher back-up story.
- The following pages were edited from the original: Pages 6, 7, 26, and 30.