“Well may you tremble! For you gaze upon... Mephisto!”
Appearing in "Now Strikes the Ghost!"
Featured Characters:
- ⏴ Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) ⏵ (Main story and recap)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Mephisto ⏵ (Main story and recap)
- The Flying Dutchman (Joost van Straaten) ⏵ (Main story and flashback) (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Beelzebub (Invoked)
- Lucifer (Invoked)
- Death (Only in flashback)
- NYPD (New York City Police Department)
Races and Species:
- Demons
- Zenn-Lavians
- Ghosts
- Humans
- Abstract Entities (Only in flashback)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Now Strikes the Ghost!"
Brief Summary:
Mephisto returns and sets his new plans into motion for defeating the Silver Surfer and stealing his soul. He finds the Ghost of the Flying Dutchman and gives him enough power to crush the Surfer.

Detailed Summary:
Furious over his previous attempt to collect the Silver Surfer's soul having met failure, Mephisto decides to try once again. His hatred is so strong that it flows from his body and attacks the Surfer. The assault is so strong that it nearly kills him, however Mephisto stops the attack before this happens. He needs to acquire the Surfer's soul before he is slayed.
Appearing before a satanist attempting to summon a demon, Mephisto uses him as a mortal bridge to find a soul in limbo. He summons the wandering ghost of Joost van Straaten, the legendary Flying Dutchman. He is trapped in limbo as punishment for forcing his crew to sail on a fatal journey into a deadly storm. Mephisto uses his powers to transform the ghost of van Straaten into a super-powerful entity known as "The Ghost," powerful enough to crush the Silver Surfer.
Meanwhile, the Surfer recovers from Mephisto's attack and uses his memories of Shalla-Bal to regain his strength. As he reflects, a vision of Shalla-Bal appears before him. They attempt to embrace, but instead she wakes up from her sleep and realizes that they are still connected no matter how far they are apart from each other.
Mephisto tells The Ghost that if he can get the Silver Surfer's soul, then he will free him from limbo. The Ghost is sent into the city to terrorize people in order to lure the Surfer out for another battle.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
Trivia
- The Who Speaks for the Surfer? letter column has letters published from: Gabriel Barbeau, J. Scott Stewart, Alan Brennert, Jerry Slawych, and James Jonas.
- The original art for the pages of this issue, minus page 3,10, 11 and 16 which are represented by scans of the lineart, were featured in IDW's John Buscema's Silver Surfer Artist's Edition Vol 1 1, published December 2014. It includes the original bottom half of page 20 which was replaced by a new piece when the second half of the story was postponed until the following issue.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Silver Surfer #3, Silver Surfer #9, and Silver Surfer #16 to Silver Surfer #17 - More Mephisto vs Silver Surfer stories
- Silver Surfer Omnibus #1 - Collects the entire run of Silver Surfer
The story references:
- Silver Surfer #3 - The Silver Surfer's first battle with Mephisto
Links and References
- Chris (23 Jun 2013) Silver Surfer Vol 1 8-9 Review Ridiculously Awesome. Retrieved on 10 Dec 2019.
- Grand Comics Database Silver Surfer Vol 1 8 Grand Comics Database. Retrieved on 9 Oct 2021.
- unknown (22 Jul 2012) Silver Surfer 8 Review Black & White and Bronze!. Retrieved on 30 Nov 2019.