The Silver Surfer #5

Will this be the issue that restores Surfer's faith in humanity?!

1st story: "And Who Shall Mourn For Him?"

A break in has occurred at the Baxter Building. The Fantastic Four rushes in the lab to discover that the experimental space scrambler gun is missing. It has been taken by the Silver Surfer, who attempts to break Galactus' barrier. The weapon, incomplete, misfires and explodes in the Surfer's hands. He plummets down to Earth.

He awakens in the house of a man named Al B. Harper. He is a physicist and wishes to help the Surfer escape, but he requires money. The Surfer dons some of his clothes and attempts to get a job, but none will hire him. He then breaks into a bank and takes some money. He runs into a destitute gambler on the street and learns how to roll dice. He goes and cleans out the local gambling arena by using his power to win every time. The ones who run the place attack him outside to take back their money. The Surfer does not resist. When they try to kill the man he met though, he reacts and stops them, taking back his money.

Weeks later, Al has created a device that might disguise the Surfer an allow him to escape the barrier. When the Surfer begins to try to use the device it is noticed by the Stranger. The Stranger has come to destroy all life on Earth with s Null-Life Bomb. He offers the chance for the Surfer to leave, but he decides to stay and help the humans.

Al begins to search for the bomb while the Surfer confronts the Stranger. He offers one more time for the Surfer to escape but he still refuses. They battle each other and in the process begin destroying the city. Al finds the bomb but it has it's own defense mechanism. He defuses it, but not before it takes his life. His plan thwarted, the Stranger returns everything to the way it was and departs.

The Surfer travels to the cemetery where Al Harper has passed. He lights a fire as a tribute that will burn so long as the Earth remains.

2nd story: "Run, Roco, Run"

In the year 2061, a gang of car-jackers is caught by the police but one of them manages to escape. Roco then decides the jail sentences on Earth are too long so he’ll move to Jupiter as he’s heard they give out the easiest sentences in the galaxy. Arriving on Jupiter Roco resumes his life of crime but is soon caught by the police. He is shocked when the judge gives him a life sentence for his crime. Roco is struggling to cope with prison life when one day his cell mate tells him there is an escape tunnel but warns no one has survived the journey. Roco takes his chances but on the other side finds that he’s escaped into a Jupiter jungle full of giant monsters. Roco survives and eventually finds his way out, becoming delirious with laughter… but it turns out he has been under hypnosis all the time and is actually still serving his life sentence!