So far the Silver Surfer’s imprisonment on the planet has been pretty depressing. All of mankind wants nothing to do with him. Everyone who has attempted to befriend him (Loki, Mephisto, the Badoon) all have alterior motives. That said, in Silver Surfer #5, he finally makes a friend.
After a failed attempt at breaking through the barrier that keeps him from the rest of the universe, he falls back to earth and is found unconscious by a man named Al B. Harper (who is drawn like he is an African-American Jack Kirby). Al takes Surfer in. Conveniently Al is some sort of mad scientist/astro physicist who thinks he can figure out a way for the Silver Surfer to break through Galactus’ barrier. Really, what’s the luck of finding someone like that?
Before Silver Surfer can use this device, the evil alien the Stranger has returned to earth and revealed his latest evil scheme to kill off mankind. So while the Silver Surfer is battling the Stranger, Al takes it upon himself to disassemble the Null-Bomb that is set to destroy all life on the planet. Unfortunately, this heroic act winds up claiming his life. Realizing that his latest attempt has failed, the Stranger leaves to return to his cushy intergalactic lair. I’m assuming it’s probably somewhere on Pluto.
The best part of the story is in how Silver Surfer is mourning the loss of his new-found friend Al. It has nothing to do with the fact that this human had a plan to free him from his earthly prison. Instead, the Silver Surfer admires how brave Al was in the face of certain death and is really disturbed that the rest of the people of Earth will never know that this man saved everyone. This selfless act has caused the Silver Surfer to reevaluate his opinion on mankind.
Ridiculously Awesome 