I: Feature Story: "When Lands the Saucer!"
Part Two: "Let Earth Be The Prize!"

Pages: 40

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen

First Appearance: Brotherhood of Badoon, Brother Royal, Monster of Badoon, female Badoon hostage

Villain: Brotherhood of Badoon, the Brother Royal, the Monster of Badoon

Guest Appearance: Shalla Bal

Gadgets & Technology: Badoon technology: Basic Weapon, Invisibility Tube, Flying Discs, Molecular Displacement Ray

Synopsis: The Surfer is hanging out on the edge of space when he narrowly escapes an oncoming meteor shower. Discontent with drifting aimlessly, he decides to make an attempt to live amongst humans. His first attempt goes badly, as he is chased off by the frightened people of an Alpine village. His second try goes no better, as he lands in the public square of an American city and is treated like a vagrant. Dismayed with the insanity he is constantly confronted with from humans, he attempts to pierce the space barrier but is once again thwarted by Galactus' imprisonment.

As his thoughts drift to his great love, Shalla Bal, across the universe this same woman thinks longingly of Norrin Radd. She shares her feelings of loss and remembrance, remembering the times she had with her love and wishing that he would return to her. She cares not that he is treated reverently by Zenn-La as a hero for his sacrifice, she cares for him as the lover that she will always miss.

Back on Earth, the Surfer witnesses a large spacecraft nearing the planet. The creatures inside the craft see him, but dismiss the Surfer as not a threat and move on. They glide down through the terrain of the city, and the Surfer realizes that they are an invisible craft. He alights on the city streets to warn the citizens of this alien trespass, but is taken into custody for being "crazy". While in a jail cell, he summons his board to him, which helps him bust out of the cell. He flies up to the alien ship to confront it, and meets its inhabitants, lizard creatures calling themselves the Brotherhood of Badoon. The Badoon guide shows him around the craft, showing off the great scientific achievements of Badoon technology, and telling the Surfer they come in peace to spread their enlightenment to other worlds. He is then introduced to the Brother Royal, crowned leader of the spacecraft.

While the Brother Royal continues espousing the virtues of the Badoon race, an Earth woman comes screaming in fear to the side of the Surfer, saying she was kidnapped by the Badoon and used to research how best to conquer the planet. Before she can finish her terrified statement, she is shot with a laser beam ray and silenced. Knowing they can no longer conceal their true motives, the Royal Badoon exiles the Surfer from his ship, promising that not only will the humans not believe any of his warnings, but for the next 24 hours, the Badoon will amuse themselves by making sport of him. They will hunt the Surfer down and kill him while they wait for the rest of the Badoon fleet that is coming to help them take over Earth. The Surfer leaves with the stunned woman in his arms, dedicated to providing defense for an Earth that hates him.

A short time later, the Badoon watch the Surfer in their view-finder, knowing that soon they will take the hunt to him. They also discuss the usage of the great Weapon of Weapons, a weapon with which they are sure that nothing in the universe could stand against them. As the Surfer flies away through space, he takes the time to protect the injured woman's body in a field of spatial energy so he can journey back to Earth unhindered for battle. And as the Surfer takes care of his business, the Badoon send a cadre of soldiers down to the Earth's surface to scout ahead. They walk invisibly amongst the unsuspecting populace of humans, and gratuitously shoot an innocent man with their "Basic Weapon" to prove to themselves their superiority; his fellow humans merely think the man had a sudden heart attack.

Turning their attentions to the Silver Surfer, they fire a rocket at their quarry, who easily evades it with his dramatic surfing abilities and causes it to detonate into the side of a mountain. Enraged, the Brother Royal unleashes the Weapon of Weapons to attack! Unleashed from his cell the weapon is revealed to be a massive, orange-skinned monster with the name of The Monster of Badoon! He races down to confront the Surfer, and together they battle amongst the city skyscrapers. Unfortunately, the Surfer has no idea that the Monster of Badoon is invisible to the eyes of humans. Their pitched battle destroys buildings all around, and the Earthlings think the Surfer has gone on a tirade against their city.

Ultimately, the Monster of Badoon is no match for the Surfer and his cosmic power, and the Brother Royal decides to pull the monster back instead of risking losing him forever. Slowly, the Surfer realizes what is happening - that the way the humans are responding to him can only mean that the Monster of Badoon was as invisible as the alien space ship! An American military unit responds to the "threat" of the Surfer and launches a fusillade of missiles at him, which the Surfer evades easily. The missiles instead discharge near the Badoon craft, making the aliens believe their invisibility has failed them. Fearing their destruction at the hands of humans and the Surfer, they flee to outer space, saying this sector of the universe is too dangerous to try and conquer.

With this turn of events, the Surfer sees an opportunity to possibly escape the Earth inside the Badoon ship's force field. He grabs hold of the ship so it can pull him to freedom, but then realizes he still has the injured girl to deal with, floating in an energy field in outer space. Reluctantly, he pulls back and attends to the woman, who would die without his aid. He still senses the spark of life within her and takes her back to Earth to heal her with cosmic energy. The army has a fix on his whereabouts, however, and they speed off to face him . They launch a missile at him, of which he easily absorbs the full impact, but a platoon of soldiers come upon him and chase him off with guns, blaming him for injuring the woman whose body they find. The Surfer sadly and tragically flies off into the distance.

--synopsis by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Silver Surfer #1-6, FF Annual #5 backup story

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.