Issue(s): Silver Surfer #85
Cover Date: Oct 93
Title: "Compassion"
Credits:
Ron Marz - Writer
Ernie Stiner - Penciler
Tom Christopher, Maria Beccari, Howard Shum, & Scott Koblish - Inker
Lynaire Brust - Assistant Editor
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
Wonder Man and Storm locate the Silver Surfer after he's crashed on Paradise Omega. Wonder Man wants to kill him, but Storm stops him.

Her reason for stopping him is that he used to be part of the Goddess' flock, and she wants to see if he has returned to them. But that's not the case, so Wonder Man attacks again. And this issue is largely just a fight between Silver Surfer and Wonder Man & Storm, with Storm continuing to urge restraint while Wonder Man fights to kill.

This continues until the Surfer blasts Wonder Man and knocks him out. Storm, briefly staggered, recovers to see the Surfer hunched over Wonder Man and assumes he's doing something bad, so she then attacks full force.

But the Surfer is able to demonstrate that he was actually just trying to heal Wonder Man, and then the two let him go.

The art is terrible and there's not much of a plot here. I'm not even sure that the ending makes any sense; it's certainly not very satisfying.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Last issue ended with Silver Surfer crashing to Paradise Omega and this continues basically directly. I wasn't sure if this was meant to take place before the invasion of the non-brainwashed heroes in Infinity Crusade #5 or during it. Storm and Wonder Man don't show up until the later part of that issue, so it could be during. But the footnotes in this issue only point to Infinity Crusade #3-4. Storm does say that "the unconverted still roam the forest" but that's been true since the end of #4. I'm placing it directly before Infinity Crusade #5 so it could work either way. It's worth noting that despite the Surfer saying that he's going to take his fight directly to the Goddess after this, we don't see him again until Infinity Crusade #6 after everything is over.

References:

• The Silver Surfer strayed from the Goddess' holy path in Infinity Crusade #3 and Silver Surfer #83.
  
• Storm says that the Goddess has commanded that the recruits "continue the struggle against Earth's unconverted heroes" and the footnote points to Infinity Crusade #4.

Crossover: Infinity Crusade

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The ending seems to rise this story above most of the crossover.