Gather, Ye Witches!

Let's take a quick poll--c'mon, it'll be fun!

Question:  Out of all the foes the Silver Surfer has come up against, which would you want to see the most? And here's the cool part:  you only need to think of your answer!  Through the mental talents of Charles Xavier, we can tally all the thoughts of those taking part and automatically present the winning result below.  Ready? Take it away, Chuck!

"Gathering all thoughts... processing results..."

"Done."

Already? Then let's have a look at the winner, and...

...Wait, that's your choice? A witches' coven? Seriously?

My guess wasn't even going to be in that general neighborhood--

but we aim to please, so you got it!

Can I at least throw in the Abomination?

We begin with a little "bubble bubble toil and trouble" get-together of witches and warlocks near Stonehenge, presided over by--who else?--Warlock Prime, a/k/a Sir Nigel Carruthers, a man of wealth and importance but who is becoming increasingly frustrated at the snail's pace their conjuring expertise proceeds at. Our dabblers in the dark arts have been trying to summon a wraith of the so-called Nameless Ones (no relation to "the Nameless One," as far as I can tell)--yet Carruthers is impatient, not only with their slow progress, but the lack of credence and influence they still fail to have among their peers and all mankind.

What this fun group needs is a showstopper, some accomplishment that will make others sit up and take notice of them. Fortunately, Carruthers spots a meteor plummeting toward the moors, one that he takes as an omen--and a good thing, too, since it bears the unconscious form of the Surfer following another failed attempt at penetrating the barrier of Galactus. Well, you know the saying: Sometimes opportunity doesn't just knock, it crashes. All right, I just made that up.

Carruthers' reasoning is simple: Since armies of every nation have failed to capture the Surfer, their coven will become famous overnight when it becomes known that their witchcraft defeated him. Yet their little spell still has a few bugs in it--because though it fails against the Surfer, it returns to Earth one of the world's most dangerous threats this side of the Hulk, which isn't exactly going to make Warlock Prime and his group celebrities when word gets out.

The Abomination tells those assembled of his fate when the Stranger captured him following his battle with the Hulk. Now it seems the witches' spell whisked the Abomination out of captivity and back to Earth, an act that the presumptuous Carruthers feels puts the monster under their control.

The Abomination begs to differ--by laying down the law, that is.

In the melee, Warlock Prime is fatally wounded--but just as the Abomination makes for the nearest city to begin his rampage, the Surfer awakens and uses his power to heal Carruthers' injuries, though the effort weakens him. Carruthers, however, doesn't have a shred of gratitude to offer; instead, he attempts to make lemons out of lemonade and convince the Surfer to go after the Abomination. Carruthers isn't really looking far enough ahead when hatching this plan--he only sees the benefit of his coven getting the credit for the Surfer's defeat, since he'll say the Abomination was the creation of his group's witchcraft. The dope doesn't realize that the Abomination likely already has a rap sheet (albeit a small one at this point in time) submitted by the Army, whose officers were witness to his fight with the Hulk. Emil Blonsky may be a s.o.b., but he's no product of witchcraft.

At first, the Surfer refuses to comply, having had it up to here with the duplicity of humans--but a city in flames and screaming crowds can change even the most made-up mind.

So much for Round One. But when the Surfer's power begins returning, all bets are off for Round Two.

You just know that Carruthers isn't going to be happy about which combatant returns on their feet. (Though he should be downright thankful that it's not the Abomination.) Luckily, the Surfer has been around humans long enough to know how to add insult to injury.

Word has it that membership in Carruthers' little group fell sharply soon after. The undeniable power of a parting shot, folks.

BONUS!

Marvel's version of why the large-format Silver Surfer book

came down in both size and price.