I: Feature Story: "Gather Ye Witches!"

Pages: 20

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Dan Adkins
Letters: Sam Rosen

First Appearance: Warlock Prime/Nigel Carruthers, Hodgins, Sibyl Carruthers

Villain: Warlock Prime, Abomination

Guest Appearance: Hodgins, Sibyl Carruthers

Flashback Cameo: Hulk, The Stranger

Synopsis: Warlock Prime leads his cult through a ritual that summons a demon. Emboldened by his power, but discontented with the ridicule he receives for his druidic beliefs, Warlock Prime (aka Nigel Carruthers), decides to do "something big" to assert his mastery over the occult. His wife, Sibyl, and his peers, try to discourage him.

Meanwhile, the Surfer is in anguish over the loss of Shalla Bal, with whom he had come so close to reuniting, only to see her ripped from his life again. (see SS #11). He tests the barrier again at a supremely high speed, but the barrier still holds and knocks him unconscious, sending him plummeting down to Earth. His body is found by Warlock Prime and is whisked away to his gothic mansion. There, a plan forms: he knocks the Surfer out with a potion and scurries him off to Stonehenge.

With the Surfer laid out on a slab, Warlock Prime summons a demon who can utterly destroy the ultra-powerful Silver Surfer, thus proving to the world how powerful he is. Not just any demon arrives, though, as the Abomination appears on the scene. Freed from captivity by the Stranger, the Abomination rampages out of control, laying a mortal blow to Warlock Prime.

The Surfer rises and uses his power cosmic to save Warlock Prime, but the thankless mystic demands that the Surfer take his power and destroy the Abomination. His energy drained from rejuvenating Warlock Prime, the Surfer declines, but inevitably he comes upon a town being ravaged by the Hulk's deadliest foe, and he can't help but come to their aid. Unfortunately, the Abomination takes the lead in the fight and savagely pummels the Surfer into submission. But slowly, his power returns, and he returns to battle and uses the power cosmic to send the Abomination into a catatonic state, then returns the Abomination to the mystics to send back from where they got him.

--synopsis by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Silver Surfer #7-18

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