Wiccan: Witches' Road (2026 series) #2

Wiccan and Hulkling have been deposed from the throne of the Kree/Skrull Alliance and ended up crashlanding back on Earth somehow without their powers. Despite being warned off by a fox they wound up in Baba Yaga's hut where the witch turned Teddy Altman into a wax statue and beheaded Billy Kaplan.

But we leave them there for a moment to visit a nearby village which has a large Roxxon factory built next to it and is now infested with dead bodies and big red bubbles. 2 Roxxon scientists in protective gear complain that they *warned* the people about toxicity but they just *refused* to leave their homes. Now Roxxon has to get rid of the evidence in case the Press get wind of it. But they're interrupted by the arrival of a big green dragon. And someone with a pale hand with long pointy fingernails causes vegetation to sprout out of their bodies while telling them they're here to *save* them.

Meanwhile the house on chicken legs is stomping through the forest while Baba Yaga chats with Wiccan's head. She blames her 'son' Sluga, who looks like a green Mindless One for letting the youths in. Sluga blames someone whose name can't be said (it appears as a scribbly blob), who appears to be the fox. Baba starts mentally hurling knives around to chop vegetables, hinting that Teddy might be part of the meal. (And we see that she has chicken legs too.) Billy threatens her with his power as Demiurge but she calls his bluff. So he turns to pleading for his husband and the local villagers. Last issue the duo met a doctor who claimed that she'd sent monsters to terrify them, and Billy had heard legends of her evil ways. She counters that there are old tales of her helping heroes and defeating villains too. The nameless fox turns up at this point, and Baba claims that a rogue terramancer is responsible for the monsters. Then she has to explain the history of terramancy.

Her story goes that the Demiurge was the cosmic lifeforce of the Earth that is the source of the power of all witches and sorcerers. The earliest magic was terramancy, the mastery of the elements. But the Demiurge and mysticism evolved and became difficult to control. The Demiurge sought someone to take its power and use it wisely, and it settled on William Kaplan. But then Billy abandoned Earth to go gallivanting in space and so became unworthy of his power. But now she says that he can go on a 'quest' to prove his worthiness, but it must be done without the help of his mother (Scarlet Witch) or any other super-friends. He agrees to this and she sews his head back on his body, and then she transforms his clothes into something more suitable for a male witch.

His quest is to bring her the flower of a dragon, a tear from a giant and the heart of his 1st love. She gives him her broom to fly on, a gourd that will swallow safely anything in front of it, a wishbone to bring him back when he breaks it, and the reluctant fox as a guide down the Witches' Road. Billy demands that Teddy accompany him but the witch insists on keeping the wax body hostage. But she compromises by giving him a marionette doll of his husband and transferring Teddy's consciousness into it. And finally she gives him a clue(?) for his quest by singing in Russian at a music box which opens to show a little ballerina figure inside. Then she creates a flame which the fox leads him through ...

... to the forest. The fox warns Wiccan that Baba Yaga intends to deceive him, which Billy expected. Foxy explains that there are many Witches' Roads but the 1 they are on was created by the Demiurge in Earth's dawn, only accessible to its followers. She also says that she was Baba Yaga's brightest pupil, the most powerful sorceress who ever lived. But they had different ideas - the fox thought that she should be allowed to use her power however she liked. So Yaga cursed her and removed her name. So Billy says he'll just call her Nameless then.

The fox and the Teddy-puppet get introduced to each other. And then suddenly they're not in a wood but near a red obelisk surrounded by lit candles. Nameless tells Billy to hold his breath and then trots through the obelisk. Wiccan follows and finds himself  in the village of red bubbles. And the Roxxon building now has trees growing out of it, with dead Roxxon soldiers around it. 1 of them called Alex isn't dead and warns our hero that the dragon that killed them will return. And it does and Billy recognises it as Fin Fang Foom.

They rush to the 'safety' of a building and Wiccan tries to form a plan to get a flower of the beast (although I can't see that it actually has any). Billy leaves Teddy in the fox's keeping and then runs out to try a bluff, gambling that FFF doesn't know he's lost his magic. He attracts its attention and it breathes fire at him. But he uses the gourd to swallow the blast. He then claims to be the Demiurge and demands a flower. But a child jumps down from the back of the dragon and declares that *he*'s the Demiurge.