Cover Date: September1994; On Sale Date: July1994
Writer: Larry Hama; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Bud LaRosa; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez
With his thoughts focused on nothing but Icebox Bob's last message, "I know where your kids are", John Blaze rides ahead of his carnival caravan as they navigate through the Florida Everglades on their way to the town of Brownings Corners. Suddenly, Blaze runs across a monstrous creature walking across the road, one which he immediately believes to be a threat to his people. John blows off the monster's head and hand with his hellfire, but finds that even that won't stop it when it lands a mean punch to Blaze's jaw, knocking him off his bike. Wolf, Cody, and the rest of the Carnival come to John's aid, but the monster has already returned to its path back into the swamp, head and arm regrowing as it walks. Wolf prepares to shoot it again, but Clara stops him, telling him that the monster isn't evil...that it's a guardian of a portal, "a thing of wondrous beauty, like a crack in the ether leaking limitless radiance". Wolf then comments that Clara has been acting strange ever since she got that package in the mail, and that she's been describing things in a way that only a sighted person could. When Kody jumps in to defend her, John breaks up the argument and tells everyone to get back on the road.
As they pull into Brownings Corners, a gathering place for circus and carnival folk, they stop a gas station owned by J.B. and R.L. Shadrach. Before they leave, John makes a comment about the swamp monster, to which R.L. replies that he must have seen the Man-Thing. Further into town, the carnival crew run into a bit of harassment from the local freaks, who call them nothing but grifters and cons. Two of those staying in the town are a slightly drunk Ringmaster and Princess Python, from the Circus of Crime, who says that the word on the grapevine is that the Quentin Carnival is in town to do some talent scouting.
The next morning, Blaze holds interviews with the residents, turning away most of the people he talks to, saying he's looking specifically for psi-talents and mind readers. While he's interviewing Princess Python, who says that she does have mental abilities that she uses to control her snakes, the Shadrach brothers sneak around to Clara's trailer. Spying on the woman, they see the eyes of the Krystall Starrer jumping from their jar and into her head. Green light then emits from the eyes, showing a vision of the Man-Thing and the Nexus of All Realities. Realizing that the eyes can lead them to the Man-Thing, the biggest freak show attraction in the country, the brothers break into Clara's trailer. Blaze, meanwhile, hires Python, but then excuses himself when he sees Holden Blevins sneaking into his trailer. He confronts the boy, who tells him that his children are being held captive by someone even nastier than Icebox Bob. Elsewhere, in Bob's mystical realm, he has a conversation with himself as he chews down on a meal of roaches, saying that he's elected Blaze to take his place in his prison, and that the Nexus is the way he's going to lure him in.
Blaze is then brought to Clara's trailer by Wolf, where he sees the bruised and beat-up psychic. She tells him that the brothers stole her eyes, which she swears aren't evil. John runs outside and jumps on his bike, deciding to ride out to the place where he encountered the Man-Thing the day before. Elsewhere in the swamp, the brothers are led to the Man-Thing and the Nexus by the Krystall Starrer. From their truck, they attempt to shoot the swamp creature, but instead run straight into him. The swamp oozes into the truck, grabbing hold of J.B. and setting him on fire (for whoever knows fear... burns at the Man-Thing's touch!). R.L. jumps free, just as Blaze arrives on the scene. With the Nexus behind him, Blaze points his shotgun at Shadrach and tells him to hand over the eyes. Before either men can react, however, the living swamp body of the Man-Thing crashes down on R.L. like a wave, attracted by the man's fear. All that's left after the blaze is Shadrach's charred skeleton. Suddenly, a pair of ice tongs clamps around Blaze's throat, and stepping from the Nexus Icebox Bob gets ready to stab him with his ice pick. Before he can, however, the Man-Thing reaches forward and grabs Bob's face, setting him on fire and forcing him to retreat back into the Nexus. Weak from the lack of oxygen, John collapses and can only watch helplessly as the Nexus closes and the Man-Thing shambles back into the swamp.
THE ROADMAP
Blaze's children disappeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 50.
Clara received the eyes of the Krystall-Starrer in the mail in Blaze (1994) # 1.
Blaze and the Man-Thing had actually met, albeit briefly, once before in Marvel Premiere # 28, which featured John as Ghost Rider, the Man-Thing, the Werewolf by Night, and Morbius the Living Vampire in a story entitled "The Legion of Monsters".
CHAIN REACTION
The carnival freakshow that is Blaze continues with its second issue, and the downright bizarre nature of the first issue is expanded and developed with the help of one of my favorite Marvel Monsters -- the Man-Thing!
When the Midnight Sons titles began in the early 90s, revamping a host of Marvel's old horror characters, there were two noticeable absences. The Man-Thing and the Werewolf by Night had been two of the company's most long-lived horror characters, but neither were picked as candidates for renewal under the Midnight Sons banner. While both characters would later see a return in the Strange Tales line of the late 90s (the natural successor to the trail blazed by the Midnight Sons), this issue marks the first use of the Man-Thing in one of the 90s Marvel horror books. The Man-Thing works best in weird and tragic storylines (the kind Steve Gerber did so well when writing the character in the 70s), and he fits into Hama's story seamlessly.
Ice Box Bob makes his first full appearance, outside of his controlled stooge in the previous issue, and I reiterate that the guy is just one damn cool villain. Even with his incredibly stupid name, Hama made Bob work as a believable psychopath, driven insane by his extradimensional imprisonment. Hama also gives us more insight into the mysterious Holden Blevins, still appearing out of thin air to point John along the way. The answers to all the questions raised by Blevins and Bob are revealed in # 3, which shows that a mystery doesn't have to be drug out forever to be intriguing.
Another thing I forgot to address in the review for # 1 was Hama's use of Blaze's supporting cast, the crew and performers of the Quentin Carnival. Howard Mackie had spent time developing the various mystical backgrounds of the characters - Wolf, Clara, Kody, etc. - but then dropped most of the plots without ceremony. In probably a wise move, Hama just used them as-is without digging into their convoluted pasts. They were freaks in a carnival, and what really needed to be said other than that? Who cares if Kody was once a member of werewolf beast-men? He's a carnival performer now, and that's all that matters. Kudos for this.
Henry Martinez and Bud LaRosa turn in another great job on the art with this issue as well, doing a particularly nice job on the Man-Thing. The series continues to impress, and again gets high marks.
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