Cover Date: June 1994; Publication Date: April 1994
In his trailer, a heavily drunk John Blaze hallucinates about the death of his wife, Roxanne, and the disappearance of his children, Emma and Craig. He blames the Ghost Rider for his family's tragic end, saying to a picture of the demon that he should've killed him when he had the chance...and he will, after he finds his kids. A few minutes later, John goes to Clara's trailer and tells her to try again to find his children psychically. She reluctantly agrees, but instead of locating the kids she picks up the location of Centurious, who was believed to be dead. John storms out of the trailer and comes across Quinn and Steel Wind. Blaze tells the woman to leave now that she's been fixed, and if she's still there when he gets back he'll kill her. Just before John rides off on his bike, he tells Steel Wind that Centurious is still alive.
Meanwhile, in the sewers beneath New York City, Centurious consumes the life of a derelict. His aide, Carver, asks him if he is well, but Centurious is still recovering his strength after his injuries at the hands of Lilith and her Lilin. He tells his last two Demons of Styge to go out and find him more humans that he can suck the life force from. Centurious' Witch Woman then tells her master that "he with the power of hellfire" is coming. Centurious nods and says that Blaze's arrive was to be expected.
John arrives at Wall Street and promptly blows a hole in the street with his shotgun, following Clara's psychic fix on Centurious. As he searches the sewers, he wishes that Clara's vision had been more precise, but that he'll kill Centurious even if he had to spend what's left of his life searching the tunnels. As he thinks back to how his fear of Centurious haunted him even after being freed from the Ghost Rider years ago, Blaze is ambushed by the Styge Demons, who only recognize him as a possible meal for their master. Unknown to them, Steel Wind is watching and waiting.
Blaze, minus his shotgun, is brought before Centurious. The villain tells him that he envies Blaze's loss of Roxanne - he in fact envies any heartfelt feelings, for after he gave his soul to Mephisto to save his beloved, Centurious can no longer feel anything. He tells Blaze that he will die with the love of his wife still in his heart, but even the envy he feels is hollow...for it is one of the many emotions a man without a soul cannot experience. Before he can kill John, Steel Wind explodes into the room on her massive motorcycle. Centurious offers her the killing blow against John, but instead turns and shoots her former master. Blaze retrieves his shotgun, and he and Steel Wind easily overcome and kill the two Styge Demons. Wind tells John that Centurious took away her humanity, turning her into a monster, and that she will have her pound of flesh from him. As she prepares to kill Centurious, Blaze stops her, saying that if she does this she'll be giving over her last shred of humanity to him. She has forgiveness inside her, Quinn saw it...and it would be worse to let Centurious live without his soul. Steel Wind acquiesces, saying that John's words have spared Centurious' life. She leaves the cavern, telling Blaze that she hopes he doesn't live to regret what he's done today. John then turns to the defeated Centurious and tells him that while Steel Wind found in it her heart to forgive the villain, he can't. He then shoots Centurious in the face with his shotgun, killing him.
The next day, John and his friends gather at Roxanne's grave. John tells his deceased wife that Centurious' death made him realize that it's time to start moving forward. They have decided to put the Quentin Carnival back together, as it's the only life they've known. John vows to find their children, then says goodbye to Roxanne Simpson before leaving the cemetery.
THE ROADMAP
John Blaze last appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 50 and appears next in Blaze (1994) # 1.
The Ghost Rider was killed in battle with Zarathos in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) 18, and Zarathos in turn was killed and trapped inside a stone statue in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.
The Ghost Rider returned to life in Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, the same issue where Roxanne Blaze was killed by Hellgate and John's children disappeared.
Centurious was last seen in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 16, where he was gravely injured by the Lilin.
Steel Wind was rescued from the US Government by Blaze in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 20.
It is possible that the "Witch Woman" working with Centurious was intended to be Linda Littletrees, the original Witch Woman. However, Linda herself appeared only a few months later in the Blaze back-up story in Ghost Rider (1990) Annual # 2.
CHAIN REACTION
Well, Spirits of Vengeance finally comes to a close with as an effective a wrap-up of plots as possible, given the amount of time Mackie had between this issue and the end of "Siege of Darkness" a few months previous.
Poor Centurious. Easily one of the best villains to come from the 70's Ghost Rider series, his return in the 90's was hinted at and built up for so much time. I suppose it's not Mackie's fault that the character's eventual return was overshadowed by Lilith and Zarathos when the "Siege of Darkness" hit, because that storyline had "editorial mandate" stamped all over it. It is fitting that Centurious finally met his end in this last issue of Spirits, though, since his presence dominated the full run of the book, especially behind the scenes in the early issues. For Blaze to make a clean break to his own series under another writer, wrapping up the Centurious plot was necessary. It's too bad that it just feels so rushed and tacked on, the price paid for Mackie only having one issue to pull everything together.
It is nice to see Steel Wind finally recapture some of what made her such a cool character when she first appeared, since she'd been relegated to "zombie follower" in her 90's appearances. It is odd to see her blame Centurious for ruining her life, however, when it was the Freakmaster that turned her into a cyborg...Centurious, of course, also took her soul and made her his slave, but I would've at least liked her to mention what the Freakmaster had done to her. Along with the Orb, the Freakmaster was one of the 70s GR characters I really would've loved to see in the 90s.
This issue also marks the final appearances of some of Blaze's Carnival supporting cast, the ones that weren't picked up by Larry Hama when the Blaze series begins. Miranda and her son, Timmy, are dropped with no explanation for her mystical powers, and Quinn - son of Eli and sorcerer - is never seen nor mentioned again. I guess it could be explained that they just declined to rejoin the new Quentin Carnival, but at least a mention was needed.
Henry Martinez continues to improve on the artwork as well, though he's still not to the excellence he'll reach on the Blaze series. He does come the closest to making the new design for Centurious work, though; only Adam Kubert, who I assume designed it, was able to make the costume and mask effective for a character who really did look more menacing as just a guy in a suit and cape.
Spirits of Vengeance started out so strong, at many times proving to be better than the core Ghost Rider title, but by this point it really was for the best that it closed up shop and allowed Blaze to journey off on his own.
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