Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 123

Cover Art: Steve Lightle
Published: February 1993
Original Price: $1.50

Title: "The Walking Wounded, Part 1: Soulfeast"
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artist: Steve Lightle
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Steve Lightle
Editor: Terry Kavanagh
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS
Daniel Ketch experiences a "waking nightmare", during which the Ghost Rider is confronted by Typhoid Mary.  The woman tells Ghost Rider that "Dusk is falling" and that he should give up his human side in favor of the monster.  Later, in upstate New York, Danny arrives a shopping mall to try and clear his mind.  Inside the mall, a group called the Women's Action Movement are holding a demonstration for shoppers about the women's liberation movement.  Danny stops and talks to one of the group members, a pregnant girl named Eve, about how both sexes face challenges in life.  They're joined by Mary Walker, another group member who excuses herself quickly after a few minutes of debate.  In the bathroom, Mary is confronted by her other personality, the twisted Typhoid Mary, who uses Mary's desire for Danny as a way to take control of their shared body once again.

ANNOTATIONS 
Ghost Rider made his last appearance in Nightstalkers (1992) # 7.

Danny's inability to sleep stems from his last encounter with Nightmare in Ghost Rider (1990) # 30.

This issue of Marvel Comics Presents also contained stories featuring Wolverine, She-Hulk, and Master Man.

REVIEW
The Typhoid Mary team up arc begins in Marvel Comics Presents and you're either going to love this story or really hate it.

So, up front, I love this arc on just about every level. I consider it the best Ghost Rider story that ran in Marvel Comics Presents by a pretty wide margin, and that Steve Lightle artwork is beautiful. Its a story, even in this opening chapter, that challenges the reader and makes them work to figure things out, but not tobthe point where its obtuse or confusing. Its about the closest the character has come to a really mature, Vertigo style approach, and it forces you to pay attention to it.

Now, all that being said, this is also a comic designed to piss people off. Ann Nocenti had a very fondly remembered run on Daredevil and created Longshot, both of which she used to preach some fairly liberal viewpoints. Typhoid Mary, who she created in her Daredevil run as probably her most enduring creation, was very much Nocenti's mouthpiece for the plight of women in modern society. I happen to think she makes some good points in this issue during the conversations with the Women's Action Movement, but she also does it with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. She beats her views over the readers heads and I could totally see that rubbing some people the wrong way.

Her scripting outside of the soap-boxing is very strong, and when combined with Lightle's artwork it combines into some shockingly strong storytelling. The opening page, which features Danny Ketch's face being pulled off by a demonic bat to reveal the Ghost Rider beneath is chilling. Its a scene that's mirrored, no pun intended, with the confrontation at the chapter's end between Mary and Typhoid. Its a scary, claustrophobic comic that promises some great things to come.

Its a polarizing opening to a story that I really enjoy, I recommend it as long as the preachy tone doesn't turn you off.

Grade: A+

Inner Demons Episode 46 - "Unoriginal Sin"



Inner Demons is traveling the timestream to bring you reviews from the past, the present, and even the far future!  Chris & Brian go back through the wilds of continuity to review Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History # 6, take part in the Challenge of the Ghost Riders during the reviews of Avengers (2019) # 23 & 24, and then get arrested by the new federal marshal of Transverse City while attempting to review Ghost Rider 2099 # 15!  

You can listen to the episode at the Vengeance Unbound page on blogspot, or you can download it from StitcheriTunes, or Google Podcasts.  You can also find us on Facebook, just search  for "Vengeance Unbound" and on Twitter under @InnerDemonsGR.  Thanks for listening!

Blaze (1994) # 6

Cover Art: Henry Martinez
Published: January 1995
Original Price: $1.95

Title: "Apache Autumn, Part 3: Hungry Spirits!"
Writer: Larry Hama
Artist: Henry Martinez
Inker: Bud LaRosa
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS
In Washington's Cascade Mountains, John Blaze has tracked down the Wendigo, a Native America folk creature that is supposedly a woodland protector spirit.  Before Blaze can shoot the Wendigo, he's shocked to see his children, Craig and Emma, riding on the Wendigo's back along with another young boy.

The day before, Blaze and the Quentin Carnival arrive in the local town just as Kody is confronting Clara over the eyes of the Kristall Starrer.  A native woman named Eve Two Crows intervenes, demanding Clara be given back her property, which allows Clara to place the eyes inside her head.  Realizing that Eve is the woman they were sent to meet by Wyatt Wingfoot, Blaze follows her inside her office, where she has compiled all known Wendigo sightings in the mountain area.  Clara enters wearing a provocative new outfit and blasts the computer with her eyes, pinpointing the Wendigo's location.

In the dimensional prison of Ice Box Bob, the Wendigo enters the cell holding Craig, Emma, and Jesse Pinto.  They grab onto the Wendigo's back and allow the creature to take them out of the prison, which is exactly what the demonic entity imprisoning them was hoping for.  The entity follows the Wendigo through the portal onto Earth directly behind Blaze, who the children are screaming at the turn around.  Seeing the entity's reflection in his motorcycle, Blaze fires behind him, but is blasted by the demon's eye beams.  The entity identifies himself as Ba'al, who wanted to use Blaze's hellfire to free him from the dimensional prison he had been locked within for centuries.  The children save Blaze using the magic nail file that killed Ice Box Bob, which wounds Ba'al.  While Ba'al goes back through the dimensional portal, Craig and Emma check on their dazed father.  Jessee Pinto and the Wendigo go to the portal, saying they're going to track down and finish Ba'al off before he can come back and kill them.  Craig and Emma decide to go with Jesse, and John wakes up just in time to see his children disappearing yet again in front of his eyes.

ANNOTATIONS 
Craig and Emma Blaze disappeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 50 after their mother was killed by Anton Hellgate.  They were spirited away by Ba'al and held in the same other-dimensional prison as serial killer Ice Box Bob, who attempted to use the children to switch places with Blaze in the prison in Blaze (1990) # 3.

While spending time in an Apache "spirit kiva" in Blaze (1994) # 4, John Blaze had a vision of his children with the Wendigo.

The third child with the Blaze siblings, Jesse Pinto, was sacrificed to Ba'al by college student Darryl Licht in exchange for supernatural power in Blaze (1994) # 4.

The children and the Wendigo will catch up to Ba'al in Blaze (1994) # 11.

REVIEW
"Apache Autumn" concludes with a surprising yet ultimately unsatisfying twist.

While Larry Hama continues to have an excellent handle on the characters, especially Blaze, this issue contains some questionable resolutions to a few plot threads. There almost seems to be a weird disconnect between this issue and the last, like the details don't quite add up. For example, it was made very clear that the entity who kidnapped Blaze's kids had a history with Blaze, even being surprised that Blaze didn't recognize him. In this issue, though, the entity is revealed to be a demon names Ba'al, which doesn't fit at all. I understand Hama tended to just write things as they came to him without much of a structured plan, but the reveal of the big bad as a new character after several issues of build up for some kind of shared history is disappointing.

Hama also makes a few other odd decisions here, such as his interpretation of the Wendigo as a benevolent woodland protector, which is fine in this context but doesn't fit at all with the monster's depiction as it's appeared in the Marvel Universe. From its appearances in the Hulk and X-Men stories, the Wendigo is a man cursed to become a monster after eating human flesh, which obviously isn't the way Hama sees the beast here. Then there's the end with Blaze's kids choosing to leave their father, which is a gut wrenching twist. Unfortunately, its also way too close to the "almost had 'em!" end to issue # 3. I think that might be the biggest flaw in the series, because despite Hama's great characters and truly original plots, such as the floating eyeballs and Ice Box Bob, the tease of the kidnapped children is becoming extremely tiresome.

Henry Martinez continues to be simpatico with Hama, even to a fault. He is still growing into an amazing artist with each new issue, his action and character work are all very good. There's the problem areas though, such as the hugely uninteresting design for Ba'al, who is just a generic green demon. He was far more intriguing when his physical form was in shadow or distorted by dream worlds, in the real world fighting with Blaze he just comes across as boring.

This is still a good comic, but after five issues of great comics the flaws in this one are too much to not notice.

Grade: B-

Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) # 4

Cover Art: David Marquez
Published: June 2019
Original Price: $3.99

Title: "The Final Gauntlet, Part 4"
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Senior Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor: Darren Shaw
Assistant Editor: Danny Khazem
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

SYNOPSIS
The Guardians of the Galaxy arrive on Halfworld to locate Gamora, who attacks them before Groot intervenes.  Groot takes Gamora onto their ship, stating that they will come back to deal with Rocket Raccoon another time.  Star Lord locks Gamora's hands in cuffs, not willing to belief that she's a victim in Thanos' game.  Nova runs into the ship, crashing his way inside to warn them that the Dark Guardians are after Gamora, not realizing that Gamora is already with them.  The Dark Guardians force Star Lord's ship to crash back onto Halfworld, and the two teams engage each other in battle.  Nebula attempts to shoot and kill Gamora, but Star Lord jumps in front of the blast, seemingly killing him as the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy are defeated by the Dark Guardians.

ANNOTATIONS
Podcast Review: Inner Demons Episode 42 - "Power Vacuum" (Click to Listen)

REVIEW
Cosmic Ghost Rider does some stuff in the background of a few panels in this overcrowded issue.

Right about here is where I've lost patience with and interest in this series. I've said in previous reviews that Cates is not doing his best work by juggling so many characters and that opinion is validated completely with this issue. Characters are still showing up with no introductions, no dialogue, and in the case of some of the Dark Guardians not even names. The creators are really taking advantage of the cosmic sandbox, which is admirable, but by doing so are giving the short shrift to some of their "core" cast. Phylla Vell and Moondragon are still ciphers, while Cosmic Ghost Rider is just there as background noise. Instead of bringing in Nova and Nebula and everyone else, why not make the actual main characters useful and interesting?

Geoff Shaw is still producing quality work, and the man can draw the hell out of a big fight scene, but not even that is enough to maintain my flagging interest. The characters may be emoting like mad visually, but the story isn't engaging enough to justify it. He does draw a mean Beta Ray Bill, though.

By this point I'm only reading this comic because of Cosmic Ghost Rider, and his appearance in this issue is making me question even that decision. Its disappointing considering how excited I was for this series going in.

Grade: C-

Blaze (1994) # 5

Cover Artist: Henry Martinez
Published: December 1994
Original Price: $1.95

Title: "Apache Autumn, Part 2: Bad Day at the Haunted Mesa"
Writer: Larry Hama
Artist: Henry Martinez
Inker: Bud LaRosa
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS
John Blaze and Warpath are in a fight with a college student named Darryl Licht, who bartered the souls of murder victims to an entity he believed to be a Native American trickster god.  The entity is actually the same one that kidnapped Blaze's children, and he has bestowed supernatural power to Licht, transforming him into a six-armed buffalo demon.  Licht easily defeats Blaze and Warpath and uses magic to transport them inside a nearby mesa.  Wyatt Wingfoot, Clara Menninger, and the rest of the Quentin Carnival arrive too late to see where Blaze and Warpath have been taken, finding only Blaze's abandoned motorcycle and shotgun.

Meanwhile, in the the dimensional prison formerly inhabited by the deceased Ice Box Bob, the entity locks away Blaze's children, Craig and Emma, and they are soon visited by someone entering their cell through the floor.  The visitor is Jesse Pinto, who was given to the entity by Licht.  He has a plan to escape and seek revenge using the magic nail file used to kill Ice Box Bob.

Back inside the mesa, Licht rants to the mystically bound Blaze and Warpath, while outside Clara uses the eyes of the Kristall Starrer to find their location.  While Warpath breaks free of his bonds and attacks Licht, Clara and Princess Python ride Blaze's motorcycle toward the mesa, bringing the shotgun with them.  Blaze concentrates his hellfire to escape his own bonds, while in the prison dimension the Wendigo appears riding mystical rails, taking the nail file with him from Jesse before disappearing again.  The Wendigo appears inside the mesa and hands the nail file to Blaze just as Clara and Princess Python arrive, giving the shotgun back to him as well.  Blaze sticks the nail file through a 12-gauge round and shoots it through his shotgun at Licht, which when combined with the hellfire disrupts the entities magic and transforms Licht back into his human body.  The mesa disappears and Blaze threatens Licht, wanting information on who he made his deal with and where he can find his children.

ANNOTATIONS 
The identity of Icebox Bob's master who kidnapped Blaze's children is revealed in Blaze (1994) # 6.

The origin of the magic nail file comes from Blaze (1994) # 3, when the ghost boy Holden Carver used it to kill Ice Box Bob, stating that the file is a "piece of steel with the number 7 on it", which gives it mystical power.  

REVIEW
"Apache Autumn" continues as the Blaze series soldiers on valiantly.

It's a damn shame that not many folks, even among Ghost Rider fans, acknowledge the Blaze series for what it was trying to do at the time. This was when Howard Mackie was steering the main Ghost Rider series away from the supernatural, and to balance that Larry Hama and Henry Martinez leaned hard in the opposite direction. This comic is weird, like four-armed buffalo man weird, and it gleefully revels in its weirdness. Its actually really endearing.

Even with all the bizarre stuff happening, Hama is somehow able to keep things relatively grounded. He's able to do that mainly through his characterization of John Blaze, who takes everything in stride as just another Tuesday in a haunted mesa. Blaze is a rock arkund which Hama has all the other elements revolve, naturally since he's the title character, but he has Blaze treat it as so deadpan that it creates an even more surreal tone than if everything was just weird upon weird.

This is also a very complicated comic with lots of jumps to different characters and strange locations. Hama tries to bring potential new readers up to speed, but god help anyone who picked this up as their first issue because it is severely dense. It does an excellent job of building on the issues preceding it, utilizing things like the magic nail file and the jar of eyeballs in ways that continues to justify their recurrence. It hinges a lot on coincidence, sure, but that's part of what makes this issue hang together so well. Its providence instead of convenience when the Wendigo walks through dimensions with the magic macguffin.

Henry Martinez is the real MVP of this series, and his work has come such a long way since he first came on board Spirits of Vengeance. His work has this ethereal quality to it that makes all the supernatural stuff look just out of place enough that it creates dissonance instead of a time clash. The proportions of Licht in his buffalo form don't quite work, but I can't imagine that being easy to draw from a description.

Blaze was a very brief highlight in the 1990s. More people should be talking about it.

Grade: A+

Inner Demons Episode 45 - "Continuity Hug"



Inner Demons is back with a roller coaster of an episode that takes a look at the dizzying high of Ghost Rider (2019) # 1, the curving speed of Avengers (2018) #s 21 and 22, and the plunging depths of Secret Warps: Ghost Panther Annual # 1!  

You can listen to the episode at the Vengeance Unbound page on blogspot, or you can download it from StitcheriTunes, or Google Podcasts.  You can also find us on Facebook, just search  for "Vengeance Unbound" and on Twitter under @InnerDemonsGR.  Thanks for listening!

Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) # 3

Cover Art: David Marquez
Published: May 2019
Original Price: $3.99

Title: "The Final Gauntlet, Part 3"
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Senior Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor: Darren Shaw
Assistant Editor: Danny Khazem
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

SYNOPSIS
While Eros and his Dark Guardians hunt for Gamora, Hela and the Black Order arrive in the Negative Zone to confront Annihilus. He shows them the severed head of Thanos, which Hela takes after quickly defeating Annihilus in combat. The Dark Guardians chase a wounded Richard Rider, Nova and former lover of Gamora, to learn from him her location. Nova stands his ground until he is attacked by Wraith, who is ready to kill Rider. Cosmic Ghost Rider intervenes and tries to talk to Nova, attempting to reason with him and convince him to give up Gamora. Nova flies off, but Nebula has already figured out where he is going. Meanwhile, Star Lord finds himself relieved of command if his ship by Groot and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who intend to save Gamora from Eros. Star Lord protests but eventually gives in, revealing that Gamora has gone to Halfworld to find Rocket Raccoon.

ANNOTATIONS
Podcast Review: Inner Demons Episode 39 - "Cosmic Deadpool Destroys Drunk History"" (Click to Listen)

REVIEW
Cosmic Ghost Rider continues to have a diminishing role in this series despite the cover focus.

I'm going to go ahead and say it, this series has way too many damn characters running around. When the title characters only appear in the last few pages and several of them are still woefully undeveloped as anything other than names and costumes, that's a problem. Its something that Cates has struggled with before when writing an ensemble cast, going back to the Damnation miniseries. Characters get lost in the shuffle, are given no explanation besides the briefest of description, and outside of a few focus characters most are left to languish in the background. Here, any character not named Eros or Star Lord are used almost interchangeably. Wraith gets a solid introduction, but Cates relies a lot on assumptions that everyone knows about Nova and Gladiator.

Cosmic Ghost Rider gets the worst fate of all, as the cover promises a featured role for him that the comic fails to deliver. Castle is a victim of diminishing returns in this series, he's there for what should be a good reason but the amount of characters included are serving to push him further into the background. This isn't a Cosmic Ghost Rider series, of course, but I feel like he's been used as a major selling point for this series and that comes with expectations.

While Cates may be struggling with such a large cast, Geoff Shaw seems to be thriving. He has a serious eye for style and dramatic design that really serves this series well. The splash page reveal of Annihilus is amazing and he does similar striking work during Wraith's attack on Nova. Even Groot, a walking tree, has a wonderfully emotive scowl present on his face. Shaw is definitely the highlight of the issue and the series so far.

This issue is not bad by any means, its just too crowded. It would be nice if the focus and cast got narrowed down.

Grade: B-