Cover Date: November 1992; On Sale Date: September 1992
Writer: D.G. Chichester; Artist: Ron Garney; Inker: Tom Palmer; Letterer: John Costanza; Colorist: Tom Palmer; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Ron Garney
Ghost Rider and Blaze interrogate Nakota, one of Lilith’s demonic children with the ability to project visions through her eyes. She shows them an image of Frank Drake, Hannibal King, and Blade, three former vampire hunters that Blaze recognizes. Ghost Rider fears they could have joined with Lilith and the two head toward Boston to find them.
Meanwhile, Frank Drake and his wife Marlene spend time at a Boston aquarium, where Drake sees a horrific vision of Lilith just before his wife falls into a catatonic state. He fails to notice Dr. Strange in the back of the crowd, watching them. Later, at a nearby mental hospital, Dr. Strange is given an update on Blade, whose obsession with vampires has been changed via therapy to a hatred of anything supernatural. Strange facilitates Blade’s release from the hospital and secretly watches the man leave. Finally, at the closed office of Borderline Investigate Services, Dr. Strange examines Hannibal King, whose vampire abilities and thirst for blood have started to resurface years after he was cured. Strange tells King that he is no longer human, but also not a true vampire, then teleports away. Elsewhere, Lilith locates another of her children in Boston, a monstrous creature named Meatmarket, and states her intention to use the vampire hunters against the Ghost Rider.
The next day, Blade and Drake both reunite with King at the Borderline office, with Drake seeing help with his wife’s mysterious condition. They are interrupted by Lilith, who is posing as a client whose husband has fallen to the same catatonia as Marlene Drake. She tells them that the ailment was caused by “demons” and shows them photos of Ghost Rider and John Blaze. That night, the three members of Borderline decide that even though they originally focused on vampires, there are worse things in the night. They all prepare in their own ways, with Frank Drake acquiring a gun that fires nanotech machines attuned to affect the occult.
When they arrive at the Borderline offices, Ghost Rider and Blaze find a note waiting for them that reads “Old North Church”. The newly christened Nightstalkers are waiting for them, having led the duo into an ambush, and the fight is being observed in secret by Meatmarket. Ghost Rider and Blaze are quickly overwhelmed by the Nightstalkers, but before killing them they realize that they are being watched. They discover and kill Meatmarket, who carelessly informs them that they were being manipulated by Lilith. Meanwhile, on the deck of the USS Constitution, Lilith is confronted by Dr. Strange, who refuses to do battle with her out of concern for the dimensional walls being weakened. The Lilin Pilgrim opens a teleportation portal and the severed head of Meatmarket falls through, followed by his body. Later, their battle ended, and Ghost Rider having already departed, Blaze is told by the three men that anyone connected to the supernatural is on their hit list. “The night,” they say, “is no longer safe for your kind”.
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| Such a momma's boy! |
THE ROADMAP
This issue is part five of "Rise of the Midnight Sons", continuing from Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins (1992) # 1 and continuing into Ghost Rider (1990) # 31.
Ghost Rider and John Blaze last appeared in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 3, which established their pursuit of Nakota and how they knew to track her to Boston.
Frank Drake, Hannibal King, and Blade were all supporting characters in the original Tomb of Dracula series. This issue speaks of a history between them and John Blaze, but any meeting between those characters before this has not been documented in any comics.
CHAIN REACTION
D.G. Chichester and Ron Garney reintroduce several members of the Tomb of Dracula supporting cast and unleash them against the Spirits of Vengeance in the fifth chapter of “Rise of the Midnight Sons”.
From what I understand about its origins, the book that eventually became Nightstalkers started out as something different. When editor Bobbie Chase began casting around for titles to revamp for the Midnight Sons launch, it was fellow editor Bob Harras who championed the return of Tomb of Dracula, intending to write the series himself. For undisclosed reasons, Harras was unable to see the project through, and it fell in the hands of Daredevil writer Dan Chichester, who came up with the Nightstalkers branding. Chichester had come up through Marvel’s Epic line and was making a name for himself on Daredevil, so having him launch one of the new titles was probably a pretty safe gambit.
Chichester’s scripting always included some strange turns of phrase, particularly in the narration. His Daredevil and Terror, Inc. runs were littered with curious bits of dialogue, and the same holds true here. It certainly fits the tone though, giving the comic a gothic gravitas that placed it on similar ground as Morbius and Darkhold, just with a more aggressive attitude. This was certainly the series that was aimed at the Punisher crowd, even more so than Ghost Rider and Morbius, and the prevalent attitude of “stake first, ask questions later” sets it apart from its contemporaries. Unfortunately, it also crosses that thin line at the very end that changes the reader’s perception of the main characters. Drake, King, and Blade are all interesting and sympathetic, sure, but it’s hard to root for fanatics who ignore what’s in front of their faces, as they do when they give their mission statement to John Blaze on the last few pages.
This issue was also another steppingstone for artist Ron Garney, fresh off a stint on Moon Knight and paired with Tomb of Dracula finisher Tom Palmer. Garney and Palmer fit together very well, especially since Palmer had a frustrating tendency to make every artist’s work look the same (seriously, he did finishes on over 100 issues of Avengers, and every artist from John Buscema to Steve Epting to Mike Deodato all looked like Palmer was ghost drawing over their work). Garney’s slightly minimalist Image Comics style was compliment and boosted by Palmer’s rougher finishes, though, and it was a shame that the duo broke up when Garney moved to Ghost Rider not long after. The art here is dynamic and moody, delivering on what the first issue’s killer cover promised.
Nightstalkers, like the other Midnight Sons titles introduced before it, was a quality debut from a solid creative team. It certainly maintained its own voice even through the lens of a major crossover and would continue to be one of the more interesting parts of the Midnight Sons line.
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| That certainly wasn't supposed to happen |
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