Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 23

"An Ending"

Cover Date: June 1994; Publication Date: April 1994

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Bud LaRosa; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

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.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 22

"The Children"

Cover Date: May 1994; Publication Date: March 1994

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artists: Henry Martinez & Robert Walker; Inkers: Bud LaRosa & Keith Williams; Letterers: Bill Oakley & Jon Babcock; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

At a camp site fifty miles north of New York City, John Blaze and the remnants of the Quentin Carnival watch on as the very drunk Miranda Woods unleashes bursts of mystical energy that threaten all of their lives. John tries to talk Miranda down, warning her that she could kill herself, but she doesn't care. She wants her son, Timmy, back, and Blaze tells her that he knows how hard it is to lose a child. They haven't given up looking for him, and eventually they'll find him. John finally talks her down, and she collapses in tears, asking for the pain to stop. Roxanne takes Miranda into their trailer, while John looks in on their kids, who have only recently been found. Later, Clara enters and tells John that she thinks she may have picked up a psychic reading on Timmy when they arrived in New York to retrieve Kody.

 

The next day, John goes to the Child Inc. building in Manhattan, the place that Clara pointed him to. He's confused about how the company could point him to Timmy, since they're an organization that helps unfortunate children across the world. Blaze meets with Ms. Pearl, one of the representatives of Child Inc., and is told that there is really nothing the company can do to help him. Suddenly, the building is attacked by Cardiac, a dangerous vigilante, who declares that the funds raised by the company are not reaching the children they've promised to help. Unexpectedly, several commandos with high-tech weapons attack Cardiac, but the vigilante easily subdues them. Blaze then gets involved, and the two hit each other with their weapons. John is stunned, but Cardiac is forced to make a retreat -- though he vows to return. When John awakens, the security team tells him that he has ten seconds to vacate the premises before they open fire. Blaze agrees to leave, but wonders to himself why a charity organization is using soldiers and has subbasements that he overheard one of the guards mention.

 

A short while later, John meets Michael Badilino - Vengeance - at a police firing range and asks him to help him investigate Child Inc. Badilino begrudgingly agrees to help, and the two start a stake-out outside the charity's building. They see an explosion on the roof of the building, and after Badilino transforms into the Vengeance the two men ride up to find out what's happening. They find Cardiac, who is battling against the security force once again. Vengeance steps in to try and stop Cardiac, but is blasted away by the vigilante's power staff. Cardiac then blows a hole through the roof and descends into the building, leaving Blaze and Vengeance to follow him.

 

When they make their way to the building's subbasements, Blaze and Vengeance find themselves fighting giant robotic guards. Cardiac assists them, apologizing them for mistaking the two for Child Inc. employees. The three make short work of the robots, and Cardiac tells them that Child Inc. has been selling the very children they have claimed to protect, making money at the expense of children in slavery. Finding a prison in the lowest level of the building, the heroes free the children and Blaze finally finds Timmy, who simply asks "what took you so long?". After all of the children are evacuated, Cardiac destroys the building. Vengeance tells John that he'll make sure the rescued kids are taken care of by the police, while John says he has something personal to do. Later, Miranda and Timmy are reunited, and all the mother can say is "thank you" over and over.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 21

"Change Is In the Air"

Cover Date: April 1994; Publication Date: February 1994

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Bud LaRosa; Letterer: Bill Oakley & Jon Babcock; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

Kody, strongman for the Quentin Carnival turned bestial creature, hunts through the woods in Bucks County, Pennsylvania for another beast-man. Their savage fight is interrupted by John Blaze, whose intervention allows the second monster to escape. Blaze demands answers and Kody clarifies that the other creature was his brother.

A week later, Kody has disappeared, and Blaze is wracked with guilt over not being able to help his friend. Clara has a vision of Kody in danger in New York City and offers to lead Blaze to him. Roxanne is upset, realizing that Clara has an attraction toward John and wants John to treat her and their children like family instead of like strangers. Blaze checks on Quinn, who is helping to heal and repair Steel Wind, who Quinn refuses to abandon. Not long after, Blaze and Clara leave for New York on John’s hellfire motorcycle. 

In Manhattan, Kody is attacked by more beast-men, led by his father, Bern. They have come to bring Kody back with them, but he refuses to go. An hour later, when John and Clara arrive, Clara impulsively kisses Blaze. The jealous and lovelorn Kody attacks John and tries to flee with Clara but stops when Blaze says they are there to help him with his family. Bern and the beast-men attack, but when Kody chooses his human friends over his family, Bern exiles him from their clan. John, Clara, and Kody all talk about their feelings toward one another, and Kody agrees to return with them.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 20

"Picking Up the Pieces"

Cover Date: March 1994; Publication Date: January 1994

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Bud LaRosa; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

John Blaze has returned to the former site of the Quentin Carnival, which has been taken over by the United States military, with the goal of erasing all the data on the supernatural members of the carnival that the government has collected. Once inside the base, John loses contact with his back-up team of Wolf, Quinn, and Kody. He then encounters the ghosts of his deceased friends from the carnival who have something they need him to do for them before they can move on. They lead Blaze to a lab where scientists have been performing tests on some of the Styge demons that survived the destruction of the carnival. While the Ghost Battalion holds off the incoming soldiers with their ghostly weapons Blaze enters the lab and kills the demons, despite the protests of the scientists. As he goes to leave, Blaze discovers the limbless body of Steel Wind, who also survived the carnival’s destruction. She asks him to kill her due to the pain she feels from Centurious’ magic, but Blaze instead chooses mercy and carries her out, hoping to help her. John says goodbye to his dead friends and exits the facility, on his way to rendezvous with Wolf and Kody.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 19

"Alone!"

Cover Date: February 1994; Publication Date: December 1993

Writer: David Quinn; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Bud LaRosa; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

John Blaze is having a nightmare, in which he watches his younger brother, Dan Ketch, devoured and killed by the demon Zarathos. Blaze's dream-self encounters twisted versions of the Caretaker and Dr. Strange, who he blames for Dan's death as much as he blames Zarathos. The two mystics rip and tear at Blaze's metal casing, until all that's left is a burning pyre of hellfire. John wakes up screaming in an abandoned warehouse, where he'd stopped to rest. Not wanting to return home to the Quentin Carnival, he tears down the New York streets on his mystical motorcycle, eventually ending up at Brooklyn's Cypress Hills Cemetery. Blaze runs across Vengeance, who tells him that he's not going to be around to save John's ass like Dan Ketch had been. The two come across an engraving on Dan's tomb, the mark of the midnight dagger. Vengeance leaves John to sulk, saying it's time to get back in the game.

 

In another part of the cemetery, a young couple make out between the tombstones. The female, Callie, tells her boyfriend that she's not ready to have sex, despite his constant attempts. Suddenly, a strange man picks the boy up by his shirt and digs fangs into his neck. The stranger is Varnae, recently resurrected lord of the vampires. Transforming into a human bat, Varnae takes flight until he comes across Blaze, recognizing him as one of Strange's comrades. The vampire attacks John, managing to dig his fangs into his neck. Instead of blood, however, Varnae gets a mouthful of hellfire. Realizing that he is unable to drain his opponent, Varnae then asks John to join him as a vampire, to end his lonely existence. John refuses, shoving Varnae's face into the mystical symbol of the dagger. The symbol causes Varnae a great deal of pain, forcing him to fly away into the night sky. The Caretaker then appears behind Blaze, who tells John that despite both of them losing their "families", he and Varnae are very different. Whereas Varnae chooses to turn his fear of being alone into blind anger, John will continue to endure until he learns that being alone is nothing to be afraid of.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 18

"Siege of Darkness, Part 16: Spirit of Death"

Cover Date: January 1994; Publication Date: November 1993

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Keith Williams; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

Ghost Rider leads the remaining Midnight Sons to a crypt, the entrance to Zarathos’ underground lair. Mystical energy prevents all but Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance from entering, but Stacy Dolan manages to follow behind them. They quickly locate the imprisoned Caretaker, who tells them they’ve been lured into a trap. Zarathos appears and challenges Ghost Rider to a final battle. He teleports the two of them away, but at the last second Stacy jumps into the portal with them. 

They reappear at Glastonbury Tor in England, where Zarathos allows Ghost Rider to usher Stacy to safety inside the castle. Zarathos talks with Ghost Rider about how he has no memory of what happened after his original defeat and that he is a slave to machinations he set into action thousands of years ago. The two battle but Ghost Rider is quickly and easily overpowered, dying as his essence is absorbed by Zarathos. As he does he reverts to Dan Ketch, who tells Stacy that he will always love her. As she cradles his bones, finally realizing why she felt a connection to Ghost Rider, Zarathos claims his fallen enemy’s jacket as his trophy. The other Midnight Sons arrive, ready for the final battle.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 17

"Siege of Darkness, Part 8: The End of the World As We Know It"

Cover Date: December 1993; Publication Date: October 1993

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Keith Williams; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

After the destruction of Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, the Midnight Sons find themselves in the middle of an attack by the Lilin. Managing to find a doorway, Caretaker opens a portal to the Nightclub, and the heroes barely escape. Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance decide that the best course of action is to take the fight to Lilth and seal off the portal to the Lilin dimension. Caretaker disagrees, saying that even if they stop Lilith they don't have the strength to defeat Zarathos. When he refuses to let the three leave, the Spirits of Vengeance quickly disable Caretaker. The Midnight Sons then leave, deciding to fight without him. After a moment of thought, the Caretaker reluctantly follows them.

 

In the cemetery, Lilith takes advantage of the amnesiac Zarathos, coupling with him in an attempt to father his children. Ghost Rider and the rest attack the portal, and while the Nightstalkers hold off the Lilin, the Spirits of Vengeance approach the source of the evil mist. Zarathos attacks and easily defeats the three, but a repentant Morbius appears and gives them time to regroup. Caretaker shows the three how to tap into the power of the Medallion, which they use to seal up the portal to Lilin's world. The mist is quickly sucked back into the hole, carry with it Lilith and all of her offspring. After this expenditure of power, the Medallion shatters in Ghost Rider's hand, destroyed. The battle is not completely won, however, as the use of the Medallion has brought back Zarathos' minions, the Fallen. Caretaker attacks the demons, telling the other heroes to search for the missing members of the Blood. As the Fallen easily defeat the Caretaker, a joyful Zarathos proclaims that his lost memories have finally returned.

Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 16

"Road to Vengeance: The Missing Link, Part 6: Zarathos"

Cover Date: November 1993; Publication Date: September 1993

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Keith Williams; Letterers: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

Ghost Rider, John Blaze, Vengeance, and the Caretaker all lay defeated at the feet of the newly-reborn Zarathos.  The Spirits of Vengeance are able to escape into the catacombs beneath Cypress Hills Cemetery with the unconscious Mrs. Ketch, while the amnesiac Zarathos is found by Lilith and her Lilin.  Centurious, injured in the battle with Ghost Rider, demands Lilith's help but instead he is attacked and teleported away by the Lilin and Zarathos.  Lilith, seeing an opportunity for power, tells Zarathos that she is his mother. 

At the Blood's mystical Nightclub, Caretaker and Seer tell the Spirits of Vengeance about how they're connected to one another through the Medallion of Power and Mephisto's interference.  While the members of the Quentin Carnival look after Mrs. Ketch, Caretaker teleports them away, but not before Mrs. Ketch demands that Caretaker tell them the whole truth about "her babies".  The heroes arrive back at the cemetery and attack, but only when Ghost Rider taps into the power of the Medallion on his motorcycle gascap is he able to blast Zarathos and Lilth back into the catacombs, which he believes has sealed them away "forever".  With the battle ended, Blaze demands to know what Mrs. Ketch was talking about, and Caretaker reveals that he and Dan Ketch are actually brothers.

Blaze (1994) # 8

"...No Laughing Matter!"

Cover Date: March 1995; On Sale Date: January 1995

Writer: Larry Hama; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Bud LaRosa; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

The light of an opening door appears in a dark room, allowing John Blaze to step through into the darkness. Suddenly, three figures - a woman with an axe, a maniac with a chainsaw, and a soldier with a rifle - attack him before freezing in their tracks. Blaze is approached by the Mad Monk, a robed man whose Murderama attraction, including the animated statues, is under review for addition to the Quentin Carnival. While Blaze is wary of signing him up, the Monk shows him something that might interest him personally: the actual chair that electrocuted Ice Box Bob and a sarcophagus containing the mummified remains of a High Priestess of Baal the Unspeakable. Curious as to how he knows so much about his personal life, John signs the Monk onto the Carnival and tells him to park his rig on the midway of their compound.

Blaze exits the Mad Monk's traveling rig and confers with Kody and Wolf, who are concerned about the fact that no one has ever heard of the Monk's "Murderama" attraction. John shrugs them off by saying that he'll hire on every freak, grifter, and psi-talent in the country to find his missing children. Blaze walks through the Carnival and thinks about the misery of his life while a police helicopter buzzes the Carnival in the sky above. Blaze's thoughts are interrupted by Clara, who is once again wearing the Eyes of the Kristal Starrer and an outlandish leather outfit. She blames John for her inability to control the Eyes, that it was him who made her use them to help find his children. John enters her trailer, unaware that he's being spied on by Princess Python - who in turn is discovered by Kody. The two talk about their feelings toward their co-workers: Python has fallen hard for Blaze, while Kody has long been in love with Clara. They hear a scream coming from the Mad Monk's trailer and decide to investigate, while the cops in the helicopter notice the Monk's truck shaking.

Inside the trailer, the Mad Monk - actually the assassin named Arcade - is held by an arm produced from the Priestess' sarcophagus. The Priestess tells him that their contract demands Blaze's death while Arcade begs for one last shot to murder him. Kody and Princess Python bust into the trailer and are rendered unconscious by Arcade's gas-filled boutonniere. Back in Clara's trailer, John's attempts at fighting off his friend's sexual advances are halted when they see the Mad Monk's trailer transforming into something new. The Carnival members assemble outside the reconfigured trailer, which is now a bizarre funhouse with "Murderworld" written on a large sign. Wolf tells John that Arcade is an assassin that's given carnies a bad name for a long time, then tosses John his shotgun.

Blaze enters and finds Arcade at a podium, directing him toward one of three doors. Unwilling to play the game, Blaze simply fires his hellfire at Arcade, nearly destroying the robotic double of the assassin. Instead of choosing a door, he follows a large coaxial cable into the wall, where another gunshot reveals the hidden Arcade. The assassin pulls a lever and opens all three doors, allowing the three killer robots from the Monk's attraction to attack. Blaze simply tosses his gun over his shoulder and fires, destroying the robots with one shot. Afraid for his life, Arcade opens a door to reveal Kody and Python held in the grasp of the Priestess, who says that she has waited three millenniums as an undead being for Baal's return, only for it to have been halted by Blaze. Blaze fires his gun, blasting the undead creature with hellfire and causing the sarcophagus to fall to the ground. While Kody helps Python outside, Blaze grabs Arcade and tosses him into the sarcophagus with the Priestess and locks it. He goes outside as the funhouse transforms back into a rig and tosses the keys to Wolf, telling his aide to drive the truck into the desert and just lose it. While Wolf drives away in the truck, the police helicopter hovers overhead, announcing futilely over a loud speaker for Blaze to stop where he's at.

Blaze (1994) # 7

"We Who are Lost"

Cover Date: February 1995; On Sale Date: December 1994

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

John Blaze wakes in his trailer in the middle of the night to find three intruders looking for jobs with the carnival: the diminutive psychic Madame Yang Kwei Fei, the Lobster Lad, and the Roach. Sensing that Fei’s psychic power could help him find his missing kids he hires them, then kicks them out of his trailer. The next morning, Blaze kicks a trick-shooter named Double-Tap out of the carnival during his audition. During that afternoon’s show, Blaze attempts to ride down a flaming wire that Double-Tap shoots and breaks, causing Blaze to crash and injure himself. Double-Tap’s two assistants, Tex and Aura-Lee, shoot the carnival’s cashier and steal the show’s ticket money.

Blaze wakes up in the hospital, where he’s questioned by a police detective. Madame Yang Kwei Fei reads the detective’s mind and learns that Double-Tap has a brother named Lucious Tapp, so the carnival members go off to seek revenge despite Blaze begging them not to. While Fei and her assistants interrogate the brother and learn that Double-Tap is hiding in an aquarium, Blaze convinces Clara to use the eyes of the Kristall-Starrer to help him find his motorcycle and stop the carnival members. Blaze and Clara arrive at the aquarium in time to see Lobster Lad and Roach running out, happy and no longer deformed. Two new minions carry Fei out in her steel box. The next morning, the detective questions Blaze at the carnival and notices that the new Roach and Lobster Lad look just like Double-Tap and Tex, while there’s a new trained monkey named Aura-Lee.

Blaze (1994) # 6

"Apache Autumn, Part 3: Hungry Spirits!"

Cover Date: January 1995; On Sale Date: November 1994

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

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 Baal, 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 Baal.  While Baal goes back through the dimensional portal, Craig and Emma check on their dazed father.  Jesse Pinto and the Wendigo go to the portal, saying they're going to track down and finish Baal 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.

Blaze (1994) # 5

"Apache Autumn, Part 2: Bad Day at the Haunted Mesa!"

Cover Date: December 1994; On Sale Date: October 1994

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

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.

Blaze (1994) # 4

"Apache Autumn, Part 1"

Cover Date: November 1994; On Sale Date: September 1994

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

John Blaze is an Apache "spirit kiva", where he has is experiencing a vision/hallucination of the Wendigo walking hand in hand with this two missing kids.  During the vision he is confronted first by Icebox Bob and then by Bob's master, who claims to have met Blaze once before but is unrecognized by John.  He claims to have Blaze's children and he'll be seeing him soon enough.  John wakes up in the hut and is pulled free by Warpath and Wyatt Wingfoot, who believe Blaze to be a thief or even a killer that they're hunting for.  When Blaze tells them about his vision of the Wendigo, Warpath and Wingfoot reveal that they too both had visions of the Wendigo that drew them to this area.

They show Blaze a grisly murder scene, where a family were the latest victims of a serial killer on the Apache reservation.  All of the family's children had been killed but one, 5-year-old Jesse Pinto, who has gone missing.  Warpath had received a vision of Jesse walking with the Wendigo, mirroring Blaze's own vision.  At the local trading post, Blaze tries to convince Clara to use her magic eyes to find the kids, but she refuses, believing that the eyes are trying to corrupt her.  Wyatt Wingfoot offers an alternative, and at his home he places the jar with the eyes in a magical basket, transporting himself, Blaze, Clara, and Warpath to the spirit realm.  There they see the Wendigo, Icebox Bob, and hundreds of souls being devoured by a demonic entity.  Once the vision ends, Wyatt gets a phone call that tells him there's been another murder and the killer is trapped inside.

Outside the trading post, they're told by the police that the killer may be a college student named Darryl Licht, who had been at the reservation studying Native American shamanism.  Blaze and Warpath enter the store and are attacked by Licht, who has been transformed into a powerful new form by a mystical entity in exchange for the souls of the people he's murdered.  Licht escapes out into the desert, and is followed by Blaze and Warpath.  They find Licht being powered by the entity he made the deal with, who is using Licht to get a foothold into their realm.

Blaze (1994) # 3

"Highway to Hellfire!"

Cover Date: October 1994
On Sale Date: August 1994

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

In the alternate dimension that serves as his prison, Icebox Bob screams at a poster of John Blaze, yelling that it'll take more than a swamp monster with a burning touch to destroy him. He then kicks at a locked door and says "at least I ain't stuck here alone". From a metal grate at the bottom of the door, two small sets of eyes look at their captor in terror.

Back in the Florida town of Brownings Corners, John Blaze and the young Holden Blevins return to the Quentin Carnival, carrying with them the retrieved Eyes of the Kristall Starrer. Blaze demands that Clara tell him how the Eyes are connected to the Nexus of Realities and Icebox Bob, and she replies by letting the Eyes implant themselves in her head. Her attitude immediately changes, the Eyes making her more cruel. While Clara, Blaze, Kody, and Wolf argue in the trailer, Holden interrupts them. Blaze had thought of Blevins as a ghost, but Clara calls him a "weirdling", seeing a strange aura of energy around him. Blevins tells them about how he had been taken by Icebox Bob, and his mother had followed them to rescue him. She confronted Bob with a # 7 nail file, not knowing that a piece of steel with the number seven on it was a powerful channel for magic. Blevins' mom stabbed Bob with the nail file, breaking his hold on keeping them trapped in his dimension, opening a small portal back to the real world. But Bob wouldn't let them escape so easily, and Holden stops his story there.

Back in the alternate dimension, Bob terrorizes John's children. Suddenly, a demonic hand slithers out of the ground, accompanied by a voice that accuses Bob of stealing the children from him. Bob pleads that he was just borrowing the kids so he could get Blaze to release him from his prison. The other demon tells Bob to call for Blaze through the Eyes, and that he will make ready the road. Suddenly, back in the trailer, Clara's eyes blast forth with energy, and she tells John that "he wants to meet you on the highway". John runs from the trailer, determined to get his kids back from Bob, and Holden runs after him. After they leave, Wolf states that he knows someone who might be able to shed a little light on the mystery.

As John and Holden ride down the highway, the road suddenly transforms into a river of blood in a valley of fire. They follow the blood river to a light at the end of the road, which they drive right through. They pass through the dimensional gate and fall toward Bob's house, crashing through the skylight. Inside, the second demon slaps Bob down on his electric chair and powers it up, giving him his own counter to Blaze's bike. Bob races toward Blaze, but John blasts his chair with his shotgun, destroying it.

Meanwhile, Wolf has called an old friend in the police and got information on Holden's mother, Mary Blevins. He tells Wolf and Clara that Mary did get away from Bob, but she was found stark raving mad. She was put in an asylum, where she committed suicide. The child that was found with Mary was dead due to ice pick wounds: the boy's name was Caufield Blevins, age three. Kody asks about Holden, and Wolf tells him that during the autopsy on Mary they discovered she was pregnant with a boy, who would have been eleven years old today had he ever been born.

Back in Bob's realm, the killer grabs Craig and Emma and uses them as hostages. Holden tells Blaze to fire, but John refuses because he can't hurt his children. Holden then jumps off the bike, a # 7 nail file in his hand. He stabs Bob in the head, causing the alternate reality to start breaking apart. Blaze loses control of his bike, and skids past his children, who he reaches for. The demonic hands of Bob's master then grabs the two kids and pulls them through a steel door. The next moment, John is lying on the highway, screaming hysterically that he won't ever give up trying to get his children back.

Blaze (1994) # 2

"Swamp Fire!"

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.

Blaze (1994) # 1

"A Cold Blast From Icebox Bob!"

Cover Date: August 1994; On Sale Date: June 1994

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

A young boy named Holden Blevins arrives at the Quentin Carnival, telling John Blaze that he met the Ghost Rider at a crossroads at midnight.  Ghost Rider directed Holden to seek out Blaze, stating that the two of them will help each other. The boy asks him to stop a man called Ice Box Bob, a killer that eats people's souls. Blaze disregards the boy's story, but turns to find that the kid has vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, Clara and Kody go to a local store to buy groceries, surprised to find that the wheelchair bound owner has been holding a package for Clara for over ten years. The owner, Mr. Schenker, then shows Kody a preserved corpse in a prisoner's uniform that he keeps on display.

That night at the Carnival, while Blaze is performing, a young girl is kidnapped by a ghost that carries ice tongs. Around the same time, Clara opens her package in her trailer, a jar of liquid in which floats two pairs of eyes. Calling them the Eyes of the Kristall-Starrer, the orbs jump out of the water and attach themselves to Clara's face. She sees a vision of the corpse in Schenker's store, the body of an electrocuted killer named Ice Box Bob. John sits in his trailer, preparing to go find the missing girl, only to find that his metal casing on his face is no longer needed...his face is healed, repaired by the hellfire that saturates his body. Holden then appears in his trailer, telling him to go after Schenker.

John arrives at Schenker's store and finds the store owner, now able to walk, preparing to execute the young girl. As John blows away bits of the man's body with hellfire, he can almost see the ghost of Ice Box Bob underneath. After Schenker dies, Holden reappears and shows a message left for John, written on the wall in blood - "I know where your kids are!"