Nightstalkers #2 (December – 1992 – Marvel)

Nightstalkers #2

Of all the Midnight Sons titles Nightstalkers was always my least favorite.  It is the title that succumbs to  the super hero genre the most.  They are three over powered heroes, Blade (sword wielding half-vampire), Hannibal King (animal blood drinking full blown vampire), Frank Drake (non-vampire decedent of Dracula with a huge ectoplasm gun).  The are always fighting against super villainy baddies (like for example in this issue).  They wear costumes that strike me as being silly, and probably a little impractical in a fight (I mean come on a cape and a cravat).

Coming back to these and re-reading them, they do suffer from all of the things that I don’t like about all the superhero titles.  The second issue of Nightstalkers revolves around that too.  In their first big stand alone face off they end up dealing with a HYDRA task force called D.O.A. (Department of Occult Armaments).  There is a little subterfuge before the Nightstalkers know that that is who they are fighting against, since D.O.A.’s peons are a fortune teller and her two semi-literate assistants.  She escapes into the waiting arms of Hydra but as a punishment for their failure at bringing the Nightstalkers in they are soon face to face with four D.O.A. operatives:  Malpractice, Innards, Rotwrap and Pyre.  That’s right they have silly super villain names.

I have always wanted to like this title more than I do, but it just never did anything surprising or different than you would find in say The Avengers, or Justice League, and for me that just isn’t what I’m looking for.  I have never understood why they would waste all that good potential of characters driven by pain and loss into just making another superhero book.

One of the things that redeems this book for me a bit is the interplay between the three Nightstalkers.  Their’s is a marriage of convenience.  They all seek to eradicate all supernatural forces in the world, and in the end that includes each other.  As a young man I think I only kept up with this title through about issue ten, so I’ll be interested in seeing where that particular dynamic goes.  I know that there are only eighteen issues of the comic though, so I doubt that it will come to a real head where they all kill each other off, guess I’ll find out.

This is still my least favorite of the Midnight Sons titles, but I will get through all of them eventually, I would feel like I was doing the work that a writer and an artist put into the title a disservice by not reading it all (hopefully they don’t completely let me down).

Next Time: Cthulhu Tales #2

Rise of the Midnight Sons (TPB – 2000 – Marvel)

Rise of the Midnight Sons TPB

Collecting Ghost Rider #28 & #31, Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #1, Darkhold #1, Morbius #1, and Nightstalkers #1.

When I was 12 I desperately wanted this collection.  I would pick up my copy of Wizard every month and see how much my poly-bagged collectors issues of the Rise of the Midnight Sons series was up to.  Because like most everyone else in the 90’s there was a brief moment when I thought all of those first issue collectors editions would be worth thousands of dollars soon, and I would be able to buy all the comics that I ever wanted ever when I traded them in.  In the mean time I wanted to have this collection so I could read the books that were trapped in those collectors poly-bags over and over again.  What better way to do that than with a collection in book form that would never be worth as much as my single issues would ever be.

I never got it, because it was twenty dollars, and while my middle school allowance would cover a couple of books that were $2.50 a week, I didn’t have the financial wherewithal to just save up for a month to pick it up.  I had to have the books that were on the stands that week.  If I waited to pick up the graphic novel, how would I ever keep up with the current titles.  Oh the mind of a 12 year old geek!

Now I’m an adult, and there is ebay, and this little gem allowed me to pick up all those old poly-bagged comics and this guy so that I could reread the titles, without taking them out of their precious bags.  (though the giant poster that they all make is a huge temptation to open them).  I have to tell you, having these in a collection isn’t a let down at all.  These comics are just as fun as I remember them being.

The entire saga begins with Ghost Rider #28.  John Blaze is following around the newly minted Ghost Rider, Dan Ketch as he goes on a vengeance spree.  He is collecting common criminals and piling their inert Penance Stared out bodies in a crypt in a cemetery.  The cops are catching on to the action in the cemetery and soon Blaze and the Ghost rider find themselves trapped.  Enter The Caretaker another enigmatic motorcycle riding man who shows them a back way out of the crypt.  They escape, but stranger and more important things are afoot, as Lilith mother of demons has returned to the Earth, and her Lillin including her child Blackout are out to help her conquer the world.

Spirits of Vengeance #1 continues the tale, Blaze and Ghosty are still on the run from the cops, making their way back to the carnival that Blaze runs with his family.  Blaze isn’t sure why Ghost Rider is going so mad with rage until the Rider shares the vision of Lilith that he has had with Blaze.  The rush back to the carnival intensifies.  Meanwhile Lilith is reborn and her children gather to her in the Antarctic, including the teleporter Pilgrim.  Soon Blaze and Ghost Rider are back in the carnival and Lilith is is “getting the band back together,” by soliciting the help of Creed, and evil priest that can shoot his limbs from his body.  A showdown at the carnival is imminent, and the title doesn’t disappoint.  The Lillin and the carnies battle it out, with Blaze and The Rider coming out on top.

With Lilith on retreat, Blaze and The Ghost Rider go in search of other creatures that are a part of Ghost Rider’s vision of Lilith.  Thinking that all who were revealed to him will be enemies.  Enter Michael Morbius in Morbius #1.  Ghost Rider and Blaze arrive looking for him, ready to destroy him, not realizing that though he suffers from an insatiable lust for blood, it is tempered by his humanity.  He is a vampire through infection, and longs for nothing but to be free from his disease.  With that in mind he solicits help from another doctor friend who has helped him develop a serum that keeps him normal.  Everything is fine until one of Lilith’s children sneaks in and adds a little bit of demon blood to the serum.  Morbius goes mad and Blaze and Ghosty think they are going to have to put him down.  Instead Morbius gets control of himself, and vows to Ghost Rider to only feed on the blood of the corrupt.  Problem solved, time for Blaze and Ghost Rider to move on.

I feel obligated to point out here the vast superiority that this comic has to the current Marvel Now Morbius title.  Everything about it is better.  The art is darker, the plot is thicker, Morbius is way more serious about healing himself, and taking out some baddies on the way to recovery.  I’m still going to read the new Morbius title, but revisiting this one just reminds me of how far the new one falls short.

Darkhold #1 introduces us to a new villain.  The Darkhold, a book full of the most evil of spells, and the hideous little dwarf that is handing pages of it out to unsuspecting citizens.  Meanwhile a cabal of evil men called The Darkholders is busy trying to enable the dwarf to spread his vile darkness.  Blaze and the Ghost Rider come to put an end to the latest creature that The Darkhold has release, just in time for Lilith and her brood to fight against them as well.  Also arrives Vicki Montesi, daughter of one of the men sworn to keep the Darkhold in check, Sam Buchanan an agent from Interpol that has no belief in the mystical but has been charge with protecting Vicki and Louise Hastings an occultist that is driven to fight the Darkholders as well.  Soon the Darkholders, teamed up with Lilith go on the attack but with the aid of Ghost Rider and John Blaze they are able to thwart not only the two cults, but also the worm creature that threatens to consume all of humanity.  Lilith is on the run again.

The Nightstalkers are also a team, and their vow is to literally purge the earth of all supernatural creatures.  That includes Ghost Rider.   So when Ghosty comes knocking on the door of Blade, Frank Drake and Hannibal King, they are ready for a fight.  The same basic misunderstanding that happens between Blaze and the Rider with Morbius occurs here.  Soon though the Spirits of Vengeance and the Nightstalkers are Teaming up to defeat a common enemy, Lilith and her children.  There is one exception though, aside from teaming up to defeat Lilith the Nightstalkers make it clear that Ghost Rider is not safe with them.  There is no tentative agreement, only their desire to see all supernatural creatures eradicated from the Earth.

Which brings us to Ghost Rider #31, the Midnight Sons have all met.  The lines have been drawn and the time for the Midnight Sons to confront Lilith has come.  Pilgrim draws all the players to Antarctica and the battle begins, drawing to the logical conclusion.  Semi-good triumphs over ultimate evil.

As a whole this series stands the test of time.  It is dark and bold.  The evil is really evil and the good guys aren’t really a whole lot better.  The art is strong and the writing isn’t nearly as cheesy as this kind of horror vigilante super hero stuff can be (seriously check out some of the Punisher stuff from the 90’s the writing in them is so weak it is nearly painful).  For me it is hard to go wrong with these titles, I’m sure as I dig into the subsequent issues of them I will regret saying that but for now they are great.  If you haven’t dug into this branch of the Marvel Universe, it is worth a little trip to visit the Midnight Sons.

Next time: Revival #1