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Ghost Rider (1990) #28, 31
Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons
Johnny Blaze and Dan Ketch race side-by-side as the Spirits of Vengeance, as Marvel's Midnight Sons rise to face a hellish threat like no other! Former Ghost Rider Blaze joins his successor Ketch and fellow Sons including Morbius, Blade, the Nightstalkers and the Darkhold Redeemers in the fight against Lilith, Mother of Demons, and her horrifying progeny! As they continue to burn rubber together, Blaze and Ghost Rider target Hag and Troll, but they're not the only ones on the trail. So is Venom! And where the sinister symbiote goes, can Spider-Man be far behind? Collecting GHOST RIDER (1990) #28 and #31, GHOST RIDER/ SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE #1-6, THE LIVING VAMPIRE (1992) #1, PAGES FROM THE BOOK OF SINS #1, NIGHTSTALKERS #1, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) #95-96 and material from MIDNIGHT SONS UNLIMITED #1.
432 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 2016
35 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Howard Mackie
1,025 books34 followersHoward Mackie is an American comic book editor and writer. He has worked almost exclusively for Marvel Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 22, 2021
Rise of the Midnight Sons: Ghost Rider/Morbius/Darkhold/Nightstalkers/Spirits of Vengeance: ☆☆☆½
Spirits of Venom: ☆☆☆☆
A solid volume collecting Marvel's 90s first supernatural characters crossover launching its new horror titles riding on the wave of success of Howard Mackie's Ghost Rider, and the infamous/popular Spidey/Venom/Spirits of Vengeance extra cheesy one.
Some dialogues and storylines aged not much well, but Mackie's version of the flaming skull byker is still the best and creepiest one of the character in my opinion, Kubert brothers artworks are 100% pure eye-candy awesomess, Doctor Strange never was so edgy and manipulative like here, Len Kaminsky and Ron Wagner's fetish Morbius was a really good relaunch of Marvel's Living Vampire (Wagner is an A+ artist and it seems he had some problems with Comics Code Authority because of some too much explicit sex artworks while working on Morbius series), and the final story from the Midnight Sons Unlimited magazine illustrated by Klaus Janson is a disturbing horror small gem.
'Nuff said.
November 9, 2023
3.75 stars. This ended up being pretty solid. Ketch/Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze have reluctantly teamed up to deal with an incoming threat. Lilith, mother of demons. She has retuned and has summoned her demon children to her side to assist in taking over letting demons run wild. Blaze is not a Ghost Rider at the moment but he does have a shotgun that Ketch/Rider made able to shoot hellfire. Doctor Strange knows about this coming threat but can’t help. Reason being, if his and Lilith’s magic collide, it can weaken the barrier between worlds. Therefore, Strange has move people around in order for them to help each other. This brings in Blade and two other vampire hunters and Morbius for the formation of the Midnight Sons. Some nice 90s art from Kubert and a ton of action.
Later we get Hag & Troll trying to get the drained body of Deathwatch back to the shadow ghouls called Deathspawns. They mean to drain the life of innocents to revive Deathwatch. Here, we see Ketch and Blaze team up with Spidey and Venom. More big action in this story as well. Solid 90s comics.
Later we get Hag & Troll trying to get the drained body of Deathwatch back to the shadow ghouls called Deathspawns. They mean to drain the life of innocents to revive Deathwatch. Here, we see Ketch and Blaze team up with Spidey and Venom. More big action in this story as well. Solid 90s comics.
June 22, 2021
Very nice collection of this restart of many of the 1970s Marvel supernatural characters. Good art and story. Recommended
March 21, 2022
A wild ride to hell- so 90s, you can just feel it. A lot of fun at the beginning but this went on longer than it needed to. Not every tie in was great, some were a slog to finish. Read it on Halloween weekend, so it was extra fun!
September 4, 2020
2.5/5
This is an anthology , so of course it’s a mixed bag. The Morbius story was cool, the venom and spider-man story was cool and all, but the main 6 part story with Lilith was lame. What a lame villain who was just evil for the sake of evil with no interesting character whatsoever. Blade and the Nightstalkers were neat but Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider are just kind of bland uninteresting macho 90s characters with no depth or personality. It gets three stars for the art, the side characters were more interesting than the main characters and that’s always a problem for me. I don’t think I’ll read to many more Ghost Rider comics, but at least the Spider-Man story was cool so it wasn’t a complete waste of my money.
This is an anthology , so of course it’s a mixed bag. The Morbius story was cool, the venom and spider-man story was cool and all, but the main 6 part story with Lilith was lame. What a lame villain who was just evil for the sake of evil with no interesting character whatsoever. Blade and the Nightstalkers were neat but Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider are just kind of bland uninteresting macho 90s characters with no depth or personality. It gets three stars for the art, the side characters were more interesting than the main characters and that’s always a problem for me. I don’t think I’ll read to many more Ghost Rider comics, but at least the Spider-Man story was cool so it wasn’t a complete waste of my money.
July 24, 2020
Fun art. One highlight is the showdown between Venom and Ghost Rider. Very visceral and beautiful.
The stories, however, are confusing and so very 90s in a bad way. I had to force myself through much of this convoluted, magical mess.
The stories, however, are confusing and so very 90s in a bad way. I had to force myself through much of this convoluted, magical mess.
August 24, 2024
This rating comes with a BIG asterisk, in that I happen to really dig the whole grimdark 90s vibe of Howard Mackie's titanic run on Ghost Rider and eventually Spirits Of Vengence. It's all about melodrama and 90s extreme edge with demons and vampires and gratuitous gore.
I love all of it. It's just the right amount of cheese to be delightfully entertaining. Like an episode of Young Hercules or Xena.
You aren't here for high art so don't expect it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride through hellfire.
I love all of it. It's just the right amount of cheese to be delightfully entertaining. Like an episode of Young Hercules or Xena.
You aren't here for high art so don't expect it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride through hellfire.
February 22, 2020
Tomo integral en tapa blanda que recopila Ghost Rider (1990) #28, 31; Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #1-6; Morbius: the Living Vampire (1992) #1; Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins #1; Nightstalkers #1; Web of Spider-Man (1985) #95-96 y material de Midnight Sons Unlimited #1, más entrevistas y extras originalmente publicados en Marvel Age Number 115 (agosto 1992) más un par de pin-ups.
July 1, 2019
Reprints Ghost Rider (2) #28, 31, Ghost Rider & Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #1-6, Morbius (1) #1, Darkhold #1, Nightstalkers #1, Web of Spider-Man (1) #95-96, and Midnight Sons Unlimited #1 (August 1992-January 1993). Danny Ketch is dead. Unfortunately, Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze won’t have time to deal with the crisis since that an older evil has returned to Earth. Lilith the Mother of Demons has been reborn and is trying to reestablish herself and the Lilin as the rulers of Earth. It is up to Johnny and Ghost Rider to assemble a team of “heroes” to stop the Lilith…and the Darkhold Redeemers, Morbius, and the Nightstalkers must find a way to work together if they want to stop the darkness from rising! Plus, Ghost Rider and Blaze must work with Venom and Spider-Man when a danger arises.
Written by Howard Mackie, Len Kaminski, Christian Cooper, and D.G. Chichester, Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons was a 1990s Marvel event series. The collection features art by Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert, Ron Wagner, Richard Case, Ron Garney, Alex Saviuk, and Klaus Janson. The original issues were polybagged with a collectible poster. The “Spirits of Venom” storyline was also collected in the Spider-Man vs. Venom Omnibus.
In 1992, Ghost Rider was a hot commodity. The “Dark ’90s” were swelling and leather coats, chains, shoulder pads, and lots of fire really seemed to sell. While Image was taking off, Marvel’s idea was to go dark and gritty with characters like Ghost Rider, Venom, and Punisher. The Midnight Sons was an attempt to turn Ghost Rider into a “family” book and bring other titles under its mantle…which was so-so in its success.
In 1990s, a series pretty much seemed to get twelve issues or so to prove itself as opposed to the five or six issues received today, and that is why Midnight Sons was somewhat successful since most of the titles did pass the twelve issue mark…but none of the spin-off titles really soared. The collection features the core six issue storyline which assembles Midnight Sons and then the following issues of the Ghost Rider/Blaze…but it is so ’90s in its delivery and storytelling that it is both fun and frustrating.
The Midnight Sons storyline reintroduced Morbius and the Nightstalkers (which included the return of Blade who continues to be used). The story also introduced the rather interesting Darkhold Redeemers for which I had a soft spot. The series was essentially an X-Files (or Friday the 13th: The Series) type of show with the characters hunting down cursed items. They didn’t really fit in well with the other Midnight Sons and rather interesting, they revealed the lead character was a lesbian which was ahead of the time.
The second part of the collection features a Venom story so with Venom and Ghost Rider together, it couldn’t get much more ’90s. It is an average story, but most of the comics from this period are. There was a big focus on art over substance and Marvel lost a lot of the big artists to Image…so they have a tricky balance between art and story.
Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons is a great example of the success and failings of the 1990s. While even in the 1990s, I could recognize that the stories lacked a lot of depth and the characters were rather one dimensional, the comics were comics and still had fun. Much of the stories today seem to forget the fun and go for realism (appealing to older readers), but older readers often want the escapism that is provided by earlier issues. I look with nostalgia back on collections like this even if they are the strongest (which is a little sad itself).
Written by Howard Mackie, Len Kaminski, Christian Cooper, and D.G. Chichester, Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons was a 1990s Marvel event series. The collection features art by Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert, Ron Wagner, Richard Case, Ron Garney, Alex Saviuk, and Klaus Janson. The original issues were polybagged with a collectible poster. The “Spirits of Venom” storyline was also collected in the Spider-Man vs. Venom Omnibus.
In 1992, Ghost Rider was a hot commodity. The “Dark ’90s” were swelling and leather coats, chains, shoulder pads, and lots of fire really seemed to sell. While Image was taking off, Marvel’s idea was to go dark and gritty with characters like Ghost Rider, Venom, and Punisher. The Midnight Sons was an attempt to turn Ghost Rider into a “family” book and bring other titles under its mantle…which was so-so in its success.
In 1990s, a series pretty much seemed to get twelve issues or so to prove itself as opposed to the five or six issues received today, and that is why Midnight Sons was somewhat successful since most of the titles did pass the twelve issue mark…but none of the spin-off titles really soared. The collection features the core six issue storyline which assembles Midnight Sons and then the following issues of the Ghost Rider/Blaze…but it is so ’90s in its delivery and storytelling that it is both fun and frustrating.
The Midnight Sons storyline reintroduced Morbius and the Nightstalkers (which included the return of Blade who continues to be used). The story also introduced the rather interesting Darkhold Redeemers for which I had a soft spot. The series was essentially an X-Files (or Friday the 13th: The Series) type of show with the characters hunting down cursed items. They didn’t really fit in well with the other Midnight Sons and rather interesting, they revealed the lead character was a lesbian which was ahead of the time.
The second part of the collection features a Venom story so with Venom and Ghost Rider together, it couldn’t get much more ’90s. It is an average story, but most of the comics from this period are. There was a big focus on art over substance and Marvel lost a lot of the big artists to Image…so they have a tricky balance between art and story.
Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons is a great example of the success and failings of the 1990s. While even in the 1990s, I could recognize that the stories lacked a lot of depth and the characters were rather one dimensional, the comics were comics and still had fun. Much of the stories today seem to forget the fun and go for realism (appealing to older readers), but older readers often want the escapism that is provided by earlier issues. I look with nostalgia back on collections like this even if they are the strongest (which is a little sad itself).
January 21, 2023
Super fun 90’s comics. Love seeing Adam Kubert’s artwork. Making me wish there was a Danny Ketch ghost rider omnibus of some kind.
July 30, 2024
There’s no need to fear the night…when the heroes are even more dangerous than the monsters that lurk in the shadows…
Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons is very much a product of the 90s and that’s ok.
Full disclosure, I was a big fan of the Midnight Sons comics back in the day (not midnight suns, don’t event start), and that continues to the present.
It was a wonderful capon of characters and stories carried over from the 70s and 80s horror and magic comics to become a dark symphony of modern gothic supernatural superhero stories.
You basically have a ton of big names brought up…Ghost Rider, Morbius, Blade, even the Darkhold which was a major plot point in doctor strange and other horror comics.
Th way are all drawn in to find something more even and a dark demonic race from ancient times.
None of them like eachother, and few of them want to cooperate. Heck, even some of the team books themselves are dis functional.
However…until marvel decides to collect the individual runs (Darkhold and Nightstalkers really deserve epic collections), this is the coolest you get.
For roughly two years, the Midnight Sons protected the marvel universe form the dark forces that threatened it (even if their own members were the threat they needed to put down like in the Midnight Massacre crossover).
They did their part, and sadly many of them are no longer around. Still, they fothat the good fight and should be remembered…
Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons is very much a product of the 90s and that’s ok.
Full disclosure, I was a big fan of the Midnight Sons comics back in the day (not midnight suns, don’t event start), and that continues to the present.
It was a wonderful capon of characters and stories carried over from the 70s and 80s horror and magic comics to become a dark symphony of modern gothic supernatural superhero stories.
You basically have a ton of big names brought up…Ghost Rider, Morbius, Blade, even the Darkhold which was a major plot point in doctor strange and other horror comics.
Th way are all drawn in to find something more even and a dark demonic race from ancient times.
None of them like eachother, and few of them want to cooperate. Heck, even some of the team books themselves are dis functional.
However…until marvel decides to collect the individual runs (Darkhold and Nightstalkers really deserve epic collections), this is the coolest you get.
For roughly two years, the Midnight Sons protected the marvel universe form the dark forces that threatened it (even if their own members were the threat they needed to put down like in the Midnight Massacre crossover).
They did their part, and sadly many of them are no longer around. Still, they fothat the good fight and should be remembered…
March 31, 2021
This story really wants to stick with the least interesting characters: a depowered Johnny Blaze and the introduced and killed too quick villains. Then there's a follow-up story that's actually probably peak tweener Venom and kind of a Maximum Carnage prequel. None of this is a bad story. It just throws too many characters into the mix without a reason. (The second one is better at giving everyone one reason to be there.)
August 6, 2023
A fantastic mash-up of Marvel's early-90s horror roster. Although I wasn't terribly interested in the characters from the Darkhold series, it was a blast seeing Ghost Rider, Blaze, Morbius and Blade working together. Blackout, Deathwatch and Lilith are terribly underrated villains, the Mother of Demons in particular. I only wish Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing and Frankenstein could've joined the fun too.
October 20, 2020
Even 3 stars would feel a TOUCH on the generous side. This had its moments but most of it was as mediocre as they come. The story is difficult to follow and feels both incomplete and drawn out at the same time.
March 15, 2023
It’s disjointed, it’s incredulous and needlessly complicated, all hallmarks of a classic 90s comic story arc featuring Marvel’s grim and gritty supernatural characters. Plus a Venom arc thrown in, because yeah it’s from the early 90s!
May 8, 2023
This was a good trade collection. The 90's were a different time. I had never read the whole Rise of the Midnight Sons back then so this was a good read for me. It even had the Spirits of Venom story also.
Read
May 4, 2021Read
July 30, 2022
Ok, but definitely does not hold up to my memory reading it years ago. These days a bit silly and over the top but in the 90s grim and gritty was the place to be.
December 31, 2022
Way too 90's/late 80's for me!!
Want to read
February 9, 2024No sé si tengo que leer este team-up o releer, ya que no recuerdo si se editó todo en castellano en los 90s, pero lo dejo pendiente por ahora.
January 22, 2025
This has flashes of OK-ness but really this read was simply nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.
Read
May 19, 2019Onestamente, una lettura che può interessare solo ai nostalgici. Kubert è sempre in spolvero, ci sono anche Garney e Janson, ma in generale senza effetto nostalgia per gli anni '90 è difficile provare empatia o affetto per questi personaggi (ahimè molto bidimensionali, se non monodimensionali).
Non importa: il fumetto supereroistico nei novanta era anche questo, in mezzo alle follie Image, alla Valiant, alla DC che uccideva Superman rimpiazzandolo con 4 versioni diverse e faceva spezzare la schiena di Bruce Wayne costringendolo su una sedia a rotelle mentre uno psicopatico impazzava per Gotham.
La tristezza più profonda che provo a livello personale è per coloro che non sono più parte dell'industria del fumetto, come Chichester (che però ora è un pezzo grosso del mondo della pubblicità), Richard Case (che ora lavora nei videogames) e Kaminski. Come diceva Kirby: "Comics will break your heart, kid."
Non importa: il fumetto supereroistico nei novanta era anche questo, in mezzo alle follie Image, alla Valiant, alla DC che uccideva Superman rimpiazzandolo con 4 versioni diverse e faceva spezzare la schiena di Bruce Wayne costringendolo su una sedia a rotelle mentre uno psicopatico impazzava per Gotham.
La tristezza più profonda che provo a livello personale è per coloro che non sono più parte dell'industria del fumetto, come Chichester (che però ora è un pezzo grosso del mondo della pubblicità), Richard Case (che ora lavora nei videogames) e Kaminski. Come diceva Kirby: "Comics will break your heart, kid."
January 23, 2017
This is a great trade paperback for all Ghost Rider fans. It contains all the issues for the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" story arc as well as the Spirits of Vengeance/Spider-Man crossover.
February 9, 2024
Tengo que revisar si alguno de los números del tomo lo tengo repetido en revistas u otros recopilatorios pero creo que no.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews