Twelve recommended Essentials

For my final post, I have decided to pick twelve volumes that especially stand out. The only restriction is that there is no more than one from each series. These aren't automatically the best stories - and the nature of the beast is that there are times when the incredibly good is collected with the incredibly dire - but twelve cases of the Essential series at its best. And the order has been chosen by lot.


Essential Moon Knight volume 2

Contains: Moon Knight #11 to #30

Moon Knight began as a foe for the Werewolf and then developed in the direction of a Batman clone but also acquired his own themes and the unique feature of his multiple identities that started to take on lives of their own. It took a while but soon it had found its own niche and cult following. This was one of the first series to be sold only in the direct market and it took full advantage of the shift to offer varied length stories that are free of the Comics Code Authority restrictions yet never being puerile or gratuitous just to show off its freedom. This volume represents by the middle issues of the series when it was at its height.


Essential Captain America volume 4

Contains: Captain America and the Falcon #157 to #186

Captain America was originally created during a great wave of patriotism and revived during another. But by the 1970s the US was changing and Cap seemed a man out of time in more ways than one. Then came new writer Steve Englehart who, together with artist Sal Buscema, set out to explore just what Cap's role is in this new world where the old certainties are gone and it's no longer so clear just what "serving my country" means anymore. The height of this approach comes in the Secret Empire story as Cap discovers a conspiracy that goes to the very highest levels, which in turn leads him to abandon his costume and the Falcon steps up to the forefront as the country is still facing threats.


Essential Dazzler volume 1

Contains: Dazzler #1 to #21 plus X-Men #130 & #131 and Amazing Spider-Man #203

When this was first announced many declared "Essential Dazzler" to be an oxymoron. But the Essentials have brought attention to many obscure series and characters, allowing them to be assessed anew without listening to decades old myths and assertions. This volume collects the first half of her series, allowing readers to judge for themselves and see a series that isn't the disco chaser of myth but instead shows a strong independent ordinary character trying to get by in life with the added complication of her powers. The Essential volume is a well-deserved rescue from obscurity.


Essential Black Panther volume 1

Contains: Jungle Action #6 to #22 & #24 and Black Panther #1 to #10

"Panther's Rage" was one of the first comic storylines to be written as though it was to be collected as chapters in a book and this volume does that and more so. Very often the biggest developments in comics are made in obscure series starring less well-known characters, and here is almost the definitive example of a hidden classic plus the start of "The Panther vs. the Klan!", taking the character to further heights. Sadly the volume also demonstrates how the Essentials scoop up the bad as well as the good with the start of Jack Kirby's run on the title that might as well be from an alternate reality, but that doesn't detract from the majesty of the bulk of the volume.


Essential X-Men volume 2

Contains: X-Men #120 to #144 and, in later editions, Annual #3 to #4

The All-New All-Different X-Men burst forth in the mid 1970s, presenting a highly crafted team of strong, well-defined characters who were put through a variety of situations. This volume covers the latter part of the Chris Claremont and John Byrne run when the team faced a range of scenarios from Alpha Flight trying to reclaim Wolverine for the Canadian government to Arcade subjecting them to his funhouse of horrors, but the high points come with two of the most influential X-Men stories of all time, the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past" which explore the problems with controlling great power and the dangers of anti-mutant prejudice run wild respectively.


Essential Rawhide Kid volume 1

Contains: Rawhide Kid #17 to #35

Marvel have printed many titles in numerous different genres over the years but haven't reprinted too many of them in recent years. But when they do it's often an eye opener. This volume is the sole Essential representation of the western genre, offering a good set of done in one enjoyable stories that mix the adventures of the lead character with other generic tales of the west. Very much a representation of the Atlas style before the Marvel superhero revolution, this volume is nevertheless a good, light fun read.


Essential Ghost Rider volume 4

Contains: Ghost Rider #66 to #81 plus Amazing Spider-Man #274 and New Defenders #145 & a bit of #146

It's rare for a long running series to end in a truly satisfactory way but Ghost Rider got one of the best conclusions going, allowing him to ride out on a high in what almost feels like it was the long term plan. The Ghost Rider may have begun as a fusion of the horror and stunt fads of the 1970s but he outlasted the fads to become something much stronger. Here the long running saga of the battle between Johnny Blaze and the demonic Ghost Rider reaches its climax here but there's time taken to remind and reintroduce the key elements for readers who haven't been along for the whole journey before the final end.


Essential Thor volume 3

Contains: Thor #137 to #166

Thor was a title that took a good while to really find its feet and get a long term permanent creative team but once it did Stan Lee and Jack Kirby proceeded to produce an amazing run of tales that combine Norse mythology and cosmic space adventure, with occasional interludes on Earth. By the time of this volume they had found out what worked and defined the character, with the stories here representing the absolute peak of their collaboration, ranging from battling the Mangog in Asgard to the conflict between Galactus and Ego the Living Planet in deep space. Truly this is the definitive Thor.


Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2

Contains: Marvel Team-Up #25 to #51 plus Marvel Two-in-One #17

There's a sense of fun to a team-up book, often allowing the chance to enjoy both the regular and guest heroes in some nice one-off tales that don't require too much familiarity with the guests to follow them. But when in the right hands they can be even more. This volume contains some of the best of all the team-ups, ranging from the silliness of a team-up with Hercules where he tows the island of Manhattan through the seas to the deadly grittiness of a time travel saga that takes Spider-Man back to Salem in 1692 for a dark battle against the backdrop of the witch trials. This is a book that knows how to put together an epic out of several different guest stars and put the leads, whether Spider-Man or the Human Torch, through adventures they'd be unlikely to have in their own titles.


Essential Punisher volume 4

Contains: Punisher #41 to #59 and Annuals #4 to #5

The Punisher has always been a difficult character to handle because the approach of a self-appointed executioner is often at odds with conventional superhero ethics whilst the high fatality rate amongst both his foes and allies leaves limited scope for character development. It took a long time before he received an ongoing series and then in turn it took longer to really flesh it out but by the time of this volume it was coming together nicely. Here we get a mixture of traditional one-off tales against individual foes done well along with steps towards greater development with the handful of foes who have greater lasting power, most notably "The Final Days" epic that puts the Punisher in a marathon of endurance under pressure from the Kingpin.


Essential Warlock volume 1

Contains: Marvel Premiere #1 to #2, The Power of Warlock #1 to #8, Incredible Hulk #176 to #178, Strange Tales #178 to #181, Warlock #9 to #15, Marvel Team-Up #55, Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2

Warlock was a highly experimental strip that routinely sought to push the boundaries of what was possible, most notably with its approach to religion. The volume collects the two 1970s epics that saw Warlock first go to Counter-Earth to drive out a dark force and redeem it and then into deep space to take on the corruption and hypocrisy of an inter-galactic church presided over by none other than his evil future self. The title character has no desire to be a hero and is merely a good man searching for himself but gets caught up in the horrors all around him. Twice the title was cancelled but each time the saga showed it could survive by resolving itself in another series with a spectacular climax.


Essential Spider-Man volume 1

Contains: Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 to #20 & Annual #1

This volume encapsulates just why Spider-Man took off the way he did. It covers the single most creative period in the character's history, introduces most of the top villains and tells some amazing stories all at once. Spider-Man broke the mould in many ways and even today these tales stand up well as a strong set of adventures that need no replacement. Bringing big chunks of the Silver Age at affordable prices was one of the aims of the Essentials and it hit the ground running. This was the very first Essential I ever picked up and it's still great to this day.

A few Defenders previews

As is standard when I complete a full set of Essential volumes for any particular series and/or character, it's time to take a look at any later issues reprinted in other volumes. For the New Defenders there's one and a quarter issues, a somewhat unusual arrangement.

New Defenders #145 and the first six pages of #146 written by Peter Gillis (all) and drawn by Don Perlin (#145) and Luke McDonnell (#146), reprinted in Essential Ghost Rider volume 4

These issues take place in the aftermath of a big battle and see the New Defenders recovering from their injuries and apparent losses. In the course of this an examination of Cloud suggests there is something non-human about her body yet a soldier has a newspaper clipping about a girl resembling Cloud being involved in a car accident. Amidst all this Johnny Blaze, now free of the Ghost Rider, and his girlfriend Roxanne Simpson visit his old Champions comrades to catch up and ask for a loan. Now free of all his demons, not just the ones with blazing skulls, Johnny has an optimistic outlook on life and contributes to persuading the New Defenders to not disband. The second issues is cut short as Johnny and Roxanne head off.

The partial inclusion of the second issue is to allow the volume as a whole to end on a good moment, this serving as a happily ever after epilogue to the Ghost Rider's own series. Otherwise this is a downtime moment for the team as they lick their wounds and face the future with depleted numbers, as well as advancing a number of subplots such as Andrea, a mysterious woman in New York, Cloud's background or Moondragon's continued struggle with the Dragon of the Moon. In isolation this is actually quite a confusing issue and a bit, especially as Johnny and Roxanne's visit is largely incidental to just about everything else.

Some Avengers previews

As per the norm when completing a full set of Essential volumes for a particular series and/or character, here's a look at later issues collected elsewhere. Four further Avengers issues come up in other volumes.


Avengers Annual #10 written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Michael Golden, reprinted in Essential Ms. Marvel volume 1 and later editions of Essential X-Men volume 3

Ms. Marvel is found with her mind and memories gone after an attack by the mutant Rogue. The next targets are the Avengers as Rogue and Mystique set about trying to free the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from prison. Meanwhile a recovering Ms. Marvel has some strong words to say.

This annual is strongly remembered for two reasons. It's surprising to recall that such a prominent X-Men member as Rogue was originally introduced in the pages of Avengers and indeed there are times when this story feels more like a chapter of X-Men that just happens to feature other heroes, with Spider-Woman teaming up with the Avengers. Rogue's ability to absorb powers and memories makes for a foe who can discover the team's secrets, making her an especially hard challenge to overcome as she works her way through the team's most powerful members.

But it's the epilogue that's the more shocking as the Avengers meet Ms. Marvel for the first time since she departed for Limbo with Marcus. And she doesn't hold back in blasting them for their failure to help her. She bluntly tells them how she was used and raped by Marcus and how when she turned to her friends for help they failed to realise this and responded in a cack handed way. It's a very blunt response to the events of issue #200 and as Claremont had been the main writer on her solo title it's easy to see this as a direct counter to how other writers had misused the character.


Avengers #214 written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Bob Hall, reprinted in Essential Ghost Rider volume 3

This issue features a compare and contrast between Yellowjacket and the Ghost Rider, both of whom have suffered a fall in glory due to their actions. Hank Pym finds himself expelled from the Avengers, informed the Wasp is divorcing him and ends up in a slum hotel. Meanwhile Johnny Blaze is working in a petrol station in a small town in the west and his alter ego attacks the passing Angel. The Avengers journey to the town to find the Ghost Rider, leading to a battle until the Angel recovers and calms things down and they let Johnny go free.

This is a somewhat slight issue, combining a guest appearance with ongoing plotlines and a downtime moment for much of the team. As a result the issue starts with a focus on day to day events in New York and the continued fallout from Yellowjacket's disgrace before the reduced team head west and largely serve as a curiosity for the townsfolk during their search. Earlier Jarvis lectures Captain America on the importance of allowing people to ultimately make choices for themselves rather than impose direction upon them, a lesson that guides his response here.


Avengers Annual #11 written by J.M. DeMatteis and drawn by Al Milgrom, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 6

The Defenders' old foe Nebulon is exiled to Earth and seeks help from the Avengers, claiming to have reformed, whilst another of his species, Supernalia, recruits the Defenders claiming that Nebulon is going to destroy the world. The two teams clash in the Himalayas, with a mystery as to which of the two aliens is telling the truth.

This story comes from a period when there was a tendency for annuals to sometimes forget just who the primary character(s) for a series are. It reads as a good Defenders story, wrapping up the saga of one of their long running foes with some strong characterisation, but it's very much an intruder into the Avengers' own title and doesn't really do a great deal with the team beyond throwing them into a fight. The annual also includes the Charter and By-Laws for the Avengers, which will excite all those who have ever had to write or read constitutions. Half the space of the by-laws are taken up with membership, going into such details as how many meetings a year a reserve member is required to attend, and rather less space is given to how the aims and objectives of the team shall be implemented.


Avengers #263 written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Buscema, reprinted in Essential X-Factor volume 1

An aeroplane containing the Enclave and some equipment crashes into the bay, causing a massive explosion and ongoing energy geezers. The Avengers investigate and discover a cocoon at the bottom that resists all attempts to approach it and seek to find out just who or what is inside. Meanwhile the Melter prepares an attack but the Scourge of the Underworld has other ideas.

This was the launch of a mini-crossover with Fantastic Four that aimed to prepare the ground for the new series X-Factor that would reunite the five original X-Men. With one of them having been killed off, this crossover set out to bring them back to life. Pretty much all the controversial material is in the Fantastic Four chapter, leaving this as primarily an extended investigation of the strange goings on in the bay with the potential that the Enclave have once more created a super-being. The Melter scene is almost entirely detached from the main story, being one of a number of such scenes across the Marvel line that saw lame supervillains being killed off. Overall in isolation this is a rather tame issue of the series.

Essential Ghost Rider volume 4

Essential Ghost Rider volume 4 consists of issues #66 to #81 which concluded the original series plus later appearances in Amazing Spider-Man #274 and New Defenders #145 & the first few pages of #146. After the final issue of Michael Fleisher's run the rest of the series consists of runs written by Roger Stern and J.M. DeMatteis, with artist Bob Budiansky co-plotting a number of issues. Most of the art is by Bob Budiansky with early contributions by Don Perlin and Tom Sutton. The Amazing Spider-Man issue is scripted by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Ron Frenz while the New Defenders issues are written by Peter Gillis and drawn by Don Perlin and Luke McDonnell.

The final volume of the original Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider starts off with the series in a rather traditional fashion but then steadily builds up to deliver a bold conclusion to the run. But before it gets there it goes through a few routines. Michael Fleisher's run ends on a somewhat flat note as the carnival is attacked by a witch's spirit. There's then a fill-in by future writer J.M. DeMatteis in which Johnny fights a group of small town thugs and encounters a woman who has withdrawn from life in bitterness over her daughter's death but comes to help due to the intervention of her daughter's spirit. This mix of wandering through small time thugs and spirits had dominated the series for quite some time now but over the last two runs we get some more developed ideas that also make good use of the supporting cast in the carnival.

Issue #68, which also provides the striking cover to the volume, includes a retelling of the origin for the first time in a while. Told via the device of Johnny going into a church confession booth, it sees a number of minor additions to tidy over some of the more awkward bits such as establishing that Johnny had an interest in the occult before he made his infamous pact or that Roxanne Simpson learned of his promise to his dying adoptive mother and did not think him a coward. And although the being he made his pact with is still called "the Devil", Johnny says "Don't be so shocked, Father. It wasn't the Devil you warn kids about in Sunday School -- though, as far as I was concerned, he might as well have been." It's the first noticeable step away from identifying "that devil-thing" as the traditional Satan from Christianity. However it's not until issue #73 when the Ghost Rider is talking to Johnny within his mind that the name "Mephisto" is first used (overlooking the inventory story from Marvel Super-Heroes that was reprinted in volume 3), presumably as part of a general move to avoid depicting the Devil directly. Overall issue #68 is one of those origin retellings that manages to stay fresh, helped by a framing device as the Ghost Rider stops a priest killer who has come to rob the church, and makes for a strong debut for both Roger Stern and Bob Budiansky, the latter quickly establishing himself as one of the best artists the series has yet seen.

Stern's run may only last six issues but manages to pack a lot in. Following the origin retelling we get another small town tale as Johnny gets caught in the machinations of a romantic triangle of a flirt that leads one of her boyfriends to attack the carnival in a giant earth mover. There's then an attack by a swarm of deformed people who kidnap Jeremy, the carnival's freakish but gentle giant, and yet once their apparent master is overthrown Jeremy finds the attraction of an island where he is normal too good to reject. Another DeMatteis fill-in goes smoothly into the flow as Null the Living Darkness temporarily fuses with a teacher frustrated with his life. But the high point of Stern's run comes in his last two issues as Cork the Clown's son Eliot is revealed to be the Circus of Crime's Clown, trying to put his past behind him but lured back when his old comrades commit acts of sabotage and seriously injure his father. However Eliot is more devious and lures the Circus into a trap - but the Ghost Rider doesn't realise this and attacks the Clown with his hellfire. For the rest of the series Eliot is a hollow shell of himself, a reminder to Johnny of the horror within himself. This is also one of the best uses of the Circus, with the Ringmaster deliberately left in prison allowing the other characters to thrive and show how a talented performer like Eliot got drawn into crime in the first place. Overall Stern's brief period on the book has revitalised it but even better is still to come.

Many comic series have ended abruptly. Some get a rushed final issue or two that seek to provide a quick conclusion at the expense of many loose ends. Others just go out with a routine issue and only a brief acknowledgement of the series's ending in a closing caption or on the letters page. And there are those series that just stop abruptly mid story and no sense of a conclusion at all. Sometimes this would lead to another title being conscripted in order to provide a conclusion but sometimes the whole thing would be left up in the air with the planned final issues confined to file. (The 1990s Ghost Rider series was one of the worst of these with the scheduled final issue not even being printed and the story prepared for it didn't see the light of day for another decade. A generation earlier the original Ms. Marvel was another such case.)

But this Ghost Rider is much luckier. This is a series with a good conclusion that feels as though it was planned out. I'd be surprised if J.M. DeMatteis had actually been signed up for an entire eight issue run to end the series as that seems a rather long commitment but from the outset we get a steady building up of the mythology, both revisiting key elements whilst also adding to them. It's also notable that the series avoids the most obvious conclusion, which would be to have a showdown in Mephisto's realm that sees Johnny freed from the curse and escape to a happily ever after life. That precise story almost happens in issue #76, which is also the first to establish the Ghost Rider as a fully independent entity with a hitherto forgotten past and a name, Zarathos. As a contest between Mephisto and his rebellious underling Asmodeus, Zarathos has to win his freedom from Johnny by surviving a gauntlet in the underworld. However the ending comes with a twist as Johnny and Zarathos's determination to stop each other results in their being remerged as they leave Mephisto's realm. Had they continued to work together they could have peacefully walked through the portal together and arrived back in the world free of each other.

Other issues introduce Centurious, a long-lived man without a soul of his own who devours others', whilst the carnival is given its own climax as owner Ralph Quentin succumbs to the suggestions of Steel Wind, a female cyborg biker acting on behalf of the mysterious Freakmaster. Eventually we learn the Freakmaster is the vengeful son of two freaks abused by Quentin during his early years as a carnival owner. Now the son seeks to liberate freaks and perform drastic surgery on the Quentin carnival to turn the scales. Coming in a period when Johnny has one more than one occasion encountered images of his birth and adoptive parents it's a good contrast between the different ways filial duty has led to vengeance in different forms. Between this story and the Circus of Crime one most of the supporting cast get expanded and given a strong resolution to their stories. One who doesn't though is Cynthia Randolph, the journalist who has been travelling with the carnival for some considerable time as she researches an article about carnival life. The problem is that she seems to have spent an inordinate amount of time on this one project since the carnival has been shown moving between multiple venues and also there are indications that the series is occurring at something close to real time. Towards the end of the run she starts talking about using all her notes to produce a whole book and there are hints that she's also investigating Johnny's secrets, but ultimately nothing comes of it and she joins a long line of supporting characters who drift endlessly through multiple writers.

But the main emphasis in these final issues is on the conflict between Johnny and Zarathos, who has now regained his identity and memories due to the intervention of Nightmare. We learn of the demon's history of being awakened by a tribe and stealing souls that led him to conflict with Mephisto. The latter attacked through agents including a prince, subsequently revealed as Centurious, who resisted the power and led to Mephisto's triumph. Conflict between Johnny and the Ghost Rider has been present throughout much of the series's run but it now develops a new edge as we head to the conclusion. Also adding to the resolution is the return of Roxanne Simpson after a long absence. Now she seeks Johnny's help in dealing with the Sin Eater, a small town evangelical preacher who claims to consume people's sins but is actually stealing their souls for Centurious. In the final issue the Ghost Rider frees the town's people from Centurious's Crystal of Souls, trapping his foe there instead. But this denies Zarathos final vengeance; however the dying Sin Eater offers a way to send Zarathos into the Crystal, freeing Johnny in the process. But Johnny is unaware and resists, fighting to control the body... In a symbolic ending it's the intervention of Roxanne, whose feelings towards Johnny have been mixed due to their long separation, who now reaches out and makes Johnny surrender, allowing Zarathos to triumph and be dispatched to the Crystal. Johnny is now free and he and Roxanne ride off for a life together whilst the Crystal falls into the possession of Mephisto, making Zarathos his slave once more.

As conclusions to long running series go, this is one of the best. Roxanne's saving of Johnny mirrors the way she saved him from Mephisto's control back in the origin. Zarathos's history may be a recent addition but it feels a natural part of the cycle, allowing for a conclusion to an ancient run. And the final page of Johnny and Roxanne biking away with Mephisto holding the Crystal superimposed over them makes for an excellent last shot. The series has gone out on a true high.

As well as the end of the regular series we also get a further adventure for each half of the Ghost Rider. Unusually they're not printed in the original order of appearance, but given the second tale this seems appropriate. The first is Amazing Spider-Man #274, a special overlong issue with no adverts and also a crossover with Secret Wars II. In this story the all-powerful Beyonder is set to destroy the entire multiverse but agrees to a wager with Mephisto to delay this for twenty-four hours if his champion of life can prove mortals are worthy of existence. The Beyonder temporarily releases Zarathos to serve as his agent and get Spider-Man to renounce his sense of responsibility by refusing to prevent the assassination of the Kingpin. As a Spider-Man adventure this may be an usual scenario but it goes right to the heart of the character and his fundamental philosophy of life, also making it one of the best Secret Wars II crossovers. But Zarathos feels very out of character to the point that he didn't need to be used. For most of the protracted torment he is disguised as various dead characters in Spider-Man's life, and then goes for a direct attack in the form of a hooded avenger. Only briefly do we see him in anything like his traditional look (still minus the biker gear) and using his hellfire. Any demon could have filled his role in this story of temptation. It's a rather ignoble return of the demon.

The final material in the volume consists of New Defenders #145 and just the first six pages of #146. Taking place in the aftermath of a major Defenders battle these issues are mainly focused on character and organisational developments in the aftermath. It's in this context that Johnny and Roxanne turn up at the Defenders mansion, having detected the now passed danger, both to visit Johnny's old Champions comrades, Iceman and the Angel, and to ask the latter for a loan. The reason for only including the first six pages of #146 become clear as it's at this point Johnny and Roxanne say their farewells and department, with the Defenders commenting on their good fortune. Despite prominently featuring on #145's cover, Johnny isn't the main focus of these issues and at times the end of the volume feels to be detouring massively into the late era Defenders status quo. Nevertheless they serve as a nice little epilogue to the run. Johnny has now found peace and happiness and this gives a brief glimpse at his happily ever after days.

All in all this volume is a very strong conclusion to a series and character that it's been a delight to discover through the Essentials. The series has had its periods of formula and wandering before but here it takes the elements and enhances them, building up the mythologies of both sides of the character. Lasting well beyond the fads for both horror and motorcycle stunts, the ending of Ghost Rider shows how even the most faddish of concepts can be used for dramatic tales well beyond the fad they feed off. There are careful tweaks to the mythology and an honouring of the series's past that all make for a perfect ending.

Essential Ghost Rider volume 3

Essential Ghost Rider volume 3 contains issues #51 to #65 of the series plus what appears to have been an unused fill-in issue that eventually saw print in Marvel Super-Heroes #11, and guest appearances in Marvel Two-in-One #80 and Avengers #214. Bonus material includes the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry for Arabian Knight. The main series is all written by Michael Fleisher, with the Marvel Super-Heroes fill-in by Tina Chrioproces, the Marvel Two-in-One appearance by Tom DeFalco and the Avengers issue by Jim Shooter. The art is more varied with a run by Don Perlin giving way to contributions by Carmine Infantino, Jim Shooter, Jack Sparling, Herb Trimpe, Alan Kupperberg and Luke McDonnell. The Marvel Super-Heroes piece is drawn by Greg LaRocque, the Marvel Two-in-One by Ron Wilson and the Avengers by Bob Hall. That's a lot of creators so there's a separate labels post.

The four Essential Ghost Rider volumes demonstrate a remarkable lack of forward planing considering the first only came out in late 2005 by which time Marvel had made a long term commitment to the reprint series. Of the eighty-eight core issues (including the initial bannered run in Marvel Spotlight), no less than fifty-seven, plus two crossover issues, were reprinted across the first two Essentials, whilst also leaving out some pretty major appearances in Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-in-One that would have impacts on the regular series and would be often referenced here. This left just thirty-one core issues to complete the series - too many for a single volume even before considering a few other key issues that also merit inclusion, but really not enough for two separate volumes. Hence the resort to guest appearances that are frankly not needed here (especially when compared to the earlier omissions), and even then this volume looks and feels rather thin for one published on the slightly thicker paper the latter-day Essentials use. It's a good idea in principle to include standby material that was prepared for a series but not actually used for one reason or another without affecting continuity, but scraping around guest appearances can produce the most needless of filler material.

That said, Ghost Rider's appearance in Marvel Two-in-One does actually tie in well with the ongoing themes, even though it's a bit of a surprise to find Johnny in New York, performing major stunts before huge crowds at big stadiums when at this stage in his regular series he's still wandering the roads in the west or mid-west, surviving from job to job and suffering from a post-title reputation as yesterday's man. But both the regular series and guest appearance share the focus on how Johnny is increasingly losing control of his Ghost Rider self, who is lashing out at criminals for even minor offences. Here it falls to the Thing, who is also finding his monstrous form isn't always easy to control with bad results for those around him, leading to a fight between the two. (This is one of a number of Marvel Two-in-One issues that forgoes the original team-up concept and here actually bills the two characters as "versus".)

Also tying in with the series's themes but getting the status quo wrong in the opposite direction is Avengers #214. Placed during the period when Johnny is now working for a carnival, it instead shows him as a loner on the road who succumbs to taking up a low paying job at a petrol station. The Ghost Rider continues to be out of control, attacking his old ally the Angel which brings the Avengers (via a call searching for the now departed Beast) out to the west to hunt him down. Once again Johnny's situation is compared with a regular character, in this case Yellowjacket who has been suffering a breakdown, been expelled from the Avengers for his dangerous actions and is now being divorced by the Wasp after an act of domestic violence. Though Yellowjacket and Ghost Rider don't meet themselves, the comparison is all too clear between the two sinking in unhappiness and despair, leading them to act with ruthlessness and savagery. The resulting battle is unusual in that it's not a clear victory for the heroes in the book's title. Instead the Angel staggers from his hospital bed to confront the Ghost Rider about what he's become, causing the latter to calm down and revert to Johnny. It's an okay issue but not really essential. It would also have benefited from being placed before issue #63 instead of after it.

As for the "lost" issue, this also displays a problem of placement. The story in Marvel Super-Heroes #11 carries the caption "This story takes place prior to events in Ghost Rider, vol 1, #80" (yes "vol 1" - somebody had forgotten about the series starring the western Ghost Rider, but then Marvel Super-Heroes was published at a time when Johnny Blaze was usually billed as "the Original Ghost Rider") but otherwise gives no formal clue as to when precisely it's set. Here it's placed after issue #63 and before Avengers #214. But informally there's a lot in this story that suggests it would be much better placed later on in the run, at least after issue #65 but better would probably be somewhere in volume 4. Other than Johnny the only regular character to appear is Red Fowler, who is introduced in issue #63 but his relationship with Johnny shown here is much friendlier which would place it after events in issue #65. But what really makes the issue stand out as an anachronism are the uses of the names "Zarathos" and "Mephisto". Neither name has appeared yet in the regular series where the Ghost Rider is not given a name and the source of the power is still described in both dialogue and the intro box as "Satan" (though the actual origin hasn't been touched upon for a while) and their use here is frankly confusing. I wonder if this issue was commissioned around the mid #60s as a standby to go to print if the regular creative team missed their deadlines, and it was subject to minor rewrites over the next few years in order to keep the names up to date. That might perhaps explain why it's been placed at what is now clearly too early a point in the run. The story itself is rather functional as Johnny and Red arrive in a small town where they get caught up in a struggle between a cult leader planning to destroy a nearby nuclear power plant and his daughter who has rejected the cult's ways. But for the presence of Red in a sidekick role, it's a fairly typical example of the one-off adventures that take up most of this volume. It also appears to be the only credit ever for Tina Chrioproces. I wonder what became of her or if she was just a pseudonym for a more familiar creator.

Over in the regular series we're almost at the end of Michael Fleisher's run and it's starting to show. There are only really three significant developments throughout this volume. By far the biggest at first seems to be a one-off story but it soon proves to have had far deeper significance. Issue #53 introduces Azmodeus, another demon who becomes a recurring foe within these pages, who wants the Ghost Rider as his agent of chaos but needs to dispose of Johnny first. He sends his agent Tabicantra to do this and she uses her power to weaken Johnny's control each time he becomes Ghost Rider and the link ultimately destroyed so long as he changes enough times before an hour glass runs out. However she meets Johnny and has a change of heart before the final transformation, sacrificing her life as her magic prevents his transformation whilst she sees off a monster. In its own right this is a strong story but over subsequent issues it becomes clear that the Ghost Rider is becoming ever more out of control, getting ever more vicious whilst Johnny struggles to change back.

Otherwise the series continues the theme of Johnny Blaze wandering the roads, occasionally entering races and undertaking stunt jobs as part of long term practice for an eventual challenge to regain his title. Issue #58 sees the long anticipated rematch with Flagg Fargo as Johnny challenges him to regain his title and would have achieved it but the tournament is cut short when the Ghost Rider's old foe the Enforcer hospitalises Fargo as a match fixing scam. Johnny saves Fargo from death and the two earn a degree of respect such that later on Johnny feels able to ask Fargo for a loan to visit Saudi Arabia to take on a sheikh with ambitions to take over all the oil states in the Middle East utilising the Water Wizard's powers which can also work on oil. Fargo provides the money albeit with an impossibly short repayment period but thanks to the Arabian Knight and his flying carpet Johnny is able to make it back just in time. The final development comes at the end of the volume as Johnny seemingly settles down for the time being. Although he's previously stayed around in first Las Vegas and then Chicago for more than a single issue, he now joins a carnival, acquiring a supporting cast in the process. Owner Ralph Quentin is primarily a background figure at this stage but of greater significance are the existing stunt bike performer Red Fowler and accompanying journalist Cynthia Randolph. Red is initially displeased at being displaced to become Johnny's assistant but changes his view when Johnny risks his life to save Red from loan sharks. Meanwhile Cynthia is travelling with the carnival to research a feature for her magazine and resists Johnny's advances but soon realises there is more to him and determines to find out his secret.

In the meantime Johnny starts off the volume as the wandering hero helping those in need whom he comes across and facing down a succession of local bullies, crimelords and more exotic foes. There are some return appearances by the likes of the Orb, the Weather Wizard and Moondark, with the latter two teaming up for revenge, though their egos undermine them. Meanwhile the Orb makes multiple appearances, even turning to Machine Man's foe Madame Menace for new weapons. One adventure sees the awakening of the Sirens from Greek mythology who have been long trapped in sarcophaguses hidden in a cave in the American wilderness. They promptly seek vengeance on the world and capture a nuclear missile then launch it at a city. Later in Chicago the Ghost Rider's attempts to prevent a bombing are hindered by the Destroyer of Demons, a reverend with a hereditary power to tackle demons.

Ghost Rider occasionally acquires allies in these adventures but the most surprising is a modern day incarnation of the Night Rider (who once again appears with no explicit reference to having originally been named "Ghost Rider"; I wonder if contemporary readers were told this in the letterspages). Issue #51 contains a back-up story with a further adventure of Carter Slade and then in the present day issue #56 sees Hamilton Slade, a descendant of Carter's brother and successor Lincoln, discover a burial jar in a desert burial ground which transforms him into a modern day Night Rider, albeit without Hamilton being aware of his alternate form. Once more the Night Rider comes to the aide of the man with his original name. Another brief ally is "Clem", an old-fashioned lorry driver who helps Johnny against a biker gang - and is revealed to be the ghost of a victim of an earlier gang.

The pattern of women being drawn to Johnny but repelled by the Ghost Rider continues with the return of Gina, the woman he met when amnesiac in the previous volume. She is horrified at his treatment of the Orb and further by the handling of Tatterdemalion in a team-up with the Werewolf by Night, and so leaves him. One of the few women who does not flee in panic is Nora, one of the team of an auto circus that Johnny briefly joins as part of the training for his rematch. However the circus is attacked by the Apparition, the ghost of one of the circus's former stunt drivers turned criminal and executed. Johnny thinks he's tricked the Apparition into believing all his targets are dead, but miscounted and although the ghost is vanquished, the issue ends with Johnny cradling Nora's body.

At 416 pages this is the shortest Essential volume of all, though not by much. Blame for this state of affairs lies firmly with volume 2, released to tie in with the first movie and being a little overlong in order to include the team-up between Johnny and Carter Slade. This left the awkward state of affairs that results in the rest of the run being stretched over two volumes and padded out with two inessential guest appearances plus a fill-in later rescued from inventory. The Marvel Super-Heroes issue really belongs in volume 4 and that would also have allowed this volume to complete the Fleisher run. The core issues are slight but do manage to advance Johnny's saga forward, finding a good new angle on the character amidst a run of relatively typical adventures. There's no sense of building towards anything but equally there are no real stinkers in this volume. It's a solid but not too spectacular collection that keeps the character afloat for now.

Essential Ghost Rider volume 2

Essential Ghost Rider volume 2 contains issues #21 to #50 of the series. Bonus material includes Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries for Ghost Rider, Doctor Druid, Doctor Strange and the Night Rider. The writing sees a succession of runs of steadily increasing lengths from Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie and Michael Fleisher, with Don Glut contributing one script. Most of the art is by Don Perlin, with an early run by Don Heck and issues by Gil Kane, Tom Sutton, Steve Leialoha and Carmine Infantino.

The same year that this volume was released also saw the launch of the first Ghost Rider movie, in my opinion the best one (not that there's a great deal of competition for that distinction). Although some of the details of both the origin and the Ghost Rider mythology were altered, it remained faithful to the basic concepts and gave some memorable moments, including a teaming of Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade, the original Ghost Rider. So too does this volume. Indeed there's much here that informs the basic backdrop of the film.

The early issues wrap up Johnny's career as a Hollywood stuntman and then he goes out on his own, riding across the West like some latter-day wandering cowboy, moving from situation to situation without ever setting down roots or growing a new supporting cast. Most of the existing characters are left in Hollywood to carry on as before. Also fading from his life with the end of their series are the Champions, though they've generally only made cameos here. Although he can still make all manner of stunt jumps when he needs to, the stunt performances are largely ignored to the point that people wonder what's happened to him. At about the same time that in the real world Evel Knievel was appearing in his final stunt show (although he didn't actually jump in it), Johnny is challenged by Flagg Fargo for his title of stunt champion of the United States and narrowly loses. It's a steady but strong shift in the character, reinforcing his tragic loneliness.

With just four Essential volumes and a total of eighty-eight issues (excluding crossovers, post series appearances and standby fill-ins only used later on but including the initial seven issues run in Marvel Spotlight), it's tempting to see Ghost Rider as a closed saga, with a definite beginning, middle and end. On the face of it this volume may be the longest section but also the least involved, with few of the big moments in his life. However at a more subtle level there's steady development throughout the volume as the relationship between the human Johnny and his demonic side evolves, first as Johnny discovers he can now transform at will and then as the demon increasingly takes over when in skeletal form. On more than one occasion the two are detached, whether because Johnny's spirit is briefly transferred to another human's body or because a magician separates the two or because Johnny has temporary amnesia and consequently is unaware of his demonic form, who in turn finds Johnny's mind is closed to it. More and more Johnny finds he cannot control his demonic side, who often resorts to ever more vicious methods, and wishes to escape it altogether but keeps finding he cannot.

Of course it's doubtful that any sense of a closed novel was considered at the time, with the continued turnover of writers and a drift into a formula as the wandering Johnny Blaze comes across trouble in one settlement after another. However the series is successful in taking the format and offering numerous twists and turns whilst also taking a big step away from conventional superheroics. This is a saga of a man searching for peace and trying to escape the torment he carries with him but all too often finding that he can't. Often he finds people and an environment where he might settle down and find real happiness, but time and again the curse of the Ghost Rider is there. Whether it's Johnny or his new found friends, especially the succession of women he meets, there is always a realisation that the demon is just too great a barrier to happiness and so he must continue his roaming.

Before that roaming begins, we have the last few issues of Johnny's days in Hollywood and a romantic triangle with Karen Page and Roxanne as he struggles to decide between them even though neither seems to actually want a serious committed relationship. Eventually Johnny realises that it's Roxanne who he wants but by then she has accepted the advances of special effects artist Roger Cross. Meanwhile Karen only wants to be friends. Karen's presence in the early issues may have inspired the use of the Gladiator, also from Daredevil, who is now after a device held by the old Human Torch foe the Eel. When the Eel is murdered, Ghost Rider is accused and Johnny has to clear his name, eventually resorting to using hellfire to arrange a simultaneous appearance to cover up his identity. The mastermind behind the Gladiator and new foe the Water Wizard is the Enforcer, whose identity is one of the weakest intentional mysteries of all time as, apart from a brief red herring suggesting he's movie producer Charles Delazny, it becomes all too easy to spot that he's actually Delazny's son. The remaining Hollywood issues are generally inconsequential with new foe Malice being just a guy in a funny suit with laser and vibration guns, and primarily seeking attention rather than offering a substantial origin. Then there's a fight with Doctor Druid over a misunderstanding about the Ghost Rider's nature. Add in anger and frustration about what he thinks is a serious relationship between Roxanne and Cross, and Johnny now hits the road. Roxanne does try to track him down but in the process she encounters the Orb who inflicts amnesia upon her. Johnny never finds out about this and she is last seen #28 as she accepts the claims of local cowboy Brahma Bill that they are sweethearts and goes off with him. Despite occurring in Roger McKenzie's first issue, Roxanne's situation is never touched upon again in this volume and now truly all the connections have been severed, leaving Johnny as just a man on the road with his demonic side, his clothes and, depending on the issue, a metal bike.

Out on the road Johnny encounters a handful of other heroes, starting with Hawkeye and the time-displaced Two-Gun Kid, followed by an encounter with Doctor Strange in which the magician's old foe Dormammu tries to use Ghost Rider to kill Strange. In the process Johnny finds his mind transferred to Strange's whilst Dormammu controls the Ghost Rider's body. Then at the end of the volume Johnny is thrown back in time and teams up with the Wild West hero the Night Rider against his traditional foe, the Tarantula (no relation to the Spider-Man foes by that name). Neither issue #50 nor the Handbook entry explicitly mention that the Night Rider is the first character to use the name "Ghost Rider", renamed in order to distinguish him from the more famous motorcyclist. (However this new name would prove to be a rather unfortunate choice for a man dressed all in white as it's also name used for members of the Ku Klux Klan.) But there are enough indications that Carter Slade and Johnny Blaze are sufficiently similar to justify the team-up in the double-sized issue.

The limited number of guest stars in this volume may have resulted in a very limited number of options for Handbook entries to fill up the page count, though there were still the alternative options of Hawkeye and the Two-Gun Kid (although the latter didn't have an entry in the original Handbook, from which the four entries are taken, and would have had to have been lifted from the Deluxe Edition where the pro forma is slightly different). But the result is that two of the entries contain major spoilers for later volumes. The Night Rider entry is focused not upon the Wild West hero seen here but on his great great nephew seen in a later issue. (It also doesn't seem to know what an "ancestor" is, using the term to describe the later one.) But the Ghost Rider entry is worse, introducing names such as "Zarathos" and "Mephisto" some time before they turn up in the series (the back cover of the volume also uses "Zarathos" earlier than it should), as well as detailing the backstory of the demonic side of Ghost Rider and giving away what will happen in the issues that reveal much of this information.

The series continues to add a variety of new foes, but few last. There's the Manticore, an agent of the Brand corporation, rivals to Roxxon for corporate plots. Or there's "the boy who lived forever", a long-lived boy called Nathan with advanced mental powers that has enabled him to develop technology but the body and outlook of a boy, flying around in a spaceship with his own robots. The foes closest to the Western tradition come at the end, first as a company is building a dam that will destroy land sacred to Native Americans whilst some of the workers plan to loot a town and flood it. In reaction a traditional Indian spirit called the Manitou is summoned and then Johnny is flung back in time to the 19th century where he proves his true nature.

And then there are the more horror based foes. There are a pair of vampires with many bats at their command. The Bounty Hunter is another agent of the Devil, the ghost of a vicious 19th century bounty hunter who has been tasked to bring in fifty souls in exchange for his freedom. Darker still is "Death", manifest in the form of another skeleton on a motorcycle albeit without the flames. This "Death Ryder" challenges Ghost Rider to a racing and stunt duel across the desert, ultimately for Johnny's life. At another level are the various thugs and bullies Johnny meets in his travels, whether biker gangs or construction worker bullies or mobsters. Or there's a cult of death worshippers, which turns out to be a money making scam. Then there's the "Nuclear Man", an armoured and embittered scientist who has turned against nuclear power after his son-in-law was killed by an accident and his grandson was born deformed.

But as the series moves ever further from superheroics and back into horror, it often seems the real threat is the Ghost Rider, slowly asserting its own control and becoming ever more fierce, torturing foes almost for pleasure. Issue #37 is a partial homage to the origin of Robin, featuring a family of circus performers who get killed by the local mobster after the owner reneges on a debt; the sole survivor is a son who wants vengeance. But rather than taking in the boy as a sidekick, Johnny instead scares him away from summoning the Devil and, as the Ghost Rider, pursues the mobster to his death. It's a harsh reminder that Johnny is no great hero but a man burdened with a real curse. The reaction of those around him, especially the various women he meets, is mixed, with some scared off by him. Others are prepared to stay with him but Johnny is not prepared to put them at risk. There's one time when it seems he has found peace when he loses his memory and winds up as a mechanic for a female racing driver, but incurs the wrath of her foreman. Neither the amnesiac Johnny nor the Ghost Rider is able to access the other and it seems as though Johnny is at peace. However the rival foreman attacks him, restoring his true memory and forgetting his alternative life altogether. Another chance at escape comes when the magician Azaziah splits Johnny and the Ghost Rider; however the two prove unable to survive without each other, finding their energy levels much drained, and so Johnny has to perform the spell to reunify them. Later, after losing his title in the competition with Flagg Fargo, he briefly turns to drink in the hope of "keeping the demon at bay" but it doesn't have the desired effect.

Overall this volume offers more than it seems at first. Most of it may lack a supporting cast or recurring foes, but it shows a good way to handle the wandering hero who brings help to those he meets on his travels whilst at the same time balancing his curse. And the whole relationship between Johnny and the demon is steadily built up over these adventures as he steadily loses control and finds the biggest monster around is within him. The backdrop works well, making for a good latter-day western. It's easy to see where the first movie found much of its inspiration. It's just a pity the Handbook entries and back cover give away spoilers.

Essential Daredevil volume 6

Essential Daredevil volume 6 contains Daredevil #126-146 and Annual #4 plus the crossover issues Iron Man #88-89 and Ghost Rider #20 and also an excerpt from Ghost Rider #19. Most of the volume is written by Marv Wolfman, including the full Ghost Rider issue, who also plots the annual. The other issues are plotted and/or scripted by Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter and Gerry Conway, with the annual scripted by Chris Claremont, the Iron Man issues written by Archie Goodwin and the Ghost Rider excerpt scripted by Tony Isabella, co-plotting with Jim Shooter. Half the issues are drawn by Bob Brown; others are by John Buscema, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane, Lee Elias and George Tuska, with Tuska handling the annual and Iron Man issues whilst the Ghost Rider excerpt is drawn by Frank Robbins and the full issue by John Byrne. Because that's a long list, the creator labels have been placed in a separate post.

(To try to clear up confusion and concern, the annual included here is the first of two separate Daredevil Annuals to carry the number "4". There were no further annuals between 1976 and 1989, when that year's offering, a part of the "Atlantis Attacks" crossover, would use the same number, but then the 1990 annual, from the "Lifeform" crossover, would correct the numbering to #6. This may be the first time a Marvel series did such a thing, over a decade before some of the highest numbers were restored - albeit only temporarily it sadly now seems - after being thrown away for the sake of brief sales boosts. A number of guides have renumbered the 1989 annual to #5, and we await a much later Essential volume to see if Marvel will follow suit, but that number never appeared on an issue.)

It's an unfortunate problem for the series that it took an incredibly long time to find a clear niche and stick to it. Part of the problem is that up to and including these issues no writer had stayed on the series for more than a few years since Stan Lee. As a result Daredevil has wandered back and forth across the continent and the world, with supporting cast members drifting in and out as different writers keep altering the basics in a search for a clear identity. Here it seems Marv Wolfman is trying for a Marvel version of the not-too-gritty Batman, producing a somewhat generic wisecracking hero who swings through a variety of scenarios. The comparison is reinforced by one of the most prolonged, serious and devious plots yet carried out by the Jester.

Normally the Jester can be dismissed as one of the sillier members of Daredevil's rogues' gallery, and there are quite a few foes who fall at that end, but here we get a concerted effort to toughen him up. There's a new costume and a new focus - he's operating a scheme of disinformation, using an advanced (for the time) computer to generate artificial footage for bogus news reports and political campaigns, then tapping into television transmissions in order to spread the lies to a gullible public who rapidly swallow them. With a lot of falsehoods spread such as the Kennedy brothers were never assassinated or the Vietnam War was all staged, the result is a public that comes to distrust what it's told even more than ever (this story came at a time not long after Watergate and when distrust of the Warren Commission was at such heights that a Congressional enquiry was soon ordered). Eventually Daredevil defeats the Jester but not before the latter has succeeded in one very personal goal - after failing to derail Foggy Nelson's original campaign to be elected District Attorney, he's now managed to bring down Nelson at the re-election stage thanks to a series of attack adverts that make the DA look a complete fool.

Foggy takes his defeat surprisingly well, declining to bring any legal challenge over the Jester's interference, and instead returns to private practice, accepting a partnership with Matt once more in running "the Storefront" which brings legal advice and services to those who need them, not those who can afford them. It's a move that in one way restores something of the original series dynamic yet at the same time it doesn't simply recreate the Lee era office. Foggy's replacement as District Attorney is Blake Tower, who would go on to appear in a number of different Marvel titles over the next few years. Here he proves surprisingly likeable and rapidly becomes a strong ally in authority for Daredevl. This contrasts strongly with police Lieutenant Bert Rose who repeatedly blasts and clashes with Daredevil, having no liking for the scarlet swashbuckler. However Daredevil does gain another key ally in the form of hard edged Daily Bugle reporter Jacob Conover.

But by far the most significant character introduced is Heather Glenn, the previous occupant of Matt's new home. At first Heather seems rather shallow - a soft, needy, clingy woman who almost throws herself upon Matt. Okay Matt isn't always the most enlightened of 1970s men but he proves surprisingly receptive to Heather's advances and the two soon become an item. However with her comes a mystery as investigations into a slum landlord leads back to her father's company, with strong hints that he is personally involved in money laundering and other activities surrounding it. But this plotline drags on throughout many issues, outlasting Wolfman as writer, and isn't resolved in this volume. Nor is the mystery of the kidnapping of Foggy's fiancée Debbie Harris, who amazingly doesn't appear at all until several issues after her kidnapping is first mentioned. There are attempts on Foggy's life and hints that the trail also leads back to Maxwell Glenn but it remains unsettled at the end of this volume.

In the meantime Daredevil may have launched a recurrent character like Blake Tower onto the wider Marvel universe but there aren't too many imports from other series in these issues. Within the regular Daredevil issues the only villains visiting from another series are the Chameleon and the Beetle. The guest stars are limited to the Black Panther and Namor the Sub-Mariner in the annual and the crossover with Ghost Rider. Meanwhile the Iron Man issues included in this volume feel suspiciously like they were included purely to make up the page count. Apart from a mention in Daredevil #139 as Ol' Hornhead recounts his recent team-ups, they make no impact at all on the regular series and could easily have been left out without being noticed. Daredevil doesn't even appear until the second issue where he gets dragged into fighting the alien Blood Brothers in New York despite being in a rush to head to Los Angeles in response to Karen's kidnapping.

The Ghost Rider crossover is more convincing, as it provides a final conclusion (for now) to the story of Matt Murdock and Karen Page, and completes the process of transferring her to the pages of Ghost Rider with all outstanding ties settled. However the presentation isn't the best as the excerpt from Ghost Rider #19 - a mere two page prologue for the crossover that's almost a mini-story in its own and thus detachable from the rest of the issue - shows Karen being kidnapped but it is here placed after Matt has learnt this at the end of Daredevil #137 and also after the Iron Man issues in which he's preparing to head west to rescue her. But this aside the story flows well, undoubtedly helped by both halves having the same writer and guest artist, allowing for tight continuity and the issues to be swapped around if schedules forced it at the last moment.

Meanwhile the regular series makes use of a number of old villains, particularly the Jester and the Owl, whilst also adding a tiny handful of few ones. We get a new version of the Torpedo who stumbles into the role by accident, plus Brother Zed, a practitioner of Voodoo dressed as a skeleton who rides the wave of interest in Voodoo that was raging at the time. The annual sees a fight with an extortionist who gets caught in an explosion and transformed into the Mind Master, who is rapidly overcome. But by far the biggest first appearance is that of Bullseye, who debuts in a two-part tale whose opening part (#131) lends its cover to the volume as a whole. Apart from the oversized target on his costume's forehead that would subsequently be scaled down, he's exactly as he would be for years to come - a highly skilled marksman who can use any object to hit any target with deadly accuracy. Only Daredevil's radar sense seems able to predict that target. However he does have the odd silly moment when in his return appearance he straps Daredevil to a giant crossbow bolt and fires it at cliffs. Such an idea, and the cliffhanger it creates at the end of issue #141, feels more at home in an episode of the 1960s Batman TV series. But maybe I've just been too influenced by subsequent uses of Bullseye that have kept him firmly on the gritty, serious side of Daredevil's rogues' gallery. Still he clearly made his mark at the time with three separate appearances in the space of just sixteen issues.

As well as the villains there are also a couple of other notable characters added but neither really fits the series or lasts. One of the oddest people to appear in the series is the Sky-Walker - who uses that name a year and a half before the release of Star Wars. He has the strange power to generate blocks of light energy and walk on them. He appears to have originated on Earth centuries ago but grown up on a different planet to which he's now attempting to return. This description along should indicate how he's an example of how science fiction elements often just don't work in Daredevil, even if the series hasn't yet found a long-lasting distinctive niche. Another oddity comes in an appearance by Uri Geller, who is presented as though his telepathic and telekinetic powers are real, allowing him to locate foes and bend metal with his mind. Although his appearance was probably a co-ordinated publicity drive for whatever reason, once again he just doesn't feel like the sort of character who naturally fits into the series as it is in this period.

Marv Wolfman's run finishes near the end of this volume and so once again a writer has moulded the series into a new direction only to head off before it can really set things down for the long run. Although the last three issues seem to continue on the lines he set down, that's possibly only because of the split plotting and scripting between Gerry Conway and Jim Shooter, showing the title treading a little water before the next permanent writer comes along. Such chopping and changing on a series just isn't healthy in the long run and so it's unsurprising that we have yet another forgotten era as the character and series continue the quest for a permanent distinctive niche.

That's not to say that this volume is at fault in itself. There are clear attempts to get a strong identity set down with a mixture of old and new characters, some character development and ongoing storylines that offer mysteries. And the new villains may be thin on the ground but the ones who are introduced include Daredevil's greatest physical nemesis, a sign of quality over quantity. However some of the mysteries wind up lasting rather longer than they really need to, especially when some issues barely advance them at all, and two are still unsolved when the volume comes to an end. Given that we've only had two new volumes of Essential Daredevil in the last six years, then, even leaving aside the current uncertainty about the future of the Essential programme overall, it seems likely that we won't be seeing these plotlines resolved anytime soon. But aside from that this is quite a good volume with sustained strong writing and good artwork, showing Daredevil as he developed in the last years before he really hit the big time.

Essential Marvel Horror volume 1

It's Halloween so it's time for a look at some of Marvel's horror output...

Essential Marvel Horror volume 1 is a rare example of the anthology Essential, collecting the adventures of particular characters from multiple titles in order, rather than the more conventional approach of collecting individual series in order. Here the focus is upon Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, and his sister Satana. In theory this volume could have been called Essential Children of Satan but it's much harder to use that name in this day and age than in the 1970s. (It was originally solicited as "Essential Son of Satan", forgetting about the daughter, but several big sellers refused to carry a book with that title.) The stories collected are from a mixture of preview series, black and white magazines, the Son of Satan's own series and guest titles. Included is material from Ghost Rider #1-2, Marvel Spotlight #12-24, Son of Satan #1-8, Marvel Two-in-One #14, Marvel Team-Up #32 & #80-81, Vampire Tales #2-3, Haunt of Horror #2 & #4-5, Marvel Premiere #27 and Marvel Preview #7. Bonus material includes an original page from Son of Satan #8 that was rejected by the Comics Code Authority; a replacement was written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by John Romita.

With a lot of issues there's a lot of creators. So here goes... Gary Friedrich writes the Ghost Rider and early Marvel Spotlight issues, being succeeded on the latter by Steve Gerber who co-writes one with Mike Friedrich, then the final one is by Chris Claremont. Most of the Son of Satan series is by John Warner bar the final issue by Bill Mantlo who also writes the Marvel Two-in-One issue. The first Marvel Team-Up is by Gerry Conway who also writes the second Vampire Tales and first Haunt of Horror issues. The second Vampire Tales is by Roy Thomas and the rest of Haunt of Horror are by Claremont and Tony Isabella. Claremont then writes the Marvel Premiere and Marvel Preview issues and the last two Marvel Team-Ups. The art is by Tom Sutton and Jim Mooney on Ghost Rider, Mooney, Herb Trimpe and Sal Buscema on Marvel Spotlight, then Mooney, Sonny Trinidad, P. Craig Russell, Ed Hannigan and Russ Heath on Son of Satan. Trimpe draws the Marvel Two-in-One issue and Buscema and Mike Vosburg draw the Marvel Team-Ups. The Vampire Tales stories are drawn by John Romita and Esteban Maroto. The Haunt of Horror material is drawn by Pablo Marcos, Enrique Romero, Pat Broderick and George Evans. The Marvel Premiere issue is drawn by "The Tribe", presumably a group emergency effort, and the Marvel Preview is drawn by Vincente Alcazar. Whew. It will come as no surprise that two separate posts are needed to carry some of the creator labels, one for writers, one for artists.

The contents were originally published in two rather different formats - comics, and thus subject to the regulation of the Comics Code Authority, and larger black and white magazines aimed at an older marker and without such regulation. The magazines also contained some text stories and features and included here are a couple of contemporary behind the scenes pieces which explore the process of Satana's creation and development, hampered by deadlines not being met and publications getting cancelled. It's clear that many in the Marvel Bullpen had high hopes for her but ultimately found themselves unable to develop her much, and it's unsurprising that her last solo writer, Chris Claremont, opted to give her story closure and save her from a long run of mediocre and inconsistent guest appearances by killing her off when he later got the chance.

The contrast between the tone of the two publication formats is pretty stark with Satana, although the Marvel Team-Up issues were published a few years later and it seems either the Code had been relaxed or was less rigorously enforced. Satana's regular costume is very daring, ranging from her open chest and exposed cleavage to her fur boots with distinctive toes that from the right angle make it look as though she has cloven hooves. When she appears in both Marvel Premiere and in the flesh in Marvel Spotlight (though not when she pops up in her brother's dreams) the costume is different, with no exposed cleavage or hooves. Satana's actions also vary a bit - in the magazines there's no holding back from calling her a succubus or showing her stealing the souls, although even then she's shown taking them only with a kiss rather than the full on sexual intercourse traditionally associated with succubuses, but once again under the Code this racier side of things is overlooked. Her introduction doesn't pull punches as it shows her disguised on city streets and being chased by a rapist whose soul she steals and later she's shown street walking and seducing a passing man.

Unfortunately this volume suffers from some problems of order. Marvel Team-Up #32 was published the same month as Marvel Spotlight #21 and matches the status quo around then. However it's placed right at the end of the Son of Satan part of the volume, coming after Marvel Two-in-One #14 even though that issue references Team-Up #32. Both issues are set around the New Year, just adding to the discrepancy. Even more confusion stems from the basic decision to place all the son's stories before the daughter's, despite the two having first appeared almost at the same time and despite Satana appearing a few times in her brother's stories at a point towards the end of her own.

Despite this the volume presents two sagas of siblings tortured by their half-human, half-demonic natures. Separated early in life when their mother discovered the truth about her husband, there's a strong contrast between the would-be priest turned exorcist who struggles to control his demonic side as he seeks to oppose his father, and the woman who has embraced her demonic nature and spends most of her early appearances seeking to break the spells that prevent her from being reunited with her father. The actual struggles don't get the strongest of portrayals and over time both move beyond their initial portrayals in different ways, but by the time of Marvel Spotlight #24 the two siblings have been separately established to the point that the clash between them feels like a real conflict of philosophies.

The changes themselves are mixed. In his initial appearances in Ghost Rider, Daimon Hellstrom appears to be another in a line of two entities sharing a single body, a mild mannered exorcist and a demon in human form. Even the transformations come at dawn and dusk, much like the original changes for both Ghost Rider and the Hulk. However there isn't a great deal of distinction between the two forms of Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan with clear continuity of identity and memory, so it's of little surprise that as early as Marvel Spotlight #15 the arrangement is altered by Satan and from then on the two natures are merged into a single being. There's a few points after this when the two identities are shown separately though the most notable case here is in Marvel Team-Up #32, which suggests updated information on the character did not reach Gerry Conway in time. (Another one comes in a later appearance in Howard the Duck where Steve Gerber had less of an excuse.) Satana's struggle is more drawn out, with the character starting as an out and out succubus but steadily finds her human side affecting her more and more, especially when she meets a defrocked Catholic priest who saves her life from a group of paramilitary religious fanatics. Later she discovers her father was behind sealing her off from Hell as a way of testing her (yet another Marvel ruler with an inability to simply tell their offspring the basics) but at a crucial point she refuses to take the ex-priest's soul and is banished forever. Her soul has been bonded with a spirit called the Basilisk and she continues to struggle against this whilst seeking redemption. The final story in the volume is a two-parter from Marvel Team-Up in which she gives her life to save Doctor Strange, achieving victory over the Basilisk and redemption in the process.

By and large these stories are somewhat isolated from the wider Marvel universe with appearances by other heroes confined to the various team-up comics and Hellstrom's initial appearance in the pages of Ghost Rider. Instead the two siblings face new situations and foes. Appearing from the outset is "Satan", who, unsurprisingly given where the story starts, is initially presented here as the same being with whom Johnny Blaze made his deal with the Devil. It would be several years before Marvel would cause no end of confusion in its attempts to row away from presenting the actual Devil as a character and instead turn the various (and often inconsistent) portrayals by various names into separate entities such as Mephisto or Lucifer. But as far as the stories in this volume are concerned, there is only one entity and he is the actual thing. Most of the other foes Hellstrom encounters are other lesser demons, some of whom are pawns of Satan but others are independent operatives. Reading through I thought many of the names seemed familiar, but the only one lifted directly from writings on Satanism is Baphomet. Curiously the lead foe in the later issues also has a pre-existing name but comes instead from Egyptian mythology - Anubis, the god of funerals who empowers an estate agent into becoming his pawn Mindstar. The rest of the demons seen are all Marvel creations including Ikthalon, Kometes, Spyros, Allatou, Kthara and Proffet, also known as the Celestial Fool. Closer to the more mortal level are foes such as the cult known as the Legion of Nihilists and their powerful leader, Father Darklyte, or Madame Swabada, a Tarot reader and fortune teller embittered by negative press which gave her a heart attack. Despite having died her spirit is still seeking revenge until she is exorcised. The Possessor is an illusionist whom two demons tried to use as a host but instead wound up under his control, along with Nightfire, a Native American transformed by his master. The two team-up issues bring their own foes - Marvel Two-in-One features 19th century criminal Jedadiah Ravenstorm possessed by Kthara and Marvel Team-Up brings conflict with Dryminextes, another demon.

Satana's small number of adventures see her face off against a few foes, the most prominent of whom are the mysterious group called "the Four", demons who seem to be the ones who erect a barrier preventing her from returning to hell, but ultimately it's revealed to be Satan behind it. There are a mixture of other demons, mystics and mortal crusaders, but virtually all die in the process. So too do Satana's few friends and allies such as Exiter, her black cat familiar, Zennarth, an incubus, and Michael Heron, the defrocked priest turned medic. Daimon's supporting cast have a better survival rate but it is also limited and comes in two distinct phases of Hellstrom's career. The most prominent character is Kathy Reynolds, a lecturer in parapsychology at Gateway University who calls in Hellstrom to investigate reported haunting at the university and who steadily falls for him but it never really gets anywhere. Also caught up in some of Hellstrom's adventures around Gateway University is Byron Hyatt, a divinity student training for the ministry. Both characters disappear at the end of the Marvel Spotlight run when Hellstrom leaves to return to the house he grew up in. Later Hellstrom takes a position at the University of the District of Columbia, where he meets Saripha Thames, who tuns out to be a Wiccan witch. By the end of the series the two are an item but there's no time left to explore their relationship further.

It was very daring of Marvel just to feature the Devil as a character in their comics, even if they were tapping into a wider trend of interest in the occult. But to go a step further and introduce characters who were unambiguously (at least until later retcons came along) the children of Satan and named as such in the titles of their features was an incredible move and from today's perspective it's amazing that it didn't provoke any outcry or boycotts. Maybe the 1970s distributors and retailers had thicker skins than the 21st century book sellers who forced a title change on this volume, or maybe there just weren't well organised groups back then who could kick up enough fuss to cause either publishers, distributors or retailers to back away from titles with "Satan" in them. But the result is an interesting set of stories. The tales of Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan are pretty good, if a little repetitive, and still hold up well. However it's the lesser known tales of Satana that really stand out, probably because most of them were published outside the Comics Code Authority and were thus able to take really bold steps. The precise order of the issues in this volume could do with a little rethink, but overall this is a very solid collection.