Was This Marvel's Answer to DC's VERTIGO Comics Imprint in the Early 1990s?

[@angusbyers]

Man, Tex was the best! I met him in 1991 at a comic con at a hotel when I was 10. Drew me a Ghost Rider head in like 30 seconds. So rad.

[@samnoirstoysandcomics1169]

Vertigo was DC's answer to Marvel's Epic imprint. Note that Vertigo even picked up Moonshadow which was originally published by Epic.

[@jenumba]

And then Marvel responded with Marvel Knights and Marvel Max.

[@brianng8350]

Yes, I agree. I was suspicious of their title for this video. Epic and Vertigo was less cape but for adult fantasy/horror? Was Marvel Knights when they still follow the Comic Code?

[@brianng8350]

@@jenumba I don't think DC had their version of Marvel Knights or Marel Max. It would be today's Black Label though. Back then, they did not distinguish their more darker titles like Dark Knight or Watchmen.

[@PatBenatarLibrary]

2:08 The so called "Heroes for the 90s" were actually: January - Robocop #1 (by Alan Grant*, Lee Sullivan & Kim DeMulder), February - Namor #1 (by John Byrne & Bob Wiacek) March - Ghost Rider #1 (by Howard Mackie, Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira) April - Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (by Jim Valentino & Steve Montano) May - The New Warriors #1 (by Fabian Nicieza, Mark Bagley & Al Williamson) June - Spider-Man #1 (Todd McFarlane) Source: Marvel Age Preview #1 (1990) Marc Spector, Moon Knight #1 and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 came out in 1989. Deathlok was revamped in 1990 with four part prestige format limited series and ongoing series was launched in 1991. 1991 also gave us new Marvel heroes with Darkhawk #1 and Sleepwalker #1. * R.I.P. Alan Grant - 9 February 1949 - 21 July 2022

[@chrisdaugherty8265]

Oh no, I didn’t know Mr. Grant passed away. Really loved his Batman run.

[@RealRoknRollr3108]

Also, briefly, Nth Man, Larry Hama whackyness

[@majorjoe23]

Now you guys need to look at Morbius #1 by Ron Wagner. Not for lame meme reasons, but for awesome Ron Wagner reasons.

[@AaronAbbotttheoncomingstorm]

You absolutely described my childhood. When I'd stay with my grandma in Brownsville over the summer I'd get my comics at the gift shop of the hospital across the street from her house, walk down to the gas station a mile or two dahn the road, or beg my mom to take me dahn the Foodland with her so I could hit the racks there. What a time to be alive.

[@thomasdelaney8194]

My favourite era of ghost rider

[@alejandrocaracciolo5975]

I tend to think about Ghost Rider as part of a heavy metal trend, rather than goth. Books like this one, Lobo, Vampirella, Evil Ernie, and pretty much all of the Chaos! Comics stable of books, were filled with heavy metal iconography and themes, in my opinion.

[@Anders010]

Marvel's adult comics never hit the high notes of Vertigo, however they have so much SOUL that now I enjoy rereading them more than Vertigo.

[@drawrobot]

I love the flat color on this issue with the subtle gradients.

[@evanlindsey1100]

Ghost Rider wasn't the only non spandex book from 90-91, Along with the Aforementioned Deathlok, (Darhawk might count, as it's a moody Japanese Special Effects meets Spider-Man archetype), there was Sleepwalker, which was a weird and quirky book in the mold of the horror inspired books Marvel did in the 70s.

[@RS-vk7op]

Awesome series, I was blown away by this series it seemed perfect at the time. Gotta say you have to check out Gene Day’s work in 80’s Shang Chi!

[@carnage247mayhem]

There’s a two parter where he crosses over with spider man that are pretty goodi definitely recommend you guys check them out Edit:adding a couple of words

[@peterm.fitzpatrick7735]

Great Show! Marvel was evidently loosening up to let those two artists expand the repertoire a little bit. They were right to do so, as those images in total gray were stunning!

[@danelsen1278]

“Stromanisms” …. Jim, you have coined a term I am 100% certain I will never find a way to use in my daily life, but I love it! And also, yes, I too want to believe OMWOT is the DNA for all good comics that exist.

[@hygge_angstrom]

Definitely need to do more videos about Ghost Rider, particularly Adam Kubert's run on Spirits of Vengenace. He did the covers with his dad!

[@ryancornish445]

Tex is a beast! He made that book something else man

[@ivane5110]

It's interesting how even if its relatively the same character, when and where you're introduced to them makes such a difference. The Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider premiered during my childhood, but like most non-superhero-y characters (Howard the Duck, Swamp and Man Things, etc) he just didn't make my radar other than maybe a comic cover to glance at for a moment. He only became someone who caught my attention when he was a Champion (my favorite superteam). And boy oh boy was he not the same guy as had I picked up his own earlier books. The GR who founded the Champions was mostly Johnny with powers, with occasionally temper moment giving what later I realized the actual GR/demon.

[@sitrat8914]

G.R. and the New Warriors were titles i was purchasing just as I was getting out of comics. You both have really bumped my appreciation for this first issue and I’ll need to dig out my issues and have a look through them again. I prefer the original hellfire bike, though! Enjoyable episode. Thanks, Ed and Jim!

[@MJRLHobbyStuff]

Childhood! I got nearly the entire run

[@SimianProphet]

Without seeing the full title for the video, I thought this might be about Marvel's short lived 'Strange Tales' mature readers imprint from the early 2000's. That might be worth doing a video about in the future.

[@AndresCiambotti]

You guys should totally review Blacksad by Díaz Canales & Guarnido, such great work!

[@samnoirstoysandcomics1169]

and don't underestimate the fact that DC needed to respond to Image with their own imprint that could accommodate creator owned work. Note that the Image founders were offered the Epic imprint as a hail mary from those heading up Marvel at that time.

[@azarthoth]

This was the first comic I ever bought. Brings back memories.

[@sammajkrzak8887]

Interesting stuff about the generations. I was thinking about that the last couple days. For sure the current stuff is mostly digital and has a huge focus on the coloring.

[@williamlee2182]

Reread along this video with new omnibus out. RIP Ed.

[@automatwinslaytracks]

Hell yes more Ghost Rider please

[@MasterLongy]

That Stalkers ad on the last page was bonkers, would love to see you guys review that

[@Klung1]

Doing my part to get you to 6,000,000!

[@karlbrubaker2593]

If memory serves, the sixth book was a Robocop series.

[@hamitpahpool1787]

Great vid. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on pop mahn's run in a future video

[@soul.alone.8745]

Possibly a pointless bit of info: anyone who still plays Pokemon Go, those little lender library houses are spin stops in the game. You can use it as a compass, or make it a "team-up" and distribute your books to a many as you can find!

[@brianng8350]

This is childhood. I don't remember the story much, but I love the art. But I could not tell when Javier Saltares stopped and where Mark Texeira started. Are their styles that similar or is Mark's inking so dominating? But in any case, Mark Texeira would be my go to Ghost Rider artist. And love that glow in the dark cover later on!

[@davidaaronartist]

mark painted a vampirella comic i think is beautiful

[@Gootie29]

I think this may be the first comic I bought 2 copies of when it came out. I had a feeling it was going to be a hit

[@flaviodeluxe]

if you rotate the bike going up the wall of the alley to the right it reads much better

[@atheistbluesmetalhardrock824]

Always loved ghost riders look. Let’s see those kubert issues!

[@TheGodlessCosmonaut]

Damn, thought this was gonna be about Epic

[@elsike]

Waiting for the Ghost Writer spinoff.

[@thomasdelaney8194]

I would love for you guys to cover hellstorm Prince of lies issue one that would make an interesting video

[@terribled]

Love it when you guys cover books I already own, so I don't feel like I have to race the crowd.

[@SanctumSanctorumVidz]

I prefer all-Texiera GR than the Saltieres/Texiera team.

[@djbullock4]

Probably

[@ArtOfIdan]

so good!

[@JCRJr3]

Love this.

[@OGJay08]

I'm not from the US but I wanted ask if comics are as widely offered in the US as they were before. Do they still sell them (as much as before) in grocery stores newspaper stands where a kid would be able to just see it and pick it up? Or do they mostly sell them in the dedicated comic book shops/bookstores or digitally? Do publishers print out less now and thus comics are not as easily found in a variety of stores? If that is the case, is it because digital comic books take up a lot of the sales and remove the need for physical printing or people just don't read as much?

[@SIXminWHISTLE]

No, monthly comics aren't really sold at grocery stores anymore here in the US. You only see those small Archie digest books. Manga and sometimes a small handful of graphic novels are sold at some big chains that sell books, Target and Walmart. Some of the specialty chains get graphic novels too, like FYE which used to be focused on CDs and movies. Generally, monthly floppy comics are only really found at comic/tabletop stores. I don't really know about the digital split. I think there are a lot of older readers, maybe 30+, that still pick up monthly releases or at least the collected books, but even most of them read at least some digitally.

[@jamesmoss3424]

I will get Ghost Rider vol. 2 #1.😀👍

[@matthewmalleus7135]

It's a shame. The original Ghost Rider was at it's peak when it was cancelled. They were my first comic when I learned to read and they had just gone wayyy up in quality with the addition of Bob Budiansky on pencils and Roger Stern and J. M. DeMatteis writing. It was an amazing horror style comic and the character of GR, both Johnny Blaze and Zarathos, had so much more personality. This book stripped away all of that. Traded all of the story and character for spikes and chains. All sizzle, no steak.

[@mattelder]

More ghost rider