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Marvel Legacy Spoilers: How Spirits Of Vengeance Will Move The Needle

Published Mon, 11 Sep 2017 12:00:04 -0500

One of the relaunched titles for the Marvel Legacy not-a-relaunch is Spirits Of Vengeance by Victor Gischler and David Baldeon. The series teams Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider with Satana, Hellstorm, and Blade.

And the hunt is on to discover the true nature of a certain bullet fired at someone, then past to Ghost Rider. During the journey, you get one seeming reference to the Marvel retailer conference that caused such poor publicity earlier in the year and helped coin a certain term regarding the reduction in the appeal of comic book artists to increase sales on a title.

Unless it's just a pure coincidence. But when John Hellstorm asks one of his contacts regarding said magic bullet "does this move the needle at all", it doesn't feel too much like a coincidence — especially when the reading comes back "so many old things are surfacing again." Welcome to Marvel Legacy.

Glad that Marvel can laugh about this now. They weren't laughing then…

SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE #1 (of 5)
VICTOR GISCHLER (W) • DAVID BALDEON (A)
COVER BY DAN MORA
WAR AT THE GATES OF HELL Part 1
A dead angel. A silver bullet. A kept promise. For ages, the war between Heaven and Hell raged in the unseen corners of society, both sides in delicate balance that could topple if the right weapons were in the wrong hands… When an undercover angel is murdered, Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider, must find the killers and punish them…But this time he won't do it alone: A deadly team must rise from the darkest depths of the Marvel Universe to form an unholy alliance – HELLSTORM! SATANA! BLADE! They are the SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE!

The goal of the Marvel Legacy initiative is to bring a greater focus to Marvel's core superheroes, unlike recent relaunches such as Marvel NOW! which gave prominence to newer and younger heroes. Marvel EIC Axel Alonso has noted that the relaunch was about reminding readers of the company's rich history by highlighting the connections between characters and reintroducing some iconic characters.

The relaunch will begin at the end of September with the release of a 50-page one-shot titled Marvel Legacy #1 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribić. The issue will introduce the first superhero team of Avengers that were active in the year 1,000,000 BC. The story will span the history of the Marvel Universe and explore the connection between the prehistoric Avengers and their present-day counterparts.

Following the release of Marvel Legacy #1, many Marvel comic series will revert to their classic cumulative numbering system. For their relaunching series, Marvel created a new and consistent cover design that aimed to recapture their work from the 1980s and 1990s. Marvel will release limited quantities of lenticular covers for their Marvel Legacy titles that pay homage to older covers.

They are also reintroducing elements such as the Marvel Value Stamp — a collectible clip-and-save program — and the self-published fanzine FOOM. Marvel is including three-page primer stories in select Legacy titles to provide background information on their characters for new readers. Written by Robbie Thompson and illustrated by Mark Bagley, the primer stories will cover classic moments from Marvel's comics.

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