Issue(s): Spirits of Vengeance #17
Cover Date: Dec 93
Title: "The end of the world as we know it!"
Credits:
Howard Mackie - Writer
Henry Martinez - Penciler
Bud LaRosa - Inker
Bobbie Chase - Editor

Review/plot:
The inker credits are corrected in the lettercol for issue #19 (Bud LaRosa, not Keith Williams).

We're only (!) at part eight of seventeen but the "siege" part of Siege of Darkness is now over, and this issue takes us even further away from the initial premise of the crossover. I'd call it a bait and switch, but that would imply that anyone actually cared whether the generic super-demons running around in this event were Lilin or not.

Dr. Strange's house has been destroyed, forcing the Midnight Sons that were gathered there to fight the Lilin.

Caretaker leads the group to a doorway that teleports them to The Nightclub, the hangout of his people, The Blood. Once there, Ghost Rider presses Caretaker to teach him and the other Spirits of Vengeance, Johnny Blaze and Vengeance, to use the "Medallion" that they are a part of. Caretaker refuses, and they get into a little fight and then the Midnight Sons leave Caretaker to go face the Lilin again.

Meanwhile, Zarathos tries to figure out what's on the other side of the rift that the Lilin came out of.

Lilith leads him away and they're later seen in post-coital bliss, until the heroes show up.

The Spirits of Vengeance have seemingly come to face Zarathos alone, but when Zarathos gets the upper hand and nearly gets the Medallion...

...Morbius jumps in, proclaiming for like the tenth time that he's free of the Lilin that was possessing him.

(I mean, i think it's him grabbing The Medallion, but that miscoloring doesn't help with an already cluttered plot.)

Caretaker shows up and teaches the Spirits of Vengeance how to use the Medallion.

Caretaker directs the Spirits to ignore Zarathos for now and focus on using The Medallion to drive the Lilin back into the rift and seal it up. This also gets rid of the mist, so the "darkness" part of Siege of Darkness is also now over.

The effort of sealing up the rift also destroys The Medallion.

The problem is that before the rift was sealed, some new demons called The Fallen come out.

Caretaker panics, telling Dr. Strange to get everyone back to The Nightclub and find the rest of The Blood, and then charging Zarathos, only to get knocked out and captured.

At least The Medallion is destroyed because the whole story around that was pretty lame. But this book is not The Good. I guess since i already still had a stack of Siege books waiting to be read, i knew that this couldn't be the end. But when i saw The Fallen, i couldn't suppress the "What?! What do you mean it's not over?!?" reaction.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part eight of Siege of Darkness. Part nine is in Nightstalkers #15.

References:

• Dr. Strange's house was destroyed in Doctor Strange #60.

Crossover: Siege of Darkness

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A