Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDarkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins #1 holds a firm place in Marvel history as the simultaneous debut of the Darkhold Redeemers — Victoria Montesi, Sam Buchanan, and Louise Hastings — and, through Montesi, the first openly lesbian lead character ever to headline a Marvel Comics series. The issue arrived as Part 4 of the six-part 'Rise of the Midnight Sons' crossover, the coordinated 1992 editorial initiative that gathered Marvel's supernatural and horror-flavored characters under one interconnected publishing umbrella for the first time. Its monster-of-the-week structure — a Darkhold page grants a terrible wish, the Redeemers arrive too late to stop the corruption, the damage is contained but not reversed — established a repeating anthology-style formula that was unusually grounded and character-driven for the speculator-boom era. The Darkhold itself, as developed across this series, became a cornerstone artifact of Marvel's occult mythology, eventually inspiring its treatment in the MCU's WandaVision, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Editor Bobbie Chase assembled pitches for new supernatural titles after editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco recognized that Ghost Rider's runaway early-1990s success deserved its own horror sub-universe rather than continued guest appearances across tonally mismatched books. The resulting 'Rise of the Midnight Sons' initiative spawned four launch titles simultaneously — Spirits of Vengeance, Morbius: The Living Vampire, Nightstalkers, and Darkhold — each shipping polybagged with one segment of a six-part composite poster illustrated by Andy and Adam Kubert. Darkhold #1 was written by Christian Cooper (credited as 'Chris Cooper'), with pencils, inks, and cover art by Richard Case and Mark McKenna; the series ran 16 issues through January 1994 under Cooper's consistent authorship, with Rurik Tyler replacing Case on pencils from issue #3 onward.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full appearance of the Darkhold Redeemers as a team: Dr. Victoria 'Vicki' Montesi, Interpol Special Agent Sam Buchanan, and Professor Louise Hastings.
- Victoria Montesi is the first openly lesbian lead character to headline a Marvel Comics series, a distinction she holds to the present day.
- The issue is Part 4 of the six-part 'Rise of the Midnight Sons' crossover event (1992), which simultaneously launched four new Marvel supernatural titles.
- Published with a cover date of October 1992 but released on August 11, 1992; written by Christian Cooper, penciled and covered by Richard Case, inked by Mark McKenna, edited by Bobbie Chase.
- The issue was polybagged as a Special Collector's Item and included one section of a six-part composite poster; all six 'Rise of the Midnight Sons' issues contained different segments of this poster by Andy and Adam Kubert.
- The story is titled 'Black Letter' and is a double-sized issue; it continues directly from Morbius: The Living Vampire #1 and flows into Nightstalkers #1.
- Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) and Johnny Blaze guest-star; Lilith, the Darkhold Dwarf, and the Darkholders also appear, with Lilith herself coining the name 'Darkhold Redeemers' for the team.
- The entire 16-issue run (plus related material from Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #90, Midnight Sons Unlimited #1–2, and Marvel Comics Presents #145) was collected in the trade paperback Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins — The Complete Collection (Marvel, 2018).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Rise of the Midnight Sons #[nn] (1993), Marvel Firsts: The 1990s Omnibus #[nn] (2015), Marvel Firsts: The 1990s #1 (2016), Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons #[nn] (2016), Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins - The Complete Collection #[nn] (2018), Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Omnibus #2 (2025)
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