Ghost Rider #23

Mar 1992 · Marvel · 1.75 USD; 2.15 CAD; 0.95 GBP

📊 ~25,091 copies sold its debut month

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“Death Drive”

★ 1st appearance — Hag

About this Issue

Ghost Rider (Vol. 3) #23 marks the first appearances of Hag and Troll, two demonic enforcers tied to arch-villain Deathwatch who would go on to recur throughout the Danny Ketch era and beyond. The issue also crystallizes Howard Mackie's central thesis for the series: a morally tortured Ghost Rider who rescues innocents from a collapsed building even as his very appearance terrifies them, set in stark juxtaposition against Deathwatch's unrepentant, self-satisfied evil. The issue is also a milestone in the slow-burn rehabilitation of Ghost Rider's public image within the narrative — police and bystanders for the first time seriously entertain the possibility that he may be a force for good. Taken together, these elements make it one of the most character-defining single issues of the early-1990s Ghost Rider run.

writer Howard Mackie · artist, inker Mark Texeira · colorist Gregory Wright · letterer Janice Chiang · cover Mark Texeira

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Raw (NM) $0

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Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The issue was written by Howard Mackie and fully pencilled and inked by Mark Texeira — the same core creative pairing that had driven the Danny Ketch series since its 1990 launch — with colors by Gregory Wright, lettering by Janice Chiang, and editing by Bobbie Chase under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco. It carries a March 1992 cover date (on-sale January 1992) and sits near the climax of Mackie's extended Deathwatch storyline, which had been building since Ghost Rider Vol. 3 #1. Texeira served as both penciller and inker on this issue, giving it an unusually unified visual texture that critics have singled out — particularly the sequence staged from Michael Badilino's night-vision goggles during a police-precinct raid.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Hag — a demon described by Marvel as 'a beautiful and vivacious' figure normally paired with her partner Troll — created by Howard Mackie and Mark Texeira.
First appearance of Troll (Deathwatch), a demon granted mystical abilities by Deathwatch; both Hag and Troll would become recurring antagonists in the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider era.
Written by Howard Mackie; pencils and inks by Mark Texeira; colors by Gregory Wright; letters by Janice Chiang; edited by Bobbie Chase.
Cover date: March 1992 (Ghost Rider Vol. 3, #23); published by Marvel Comics under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
The issue directly continues from #22, in which Deathwatch destroyed his own building with Ghost Rider trapped inside; #23 opens with Ghost Rider digging survivors out of the rubble while a hostile press — including Deathwatch operative Linda Wei — blames him for the carnage.
Detective Michael Badilino appears as an antagonist; Badilino is a major recurring character of the era who would later be transformed into the antihero/villain Vengeance.
The issue contains a letters column with responses from five readers, reflecting the active fan community around the Danny Ketch series during the early-1990s Ghost Rider boom.
Hag and Troll's backstory and connection to Deathwatch is later elaborated in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #6 (1992).