Meta: Vengeance (character profile)

[rokhal]

(I'm slowly migrating my Tumblr rants onto Dreamwidth, while using Tumblr as an image-hosting service. Sweet spite!)

Vengeance: The Worst Ghost Rider
A.K.A. Lieutenant Michael Badilino of the NYPD Ghost Rider Task Force A.K.A. Bad Cop No Donut.

Seriously, Lt. Badilino should be in prison.

Anywho. THIS IS VENGEANCE:

I can explain this abomination. But first some background.

This is Lieutenant Michael Badilino, NYPD. No, this is not the Punisher.

Michael Badilino is a bad dude, a huge scary dude, a rule-breaking “new breed” of cop, who terrorizes anyone he perceives to be a threat to the communities he polices. He becomes the leader of the Ghost Rider Task Force, and pursues the Ghost Rider with a singular focus that may lead one to ask him, “Dude, did Ghost Rider, like, fry your dad’s brain and make him kill your mom, your sister, and then himself?”

To which the answer is yes.

So what does Michael Badilino do when he is frustrated too many times in his pursuit of the Ghost Rider? He sells his soul to the Devil, of course. Resulting in a visually harmonious and not at all overwrought or difficult to draw new character design:

(If you can’t see that, that’s Mephisto taking credit for the artist’s bad life choices.)

MORE SPIKES. BLACKER. SPIKIER. BIGGER. BIG TEETH. RIB SPIKES. FIST SPIKES. HEAD SPIKES. SPIKES.

Like, what is this thing? It’s 90% spikes.

Vengeance was originally conceived as Ghost Rider’s nemesis.
Those chains? Bone.
The motorcycle? Infused with INNOCENT BLOOD. (Nineties Ghost Rider had a thing about INNONCENT BLOOD. Which was that it MUST BE AVENGED.)
Even the fire on his head is darker.
Oh, and my favorite part. Michael Badilino is all alone in there. He’s not possessed. The transformation occurs at will. Everything Vengeance does, that’s Lt. Badilino. Full responsibility. Full control. Maybe a little disinhibited, the way you get when you wear a mask no one else can take off and when you’re bullet proof and everyone around you craps their pants the moment you enter the building.

Oddly enough, turning into a seven foot tall fiery vengeance monster at will mellowed Lt. Badilino out a bit. He has a recurring series buried among the 8-page mini stories in Marvel Comics Presents, from about number 143 on.

He rescues another cop from Dangerous Game hunters. (Look, she’s using his rib spikes as handles!)

He is TOTALLY SURE he is doing a great job concealing his secret identity from another trained investigator.

He regrets selling his soul to the devil for the ability to become a horrifying fire monster.

He goes to therapy.

Oh, and he suffers nicely.

Just look at this beautiful piece of the highest quality comic art that manages to include every single kink in my dirty little ace brain.

Vengeance even, after becoming Vengeance but not after taking his oaths for the NYPD, adopts a no-kill code, becoming a Genuine Good-Guy Vigilante, after the following hard lesson:

It’s not often in comics that a protagonist will kill someone on purpose and for that decision to be proven wrong within that same story. Most of the time, they avoid killing in the first place, or the writer doesn’t allow the story to let the protagonist be wrong.

Bravo, writers.

Now did you learn something, Vengeance.

Well, he did.

Sometimes you just have to turn yourself into a horrifying fire monster to learn that hurting and terrorizing people might not be a wise or ethical way to keep your community safe.

ere.