WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Ghost Rider: Return of Vengeance #1 by Howard Mackie, Javier Saltares, Marc Deering, Arif Prianto & VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.
A new Ghost Rider one-shot focuses on Michael Badilino, the Rider known as Vengeance. While the issue dealt with his escape from Hell, he wasn't alone in that act, as he had help from two different villains that he shared a corner of Hell with, Anton Hellmouth and Skinner.
Hellmouth was a villain who had a strong connection with Vengeance, the man who helped corrupt him and secured Michael's place in Hell. However, Skinner was more of a wildcard, and it was his knowledge that allowed both men to escape Hell and make it back to Earth. The return for Skinner was short-lived as Vengeance sent him straight back to Hell once they got out.
As established in this comic, Skinner is the spawn of the witch-demon mother, Lilith, and is labeled as a demon killer and a "betrayer of his own kind." In the issue, Skinner was set free to attack and torture Michael. Skinner stalled their fight to reveal he had a shard of Ghost Rider's Hellfire-infused bone that he had kept as a memento. He gave it to Michael, and it transformed him into Vengeance again. They abducted Hellmouth to join them and then sacrificed him to open a portal to Earth. This was all thanks to Skinner listening to his mother and knowing how to get out of Hell and back to Earth. It worked, and Skinner helped Vengeance return to the world of the living.
However, despite all this, what doomed Skinner to return to Hell at the hands of Vengeance was a moment from the past. When Vengeance and Skinner passed through the portal and headed back to Earth, the Rider could see the demon spawn's past and viewed the moment he murdered his wife and baby. When they came out, Vengeance was furious. Skinner explained he killed them to save them because Lilith would have tortured his wife and used his son otherwise. He called the murders an "act of kindness," but Vengeance serves one purpose in life. He called it his own act of kindness when he filled Skinner with Hellfire and sent him back to Hell.
While Skinner was a new face for Vengeance to face, he was not a newcomer to the world of Ghost Rider. His first appearance was in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #3 by Howard Mackie, Chris Warner, Janice Chiang, Adam Kubert & Gregory Wright. Lilith returned with two of her Lilin species of demons, Blackout & Pilgrim. They tried to find Skinner, considered the "fiercest" of their kind. They said he killed everyone, no matter who, from human to mutant, and he lived for the thrill of the kill. However, when they found him, he had started a family with a mortal and lived in the woods. He fought the other demons, but when Lilith showed up, he willingly went in and killed his wife and baby and rejoined her.
While Skinner claimed to Vengeance that he was showing mercy to his wife and child, he did so without a moment's hesitation when Lilith returned. He then set out on a mission for his mother to kill Johnny Blaze. When he found Blaze, he claimed his mother took his family from him, saying the Lilin have no choice but to obey. Blaze responded by banishing him to the underworld via a blast of Hellfire.
Skinner relayed to Vengeance the same story that he told Blaze, that his son was a half-breed and Lilith could have controlled him and used him, and he couldn't allow that to happen. He said he couldn't pass on his legacy, and while that makes him a monster, he could live with that. Unfortunately for Skinner, Vengeance could not live with the actions of Skinner and enacted his namesake, sending him back where he belonged.