The Marvel Universe filled with monsters, both metaphorical and real. And while most of its heroes deal with the former, there are a few concerned with the actual creatures going bump in the night, heroes who willingly charge into the dark corners of the world to seek out and destroy supernatural menaces. Of course, these heroes are often as monstrous or volatile as the things they hunt, so they usually work alone -- but sometimes, large-scale supernatural threats arise and they have no choice, but to band together.

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This October, such a team-up arrives in the form of the five-issue Marvel Legacy miniseries Spirits of Vengeance. Under the guiding eyes of writer Victor Gischler and artist David Baldeon, four supernatural anti-heroes will band together to take on a truly apocalyptic threat. We spoke with Gischler about his cast of characters, the dynamic between them, the threat they'll face, and the series' unique tone.

CBR: It's not the only genre you've written in, but you do have a background in writing horror for both prose and comics. Is that the type of book Spirits of Vengeance will be? And how did it feel to come back to Marvel for this series?

Victor Gischler: It was cool! Axel Alonso kind of gave me a call out of the blue and said, “I think you'd be a good fit for this.” It was nice and exciting to hear that.

EXCLUSIVE: David Baldeon's art from Spirits of Vengeance #1

I feel like if I only did one genre, I might burn out or get tired of it. So I try to jump around. I don't know if that's good for my career or not, but I guess I have some horror chops. I did a book called Hellbound, which Dark Horse published, and that was nominated for a Bram Stoker award.

Spirits of Vengeance is certainly a horror book. It's playing with horror toys. It's a mainstream book, not a MAX one, so it's not going to go too far, but it is definitely supposed to be gritty and horrifying.

Let's talk about your cast of characters. What do you find especially interesting about the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, Blade, and siblings Daimon Hellstrom and Satana?

I'll start with Satana, because I knew she was a character who existed, but I didn't really know a lot about her. I had to go research and brush up on her because I hadn't really read the books that she was in. I felt like I had to do my homework with her, and I have. I also have great editors that keep me on track, so I wasn't too worried about that.

Then, with Johnny Blaze, he was my Ghost Rider growing up, so this feels cool! Getting my hands on the character is like a ten-year-old's dream come true.

EXCLUSIVE: David Baldeon's art from Spirits of Vengeance #1

Blade is awesome. I worked with him a little bit before when I did my run on X-Men, so I feel good about Blade. I'm excited, because I know he's got a lot of fans. I want to do right by them, and he's just tough and cool. I'm happy to be working with Blade agin.

Hellstrom is interesting because he's “Hellstorm,” but he's also Hellstrom. I don't want to give away too much, but I'm almost a little more interested in Hellstrom, if you see what I'm saying.

I think if you take a look at our cast that's a good team. Those people are all crossing paths with the same sort of villains. I don't want to call them the macabre Avengers, but it's like the team book for Marvel Universe horror. There's a lot of cool potential there.

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What Brings Marvel's Spirits of Vengeance Together

So you've got a cast of volatile characters, and in recent years, not all of them have done heroic things. I'm guessing this incarnation of the Spirits of Vengeance might not get along, or be happy to be working with each other. What can you tell us about their reasons for coming together?

They're coming together because a threat they see coming is bigger than any individual differences or squabbles they may have amongst themselves.

You're right. There is a potential for friction, but they are all smart enough to see that because of the threat that is coming they've got to set those things aside and pay attention to what they're doing.

So there's almost a sense of professionalism there. They don't want to work together, but know they have to.

EXCLUSIVE: David Baldeon's art from Spirits of Vengeance #1

Yeah, but it's not like Hellstrom decided to call a meeting and say they should form a team. The way they come together is very organic. They assemble because of a threat, and they end up being this team. It's a little more professional, but this isn't something that S.H.I.E.L.D. cooked up or anything like that.

One of the challenges of doing a horror book set in the Marvel Universe is having your cast face unique adversaries and problems, but not having it feel like they're off on their own adventure that's disconnected from the larger Marvel U. Was that something you wrestled with while working on Spirits of Vengeance?

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To be honest, it hasn't really been an issue. Like I said, things have kind of rolled along organically. And I feel like these are the right characters to address the problem they're facing.

It's definitely a Marvel Universe book -- it's just a dark corner of the Marvel Universe. David Baldeon's work always seems right on target. You never know if what you're writing in your script will communicate exactly what you want. What I have found working with any really good professional artist is that they come back with even better than what you had hoped.

So far, what I've seen of David's work has just been masterful. It's really on target. I've created a new supporting character and I was wondering what they would look like. I'm very pleased with what I've seen of them so far.

David is a pro that gives you exactly what you asked for plus a little bit more. You see his work and it's like, “That's amazing!” You're happy to get these little treats from him in your e-mail inbox. It's like, “I got some new art from him today!”

Will your story feature new villains, or familiar foes?

EXCLUSIVE: David Baldeon's art from Spirits of Vengeance #1

I already mentioned that I created a supporting character. That character is on Team Bad Guy. The main bad guy, though, is somebody that preexisted. We had to dig through the archives and find somebody we liked, but it is an established Marvel character.

Then, the overall situation is big. It's not a local thing. Our heroes are facing a big threat. Wherever you live, you would feel it if our heroes didn't address the situation.

Spirits of Vengeance is only a five-issue miniseries, but if the project resonates with readers, would you be up for doing more?

Marvel is letting me play with their toys, and I'm grateful for that. When they contacted me, they told me right off this was a miniseries, so I'm doing what I've been asked to do. But if they want to talk to me about more issues I'd be a fool not to listen.

It's cool to be working on this project with a couple of editors that are super excited about it. Their excitement makes me excited. We feed off of each other. I feel like everybody who is working on this likes these characters and wants this to go well. So it's been some work, but overall it's been a lot of fun.