Cable and Ghost Rider, two of Marvel’s most tortured heroes, once formed an unlikely alliance to battle an army of the undead. While not zombies in the classic sense, or even the Marvel Zombies sense, the horde the two anti-heroes faced were arguably much deadlier. Ghost Rider and Cable weren’t given their own title for this quest, instead their adventure was featured in Marvel Comics Presents, an ongoing anthology series known for random offshoot stories starring fan favorite characters. While their exploits don’t exist in the more traditional format of comic book storytelling, that doesn’t make the story any less epic and even heart-wrenching.
The 1991 story “Servants of the Dead” was told in installments in Marvel Comics Presents #90-97 by Howard Mackie with art by Guang Yap and cover art by the iconically stylistic Sam Kieth. It begins with Cable walking through the sewers of New York City when he encounters a young woman who is running for her life. The woman tells Cable the group chasing her are called the Grateful Undead and they want to make her into a ritualistic sacrifice. The two search for an exit, unwittingly going deeper into the death cult’s lair, until they find themselves underneath a cemetery.
Having had enough of the whole situation, Cable attempts to blast his way out of the underground fortress, but little did he know Danny Ketch, aka Ghost Rider, was at the cemetery above visiting the grave of his sister. After the disturbance, Ghost Rider heads down into the abyss to face the threat beneath, but instead he finds Cable and joins the fight. They work together to battle the horde of the undead and save the girl. Unfortunately in the end, the young woman was one of the undead all along, and true death becomes her release, giving this short yet exciting tale a somber close.
The limited series within the Marvel Comics anthology title is not only a dark yet fun adventure best suited for the titular heroes, but is also one with true depth and a feeling of consequence. Most comics starring either Ghost Rider or Cable are filled to the brim with despair and violent tragedy such as when Dan Ketch’s sister, Barbara, is murdered in Ghost Rider Vol. 3 #7, or Cable’s ongoing struggle with the techno-organic virus. All the two characters know are death and loss. They reside in the underbelly of humanity, attempting to right the wrongs they witness through further violence and bloodshed. In “Servants of the Dead,” the anti-heroes find themselves in a situation where they can save an innocent person from an evil cult of death worshippers instead of simply punishing the wicked. But staying true to the tragic nature of the characters, their hopeful ending only leads to more tragedy.
Cable and Ghost Rider were given a chance to save an innocent in their crossover comic, but their mission was lost before it began. The Grateful Undead are coherent zombies granted a grotesque form of eternal life, and they passed that form of life onto the woman against her knowledge and will. The woman was granted a natural death at the end of the storyline, which she was happy to receive given her circumstance, but Ghost Rider and Cable didn’t feel the same way. The two wanted more than anything to save this one person from the otherworldly evil that awaited her, but they didn’t know that she had already succumbed to the darkness. While their mission failed in saving the cursed woman’s life, Cable and Ghost Rider still saved her from a fate worse than death, which brought some light to their tale of darkness. Plus, they got to kill a cavern full of zombie cultists in the process.
