Membership:
Boot,
Che,
Goodfellow,
Grunt
Roadie,
Stranger;
Vorin (leader);formerly at least six others
SHADOW RIDERS
Membership:
Boot,
Che,
Goodfellow,
Grunt
Roadie,
Stranger;
Vorin (leader);
formerly at least six others
Purpose: To oppose Mys-Tech
Affiliations: Cable (Nathaniel Dayspring Askani'son), Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch/Noble Kale)
Enemies: Abadon, Mys-Tech, Slaughterhouse Six
Base of Operations:
Shadow Rider
base;
numerous
headquarters across the planet, often contained within hollowed
out hills, caves, etc.
First Appearance: Shadow Riders#1 (June, 1993)
History:
(John Freeman's Shadow Riders Guide) <1393> - Vorin and
his "familiar", Goodfellow, arrived on Earth and established a base in
caverns in the North West of England.
(Shadow Riders#2 (fb) - BTS) - Vorin dogged the footsteps of the Mys-Tech board for centuries.
(Shadow Riders#3 (fb) - BTS) - However, Mys-Tech had set in motion the events that had brought Vorin to Earth in the past. As such, Vorin felt restricted in acting too freely against them for fear that he might cause a time paradox.
(Shadow Riders#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Shadow Riders are a group of warriors assembled by the extraterrestrial sorcerer known as Vorin, in conjunction with his familiar, Goodfellow, to aid him in his struggles. There has been a Shadow Riders team for centuries. All members have been initially killed in action, before being resurrected and empowered by Vorin. It is not clear if Vorin actually resurrects them or if he, more likely, recovers their forms before their soul has permanently departed their form. In the process of reviving them, they each gain different superhuman abilities, such as strength, stealth abilities, etc. Some demonstrate substantial physical changes in the process, as well. In addition to his mystical powers, Vorin has access to advanced technology (including high-tech Shadow Bikes), with which the Shadow Riders are outfitted and trained as well.
(John Freeman's Shadow Riders Guide) - Unknown to the Shadow Riders, Vorin's powers of resurrection are not without limit; each time he brings them back from the grave, there is an increasing chance the majick will fail and they will become distorted versions of themselves. Vorin maintains a sub-basement as home to the rejected Shadow Riders, some of whom have been there for two hundred years.
(Shadow Riders#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point in the modern era, Vorin recruited Stranger to the Shadow Riders.
(Shadow Riders#1/2 (fb)) - Vorin collected the dead body of Boot to become his next Shadow Rider, although he had been expecting Che.
(Shadow Riders#4 (fb) - BTS) - Roadie was apparently killed in a particularly messy accident on the Exeter By-Pass, leading to her becoming a Shadow Rider.
(John Freeman's Boot Character Profile) - Boot managed several bands who regularly toured Britain and beyond. These tours were often used as a cover for the team's activities.
(Shadow Riders#2 (fb) - BTS) - One of the Mys-Tech leaders, Porlock, believed that either Vorin or his agents were responsible for sealing three of Mys-Tech's portal wormholes within the space of one year. He planned to lure the Shadow Riders into a trap. By this point, Vorin's crusade against them had lasted six centuries.
(Shadow Riders#3 (fb) - BTS) - Porlock planned to dupe the Shadow Riders into rescuing and recruiting Matt Ryan, who appeared to be a prisoner being tortured by Mys-Tech but was in fact the powerful entity Abadon.
(Shadow Riders#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Shadow Riders detected unusual energy readings from Mys-Tech Central.
(Shadow Riders#1 (fb) - BTS) - At this point Vorin had resurrected at least a dozen people to join his Shadow Riders since Stranger had become a Shadow Rider. However, only Boot, Goodfellow, Roadie, Stranger, and Vorin remained on the team.
(Shadow Riders#2 (fb) - BTS) - While Vorin carried out investigations atop the roof of the Museum of Pagan Antiquities, his presence was recorded by Mys-Tech's security.
(Shadow Riders#1) - Boot investigated energy readings at Mys-Tech
Central, remaining in contact with Roadie back at Shadow Rider's HQ. Contact was
temporarily lost when Boot encountered the mutant time traveler called Cable,
and was accidentally transported to Cable's HQ. Roadie informed Vorin that Boot
had stopped transmitting, but Vorin was busy in New York where he was hoping to
recruit Rick Jones. However, Rick wasn't killed, and Vorin traveled to Mys-Tech
Central, where Boot's fight with Cable continued. One of Boot's casualties, a
security guard called Arnold Coltrane, was taken back to Shadow Riders HQ. Once
there, while the other Shadow Riders watched, Vorin began the process of
altering and reviving Arnold. Meanwhile, Roadie continued to monitor Mys-Tech
Central's energy readings. Once Arnold had been revived, he joined the team as
Grunt in
preparing to infiltrate Mys-Tech Central.
(Shadow Riders#2) - Boot, Grunt, Roadie and Stranger drove along a motorway in Northern England at Midnight. Once they were ready, Vorin transported them straight into Mys-Tech Central. They rescued Matt Ryan, and Stranger discovered information on a Mys-Tech gateway site in Annapurna, Nepal. They were assisted by Ghost Rider, who briefly came back to their HQ.
(Shadow Riders#3) - With the knowledge gained from the attack on Mys-Tech Central, Vorin planned to use Matt Ryan to journey to Sharin. He adapted the Transit Drive to harness the peculiar properties of Ryan's energy flares. The Transit Drive then sent them to Sharin, via the wormhole portal in Annapurna. However, unexpectedly, Cable arrived as the drive activated and was sent along with them.
(Shadow Riders#4 (fb) - BTS) - Vorin suspected a trap, however, and had Goodfellow follow the team in secret.
(Shadow Riders#3) - Whilst on Sharin they encountered the Slaughterhouse Six. Furthermore, Porlock revealed Matt Ryan's true identity as Abadon, and turned the entity against them.
(Shadow Riders#4) - Fortunately, Goodfellow revealed his presence at this point and was able to distract Abadon. Boot ordered Goodfellow to power leech one of the Slaughterhouse Six and transfer those energies to him. This allowed Boot to hide the Shadow Riders, Cable, and Cable's double agent, Che, giving them time to plan. Porlock sent Slaughterhouse Six and his guards back to Earth, remaining on Sharin with Abadon who then turned on him. The Shadow Rider's attacked Abadon, which gave Porlock the opportunity to escape back to Earth. The Shadow Rider's soon followed, and they trapped Abadon on Arena World. Che was killed in the battle, and brought over to the Shadow Riders by Vorin.
(John Freeman's Shadow Riders Guide) - This line up was Vorin's most powerful group of Shadow Rider's yet.
(Revolutionary War: Warheads #1 (fb) - BTS) - Che was recruited back into Colonel Liger's Kether Troop. See comments.
Comments: Created by John Freeman, Brian Williamson, and Ross Dearsley.
Thanks to Grendel Prime for updating the main image and profile.
Just came across this nice group shot of the team done by co-creator Brian Williamson, which shows the team members way more clearly than the currently available images.
--Loki
I gave this profile some further revision to include John Freeman's unpublished
information, and the addition of the Shadow Rider's Bike's sub-profile. I've placed the recruitment of Stranger, Boot and Roadie in the
order I did based on the following bits of information. Stranger has apparently
seen Vorin resurrect a dozen people, suggesting he is a long time member. Boot
was recruited six months prior to the arrival of Grunt and Che. Arguably
Stranger could've been recruited in that six month period, it just makes it a
very busy six months. As for Roadie, I believe she is the most recent recruit of
the three. John's guide says that she had to earn the respect of the others, and
she seems to be the "junior" character of the three.
Moving on from the Shadow Riders series, Che's appearance
in Revolutionary War gives no detail on how he came to rejoin Kether Troop or be
back in his human form. There is no mention of the Shadow Riders, who are also conspicuously
absent from Revolutionary War. The series must've affected them behind the
scenes in some way as Mys-Tech was their number one foe, the reason for the
team's existence. -- Changeling.
Profile by Snood. Updates by Grendel Prime, further expansion and Shadow Bikes sub-profile by Changeling with additional images scanned by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Shadow Riders have no known connections to:
In the modern era, Vorin has equipped his Shadow Riders with Shadow Bikes. Boot used one of the bikes atop the Museum of Pagan Antiquities whilst investigating energy readings, encountering Cable at this time. The bike withstood Cables firepower. Meanwhile, Vorin used one of the bikes while out looking for a new Shadow Rider recruit. Once he and Boot had finished their respective missions, they returned with their bikes to Shadow Riders HQ. Shortly afterwards, a group of the Shadow Riders drove along a motorway in Northern England at midnight. Boot, Roadie and Stranger were joined on this mission by a new recruit called Grunt. They overtook a motorcycle policeman, who gave pursuit. However, Vorin's transit drive sent both bikes and riders straight into Mys-Tech Central, leaving the policeman behind. Roadie protected the bikes with a psi-shield during the mission. Once the mission was over, the Shadow Riders returned to HQ with the bikes.
Boot used one of the bikes in between missions to fetch
food and drink. The next mission took them Boot, Grunt, Roadie, Stranger and
Vorin to the planet Sharin, along with Matt Ryan riding pillion on Roadie's
bike. However, during the course of the mission it turned out that Matt Ryan was
actually the entity Abadon. Some of the bikes were destroyed by Abadon's energy
blasts, and the rest were left behind during the team's escape.
The Shadow Bikes are created of unique fluid metal. This metal can be augmented to create additional weaponry or disguise the bikes as ordinary Nortons and Harley Davidsons. The bikes are quite durable, certainly bullet proof and resistant to some energy weapons too. They are capable of speeds of at least 130 mph.
--Shadow Riders #1 (Shadow Riders#2, Shadow Riders#3, Shadow Riders#4
image:
(without ads)
Shadow Riders#4, p11-12 (Main image, current team line up plus Cable)
Shadow Riders#1, p16 (Previous team line up)
Shadow Riders#3, p12, pan2 (Shadow Bikes)
Shadow Riders#3, p12, pan3 (The whole team on their Shadow Bikes)
Appearances:
Shadow Riders#1 (June 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson (Story), Ross
Dearsley (Art), Euan Peters (Colors), Stuart Bartlett (Editor), Paul Neary
(Editor-In-Chief)
Shadow Riders#2 (July 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson (Story), Ross
Dearsley (Art), Euan Peters (Colors), Stuart Bartlett (Editor), Paul Neary
(Editor-In-Chief)
Shadow Riders#3 (August 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson (Story),
Ross Dearsley (Art), Euan Peters (Colors), Stuart Bartlett (Editor), Paul Neary
(Editor-In-Chief)
Shadow Riders#4 (September 1993) - John Freeman & Brian Williamson (Story),
Ross Dearsley (Art), Euan Peters (Colors), Stuart Bartlett (Editor), Paul Neary
(Editor-In-Chief)
Revolutionary War: Warheads#1(May 2014) - Andy Lanning & Alan Cowsill
(Writers), Gary Erskine (Artist), Yel Zamor (Color artist), Devin Lewis &
Stephen Wacker (Editors)
First Posted: 12/12/2001
Last updated: 10/06/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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