(Spirits of Vengeance#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - The last Great Hunt of the Feeders was ten years ago in a city that was not New York. They devoured hundreds of victims.

(Spirits of Vengeance#7/2) - During a blizzard the Feeders emerged from the dark and shadowed places in Manhattan for their big hunt for flesh. They caught many humans and took them away for the feast. Dan Ketch tried to save a woman from a Feeder, but failed. He tried to get to his motorbike to follow the Feeder, but another Feeder attacked Ketch and tried to take him away, but Ketch turned into Ghost Rider. The Feeder was angered that his prey was gone and fought Ghost Rider ferouciously. Ghost Rider wanted to know where the girl was taken and received a mysterious answer. She was taken to a place where bones would lay unnoticed. Ghost Rider took his motorbike and followed the footsteps of the Feeders to the Museum of Natural History, where several Feeders confronted him.

(Spirits of Vengeance#8/2) - The Feeders carried Ghost Rider into the museum and brought him to their leader, who told a few things about the Feeders. Tonight they would have their Feast in the museum because it was easy to hide the human bones among those of dinosaurs and other long extinct creatures. Several Feeders tried to pull apart Ghost Rider while their leader told about their past. When Ghost Rider had heard enough he freed himself from their grip and fought them. The oldest Feeder attacked Ghost Rider and even recognized the power of Zarathos, which surprised Ghost Rider for a second. The Feeder took a giant dinosaur bone and hit Ghost Rider with it, but the Spirit of Vengeance wasn't even faced by the attack. He grabbed the Feeder at his throat and wanted to know what he knew about him, but the Feeder didn't talk. When Ghost Rider revealed that he would never take a human life, the oldest Feeder transformed back into his human form because his race was once human. Ghost Rider dropped the Feeder, who believed that he had more right to be among humans than the demon Ghost Rider. In return Ghost Rider used his penance stare to show the Feeder the pain of his victims. The screams of the Feeder were still heard when Ghost Rider had left the museum and told the humans, who got away, that the Feeders had deluded themselves into believing it was natural to feed on still-living flesh.

Comments: Created by Howard Mackie & Joe Kubert.

Enter Mackie's Mystery Theater! Surprise ending included. Not included are a proper origin and explanations for new mysteries brought up in the story. Scheduled to never appear again.

Did someone catch the problem with the Feeders' past history? They were around before the fall of the dinosaurs, although they were mutated humans. Even in the Marvel Universe this is impossible (there is the Savage Land, but there dinosaurs still exist). Maybe the Feeders' leader exaggerated with his races' long history or the Feeders weren't actually mutated humans.

Mutated for cannibalism sounds familiar! The reason behind their mutation could've been something similar to the Wendigo curse with the difference that they could transform back at any time. Due to their ability to morph into human form they most likely lived among normal humans between their hunts and feasts.

A strange thought, but could the Feeders be the bastard children of Serpent Men and humans? The Feeders looked in their monstrous form like a mix between lizards and primates. Or maybe they were the first human worshippers of Set or Chthon mutated by them for their needs. Even without a more exact history I can say for sure that the Feeders existed since the dawn of humanity. I see them as cavemen turned/born as monsters, but them walking around during the times of Tyrannosaurus Rex is unlikely.

There was nothing revealed about the possible age of individual Feeders. I suppose slowed aging and therefore longevity could be part of their power set, but nothing leading to this assumption was revealed, so I left it out.

Well done Danny! We only saw Ketch use the Penance Stare on the Feeders' leader (the brown guy in the top image, who seemed to be the same guy, who looked greener a page later and eventually human). Maybe I'm wrong and the other Feeders got a taste of the Penance Stare as well BTS, but if Danny missed a few or didn't punish them at all the Feeders could still be a threat to humanity.

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Feeders should not be confused with:

• Feeders, of Earth-15104, parasites @ X-Men II#152
• or any other hungry creatures

images: (without ads)
Spirits of Vengeance#8, lower half of p17 (main image)