Howard Mackie

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Howard Mackie bigraphy, stories - Writer

Howard Mackie : biography

January 22, 1958 –

Howard Mackie (born January 22, 1958)Comics Buyer’s Guide #1650; February 2009; Page 107 is an American comic book editor and writer. He has worked almost exclusively for Marvel Comics.

Notes

Early life

Mackie grew up in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, mostly raised by his mother, as his father having died when he was seven.Adler, Matt. "It’s Ghost Rider, but with a Ketch!" Marvel Spotlight: Ghost Rider (2006).

Career

Editor

Mackie’s first comics work was as an assistant editor for Mark Gruenwald in the mid-1980s.Gruenwald, Mark. "Mark’s Remarks," Avengers #276; West Coast Avengers #17; Iron Man #215 (February 1987). Promoted in early 1987 to Managing Editor of Special Projects, Mackie then oversaw many of Marvel’s New Universe line. He also edited Avengers and Avengers West Coast while John Byrne worked on those titles. Early in Mackie’s career, a running gag in Gruenwald’s columns was that Mackie was a mysterious figure whose face no one at Marvel had ever seen.Gruenwald, Mark. "Mark’s Remarks," Avengers #277; West Coast Avengers #18; Iron Man #216 (March 1987).

Writer

Mackie first gained attention as a writer in 1990, when he and artist Javier Saltares launched a new Ghost Rider series for Marvel, revamping the character and introducing a new host, Danny Ketch. Mackie stayed on as Ghost Rider writer until issue #69 in 1996. Throughout Mackie’s run of over five years, the Ghost Rider’s ultimate origins and nature were never explained. A later writer, Ivan Velez, Jr., provided the character with a back-story shortly before the series was cancelled.

Shortly after the title’s cancellation, Mackie had Ghost Rider guest star in Peter Parker: Spider-Man and denounce Velez’s origin story as being "lies" or at least incomplete.Peter Parker: Spider-Man vol. 1, #93 (July 1998). Since then, the true status of Ghost Rider/Noble Kale’s origin and Dan Ketch’s fate has yet to be determined.

Mackie also authored two Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher team-up one-shots, Hearts Of Darkness (1991), and its sequel The Dark Design (1994). Both feature Ghost Rider’s archenemy Blackheart as the primary villain. Focusing on those who walk the line between good and evil, Blackheart tries to corrupt Ghost Rider, Punisher, and Wolverine by promising them their fondest desires in an attempt to persuade the trio to assist Blackheart in destroying Mephisto. Blackheart ultimately fails in his attempt, and the group eventually follows Blackheart back into his own realm for a final confrontation.

In 1992, Mackie became a regular writer of Web of Spider-Man with #85. He would remain on various Spider-Man titles through the Clone Saga and beyond, finally leaving nine years later with The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2, #29 in April 2001.

Mackie also worked for the X-Men line, writing the spin-off title X-Factor from #115–149 (1995–1999) as well as its successor Mutant X title (1999). He also wrote several mini-series featuring Gambit, Wolverine, and Rogue.

In late 2009, Mackie teamed with Tom DeFalco to write the six issue miniseries Spider-Man: Clone Saga, whose story was based on Mackie’s original notes for the 1990s crossover. It was later collected in the trade paperback Spider-Man: The Real Clone Saga.

On January 12, 2012, it was announced that Mackie would be writing The Ravagers series for DC Comics as part of the Second Wave of The New 52.