Max Pressman was the first recruit of
Blackheart into his self proclaimed
Spirits of Vengeance. Pressman murdered his wife and attempted to murder his two children Michael and Melinda. A police officer shot him before he could so, but Pressman returned as a ghost-like entity, with only the face of Melinda's doll as his own. He was called Wallow, able to induce and feed upon human misery. He approached Melinda in her adult years, and stirred despair within her until she stepped from a ten-story building; however, she survived the fall, and Ghost Rider rushed her to the hospital. Wallow next pushed Michael off another rooftop, but he too survived, and Ghost Rider drove Wallow away. Learning of Wallow's crimes and intent, Ghost Rider ran to Melinda's bedside and prevented Wallow from murdering her. Ghost Rider's penance stare somehow reduced Wallow's ghostly form to ashes, but his essences was drawn to Blackheart's realm.