Ghost Rider (1990) # 2

"Do Be Afraid of the Dark!"

Cover Date: June 1990

On Sale Date: April 1990

Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Javier Saltares
Inker: Mark Texeira
Letterer: Michael Heisler
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

Cover Artist: Javier Saltares

The teenage members of the Cypress Pool Jokers run through a back alley of Brooklyn, but are finally surrounded by several men with guns. The men work for the Kingpin, who is still looking for the missing canisters that were stolen from him by Deathwatch. The thugs demand that the Jokers take them to the canisters, which they had hidden in the cemetery. Suddenly, the Ghost Rider bursts forth from a park across the street and quickly defeats the Kingpin's men. As the last one attempts to run, the demon's chain wraps around his legs, and the mind finds himself being dragged behind the Ghost Rider's mystical motorcycle. Seconds later, GR holds the criminal from the top of a high building, demanding to know what's in the Kingpin's canisters. The thug swears that he doesn't know, and the Ghost Rider gives him the penance stare, which reflects every act of violence he'd ever perpetrated back onto himself, burning him with the mental anguish of his victims. Later that night, in Cypress Hills, the Ghost Rider transforms back into Dan Ketch, who is still terrified by what he's become.

Elsewhere in the city, a cop named Frank Lorretti watches television in his home. Suddenly, the lights and the television blink off, and the detective senses an intruder in the house. The cop is attacked by a large man, who demands information in exchange for the lives of his wife and children. Lorretti cooperates, writing down information on the Cypress Pool Jokers, but is then killed by the intruder, who is a vampire. The next night, the killer, whose name is Blackout, holds a meeting with Deathwatch. Blackout possesses light-dampening abilities, forcing Deathwatch into turning on infrared lights in order to see. Deathwatch reads the assassin's mind, and learns that two of the three canisters are in police custody, while the last one is still missing.

At midnight, Ralphie D'Amato plays video games in his house, having been the member of the Jokers that was injured the week before. Suddenly, all the lights in the house flicker off. The teen lights a match, which doesn't light, yet still burns. Ralphie is then attacked by Blackout, who demands to know the location of the third canister. Ralphie manages to break free, but when he runs into his parents' bedroom he finds them both dead. Blackout enters the room, and accidentally pushes the young boy out of the second story window. Waiting outside is the Ghost Rider, who catches him before he hits the ground. Blackout then jumps through the window and attacks the Ghost Rider, but quickly finds that the demon is much stronger than him. He tosses the Rider against a wall, and then disappears into the darkness, leaving Ralphie and the Ghost Rider alone in the yard.

"Get over here!"

THE ROADMAP

Despite the way he is portrayed, Blackout is not a true vampire. His fangs are mechanical, and his "skin condition" is believed to be a result of some sort of mutant ability. He does, however, become a true vampire in Ghost Rider (1990) # 41, due to his being reborn by the demon mother, Lilith.

Ralphie, the boy whose parents were killed by Blackout, returns years later in Over the Edge (1995) # 4 as a vigilante that blames Ghost Rider for the death of a friend.

CHAIN REACTION

After a phenomenally successful debut issue, the Ghost Rider creative team continues the book's opening arc by introducing Blackout, a villain that will prove to be a very important character as the series progresses.

I can actually see this as being a difficult issue to write given the expectations that would have been heaped upon it. No one really expected the first issue of Ghost Rider to be such a huge hit, not even the creative team; so what we have here could have easily fallen into the category of the "sophomore slump" (the term taken from the music industry when a musical group's second album fails to perform as well as their first). So how does one top what was as close to a pitch-perfect first issue as you can get? How about by introducing the series' main nemesis?

Blackout was a character that started out strong in the first two years of the book; a non-supernatural vampire with the ability to snuff out any light in his vicinity. He immediately came on as a superbly creepy character both in appearance and actions, particularly his attack on young Ralph and the murder of the boy's parents. What makes Blackout stand out is his non-supernatural vampirism, a fact that Mackie seemed to forget (and later regret) as the book descended into the Midnight Sons quagmire. Blackout is scary not because he's a vampire but because he's a man so vicious and evil that he rips out people's throats for pleasure instead of sustenance. When he changed into a supernatural character Blackout lost what made him unique.

This issue also continues the decidedly non-supernatural plotline of Deathwatch and the poisonous canisters. It was important for the plot to keep up the more realistic plot elements, to keep going what Mackie said in an interview at the time, that Ghost Rider himself was meant to be the only "supernatural element" in the book. When placed in a relatively realistic setting and story, Ghost Rider stands out by a mile – but surrounded by demons and monsters, much like Blackout he loses what makes him so different (and, ultimately, what made him so successful).

That's not to say this issue doesn't have its problems, particularly at the end. We're given the first encounter between Ghost Rider and Blackout, and it ends way too abruptly. Blackout runs away, and Ghost Rider just stands and watches – honestly, it reads like Mackie didn't realize he was running out of pages until he got to the last few panels. I understand that a decisive fight between the two wasn't necessary, given that this was part two of a three act story, but three pages? That's it?

Regardless, the second issue holds up well given the expectations. While not as immediately engaging as the previous issue, it still manages to keep the suspense going.

That was Blackout's favorite shovel, man!