Cover Date: December 2001
On Sale Date: October 2001
Writer: Devin Grayson
Artist: Trent Kaniuga
Inker: Danny Miki
Letterer: Jason Levine
Colorist: Dan Kemp
Editor: Stuart Moore
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Cover Artist: Trent Kaniuga
Gunmetal Gray has tracked down the Ghost Rider's next victim, corrupt cop Harlan Smith, in order to make himself the Ghost Rider's target. Gray rationalizes this by telling the Ghost Rider that eventually Johnny Blaze will reappear and he can be killed with Gunmetal's bare hands. The biker then murders Smith in front of the Ghost Rider, taunting the demon that he's done all of this because Johnny hired him to.
Days later, Blaze is being hunted by Gunmetal and his partner, Magnus. They chase Johnny into an alley, where he crashes his bike. He's found by a young biker girl named Piston, who offers to help Blaze. She leads Johnny into a bar, where he goes into the bathroom to clean himself up. He sees the Ghost Rider as his reflection in the mirror, and he tells the demon that he refuses to beg for his help now that he's in trouble. Johnny goes back into the bar and sits down with Piston, who is bumped by a rude biker and spills her beer. When the biker refuses to apologize, Blaze has a hallucination of the Ghost Rider violently killing the man. Frightened by this, Johnny leaves Piston and goes back to his bike in the alley, where he's immediately found by his pursuers.
After a frantic bike chase, Blaze wrecks and tries to seek help inside a gas station. Magnus rides through the front door and is gunned down by the owner, while Johnny hides in the freezer. Gunmetal comes in just in time to see his friend die, and Johnny begs an employee of the gas station to help him release the Spirit of Vengeance. Gunmetal finds his target and prepares to kill him, only to pause when Johnny says "forgive me". But Blaze isn't talking to him, he's speaking to the Ghost Rider who answers "forgive yourself". Johnny admits that being the Ghost Rider's human host was the coolest thing that has ever happened to him, and that he must be crazy for missing all the wild adventures he had with the demon. Upon admitting this, Blaze transforms into the Ghost Rider to fight Gunmetal.
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| No, that's...yeah, that's pretty stupid. |
CHAIN REACTION
"The Hammer Lane" is nearing its conclusion with a revelation from Johnny Blaze that just blows my mind with its stupidity.
I could handle this series when it was just an innocent adventure story, despite the continuity errors and the hit-or-miss artwork. But then we reached the climax of this issue and Blaze admitting that the Ghost Rider was "the coolest thing to ever happen to him" and that he missed being the host for a demon. I know that Devin Grayson did absolutely no research into the character, that's obvious from her statements that Ghost Rider's defining feature was that he was a hero to biker culture, but how could the editors let her get away with such an unarguably wrong direction for the character? For twenty years, Johnny Blaze suffered as a victim to the Ghost Rider, which cost him his free will, his ability to have a normal life, and even killed his wife and children! This Johnny Blaze bears no resemblance whatsoever to the real character, and while I'm sure this ending was intended to be some shocking personal revelation for the character it instead stands as a writer knowing nothing at ALL about the character she's writing.
Even disregarding this element, the comic's plot is decidedly schizophrenic. I really like the bit in the bar with Johnny hallucinating about Ghost Rider rampaging against a guy whose only sin was rudeness, that's one aspect of this series that I've liked whenever its appeared. I also really like how Grayson kept the Ghost Rider as a silently mute creature, which gives the times he does speak the necessary weight, such as when he tells Johnny to "forgive himself". But then we look at the issue's opening sequence, with Gunmetal Gray executing the dirty cop in front of Ghost Rider. Fair enough, I get the logic behind this and it makes sense for the villain to do the act...but why do we then pick up days later with Johnny being chased by the bad guy? As it's shown in the next issue, Gunmetal Gray is just a tough dude that can't handle Ghost Rider in a straight-up fight. So how the hell does Ghost Rider not tear this guy apart when he's just seen him kill a guy two feet in front of him? It's sloppy writing no matter how you shake it, because there's no logical answer to that question.
One positive thing I can say about this comic is that Trent Kaniuga's artwork has improved quite a bit since the last two issues, with him producing work closer to what he did in the first issue. He turns out another flat, boring chase sequence that takes up far too many pages, but whenever the focus turns to the Ghost Rider himself Kaniuga shines. I love, love, loved the hallucination sequence in the bar, even if it was neutered by the colorist ignoring what would have been a really bloody attack.
This is an insipid comic that is saved from a total failing grade by an improved job from the artist. Can you see now why fans have disavowed this series?
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| "Is that, like, a euphemism for something?" |
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