On Sale Date: June 1991
Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Mark Texeira
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco
Cover Artist: Mark Texeira
Ghost Rider is dying from the injuries inflicted on him during his battles with John Blaze and Blackout. He crashes his motorcycle in Cypress Hills Cemetery and transforms back into Danny Ketch, who is also dying from his injuries. Before losing consciousness in front of his sister's headstone, Danny sees a man approaching him. Sometime later, Danny has a nightmare about him and the Ghost Rider being killed by Blaze's hellfire shotgun and awakens in a hospital bed with Blaze at his side. He attacks Blaze, but is restrained by a nurse that enters with Mrs. Ketch and Stacy Dolan. They explain that Blaze found Danny near-death and saved his life by bringing him to the hospital. John whispers to Danny that it was the Ghost Rider he wanted to kill, not him.
A week later, Blaze escorts Danny from the hospital; John is sticking around until he can determine whether or not the Ghost Rider is Zarathos. He also, despite Danny's bad attitude, agrees to show the kid how to handle himself in a fight and how to maintain a motorcycle. After a few weeks of training, Blaze and Dan are outside the Ketch home when a limousine pulls up to escort Mrs. Ketch to church. Suspicious of his mother's behavior, Danny and Blaze follow the limo to a formerly abandoned church that is now active again. Sneaking inside, they see a congregation being addressed by Reverend Styge, who promises to bring Barbara Ketch back to life. Danny and Blaze are discovered and held at gunpoint by Styge's deacons while the Reverend departs, but the gathering is attacked by the Hobgoblin, who is there to kill anyone he sees as "blasphemers". Dan, remembering what the Hobgoblin did to a little boy named Adam, transforms into Ghost Rider and attacks the demonic villain, only to be stopped by the newly-arrived Spider-Man. While Spider-Man attempts to restrain Ghost Rider, the Hobgoblin kidnaps Mrs. Ketch, thinking that it is his holy purpose to rescue the innocent woman from the sinners. Ghost Rider throws Spider-Man off and rides away after Hobgoblin, warning the hero to stay out of his way. Blaze and Spider-Man are left to formulate a plan on how to rescue Mrs. Ketch and keep the Ghost Rider from killing Hobgoblin.
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| Now that's a nightmare! |
THE ROADMAP
Ghost Rider was severely wounded by John Blaze's hellfire shotgun in Ghost Rider (1990) # 14 and Dan Ketch was injured during his fight with Blackout in Ghost Rider (1990) # 15.
Ghost Rider last encountered the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man (1990) # 7. He last teamed with Spider-Man as part of the "new" Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four (1963) # 347-349. Spider-Man has been chasing Hobgoblin since Darkhawk # 2-3.
Spider-Man first met Johnny Blaze during his early days as the Ghost Rider in Marvel Team-Up # 15.
Danny's mother has been attending Styge's church since Ghost Rider (1990) # 13. The mystery behind Styge and his church is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 18.
CHAIN REACTION
Howard Mackie and Mark Texeira produce a sequel to Todd McFarlane's Hobgoblin storyline, which results in the weakest issues of the series so far.
As much as this issue is the first part of the Hobgoblin 2-parter, it's just as equally an aftermath issue to the events of the last three issues. Ghost Rider and Dan barely survive their injuries, John Blaze officially becomes part of the supporting cast, and Mrs. Ketch gets her subplot upgraded to the main show. It's a stock-taking issue, really, that just throws in the Hobgoblin in the last few pages to set-up the Spider-Man appearance.
The Hobgoblin is still in his "religious demon zealot" phase, and he makes a good contrast to the other religion-themed villain in the story, Reverend Styge. The Styge part of the issue is very odd, and though we all know now what his deal really is (cannibal priest working for Centurious) it really comes out of left field for Danny's mother to be involved with a church whose deacons pack machine guns. There's the false tease of Barbara's resurrection thrown on top of it all, but just when it starts getting interesting Hobgoblin and Spider-Man show up. Come on, creators, just get on with the story you're already telling! Spider-Man's appearance feels like an interruption more than a plot advancement, and he totally throws off the whole tone of the comic.
Speaking of annoyances, though I assume this one was intentional, another was Danny's characterization throughout the issue following his hospital recovery. Dan was, if nothing else, always portrayed as a decent kid. Now, however, he's spouting off tough guy dialogue and sassing off to John Blaze every other sentence. Danny, kid, you're just plain obnoxious now. Like I said, though, I'm sure this was intentional as a way to show how the Ghost Rider was starting to influence Danny's personality, making him more prone to anger and jumping to extreme conclusions. The behavior gets even worse in the next issue, culminating at the end of the second year. It's necessary for the story, sure, but it still grates on my nerves as I read through it.
The biggest problem, and I hate to say it, is the artwork. Texeira turns in another fantastic job in the first two-thirds of the issue, with an opening splash page of a dying Ghost Rider being equal to the similar splash page that opened issue fifteen. His Hobgoblin looks great, following on from McFarlane's design of the character, appropriately terrifying. The problem comes, again, when Spider-Man enters the comic. Texeira excels at drawing dark, scary, gritty characters...which, naturally, goes completely counter to the traditional depiction of Spider-Man. He just can't make the character fit into the book's art style at ALL, every panel Spider-Man appears in clashes with what's going on around him. Everything about the way he draws him looks off, it just doesn't work on any level.
For a series that had been firing on all cylinders for the last several issues, this comic was a disappointment. It's still not terrible, mind you, but nowhere close to the creative team's best work.
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| Love those Texeira transformation sequences! |
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