On Sale Date: December 2008
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Javier Saltares
Inker: Tom Palmer
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Dan Brown
Editor: Daniel Ketchum
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Cover Artist: Clint Langly
The next morning, Danny is woken up in his apartment by a telephone call from his friend Mary LeBow. Before he can answer, the phone on both his and Mary's ends are destroyed by Eleven. The crow conjures a “seerstitch”, a globe that can see into other realms. Using this, Mister Eleven shows and explains to Danny the real history of the Spirits of Vengeance, that they were weapons created by Heaven; parasitic entities that were designed to self-improve with the strongest of them killing and absorbing the weakest. The Spirits use “memeforms”, which tune into the spiritual and psychological legends of their individual regions; as examples, Danny is shown visions of several different Ghost Riders in different areas of the world all operating in the present day and specifically designed to their region's customs. Eleven then tells Danny that the Spirits are under threat, and that Heaven is willing to partially restore his Ghost Rider powers if he helps them.
Meanwhile, after the incident with the phone, Mary turns on a device and enters a digital dream world, where she confers with several technological spirits. When she asks for their assistance with Danny, an angel appears and boots her out of the dream realm, telling her to mind her own business. Elsewhere, Eleven has led Danny into an underground parking garage and tells him about the Berev'ha Dentii, a race of warrior mystics from between dimensions. These were the rat-men they saw last night, and the last of their kind was supposedly killed in 1917 before being resurrected by Blackheart; his name was Verminous Rex. Now Rex has repopulated his race and is stealing power from the Spirits of Vengeance. Eleven opens up a mystical portal, which transports them to a cavern in Antarctica that was once a civilization called Thule. There, chained to a wall, is a Ghost Rider, screaming and completely insane. Eleven explains that this is the reason his boss won't give Danny full access to the power, that the addiction can lead to the Spirits overdose and burn out the hosts mind. Danny is given another dose of power, turning him into the Ghost Rider, and before he can go after Eleven he's ordered to take care of the mad Spirit. As an act of mercy, Ketch kills the Spirit and absorbs his power for himself. Later, at the Nest, Albinus is informed that there are intruders in their tunnels just before he's attacked by the Ghost Rider.
Daniel Ketch was last seen in Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1990) # 93, where he merged with his ancestor Noble Kale to once again become the Ghost Rider. Dan's brother Johnny Blaze subsequently became the Spirit of Vengeance's host in Ghost Rider (2001) # 1 and Danny had seemingly disappeared.
Daniel finally reappeared as an agent of Zadkiel in Ghost Rider (2006) # 23. Though that issue was published several months before, it actually takes place after the Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch mini-series.
Mister Eleven first appeared in Ghost Rider (2006) Annual # 1.
Verminous Rex first appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 89 and made his last appearance as one of Blackheart's false “Spirits of Vengeance” in Ghost Rider: Finale.
More of the present day Spirits of Vengeance from around the world are introduced in Ghost Rider (2006) # 30, and the history of the Spirits in America is told in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33.
The idea of the Ghost Riders taking control and driving their hosts insane is not a new one, as this is exactly what happened to Michael Badilino, who as Vengeance went mad and eventually committed suicide in Ghost Rider (1990) # 76.
It wasn't until I read this mini-series a second time that I realized how important a component it really was for laying down the foundations of Jason Aaron's new origin for the Ghost Riders. This issue in particular is hugely vital, as it gives a concise and tight breakdown of the reasons behind Heaven's creation of the Spirits of Vengeance while also giving us some more examples of the Spirits from other cultures. Spurrier throws around a lot of wild concepts, almost as throw-away exposition, during this sequence. With all the talk of “memeforms” and “massminds” and the “zeitgeist”, it almost comes off as too smart for its own good. It all makes sense, sure, but a lot of its unnecessarily wordy. Still, it does lay down some intriguing bits of information, especially about how each Rider is custom tailored for its specific part of the world. Plus, the few examples we get of the other Spirits really makes me wish we could have seen more of them before they were killed off by Ketch (most of them dying off-screen, to boot). A Jack the Ripper Ghost Rider of London and a Shock Headed Peter Ghost Rider of Germany are some seriously cool ideas that really help to sell the idea of this international Ghost Rider club.
Something else I really like about this series, that I failed to mention in the past two reviews, is how much I came to like Mary LeBow. Again, she's a part of Spurrier's attempt at technobabble magic concepts like “datageists” and “baleviruses”, but that's also part of her charm. Its also cute that all of her new-age technomancy is immediately rendered inferior when Zadkiel steps in to keep her out of Danny's affairs. She's a character I'd like to see again in future stories, as her fate was left up in the air at the end of this series.
Another thing that's growing on me is the artwork by Javier Saltares and Tom Palmer. It's totally a given that Saltares is going to do a good job, he was born to draw Ghost Rider after all, but I've never felt like Palmer was an appropriate finisher for his work (especially not compared to Mark Texeira, the usual finisher for Javier's pencils). But the two really add in some nice, clever touches in this issue, such as how Danny's Ghost Rider form slowly evolves during each transformation. In the first issue, he had smoke rising from his skull instead of flames, and with each new “dose” of power the flames come more and more into the picture.
I admit it, I'm enjoying the Danny Ketch series much more than I thought I would based on the first issue, and the way it ties in so strongly to the regular Ghost Rider series is just icing on the cake. This was a good comic.
From a nearby rooftop, Danny Ketch and the supernatural crow named Mister Eleven watch as another Spirit of Vengeance - a Hindu woman named Shoba Mirza - is attacked and overpowered by a party of demonic rat-creatures. Danny asks for another dose of the power so he can help her, and in return is transformed once again into the Ghost Rider, this time for only five minutes. He jumps into the alley and begins slaughtering the rat-creatures, but is so consumed with vengeance that he doesn't notice the monsters' leader Albinus, who defeats and kidnaps Shoba right behind Danny's back.
The next morning, Danny is woken up in his apartment by a telephone call from his friend Mary LeBow. Before he can answer, the phone on both his and Mary's ends are destroyed by Eleven. The crow conjures a “seerstitch”, a globe that can see into other realms. Using this, Mister Eleven shows and explains to Danny the real history of the Spirits of Vengeance, that they were weapons created by Heaven; parasitic entities that were designed to self-improve with the strongest of them killing and absorbing the weakest. The Spirits use “memeforms”, which tune into the spiritual and psychological legends of their individual regions; as examples, Danny is shown visions of several different Ghost Riders in different areas of the world all operating in the present day and specifically designed to their region's customs. Eleven then tells Danny that the Spirits are under threat, and that Heaven is willing to partially restore his Ghost Rider powers if he helps them.
Meanwhile, after the incident with the phone, Mary turns on a device and enters a digital dream world, where she confers with several technological spirits. When she asks for their assistance with Danny, an angel appears and boots her out of the dream realm, telling her to mind her own business. Elsewhere, Eleven has led Danny into an underground parking garage and tells him about the Berev'ha Dentii, a race of warrior mystics from between dimensions. These were the rat-men they saw last night, and the last of their kind was supposedly killed in 1917 before being resurrected by Blackheart; his name was Verminous Rex. Now Rex has repopulated his race and is stealing power from the Spirits of Vengeance. Eleven opens up a mystical portal, which transports them to a cavern in Antarctica that was once a civilization called Thule. There, chained to a wall, is a Ghost Rider, screaming and completely insane. Eleven explains that this is the reason his boss won't give Danny full access to the power, that the addiction can lead to the Spirits overdose and burn out the hosts mind. Danny is given another dose of power, turning him into the Ghost Rider, and before he can go after Eleven he's ordered to take care of the mad Spirit. As an act of mercy, Ketch kills the Spirit and absorbs his power for himself. Later, at the Nest, Albinus is informed that there are intruders in their tunnels just before he's attacked by the Ghost Rider.
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| Holy crow! |
THE ROADMAP
This mini-series takes place between Ghost Rider (2006) Annual # 1 and Ghost Rider (2006) # 20.
Daniel Ketch was last seen in Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1990) # 93, where he merged with his ancestor Noble Kale to once again become the Ghost Rider. Dan's brother Johnny Blaze subsequently became the Spirit of Vengeance's host in Ghost Rider (2001) # 1 and Danny had seemingly disappeared.
Daniel finally reappeared as an agent of Zadkiel in Ghost Rider (2006) # 23. Though that issue was published several months before, it actually takes place after the Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch mini-series.
Mister Eleven first appeared in Ghost Rider (2006) Annual # 1.
Verminous Rex first appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 89 and made his last appearance as one of Blackheart's false “Spirits of Vengeance” in Ghost Rider: Finale.
More of the present day Spirits of Vengeance from around the world are introduced in Ghost Rider (2006) # 30, and the history of the Spirits in America is told in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33.
The idea of the Ghost Riders taking control and driving their hosts insane is not a new one, as this is exactly what happened to Michael Badilino, who as Vengeance went mad and eventually committed suicide in Ghost Rider (1990) # 76.
CHAIN REACTION
We're at the halfway point of the Danny Ketch mini-series, and we're given a huge info-dump about the history of the Ghost Riders and some pretty wicked glimpses of a few present day Spirits of Vengeance around the world.
It wasn't until I read this mini-series a second time that I realized how important a component it really was for laying down the foundations of Jason Aaron's new origin for the Ghost Riders. This issue in particular is hugely vital, as it gives a concise and tight breakdown of the reasons behind Heaven's creation of the Spirits of Vengeance while also giving us some more examples of the Spirits from other cultures. Spurrier throws around a lot of wild concepts, almost as throw-away exposition, during this sequence. With all the talk of “memeforms” and “massminds” and the “zeitgeist”, it almost comes off as too smart for its own good. It all makes sense, sure, but a lot of its unnecessarily wordy. Still, it does lay down some intriguing bits of information, especially about how each Rider is custom tailored for its specific part of the world. Plus, the few examples we get of the other Spirits really makes me wish we could have seen more of them before they were killed off by Ketch (most of them dying off-screen, to boot). A Jack the Ripper Ghost Rider of London and a Shock Headed Peter Ghost Rider of Germany are some seriously cool ideas that really help to sell the idea of this international Ghost Rider club.
Something else I really like about this series, that I failed to mention in the past two reviews, is how much I came to like Mary LeBow. Again, she's a part of Spurrier's attempt at technobabble magic concepts like “datageists” and “baleviruses”, but that's also part of her charm. Its also cute that all of her new-age technomancy is immediately rendered inferior when Zadkiel steps in to keep her out of Danny's affairs. She's a character I'd like to see again in future stories, as her fate was left up in the air at the end of this series.
Another thing that's growing on me is the artwork by Javier Saltares and Tom Palmer. It's totally a given that Saltares is going to do a good job, he was born to draw Ghost Rider after all, but I've never felt like Palmer was an appropriate finisher for his work (especially not compared to Mark Texeira, the usual finisher for Javier's pencils). But the two really add in some nice, clever touches in this issue, such as how Danny's Ghost Rider form slowly evolves during each transformation. In the first issue, he had smoke rising from his skull instead of flames, and with each new “dose” of power the flames come more and more into the picture.
I admit it, I'm enjoying the Danny Ketch series much more than I thought I would based on the first issue, and the way it ties in so strongly to the regular Ghost Rider series is just icing on the cake. This was a good comic.
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| Resentment breeds easily. |
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