On Sale Date: August 1994
Writer: Larry Hama
Artist: Henry Martinez
Inker: Bud LaRosa
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco
Cover Artist: Henry Martinez
Back in the Florida town of Brownings Corners, John Blaze and the young Holden Blevins return to the Quentin Carnival, carrying with them the retrieved Eyes of the Kristall Starrer. Blaze demands that Clara tell him how the Eyes are connected to the Nexus of Realities and Icebox Bob, and she replies by letting the Eyes implant themselves in her head. Her attitude immediately changes, the Eyes making her more cruel. While Clara, Blaze, Kody, and Wolf argue in the trailer, Holden interrupts them. Blaze had thought of Blevins as a ghost, but Clara calls him a "weirdling", seeing a strange aura of energy around him. Blevins tells them about how he had been taken by Icebox Bob, and his mother had followed them to rescue him. She confronted Bob with a # 7 nail file, not knowing that a piece of steel with the number seven on it was a powerful channel for magic. Blevins' mom stabbed Bob with the nail file, breaking his hold on keeping them trapped in his dimension, opening a small portal back to the real world. But Bob wouldn't let them escape so easily, and Holden stops his story there.
Back in the alternate dimension, Bob terrorizes John's children. Suddenly, a demonic hand slithers out of the ground, accompanied by a voice that accuses Bob of stealing the children from him. Bob pleads that he was just borrowing the kids so he could get Blaze to release him from his prison. The other demon tells Bob to call for Blaze through the Eyes, and that he will make ready the road. Suddenly, back in the trailer, Clara's eyes blast forth with energy, and she tells John that "he wants to meet you on the highway". John runs from the trailer, determined to get his kids back from Bob, and Holden runs after him. After they leave, Wolf states that he knows someone who might be able to shed a little light on the mystery.
As John and Holden ride down the highway, the road suddenly transforms into a river of blood in a valley of fire. They follow the blood river to a light at the end of the road, which they drive right through. They pass through the dimensional gate and fall toward Bob's house, crashing through the skylight. Inside, the second demon slaps Bob down on his electric chair and powers it up, giving him his own counter to Blaze's bike. Bob races toward Blaze, but John blasts his chair with his shotgun, destroying it.
Meanwhile, Wolf has called an old friend in the police and got information on Holden's mother, Mary Blevins. He tells Wolf and Clara that Mary did get away from Bob, but she was found stark raving mad. She was put in an asylum, where she committed suicide. The child that was found with Mary was dead due to ice pick wounds: the boy's name was Caufield Blevins, age three. Kody asks about Holden, and Wolf tells him that during the autopsy on Mary they discovered she was pregnant with a boy, who would have been eleven years old today had he ever been born.
Back in Bob's realm, the killer grabs Craig and Emma and uses them as hostages. Holden tells Blaze to fire, but John refuses because he can't hurt his children. Holden then jumps off the bike, a # 7 nail file in his hand. He stabs Bob in the head, causing the alternate reality to start breaking apart. Blaze loses control of his bike, and skids past his children, who he reaches for. The demonic hands of Bob's master then grabs the two kids and pulls them through a steel door. The next moment, John is lying on the highway, screaming hysterically that he won't ever give up trying to get his children back.
The swamp monster that Icebox Bob refers to is the Man-Thing, who he and Blaze encountered in Blaze (1994) # 2.
The identity of Icebox Bob's master is revealed in Blaze (1994) # 6.
I freely admit, I didn't see the truth behind Holden Blevins coming. When reading Holden's "origin" in the first half of the book, I shrugged my shoulders and nodded affirmatively at the creepy story of Ice Box Bob and the Tuck It Inn. So when Wolf reveals that the Blevins child was found dead and that the mother was pregnant at the time of her death...well, yeah, hook line and sinker.
I also absolutely loved the ending to this issue, with Blaze laying on the highway, crying his eyes out after failing to get his kids back. THAT was the emotional punch that this series needed, to show how painful it is to be unable to rescue your children from some unknown monster. The entire end sequence, with the children just out of Blaze's reach as the boogie-man grabs them and pulls them back through the gateway, was incredibly well-done. Kudos to both Hama and Martinez for this sequence.
Hell, kudos for the entire creative team for this issue as a whole. The Blaze series is turning out to be an excellent follow-up to Spirits of Vengeance, and in fact is quite superior to where the series was at the time it ended.
In the alternate dimension that serves as his prison, Icebox Bob screams at a poster of John Blaze, yelling that it'll take more than a swamp monster with a burning touch to destroy him. He then kicks at a locked door and says "at least I ain't stuck here alone". From a metal grate at the bottom of the door, two small sets of eyes look at their captor in terror.
Back in the Florida town of Brownings Corners, John Blaze and the young Holden Blevins return to the Quentin Carnival, carrying with them the retrieved Eyes of the Kristall Starrer. Blaze demands that Clara tell him how the Eyes are connected to the Nexus of Realities and Icebox Bob, and she replies by letting the Eyes implant themselves in her head. Her attitude immediately changes, the Eyes making her more cruel. While Clara, Blaze, Kody, and Wolf argue in the trailer, Holden interrupts them. Blaze had thought of Blevins as a ghost, but Clara calls him a "weirdling", seeing a strange aura of energy around him. Blevins tells them about how he had been taken by Icebox Bob, and his mother had followed them to rescue him. She confronted Bob with a # 7 nail file, not knowing that a piece of steel with the number seven on it was a powerful channel for magic. Blevins' mom stabbed Bob with the nail file, breaking his hold on keeping them trapped in his dimension, opening a small portal back to the real world. But Bob wouldn't let them escape so easily, and Holden stops his story there.
Back in the alternate dimension, Bob terrorizes John's children. Suddenly, a demonic hand slithers out of the ground, accompanied by a voice that accuses Bob of stealing the children from him. Bob pleads that he was just borrowing the kids so he could get Blaze to release him from his prison. The other demon tells Bob to call for Blaze through the Eyes, and that he will make ready the road. Suddenly, back in the trailer, Clara's eyes blast forth with energy, and she tells John that "he wants to meet you on the highway". John runs from the trailer, determined to get his kids back from Bob, and Holden runs after him. After they leave, Wolf states that he knows someone who might be able to shed a little light on the mystery.
As John and Holden ride down the highway, the road suddenly transforms into a river of blood in a valley of fire. They follow the blood river to a light at the end of the road, which they drive right through. They pass through the dimensional gate and fall toward Bob's house, crashing through the skylight. Inside, the second demon slaps Bob down on his electric chair and powers it up, giving him his own counter to Blaze's bike. Bob races toward Blaze, but John blasts his chair with his shotgun, destroying it.
Meanwhile, Wolf has called an old friend in the police and got information on Holden's mother, Mary Blevins. He tells Wolf and Clara that Mary did get away from Bob, but she was found stark raving mad. She was put in an asylum, where she committed suicide. The child that was found with Mary was dead due to ice pick wounds: the boy's name was Caufield Blevins, age three. Kody asks about Holden, and Wolf tells him that during the autopsy on Mary they discovered she was pregnant with a boy, who would have been eleven years old today had he ever been born.
Back in Bob's realm, the killer grabs Craig and Emma and uses them as hostages. Holden tells Blaze to fire, but John refuses because he can't hurt his children. Holden then jumps off the bike, a # 7 nail file in his hand. He stabs Bob in the head, causing the alternate reality to start breaking apart. Blaze loses control of his bike, and skids past his children, who he reaches for. The demonic hands of Bob's master then grabs the two kids and pulls them through a steel door. The next moment, John is lying on the highway, screaming hysterically that he won't ever give up trying to get his children back.
THE ROADMAP
Blaze makes his next appearance in a back-up story in Ghost Rider (1990) Annual # 2.
The swamp monster that Icebox Bob refers to is the Man-Thing, who he and Blaze encountered in Blaze (1994) # 2.
The identity of Icebox Bob's master is revealed in Blaze (1994) # 6.
CHAIN REACTION
Rather surprisingly, this end of the first Blaze "story arc" effectively kills off the new villain introduced only two issues previous. We're still left with the knowledge that there is a greater mastermind behind the kidnapping of John's kids, but we get to pay our goodbyes to Ice Box Bob after being stabbed by the ghost of Holden Blevins. But, as much as I liked Ice Box Bob and hated to see him go, this issue is a winner on all counts for quite a few reasons.
I freely admit, I didn't see the truth behind Holden Blevins coming. When reading Holden's "origin" in the first half of the book, I shrugged my shoulders and nodded affirmatively at the creepy story of Ice Box Bob and the Tuck It Inn. So when Wolf reveals that the Blevins child was found dead and that the mother was pregnant at the time of her death...well, yeah, hook line and sinker.
I also absolutely loved the ending to this issue, with Blaze laying on the highway, crying his eyes out after failing to get his kids back. THAT was the emotional punch that this series needed, to show how painful it is to be unable to rescue your children from some unknown monster. The entire end sequence, with the children just out of Blaze's reach as the boogie-man grabs them and pulls them back through the gateway, was incredibly well-done. Kudos to both Hama and Martinez for this sequence.
Hell, kudos for the entire creative team for this issue as a whole. The Blaze series is turning out to be an excellent follow-up to Spirits of Vengeance, and in fact is quite superior to where the series was at the time it ended.
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