Ghost Rider (1990) # 19

"The Deal"

Cover Date: November 1991
On Sale Date: September 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

Chris Daniels, a recent divorcee, sits in his empty apartment with a gun to his head, wanting to kill himself.  He finds that he doesn't have the guts to pull the trigger, and cries that he just wants the strength to kill himself.  At that moment, Mephisto appears in the apartment, offering to make Chris a deal.  Meanwhile, Ghost Rider interrogates a drug dealer that works for Zodiak for information on the villain's whereabouts.  Back in his apartment, Chris makes his deal with Mephisto, who enhances Chris' life force, giving him increased strength and vitality.  Mephisto then gives him the stipulation that while he now has the will to commit suicide, he has become virtually immortal and unable to die except by the Ghost Rider's hands.  Mephisto then departs, leaving an enraged Daniels naked in his apartment.  

The next day, Dan Ketch is spending time with his mother and girlfriend.  When Stacy asks about going out that night on a date, Dan blows her off due to his plans to hunt for Zodiak.  Elsewhere, Zodiak is torturing Tim, the drug dealer that Ghost Rider had interrogated.  Chris Daniels, meanwhile, goes to his neighbor's apartment and asks for clothes.  He experiences a stab of pain in his head and demands the girl drive him to Brooklyn.  Using a police scanner, Dan hears  a police all about Zodiak and transforms into Ghost Rider to confront him.  Daniels is taken into Brooklyn by his neighbor on her motorcycle, but he eventually steals the bike and attempts to kill himself by crashing into a bus.  When that doesn't work, he experiences another headache and decides to keep moving. 

At the scene of Zodiak's latest murder, Ghost Rider observes from a rooftop.  He's attacked by Zodiak and then by Daniels, who demands that Ghost Rider kill him.  Ghost Rider and Daniels fight across the rooftops, with Daniels demanding over and over again that Ghost Rider kill him, with the Rider refusing due to his vow to not take a human life.  Finally, Daniels falls off the building, hopeful that he will die.  Ghost Rider finds Zodiak and unmasks him, revealing him to be the tortured Tim, who Zodiak forced to pose as him.  Daniels attacks again, but is again stopped by Ghost Rider.  The real Zodiak appears with a gun he claims is a "demon-killer" and shoots both Daniels and Ghost Rider with it.  Ghost Rider destroys the gun and when Zodiak attempts to fly away he's knocked out of the sky and falls into the subway, where both Ghost Rider and Daniels follow.

Mephisto looking rather Satan-like here.

THE ROADMAP

Ghost Rider last appeared, and last encountered Mephisto, in Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness.

Ghost Rider and Zodiak last fought in the "Strange Tales" crossover between Ghost Rider (1990) # 12 and Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988) # 28.

Though he's called "Suicide" on the cover, Chris Daniels doesn't receive that name until Ghost Rider (1990) # 20.

CHAIN REACTION

A new villain is introduced, bringing with him some serious issues, and an old villain begins his final act.

Okay, let's talk about Suicide, a character I have serious problems with.  I can certainly see where writer Howard Mackie was coming from with this character, putting Ghost Rider's vow to never take a human life to the test against a "villain" that wants to die but can't unless it's by Ghost Rider's own hand.  It puts the protagonist into a situation that's certainly difficult to resolve and introduces a villain that requires the hero do more than think with his fists.

However...and boy is there a big "however" when it comes to this.

In my day job I work with the mentally ill, and for a good number of years I worked in a hospital that treated, among other psychiatric disorders, depression and suicidal tendencies.  Making Chris Daniels a sympathetic character due to his wish to die is questionable but understandable, but going so far as to make a villain out of someone suffering from depression throws a major stigma onto what is a terrible real life concern.  Daniels wants to die but is afraid to take the necessary steps to do so, fair enough, but making him an indestructible tank via a deal with the devil is such a wrong-headed direction to take that it makes my brain hurt.  Taking someone dealing with suicidal thoughts and making him the villain, even a misunderstood one, is insensitive at best and offensive at its worst.  If there's one character I would excise from the Ghost Rider canon, it would be Suicide (and naming him "Suicide" as if it's his code-name?  Crass to say the least).

The other villain of the story, Zodiak, comes off as incomprehensible but at least he's not offensive.  Zodiak has been so many things with so many motivations that he's lost whatever interesting bits he had from his introduction.  First he was a serial killer, then a mercenary, then a drug lord, and finally a pawn of demons; it seems like Mackie couldn't decide on what to do with him but felt obligated to keep using him, which resulted in more bullshit being piled with each appearance. 

At least Mark Texeira is continuing to bring his A-game to the series, drawing a fantastic old school religion interpretation of Mephisto during the opening pages.  His action scenes are terribly kinetic and exciting to see, and his Ghost Rider continues to impress.  I have to question his design for Suicide, though; a fish-net shirt and sunglasses?  Still, the art is the only saving grace this issue has going for it.

Next issue's conclusion will be a marked improvement, but I just can't find it in me to recommend this one.

Lessons from Ivan Drago!