Cover Date: February 1993; On Sale Date: December 1992
Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Bret Blevins; Inker: Al Williamson; Letterer: Janice Chiang; Colorist: Gregory Wright; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Bret Blevins
In Cypress Hills Cemetery, the Ghost Rider punishes a man that had raped and almost murdered a young girl. The Rider leaves the man to anguish from the effects of the penance stare, taking the young girl to the hospital. The man relives every moment of pain he's ever caused, hurting him so badly that he vocally wishes for death. Suddenly, a crimson-gloved stranger, dressed in the red garb of a ninja, grabs him from behind and shoves a sword into his chest. Later, the Ghost Rider relinquishes control back to Dan, who returns home.
Back in the cemetery, a group of young punks deface some of the tombstones. The ninja confronts them, saying the dead should be allowed to rest in peace. He then attacks and slaughters the punks. At his house, Dan finds himself unable to sleep yet again. His mother comes in, and tells him that she's made him a special breakfast, as its going to be the last time he'll be eating at the house. He tells his mother that she's not the reason he's moving out, and he'll love her no matter what. Dan turns to the television, where Linda Wei is reporting from the cemetery, the scene of a series of grisly murders. A message was written on the wall of a tomb, which reads: "Come Ghost Rider. Stop me. Finish what you started. More will die until I can." Thinking the message is from Blackout, Dan runs out of the house and speeds off on his bike toward the cemetery.
Meanwhile, on an elevated train above the cemetery, the Death Ninja attacks another group of punks, slaughtering everyone in the train car. Dan hears the scream from the train as he rides below it, the rain carrying down streams of blood. Dan rides his bike up the platform, managing to grab onto the back of the train as it speeds off, his bike falling into the cemetery below. On his way inside the car, Dan encounters a young girl with a head wound. Seeing the blood, he instantaneously transforms into the Ghost Rider and bursts into the train. The Death Ninja attacks the Rider, but is quickly put down. The Ninja claims that he was one of Deathwatch's men, the night the Rider was resurrected, and was stabbed with one of his own swords by the demon. The Ninja had been working for someone else, more powerful than Deathwatch, and as penance for failing in his task he is being forced to live as a rotting corpse. The Death Ninja must bring the Ghost Rider to his master, and until then he will never know rest. He tells the Rider that the two of them are simply pawns, stuck between two players, both of whom will be coming for GR very soon. Ghost Rider plunges his fist through the Ninja's chest, knocking him off the train to be crushed beneath the vehicle's wheels.
Later, Dan searches the cemetery for the motorcycle, and finds the Caretaker sitting across it. He tells Danny that the two of them will be seeing a lot of each other in the future, and that he needs to put as much distance between himself and his loved ones as he can. The Caretaker walks off into the cemetery, leaving Dan with even more questions than before.
THE ROADMAP
The Death Ninja was killed by the Ghost Rider while posing as one of Deathwatch's men in Ghost Rider (1990) # 3.
Danny was told by his mother that he was adopted in Ghost Rider (1990) # 33.
The medallion design burning from Dan's palm, one of the first signs that the Ghost Rider's power came from within him and not the motorcycle, first happened in Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness.
Although it was never said for certain, it can easily be surmised that the Death Ninja's mysterious "master" was Centurious, who was responsible for almost all of the threats encountered by the Ghost Rider and John Blaze during this time. Centurious' involvement in the Ghost Rider's life is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 37 and Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 10.
The Caretaker first appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 28.
CHAIN REACTION
We're still plodding along through the Midnight Sons era of the series, and "Victims of our Past" is probably the best issue of the new horror-oriented status quo. Of course, this doesn't mean that the issue isn't without problems.
Possibly the best part of this story is the follow-up to a minor plot point that - most likely - wasn't necessary but makes complete sense when you think back. In the first story-arc, Ghost Rider killed - on panel - one of Deathwatch's men by stabbing him in the stomach with his own weapon. It wasn't until a few issues later that Mackie established the Ghost Rider's "no killing" rule, so this action in the third issue - this murder of a villain - stuck out like a sore thumb. Only a few astute readers would likely have picked up on this error, but - to his credit - Mackie ran with the contradiction and crafted a truly chilling story out of it.
Despite his utterly silly name, the Death Ninja had all the makings of a possibly great villain. His visual design of a rotting corpse beneath the blood-red pajamas of a ninja were brought to life vividly by Bret Blevins; and let's face it, he's a zombie AND a ninja. The one major drawback to the character is his motivation, his wish to be released from his servitude and allowed to die, which too closely mirrors that of Suicide from the series' second year. Mackie apparently realized this as well, since Suicide makes a lackluster return appearance in the next issue. Suicide always struck me as a ridiculous character, and Death Ninja easily trumps him on the scary-meter.
But, because this issue is during the Midnight Sons era, we're given more cryptic clues to upcoming mystical storylines and teases toward the Ghost Rider's origin. It's fairly evident that Mackie was making up most of this as he went along, and the Death Ninja's "master" - who in hindsight is obviously Centurious - and motivation are clearly in contradiction of what has already been established. Death Ninja claims that he masqueraded as one of Deathwatch's men in order to get close to the Ghost Rider, but Centurious wasn't aware of the Rider's return until well into the second year (specifically during the Reverend Styge story in # 18). This was one of the major problems of this period of the series, with constant retconning of motivations of characters in the book's first two years. The same thing will be applied to Deathwatch and Mephisto later on, and it really smacks of sloppy storytelling and a clear lack of direction. This was an ongoing problem in the X-Men books around this time, with vague subplots and clues being dished out willy-nilly in hopes that a resolution to them would come to the writers when the time came. In the case of Ghost Rider, it made for some incredibly awful plotting and constant retconning that drug the series down into near unreadable territory.
One good thing about this issue, though, is Bret Blevins finally clicking with the series to provide some truly grotesque and haunting artwork for the Death Ninja. A lot of the praise can be given to inker Al Williamson and colorist Gregory Wright for truly making the artwork stand out from the page. Unfortunately, this is definitely the best work Blevins will produce on the title, and his quality will start downsliding throughout the remainder of his run.
So while this issue should get higher marks, all we're ultimately given is a story written on the fly with no clear agenda for the future. Death Ninja had the potential to be a good recurring villain, but after the next issue disappears into obscurity.
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