 |
| Cover Artist: Salvador Larroca |
Original Price: $1.95
Title: Betrayals Part 1: "Love and Betrayal"
Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Sergio Melia
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Kevin Somers
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco
SYNOPSIS
Stacy Dolan and the rest of "the Team" (formerly Michael Badilino's Ghost Rider Task Force) have been taken to a SHIELD facility by Nick Fury to begin their training necessary for apprehending the Ghost Rider. December in New York City sees a young woman named Paula Harris being mugged in an alley until she is saved by Dan Ketch, who scares off the mugger with a small flash of hellfire in his eyes.
Week 3 for the Team's training, and Stacy is focusing on Dan's connection to the Ghost Rider as a way to fight through her exhaustion. She notices a man arguing with Fury, an unknown government agent that she calls "the Spook". He has brought new weaponry for them to test, though Stacy feels that accepting the equipment is akin to making a deal with the devil. Back in New York, Dan and Paula have started dating, while his mother tells him that she has someone for him to meet as well.
Week 4 for the Team, and Stacy tests out the final model of their new weaponry. The successful operation of the weapon signals the end of their training, making them finally ready to locate and capture Ghost Rider. Daniel is visiting with his mother, having introduced her to Paula, and he notices that her drinking problem is progressing. The doorbell rings, and Mrs. Ketch introduces her son to Jason Blackman, who claims to have heard about Danny "for so long...so very long."
Week 5: the Team has returned to New York and set up shop in an abandoned warehouse with access to a heliport. Stacy and Sean Tully are ordered to get the base cleaned and operation, giving Tully a chance to flirt with her. Meanwhile, Danny is getting on a subway train on his way to see Paula, and he thinks to himself that his life is finally good now that he has the Ghost Rider under control. In the skies above the city, the Team are in their helicopter for a final test run before their search begins the next day. On the subway train, Dan sees a young woman being attacked by a group of thugs. Though he tries to fight the transformation, the lights go out in the subway car and Dan transforms into the Ghost Rider, who takes out the thugs despite his weakened condition - his time trapped in the void has drained his strength. The Team is alerted to the Ghost Rider's activity in the subway, causing them to scrap their test run and start their mission early. The Rider returns to the surface and Dan starts fighting him for control of their body, causing the transformation to flash back and forth between them. Ghost Rider is able to wrest control from Dan just as the Team gets him in the sights of their copter. Ghost Rider is shocked to see Stacy on board.
Elsewhere, the Spook is informed of the Team's contact with Ghost Rider. He tells his secretary to inform Nick Fury that the next phase of their operation is ready to begin. Also, the Shriker arrives at an apartment and is ordered by a man in the shadows to find the Ghost Rider now. The Rider is on the run from the Team, who is firing at him from their helicopter. Ghost Rider pauses to rescue a homeless woman on the street, but as a result he is shot in the back by the helicopter. He escapes into the sewers before the Team can deploy, forcing them to go down after him.
ANNOTATIONS
Ghost Rider last appeared in Morbius: The Living Vampire (1992) # 29 during the funeral for Michael Morbius.
Stacy Dolan learned that Dan and Ghost Rider are the same person in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 18. She was offered a position in the Ghost Rider Task Force (called "The Team" starting in this issue) in Ghost Rider (1990) # 56 and she accepted in Ghost Rider (1990) # 57.
The Ghost Rider Task Force first appeared under the leadership of Michael Badilino in Ghost Rider (1990) # 21. Badilino quit the police force in Ghost Rider (1990) # 49 and passed the Team over to his second in command, Jim "Ski" Sokolowski.
The Shriker first appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 52. His identity, and the identity of the man he's working for, will be revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 60.
This issue introduces Paula Harris, who will remain in the cast as Danny's girlfriend until the end of Howard Mackie's writing stint in Ghost Rider (1990) # 69. She reappears as a host for one of the Furies in Ghost Rider (1990) # 79.
The Spook's plan for the Ghost Rider is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 62.
Despite his rather ominous introduction in this issue, Francis Ketch's new boyfriend Jason Blackman only makes one more appearance in Ghost Rider (1990) # 59. Blackman's story was most likely intended for a follow-up until Howard Mackie departed the title.
REVIEW
Mackie and Larroca begin the first major Ghost Rider story since issue # 50 and the title's upswing in quality continues!
Following the narrative abortion that happened to this series during "Road to Vengeance: The Missing Link" and "Siege of Darkness", Mackie was finally able to wrest control of the book's direction from the marketing department and steer it away from a supernatural/horror oriented focus. Though the book's new direction (really just a return to its original direction, really) got off to a rocky start, once Salvador Larroca came on board as the new artist the series began to enter a new phase of existence. Getting away from the supernatural messes and convoluted master plans of mysterious villains who did nothing but drop origin hints at a crippling slow rate was absolutely what this book needed to do in order to survive. So for the past few months, the new action/superhero direction has given Ghost Rider a renaissance of sorts. "Betrayals" was the culmination of all of the post-# 50 storylines, and its so satisfying to see storylines actually reaching natural conclusions!
One of my favorite aspects of the latter-day issues of the first Ghost Rider series was the constant conflict between Johnny Blaze and Zarathos, and over the last few issues Mackie has been doing his variation on that struggle for dominance. Even though this Ghost Rider has been shown as a genuine force for good in this series, Danny is still stuck living half a life, with the threat of his body being taken over by a demonic creature at any given moment. Dan wavered a few times between actively helping Ghost Rider and regretting the curse, but this is the first time he's truly fought against the Rider and halting their transformation. Before this, and I hate to say it, but Danny Ketch wasn't a necessarily strong or interesting character. He was outshone by Ghost Rider, and one of the key elements to the first series was that Blaze and Zarathos were equally interesting on their own. Since his rebirth, Danny has started to develop into a rounded character, and it makes his struggle with Ghost Rider a natural progression of his personality instead of a plot that appears with no foreshadowing 60 issues into the series.
Another fantastic source of conflict comes with Stacy Dolan, who has joined the Team to hunt down Ghost Rider with the knowledge that he and Dan share a body. So not only is Danny fighting against the Ghost Rider for control of his body, he also has to fight against his former lover to keep from being captured or killed. I find it interesting that Stacy signed on to hunt the Ghost Rider but keeps the knowledge of Dan's identity to herself; its an aspect of her characterization that leads to disastrous results in this story-arc. Stacy really went through an interesting evolution in this series, introduced as the stereotypical "girlfriend character" and truly growing as time went on until we reach the point where she's essentially the primary antagonist. It's a weird contrast to Danny actually; while Stacy has been evolving and growing throughout the entire run, Dan has only recently started to develop a personality that's not boring as dry toast.
Salvador Larroca is a big part of why this period of the series was so great, and this issue is when the artist was in his prime during the run. When he started drawing Ghost Rider, he was a fairly weak Image clone with a heavy Jim Lee influence. But as with the writing, its amazing to see the progression from issue # 51 to here, because while his first couple of issues were pretty rough this issue looks amazing. You wouldn't think Larroca to be an appropriate artist for a book like Ghost Rider, his work is clean and action-oriented with little tendencies to drape things in shadows a la Mark Texeira. Damn though, it works perfectly with the book's change in direction, and most importantly the book looks exciting again! He was still finding his feet a bit even this many issues into his run, but this is easily the best the series has looked since Texeira left years before.
It's a shame that so many readers jumped ship during the "Siege of Darkness" period, because they missed some really great stuff at the end of Mackie's run. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise? The falling sales meant that the marketing department didn't have as much of a stake in the series as they once did (which resulted in the Midnight Sons era), so once the attention was off the series the creators were finally able to start telling good stories again. The "Betrayals" and "...In Chains" run is one of my favorite periods for Ghost Rider, and I really enjoy getting to review these issues. This issue is highly recommended.
Grade: A+
No comments:
Post a Comment