Ghost Rider (1990) # 70

Cover Artist: Salvador Larroca

Published: Feb. 1996
Original Price: $1.95

Title: "Red Dusk"
Writer: Ivan Velez Jr.
Artist: Salvador Larroca

Inker: Sergio Melia
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Kevin Tinsley
Editor: James Felder
Editor In Chief: Bobbie Chase

SYNOPSIS

Several months have passed since the Ghost Rider last surfaced in New York, and he has found himself in an unfamiliar part of New York City. Dan Ketch has moved from Cypress Hills to the Bronx, hoping that by moving he can leave behind the chaos in his life. The Ghost Rider, now free to ride again, contemplates on the diminishing rapport with his host as he searches the rooftops of his new home. He stops his ride and hears a scream of an innocent in the alley below him, signaling the start of the evening's duties. In the alley, a woman named Lucy is assaulted by three men while she is out looking for her cat, the attackers demanding money from her at gunpoint. The Ghost Rider then descends from the rooftop, causing the three men to run away in terror. He catches one of the men, Toother, and subjects him to the penance stare, making him relive all of the pain he's caused others throughout his life. Afterward, the Ghost Rider rides away, leaving Toother to be found as a whimpering, crying mess by his two associates.

Elsewhere, in Little Italy, "Happy" Jack Karne and his two bodyguards are chased down a deserted alleyway. The large bodyguards attempt to fight off the person chasing them, but are both killed. The flaming-skulled vigilante then burns Karne to death, ignoring the man's pleas for mercy.

The next morning, Dan awakens with no memory of what the Ghost Rider did the night before. He scrapes together what little change he has, then notices the clock and realizes that he's running late for class. A few minutes later, Dan runs out of his apartment building, where he runs into Carlie Colon and her brother Choocho, one of the men the Ghost Rider had encountered the night before. Carlie swoons and flirts with Dan as he leaves, prompting Choocho to call her "pathetic".

Back in Little Italy, Stacy Dolan and "Ski" Sokolowski arrive at a police crime scene. The two cops find the melted skeletons of Jack Karne and his bodyguards, with the words "No Penance" written on the wall behind the bodies. Seeing the words, Stacy immediately thinks of the Ghost Rider.

Later that night, at "Little Luz's Bronx Girl Bodega", Lucy - owner and proprietor - tells some other women about her encounter with the Ghost Rider the night before. She tells them that the Rider was a monster that attacked her, wanting to eat her, and that the boys from the next block had simply distracted the demon from killing her. Dan then wanders into the store, looking to buy what little food he can afford, and realizes that the woman must have seen the Ghost Rider. After arguing with her over her admittedly bad attitude concerning his paying with coins, Dan leaves the store...just as a group of masked me pull up outside with guns to rob the place. Dan sighs and triggers the transformation, and within moments the Ghost Rider has subdued the masked men. The Rider then flies off on his bike, deciding that his new home is a perfect place for a Spirit of Vengeance.

ANNOTATIONS 

Ghost Rider last appeared in Over the Edge (1995) # 9.

The identity of the "No Penance" killer is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 73.

Stacy Dolan discovered that Dan was the Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 18. She then helped the NYPD Task Force to capture him in Ghost Rider (1990) # 61.

REVIEW

This is the first official issue of new writer Ivan Velez Jr.'s run on the book, the first time since the series began that Howard Mackie isn't affiliated with the characters he created. And, though some parts of the new direction seem a bit abrupt, this quite a good start for Ghost Rider's new direction.

The most noticeable difference with this issue is the new location for Dan and the absolute deluge of new supporting characters that Velez introduces. While a few of Mackie's supporting characters, namely Stacy and Ski, appear, the rest of the characters - from Lucy to Carlie and Choocho to Juan Carlito - are all residents of the Bronx neighborhood that Velez has moved the character to. Which, of course, makes sense from the "write what you know" standpoint. Mackie centered the series around Cypress Hills because that's where he grew up, and the same applies to Ivan Velez, who was from the Bronx area of New York.

When we get right down to it, however, this issue is really nothing more than a set-up for future stories, with the only real meat coming in the form of the "No Penance" murders that are obviously there to implicate the Ghost Rider as a murderer. But regardless, this is still an enjoyable read, and Velez settles in right away with some excellent insights into the Ghost Rider's head via the first person narration. But by taking the "several months have passed route", Velez skips over quite a bit of the changes that had to have happened in Dan's life since the last issue (or even the Crossroads one-shot, the true end to Mackie's run and start to Velez's). Gone are the Caretaker (who shall not be missed), Mrs. Ketch, and Paula, which is odd considering the status of her and Dan's relationship at the end of the previous issue. Luckily, Velez gets around to explaining Paula's disappearance in a future issue, but it's still pretty abrupt when you go from last issue to this one with out an explanation.

We're also treated to yet another excellent issue of artwork by Salvador Larroca, who, by this time, has long established himself as one of the major artistic high points of the Ghost Rider series. The only problem with the visuals in this issue are the ridiculous digital flames that the Malibu computer coloring team applied to the Ghost Rider's head and wheels. Instead of looking "cool", it comes off as extremely distracting and utterly ridiculous looking.

So, while Velez's run will later veer off into some shaky plotting and utter disdain for continuity, this is a solid start to what could effectively be called the book's second era. It couldn't have been easy following Howard Mackie on the book, but - for this issue at least - the series is in good hands.

Grade: B+