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| Cover Artist: Salvador Larroca |
Original Price: $1.50
Title: "Caught Between a Duck and a Hard Place"
Writer: Ivan Velez Jr.
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Mark Pennington
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Editor: James Felder
Editor In Chief: Bob Harras
SYNOPSIS
Following the defeat of the Furies, a cornered and wounded Black Rose finds herself surrounded by Jennifer Kale, John Blaze, and the Ghost Rider. While they debate on what to do with her, Blaze comments that there's something about the demoness that's almost familiar to him. The ground splits open, and Blackheart emerges in giant form to retrieve Black Rose, telling Blaze that she is “no longer his to play with”. Blackheart disappears with his consort, leaving Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Jennifer to the mercy of the police, who move in to arrest them while paramedics load the three women who had been possessed by the Furies into ambulances. When the police attempt to handcuff Ghost Rider, he lets loose a terrifying laugh and threatens the cops' lives, something that immediately reminds Blaze of Zarathos, the first Ghost Rider. At that moment, the Valkyrie appears, having dug herself out from under the truck tossed over her by the Furies. She threatens Ghost Rider to calm down and states that she was there to answer a mystic distress call that had been sent out by Jennifer before the Furies arrived. Unwilling to stay at the scene any longer, Ghost Rider creates a new motorcycle out of hellfire and leaves, threatening to kill the Valkyrie before he leaves should she ever put her sword to his throat again. He rides off, and using that as a distraction Blaze and Jennifer sneak away from the cops.
Ghost Rider rides across the bridge between Manhattan and the Bronx, his mind dwelling on the new memories of his life that he has recovered. He sees a woman being mugged below him, and though he stops the crime and gives the punks his Penance Stare, his heart is most certainly not on his job. In the East Village, Blaze and Jennifer arrive at her apartment, where he tells her about his children being missing. Since they know they're now blood related, Jennifer agrees to help John locate his kids.
Ghost Rider has returned to Cypress Hills Cemetery, wanting to pay his respects to Danny's deceased sister Barbara. When he gets there, he sees the police in the cemetery around a bunch of empty graves, including Barbara's. Ghost Rider transforms back into Dan, who finds his mother in the crowd talking to police about her daughter's missing corpse. When the cop asks Mrs. Ketch who she thinks is responsible, she says it has to be the Ghost Rider. Dan realizes that the memory spell Jennifer placed on his mother really worked, that she doesn't remember that he's Ghost Rider.
Back at Jennifer's apartment, she and Blaze enter to find a visitor waiting on them, none other than Howard the Duck, who Jennifer promised to send back to his home dimension. Howard and Blaze argue about who should get her help first, but that's interrupted by a knock on her door. Dr. Strange's servant, Wong, delivers to Jennifer a book to assist in sending Howard home, and in its pages she quickly finds the spell she needs. She prepares the spell and opens a dimensional portal to send Howard home, but which nearly sucks her and Blaze in as well. Shockingly, Howard jumps back through the portal, chased by Devil Dinosaur and Moonboy!
In Cypress Hills, Dan escorts his mother back to her house, worried that this stress on top of her alcoholism may prove to be too much for her. Before they can get inside, the two of them are attacked by a flock of black crows while not far away a mysterious woman watches and smiles...
ANNOTATIONS
Ghost Rider learned his true identity of Noble Kale in Ghost Rider (1990) # 77.
It was revealed that Dan Ketch, John Blaze, and Jennifer Kale are the Ghost Rider's descendants in Ghost Rider (1990) # 78.
Mrs. Ketch had a dream of a black crow landing on Barbara's headstone in Ghost Rider (1990) # 77. The whereabouts of the missing bodies, including Barbara's, is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 83.
Blackheart created his consort Black Rose in Ghost Rider (1990) # 77 and sent her to Earth to assist the Furies in Ghost Rider (1990) # 79. Her connection to John Blaze is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 93.
Blaze's children, Craig and Emma, were missing throughout the short-lived Blaze series by Larry Hama and Henry Martinez, but were reunited with their father in Blaze (1994) # 12. However, Blaze admitted in Ghost Rider (1990) # 74 that his kids had disappeared once again to whereabouts unknown. It was finally revealed in Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire (2009) # 6 that his children are dead, having appeared to him along with wise deceased wife Roxanne while Johnny was in Heaven.
The Valkyrie responded to Jennifer Kale's mystic distress call that was sent in Ghost Rider (1990) # 79. Valkyrie was defeated by the Furies and buried under a truck in Ghost Rider (1990) # 80.
Mrs. Ketch had her memories of Danny being the Ghost Rider erased by Jennifer Kale in Ghost Rider (1990) # 79 to protect her from the Furies.
REVIEW
It's the last hurrah for long-time series artist Salvador Larroca before he's shuffled off to a higher-profile book, and Ivan Velez finishes one story-arc while at the same time ramping up for the next one.
Something that I've always found interesting about Velez's run is that the majority of it, from issue # 71 through # 85, is essentially one big mega-arc. The stories in those issues bleed into one another, there are no "down-time" issues to speak of outside the Devil Dinosaur story, and those fifteen issues all take place within the span of about one week for the characters. They go straight from fighting Vengeance to learning Ghost Rider's history and fighting the Furies, and in this issue with the Furies defeated we're launched straight into the upcoming Scarecrow arc. That in itself makes this story a strange entity, as it straddles two arcs without much of a plot of its own. It does, however, give us great examples of two plot elements that Velez relied on frequently during his run.
The first of those is the drastic change in Ghost Rider's personality following the revelation of his true identity as Noble Kale. The character as presented in this and the following issues is much more malicious, threatening to kill both police officers and a fellow hero before letting loose a terrifying laugh and tearing off into the night. The laughter, strangely enough, is the most chilling aspect of this, because as Blaze thinks to himself, that was a very distinct trait of the Zarathos incarnation of Ghost Rider. We're seeing the Ghost Rider change and evolve during this run, and what he's changing into is pretty disturbing.
The second plot element is Velez's insistence on using forgotten heroes of the 1970s in his stories, regardless of if they fit the tone of the story or not. Last issue started this with the absolutely inconsequential inclusion of the Valkyrie, who gets just as useless an appearance in this issue as she did the last. Later in the issue, we get Howard the Duck, whose presence will lead into next issue's story, widely regarded as one of the worst Ghost Rider comics ever produced. Now, I happen to love Howard the Duck...when he's written by Steve Gerber, that is. Velez does okay with Howard here, and his appearance at least has a connection to the plot, due to his past with Jennifer Kale (yet another 70s character dusted off by Velez). Now, it may have been the editors pushing all these characters onto the writer in hopes of revitalizing them for current readers - I believe both Valkyrie and Devil Dinosaur were awarded one-shot comics after their appearances here - but when each issue becomes nothing more than "obscure horror hero team-up" it starts to get very old very quickly.
Salvador Larroca spent thirty issues and nearly three years as this book's artist, sticking around after original series writer Howard Mackie departed, and its undeniable that he left an impressive visual mark on the character. Larroca's swan song here is bittersweet due to two factors: its a "middle of the road" issue without much action, and he's again forced to draw that hideous new costume designed by Adam Pollina. When an artist of Larroca's caliber is unable to make that outfit look good, it should have set off alarms that it was a terribly bad call on the editor's part. Regardless, though I think Larroca's art took a slight dip in quality when his long-time inking partner Sergio Melia left the book, he still turns in a good looking issue here. I particularly like his Howard the Duck, especially considering that the Disney/Marvel lawsuit had led to some ridiculous changes to Howard's physical appearance (out-of-proportion beak, he had to wear pants, etc...).
This issue was one of the final blows of a crippling year for Ghost Rider, with Larroca's departure bringing in Pop Mhan as the new artist next issue along with Devil Dinosaur to produce a comic that fans still complain about today. That's a totally different review, though, and this comic is pretty good despite what comes immediately after it.
Grade: B-
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