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| Cover Artist: Salvador Larroca |
Original Price: $1.95
Title: "Skin Games"
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Sergio Melia
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Kevin Somers
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Kevin Somers
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco
SYNOPSIS
Ghost Rider chases a "torso killer" into an alley and gives him the penance stare. The next morning, Dan Ketch goes to the bar where he's been working and talks with the owner, who tells him about a gig bartending at an exclusive event in Alphabet City. That night, Dan arrives at the "Skin and Bones", where he is accosted by a large bouncer before identifying himself as the fill-in bartender. He's told to go to the upstairs bar to work and that he's not allowed to speak with any of the patrons. Not long after, another man attempts to get into bar, and identifies himself as Calvin Zabo, a founding member of the club. As Zabo goes upstairs to the private club, Jack Russell - the Werewolf by Night - is drinking in the bar on the first floor. He notices the sound proofing on the ceiling and goes upstairs to see what's going on.
The patrons of the club are addressed by their host, Morphine, who founded the Skin and Bones with Zabo years earlier when he became bored with assassination. He brings out a captive vagrant and Zabo explains how he will torture him on stage by exposing a length of bone and carving his name. Jack transforms into the Werewolf and goes on stage to save the homeless man, but Zabo transforms as well into Mr. Hyde and attacks. Dan transforms into Ghost Rider and rescues Russell from the room of killers, but Hyde smashes through the floor and sends everyone crashing into the first floor bar. Ghost Rider releases his chain links, which strike down all of the assassins before they can grab hostages. Morphine is left for the Werewolf to take care of while Ghost Rider chases Hyde into an alley and gives him the Penance Stare.
ANNOTATIONS
The patrons of the club are addressed by their host, Morphine, who founded the Skin and Bones with Zabo years earlier when he became bored with assassination. He brings out a captive vagrant and Zabo explains how he will torture him on stage by exposing a length of bone and carving his name. Jack transforms into the Werewolf and goes on stage to save the homeless man, but Zabo transforms as well into Mr. Hyde and attacks. Dan transforms into Ghost Rider and rescues Russell from the room of killers, but Hyde smashes through the floor and sends everyone crashing into the first floor bar. Ghost Rider releases his chain links, which strike down all of the assassins before they can grab hostages. Morphine is left for the Werewolf to take care of while Ghost Rider chases Hyde into an alley and gives him the Penance Stare.
ANNOTATIONS
Ghost Rider appears next in Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: The Dark Design.
Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night first met in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 107.
REVIEW
Warren Ellis pens his second fill-in Ghost Rider story, but this one's not quite as memorable as the first.
Warren Ellis was an absolute revelation when he came to Marvel in the early 1990s, taking over titles like Hellstorm, Excalibur, and Doom 2099 and immediately making them his own. DC has already established its Vertigo line by this point, with writers like Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison putting stamps on established books with their very unique interpretations. Marvel hadn't really come across a writer of that style yet, and it's a bit surprising to me that Ellis made his way to them instead of at DC, where he would seemingly be more at home. Whatever the reason, Ellis was making his way through Marvel, turning in a slew of fill-in issues on titles, this being one of them. It was, in fact, his second fill-in story for Ghost Rider, the first being the instant classic "Wish For Pain" from the 1994 Annual. His work in that story, and to a lesser degree this one, makes me wish he had been the writer to succeed Howard Mackie on Ghost Rider, because it would have given the book the darker edge it desperately needed.
"Skin Games" brings the same visceral writing style as "Wish For Pain", but it lacks both the emotionally damaged core and the twist ending that made that Annual so great. A lot of Ellis' writing tics are on display here, but at the time they were fresh and exciting, and only became cliché through the writer's own overuse on later comics. Here, having a sadist of a villain like Mr. Hyde attempt to scratch his initials into someone's exposed bone was novel instead of trite, and the attempt to turn stomachs doesn't feel forced. The plot, however, is where the issue loses its novelty, because its essentially a coincidental team-up between horror heroes doing horror hero things to a group of "assassin barflies". Werewolf by Night's inclusion is completely incidental, to the point where I question just why he was used at all (though it does get the groan-inducing bit where Russell tells someone that "my sister sewed me into this dog suit"). At the end of the day, Ghost Rider doesn't really get to do much more than toss his chain a few times. I do love the opening and closing bookend scenes, with Ghost Rider chasing his prey into an alley to dispense the Penance Stare, those parts were really well done. It just doesn't justify the empty plot in between, where Ellis has crammed in an unnecessary guest-star and under-utilized the main villain.
Salvador Larroca had been the established regular artist on Ghost Rider for a few months, and his work is improving with each new issue. Gone is a lot of the stiffness of his first few issues, and his own style is slowly starting to emerge and break him out of imitating Jim Lee. I was really enjoying Larroca by this point, but I don't think he was the appropriate artist for a Warren Ellis story, even one as conventional as this. There's too much color and bright superhero stuff on display, and it kind of drains the story of any kind of ambiance Ellis was trying to establish with his script. Still, getting a fill-in issue drawn by the book's regular artist lends it more legitimacy than most fill-ins are afforded, especially in 1994.
Overall, this is an early work by two creators who will go to have phenomenal careers, and while it has its problem it's certainly worth taking a look at.
Warren Ellis was an absolute revelation when he came to Marvel in the early 1990s, taking over titles like Hellstorm, Excalibur, and Doom 2099 and immediately making them his own. DC has already established its Vertigo line by this point, with writers like Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison putting stamps on established books with their very unique interpretations. Marvel hadn't really come across a writer of that style yet, and it's a bit surprising to me that Ellis made his way to them instead of at DC, where he would seemingly be more at home. Whatever the reason, Ellis was making his way through Marvel, turning in a slew of fill-in issues on titles, this being one of them. It was, in fact, his second fill-in story for Ghost Rider, the first being the instant classic "Wish For Pain" from the 1994 Annual. His work in that story, and to a lesser degree this one, makes me wish he had been the writer to succeed Howard Mackie on Ghost Rider, because it would have given the book the darker edge it desperately needed.
"Skin Games" brings the same visceral writing style as "Wish For Pain", but it lacks both the emotionally damaged core and the twist ending that made that Annual so great. A lot of Ellis' writing tics are on display here, but at the time they were fresh and exciting, and only became cliché through the writer's own overuse on later comics. Here, having a sadist of a villain like Mr. Hyde attempt to scratch his initials into someone's exposed bone was novel instead of trite, and the attempt to turn stomachs doesn't feel forced. The plot, however, is where the issue loses its novelty, because its essentially a coincidental team-up between horror heroes doing horror hero things to a group of "assassin barflies". Werewolf by Night's inclusion is completely incidental, to the point where I question just why he was used at all (though it does get the groan-inducing bit where Russell tells someone that "my sister sewed me into this dog suit"). At the end of the day, Ghost Rider doesn't really get to do much more than toss his chain a few times. I do love the opening and closing bookend scenes, with Ghost Rider chasing his prey into an alley to dispense the Penance Stare, those parts were really well done. It just doesn't justify the empty plot in between, where Ellis has crammed in an unnecessary guest-star and under-utilized the main villain.
Salvador Larroca had been the established regular artist on Ghost Rider for a few months, and his work is improving with each new issue. Gone is a lot of the stiffness of his first few issues, and his own style is slowly starting to emerge and break him out of imitating Jim Lee. I was really enjoying Larroca by this point, but I don't think he was the appropriate artist for a Warren Ellis story, even one as conventional as this. There's too much color and bright superhero stuff on display, and it kind of drains the story of any kind of ambiance Ellis was trying to establish with his script. Still, getting a fill-in issue drawn by the book's regular artist lends it more legitimacy than most fill-ins are afforded, especially in 1994.
Overall, this is an early work by two creators who will go to have phenomenal careers, and while it has its problem it's certainly worth taking a look at.
Grade: B
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