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| Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl |
Original Price: N/A
Title: "Ghost of the Past"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Karl Kerschl
Inker: Dan McDonnel
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Scott Marshall
Editor: Glenn Herdling
SYNOPSIS
Sensing danger, Dan Ketch feels himself transforming into Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance. He's immediately attacked by Johnny Blaze, who has once again become the "original" Ghost Rider under the control of Zarathos. Ghost Rider finds himself unable to fight his friend, but is also being destroyed by Blaze's blasts of hellfire. Ghost Rider sees a shield made of hellfire laying nearby and grabs it, realizing that it must have been created by Blaze, who is fighting Zarathos' control. Using the shield and his chain, Ghost Rider grabs Blaze and gives him the Penance Stare, which frees John from being the evil Ghost Rider and heals the wounds he had received. Ghost Rider and Blaze wonder what Zarathos will attempt next, unaware that the demon is watching them and plotting his next move.
ANNOTATIONS
ANNOTATIONS
This mini-comic was the eleventh in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Ghost Rider III figure.
There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.
If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.
Blaze was wounded by Outcast in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 8, and he was saved from his wounds by Caretaker in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 9.
REVIEW
There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.
If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.
Blaze was wounded by Outcast in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 8, and he was saved from his wounds by Caretaker in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 9.
REVIEW
The Toy Biz mini-comic series ends with a battle between Ghost Riders, giving an extremely truncated version of what most fans really wanted to see in the main comics of this era.
As a whole, the Toy Biz comic series is only there to help support the action figures and give kids the barest of bones for story structure and plot. As long as it explains the powers and broad stroke personality of the action figure its packaged with, it's done its job admirably. That said, and as simplistic as the plot line is here, I think the 4-part story that was packaged with the second wave of figures was more successful than the first. Sure, the first wave of comics had a more ambitious storyline, with the riots caused by DJ Zarathos and the Wacky Morning Crew, but this second arc (and I use that term in the loosest possible sense) hit on something that most fans would have killed to see in the actual Ghost Rider comics.
Hanging over the series, especially around the time of "Road to Vengeance" and "Siege of Darkness", was the mystery of Ghost Rider's origin and the return of Zarathos. What readers got out of those stories were some pretty disappointing resolutions, and I myself am stunned that the creators refused to produce what everyone really wanted. Setting things up for John Blaze to become the evil Zarathos-possessed Ghost Rider again, and the inevitable showdown with the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider, was a perfectly logical and anticipated way to conclude everything that had been building in the series to that point. Instead, we got "Siege of Darkness" and the Blood/Fallen nonsense, leaving that tease of a much better storyline to be played out in the pages of a toy tie-in series. While the end product isn't spectacular, the promise of that Blaze/Ketch Ghost Rider face off is what makes this simple little Toy Biz pamphlet so interesting to me. Chris Cooper does what he can to liven things up, but with only 6 pages to give both a satisfying Ghost Rider fight and conclude the story, he doesn't really get to strut his stuff much.
The artwork, though, is by an early Karl Kerschl and it's actually quite good for what it is. I assume that the art was drawn at full comic size and then just shrunk down at the print stage, so it squashes details into a mess of lines at different points in the series. Kerschl's clean linework is perfectly appropriate for the format, though, because nothing is muddled or unclear. His Ghost Riders both look on-model, not just to the characters but to the toys they're emulating, and he gets to do a decidedly G-rated Ghost Rider transformation sequence on the first page. No melting flesh or anything, but it still looks appropriately horrific for kids.
These mini-comics aren't particularly good, but they're definitely an interesting curio for the character at the end of his popularity peak. Ultimately, though, they're for hardcore collectors only.
Grade: B
As a whole, the Toy Biz comic series is only there to help support the action figures and give kids the barest of bones for story structure and plot. As long as it explains the powers and broad stroke personality of the action figure its packaged with, it's done its job admirably. That said, and as simplistic as the plot line is here, I think the 4-part story that was packaged with the second wave of figures was more successful than the first. Sure, the first wave of comics had a more ambitious storyline, with the riots caused by DJ Zarathos and the Wacky Morning Crew, but this second arc (and I use that term in the loosest possible sense) hit on something that most fans would have killed to see in the actual Ghost Rider comics.
Hanging over the series, especially around the time of "Road to Vengeance" and "Siege of Darkness", was the mystery of Ghost Rider's origin and the return of Zarathos. What readers got out of those stories were some pretty disappointing resolutions, and I myself am stunned that the creators refused to produce what everyone really wanted. Setting things up for John Blaze to become the evil Zarathos-possessed Ghost Rider again, and the inevitable showdown with the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider, was a perfectly logical and anticipated way to conclude everything that had been building in the series to that point. Instead, we got "Siege of Darkness" and the Blood/Fallen nonsense, leaving that tease of a much better storyline to be played out in the pages of a toy tie-in series. While the end product isn't spectacular, the promise of that Blaze/Ketch Ghost Rider face off is what makes this simple little Toy Biz pamphlet so interesting to me. Chris Cooper does what he can to liven things up, but with only 6 pages to give both a satisfying Ghost Rider fight and conclude the story, he doesn't really get to strut his stuff much.
The artwork, though, is by an early Karl Kerschl and it's actually quite good for what it is. I assume that the art was drawn at full comic size and then just shrunk down at the print stage, so it squashes details into a mess of lines at different points in the series. Kerschl's clean linework is perfectly appropriate for the format, though, because nothing is muddled or unclear. His Ghost Riders both look on-model, not just to the characters but to the toys they're emulating, and he gets to do a decidedly G-rated Ghost Rider transformation sequence on the first page. No melting flesh or anything, but it still looks appropriately horrific for kids.
These mini-comics aren't particularly good, but they're definitely an interesting curio for the character at the end of his popularity peak. Ultimately, though, they're for hardcore collectors only.
Grade: B
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