Marvel Collector's Edition (1992) # 1

Cover Artist: Sam Keith

Published: 1992
Original Price: $1.50

Title: "You've Got to Have Friends"
Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: John Hebert
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Ariane Lenshoek
Editor: Glenn Herdling
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS
Young teen Mike "Mouse" McCormick is running for this life, bleeding from a wound in his side while thinking to himself that all he wanted to do was impress people and have friends.  He runs into Cypress Hills Cemetery and collides into Danny Ketch, who is visiting his sister's grave while sitting atop his motorcycle.  Mouse apologizes and runs away, but when Dan notices the blood smeared onto his shirt from the boy he finds himself transforming into Ghost Rider.  Mike collapses and is found by Devil Grip, who is angry that Mike didn't do the job he had paid him to do, and now that he's seen too much of the criminals operations he's going to have to be killed.  Ghost Rider stops Devil Grip, and after a brief fight gives the villain the Penance Stare.  Ghost Rider picks up Mike and takes him on a ride through the neighborhood to the hospital; Mike is finally content that he has a friend and the respect he desired when everyone, including his mother, sees him with Ghost Rider.

ANNOTATIONS 
This comic was a special promotional giveaway by Marvel and Charleston Chew candy bars, which could be obtained through the mail by redeeming packages of the candy.

The other stories in this feature featured Wolverine, Spider-Man, and the Silver Surfer.

Ghost Rider last appeared in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 118 and he appears next in Amazing Spider-Man: Hit and Run # 3.

Podcast Review: Inner Demons Episode 16 - "Hellfireface" (Click to Listen)

REVIEW
Marvel released a promotional issue of Marvel Comics Presents through a candy bar company of all things, available only through a mail away offer on the candy wrapper.  It served as a short spotlight for the company's biggest characters (though one can understand why the Punisher wasn't included, what with the whole mass murder thing not jiving with a marketing campaign aimed at kids), one of which at the time was, naturally, Ghost Rider.

It's great that they got Howard Mackie to write this thing, back when he was still serving as the de facto controller over everything Ghost Rider, even candy bar tie-ins.  It's also great that they got John Hebert to reunite with Mackie for this extremely short story after their highly entertaining Christmas story about the blind kid mistaking Ghost Rider for Santa Claus.  Unfortunately, this story misses the high marks of that earlier collaboration, though I can certainly see what Mackie was aiming for and how difficult it must have been to convey in a 6 page story.  This had to tell new kid readers who Ghost Rider was and give him a conflict to resolve while keeping things as simple as possible, and that's not an easy thing to accomplish.  Wrapping the story hook around the idea of friendship and falling in with a bad crowd is a perfectly appropriate idea for something like this, and it's certainly sound in theory.

Where it falls apart is the "villain" of the piece, the absolutely ridiculous Devil Grip.  Never mind the ludicrous consequences of a name like fucking DEVIL GRIP, the guy isn't given any kind of motivation other than "bad" and "crush you".  It makes you wonder why Mouse even wanted to impress this guy to begin with, if he's one to kill any random kid who doesn't fall in line with whatever his "organization" may be.  His laughable character design just underscores what a waste this character was, he looks like Hagrid from Harry Potter posing as a leather daddy.  Hebert is a quality artist, he's turned out a few other Ghost Rider stories that looked fantastic, but this one just doesn't work on any level.

Mackie tries to hit you in the feels with the last panel, like he did with the blind kid in the Christmas special, but it just doesn't have the same punch.  This is an interesting curio but ultimately inconsequential and definitely not worth tracking down.

Grade: D

Ghost Rider (1990) # 92

Cover Artist: Javier Saltares

Published: January 1998
Original Price: $1.99

Title: "The Last Temptation, Part 3: The Secret Fire"
Writer: Ivan Velez Jr.
Artist: Javier Saltares
Inker: Mark Texeira
Letterers: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Bob Harras

SYNOPSIS

The Ghost Rider is in Hell, and after striking a deal with Blackheart he has regained his original human body and become Noble Kale once again.  Meanwhile, Danny Ketch awakens from a dream where he and his ex-girlfriend Stacy Dolan were married with a child and finds the ghost woman from the void hovering over his bed.  When he refuses to help the Ghost Rider now that he's free from the curse, she uses magic to channel Noble's memories through him, effectively making him relive Kale's life in the 18th century.  Noble/Danny tells her about his father, Pastor Kale, and the town of Patience in which they lived.  He remembers the woman, Magdelena, who they saved from death in the wilderness and how he fell in love with her despite his father's objections that she was from "savage stock".  When Magdelena became pregnant, Pastor Kale had Noble whipped and the baby taken away from them, causing Danny/Noble to declare his father evil.

Meanwhile, in Hell, Blackheart holds a banquet for the Ghost Rider and his four new Spirits of Vengeance (Wallow, Pao Fu, Verminous Rex, and Doghead).  When Blackheart explains that Ghost Rider will teach the four how to mete out vengeance, Wallow states that he should be the leader.  This causes Noble to jump the table and place a sword to his head, saying he will learn from him or be destroyed.

Back in the memory replay, the ghost woman forces Noble/Danny to relive when Magdelena was burned at the stake for being a witch.  When the ghost accuses him of cowardice and not being willing to help his wife, the memories show that Noble had been drugged, beaten, and imprisoned by his father.  Magdelena had learned Pastor Kale's secret, that he was a servant of Mephisto and had used black magic make the town prosper; because she discovered this, he had her burned as a witch.  When she died Magdelena cursed the town, calling upon the Furies to avenge her.  In response, Pastor Kale summoned Mephisto and gave his son over to the demon, who transformed him into the Ghost Rider.  Noble fought the Furies for three straight days before finally achieving victory, upon which Pastor Kale offered him his own infant son to feast upon.  This sickened Noble so much that he took his own life, causing both Mephisto and the angel Uriel to appear.  The demon and the angel struck a deal where neither side would claim Noble's soul, instead he would become the Spirit of Vengeance and would possess his descendants of each new generation.  Mephisto then cursed Pastor Kale with immortality, to watch over the family and mark each first born with the vengeance brand.  In the void, where Noble would stay when not on the Earthly realm, the ghost woman sees him visited by Uriel in secret.  There they learn the secret that had been kept hidden, that Noble has become the angel of death.  This causes the memory spell to end, and both Danny and the ghost woman appear back in his apartment.  They have the knowledge they need to defeat Blackheart and allow the Ghost Rider to claim his full power, god help them all.

ANNOTATIONS 

The story of Noble Kale and Magdelena was first told in Ghost Rider (1990) # 78, though some details were left out in that issue that were revealed here.

The Furies returned in the modern day, when Ghost Rider recovered the lost memories of Noble Kale, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 78.  Magdelena's ghost appeared and renounced her curse on the Kale bloodline in Ghost Rider (1990) # 80.

The ghost woman is revealed to be Danny's mother, Naomi Kale, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 93.

While Noble Kale was transformed into a Spirit of Vengeance, as shown years later in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33, it was the meddling of Mephisto and Uriel that formed his particular curse and bound him to the bloodline of his descendants.

Uriel, or another incarnation of him named Uri-El, appeared in Blaze (1994) # 12.

REVIEW

The classic Ghost Rider art team of Javier Saltares and Mark Texeira are reunited, but it's too little too late as the book barrels toward both the end of this story-arc and the series itself.

I'm going to spend another post talking mostly about the artwork, at least at the top of the review, because having the Saltares/Texeria team back together was a big damn deal to Ghost Rider readers at the time.  It was one of the many attempts that editor Tom Brevoort made to rescue the sales figures for the title, which had fallen from the top of the charts to being one of Marvel's lowest-selling books, along with bringing back the black leather outfit and classic logo.  Saltares came back to the series a few issues before, during the "Flashback" event, and while it was all really nice looking artwork (the best the series had seen in years, to be frank) it just didn't pop the way Saltares' work did in the series first year.  Texeira, his original finisher on that first run, was brought back onto the team with this issue, and it makes things look immediately familiar to fans of that particular time.  That's the magic that the editor was hoping to recreate, that fans would see a recognizable version of the once-popular character and pick the series up again.

While the line work looks fantastic, those two artists together could draw Ghost Rider on a napkin and have it look like a million bucks, the art falls down with a crucial component.  Colorist Brian Buccellato jacks the contrast to the max while coloring everything way too bright and vibrant, which robs the artwork of the darkness and heavy blacks established by Texeria's finishes.  Take a look at how Gregory Wright colored the Saltares/Texeira team in the early 1990s or how Dan Brown tackled it 10 years after this when the art team reunites for a third time.  The right colors make this art team one of the best in the business, and Buccellato completely overpowers the pencils and inks with too many oranges and yellows.  It's a shame, too, because the art provides some fantastic visuals, particularly Noble's flashback transformation into the Ghost Rider and fight with the Furies.

Ivan Velez continues to make this arc a big damn deal in its own right with all of the upheavals and revelations he's packing into each issue.  Ghost Rider reclaims his original body, though until Texeria steps in with his finishes I couldn't see the resemblance between Noble and Danny that everyone mentions in the text.  The extended flashback sequence finally puts all the pieces together for Velez's origin story, and though it doesn't jive AT ALL with anything that had come before his run, whether it was by Marc DeMatteis or Howard Mackie, it's still a satisfying part of the story Velez has been telling for the last two years.  The angel Uriel seems a bit tacked on, because unlike Mephisto and the Furies he hadn't been established in the earlier origin teases in Velez's run, but it doesn't feel out of place.  Everything has this momentum to it, the stuff in Hell with Blackheart and the ghost woman, and it's the most exciting and interesting this series had been in quite a long time.

"The Last Temptation" is a forgotten piece of Ghost Rider history, since it was at the tail-end of a run that got the title cancelled, but it's well worth reading.  Just don't go into it cold, because it's absolutely the climactic story for a writer that had been playing the long game with his plotting for over 20 issues.

Grade: A-

Inner Demons Episode 25: "Walking In Both Worlds"

Inner Demons would like to invite you to join us in celebrating our 25th episode milestone!  Allow Brian and Chris to be your guide through the 2007 Ghost Rider feature film with the special Inner Demons commentary track!  Fire up your DVD or Blu-Ray disc and watch along as we discuss bad hairpieces, impotent villains, and the absolute awesomeness of Sam Elliot.  Let's ride, listeners!

You can listen to the episode at the Vengeance Unbound page on blogspot, or you can download it from either Stitcher or iTunes .  You can also find us on Facebook, just search  for "Vengeance Unbound" and on Twitter under @InnerDemonsGR.  Thanks for listening!

Ghost Rider 2099 (1994) # 9

Cover Artist: Kyle Hotz

Published: January 1995
Original Price: $1.50

Title: "Demolition Man"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artist: Mark Buckingham
Inker: Kev F. Sutherland
Letterer: Richard Starkings w/ Comicraft
Colorist: Christie Scheele w/ Heroic Age
Editor: Evan Skolnick
Group Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS
Zero Cochrane is surfing through cyberspace, searching for the Ghostworks, the artificial intelligence programs that transformed him into the Ghost Rider.  After discovering that they had altered his programming to stop him from talking about their existence he is determined to find them, but after 6 days has had no luck. He unplugs himself from the matrix and remembers a virus program he has at his old crash pad that could track down the Ghostworks for him. In Cyberspace, the Ghostworks have been observing Zero's search for them, and though they admit that given sufficient time he could conceivably track them down they are aware of coming events that will serve to distract him from that goal.

Zero makes his way to a part of Transverse City called Little Calcutta, where he meets with an old friend and street vendor named Pak.  During their conversation, Pak tells Zero that several people have been gruesomely murdered by a "horrorshow monster with teeth".  Zero makes his way to the crash pad, but quickly realizes that D/Monix ransacked the place and took away all of the discs that were there.  He gets lost in a memory of his dead friends and punches the wall, saying it wasn't his fault that he lived when they died.  Suddenly, the crash pad explodes.  Meanwhile, Pak is murdered by the "horrorshow monster".

Zero emerges from the rubble of the crash pad in his Ghost Rider form and is confronted by Jeter, former leader of the Artificial Kidz.  Zero had severed his cybernetic limbs from his body in his last encounter and he has since paid the Bone Mechanix to attach his torso to several tanks.  After a brief fight Zero gets the upper hand, decapitates Jeter, and throws his severed head into a fire.  Later, Zero wanders by a crowd that has gathered around Pak's mutilated body and Zero decides he needs to find the killer.

ANNOTATIONS
The Ghost Rider severed Jeter's cybernetic limbs in Ghost Rider 2099 (1994) # 2.

Podcast Review: Inner Demons Episode 19 - "Espresso at the Gates of Hell" (Click to Listen)

REVIEW
Mark Buckingham and Kev Sutherland return to the art chores for a done-in-one story that acts as a bridge between two arcs.

As much as I enjoy Kyle Hotz's work on this series, seeing Buckingham and Sutherland come back for one last issue is so, so welcome.  This was the visual style that defined the book's first arc, and though it's not quite Chris Bachalo it's awfully damn close.  So close, in fact, that having Buckingham continue the art chores with issue # 6 onward would have been as visually consistent and tone appropriate as the creative team could have got.  From what I understand, Buckingham was offered the full art chores on the series following that first arc and he turned it down, presumably to go work with Bachalo on Generation X, so it's probably a lucky break that he was able to come back for even this issue.

Just look at the artwork, though, it's magnificent!  Buckingham might not have the grit that Bachalo brought to the first couple of issues, but it's polished and grimey at the same time.  The attention to detail in Little Calcutta, from Pak's severed fingers (he was Yakuza, of course) to the various booths and knick-knacks scattered around each panel, Buckingham makes Transverse City come to vivid life.  He doesn't have the body horror HR Giger detailing that Hotz brings to the series, something that's going to work out very well visually in the next few issues, but he can still bring the shocking when he has to.  Pak's murder at the hands of the creature is particularly gruesome, with the guy's face getting shredded off, on panel no less.  The only downside to the artwork is with the end fight against Jeter, where some of the clarity is sacrificed and it's hard to tell exactly what's happening in a few panels.

With me gushing so much about the art, you might think I don't have much to say about this issue's story, and you'd be kinda right.  Kaminski's scripting is still absolutely on point with this installment, filling it with all of the biting humor and intriguing world building that this series is accustomed to, such as the travel guide to Little Calcutta written in the style of Hunter S. Thompson.  Zero's character gets some pathos in this one, too, with him finally showing some remorse over what happened to his friends at the onset of the series.  It's just the plot itself is really inconsequential: Zero goes to get a macguffin, bad guy comes back for revenge, bad guy gets killed, the end.

The plot itself is a little too stock to make this one stand out, even with sharp scripting and really nice artwork.  It's worth reading, of course, to keep up with the title's ongoing plot threads, but it's not a stand out of the series.

Grade: B+

Thanos (2017) # 14

Cover Artist: Geoff Shaw

Published: February 2018
Original Price: $3.99

Title: "Thanos Wins, Part 2"
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso

SYNOPSIS
In the far future, millions of years after the murders of nearly every being in the universe, King Thanos sits on his throne with the Spirit of Vengeance as his only companion.  He has called his younger self from the 21st century to his future time, and the young Thanos reacts with violence, not believing that he is face to face with himself.  When the Ghost Rider steps in to stop the younger Thanos, stating that he can't be killed, he is hoisted up by his skull with the intention to test that theory.  King Thanos gets on his knees and says "please" to his younger self, stating he needs his help.  Thanos blasts Old King Thanos out of the throne room, unwilling to believe that he would ever ask for help from anyone, but is convinced when his older self calls him by his true birth name, "Dionne".  King Thanos states that he has lost someone and needs help getting them back; when young Thanos asks who he lost, he is pointed to a magnificent statue of Mistress Death while King Thanos answers "who do you think?".

ANNOTATIONS
The identity of the Cosmic Ghost Rider is revealed in Thanos (2017) # 15 and his origin told in Thanos (2017) # 16.

Podcast Review: Inner Demons Episode 19 - "Espresso at the Gates of Hell" (Click to Listen)

REVIEW

Thanos meets his (much) older self in this second part of "Thanos Wins".

I really don't have a whole lot to say about this one, since the new Cosmic Ghost Rider has such a minimal role in the issue.  He gets a nice one-page segment where he's hoisted up by his skull by young Thanos, but other than that and a promise that readers will learn his story at a later date he doesn't get much play after his thunderous arrival in the previous issue.  It's actually a tad bit disappointing considering that build-up and how easily he captured Thanos to see him relegated to almost comic relief here, but I can easily forgive it.  He gets a much bigger role in the series in the next several issues and this is a much-needed spotlight on the book's title character that's done in such a way as to be utterly fascinating.

Donny Cates has this way of describing events that gives them this dramatic importance, his narration makes everything feel fucking EPIC.  The art of third person narration in comics is almost lost these days, and definitely unappreciated, but go back to the 1970s and it's everywhere.  It fell out of fashion once Frank Miller started doing first person narration in Daredevil, but a good "third person omniscient" can really spice things up.  It's especially effective when you have to get through a large span of time in just a few pages, which is what Cates has to do here.  He starts the comic off with Thanos' birth and makes even that occasion seem ominous and foreboding, then speeds through the entire history of the character up into the far future.  It's some really deft shorthand that effectively achieves the intended sense that Thanos is this inevitable doom that will ultimately kill everything in the universe.  I've said before that Thanos isn't a character I ever really cared much about it, he was always just okay but nothing special.  This story is absolutely changing that attitude.

One of the most important reasons for that change is the artwork by Geoff Shaw, who can make something as simple as Thanos' birth and make it both gripping and terrifying at the same time.  His job couldn't have been an easy one in this issue, what with the two-page summary of Thanos' published history followed quickly by his panoramic destructive acts against the Marvel Universe of the future.  Look at that spread of the Celestials walking toward Thanos, that is some incredible artwork that absolutely convinces you that this is something that demands your full attention.

So, while this isn't much of a Ghost Rider story even in guest-appearance standards, it's still a remarkable comic and necessary for the storyline as a whole.  Definitely pick it up.

Grade: A+

Ghost Rider (1990) # 43

Cover Artist: Ron Garney

Published: November 1993
Original Price: $1.75

Title: Road to Vengeance: The Missing Link, Part 5: "Inner Truths"
Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Ron Garney
Inker: Chris Ivy
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS

Ghost Rider and John Blaze arrive at Cypress Hills Cemetery to finally confront Centurious and get answers about the Medallion of Power, accompanied by Seer and members of the Quentin Carnival.  They find Caretaker and Vengeance waiting for them, and after a brief (and one-sided) fight against Caretaker they agree to go with the old man to get the answers they seek.  When Seer attempts to intervene, Caretaker convinces her to take the carnival members to the Blood's Nightclub while he does what he needs to do.  Meanwhile, beneath the cemetery, Centurious undergoes a ritual that bonds him to the chain he stole from Ghost Rider.  He's then told by Lilith that Mrs. Ketch has escaped them into the tunnels.

Back on the surface, Caretaker gets tired of Ghost Rider and Vengeance attacking one another and transforms them back into Danny Ketch and Michael Badilino.  He then leads them and Blaze down into a catacomb beneath a tomb, where smoke swirls around them.  This shows them the history of the Spirits of Vengeance and their ancient war against Zarathos, ending in a battle that destroyed them all and trapped their essences within the Medallion of Power.  The Blood, realizing that the Medallion could never be destroyed, instead shattered it and hid the shards within the bloodlines of two different families.  The Caretaker has been their immortal guardian ever since.  When Badilino points out that he became Vengeance due to his deal with Mephisto, Caretaker corrects him by saying Mephisto has always been a liar and a manipulator.  Ketch, Blaze, and Badilino all have pieces of the Medallion inside them that give them the powers of the Spirits of Vengeance, all Mephisto did was activate that power within Badilino.  Caretaker tells them that the Medallion must never become whole again, and he's there to teach them how to tap into its power.

In the caverns they run into the fleeing Francis Ketch, who upon seeing what has happened to Blaze slaps Caretaker in the face and demands he tell them the whole truth.  They are interrupted by Centurious, Lilith, and the Lilin who have come to claim the Medallion pieces.  Using the power of the chain Centurious calls the mystical motorcycles into the cavern, then fires a bolt of hellfire at Danny.  The blast instead hits Mrs. Ketch, who jumps in the path of the beam to save her son.  This causes Danny to transform into Ghost Rider, starting a battle between him and Centurious while the others hold off the Lilin.  The battle ends with Centurious defeated and unmasked, but before he can give them any answers a painful blast of energy erupts from the immortal villain's chest.  Zarathos, in this true demonic form, emerges from within Centurious, having been hiding inside him since their escape from the Soul Crystal.  Before anyone can react, a large explosion destroys the cavern and explodes through the surface of the cemetery.

ANNOTATIONS 

"Road to Vengeance: The Missing Link" concludes in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 16.

Due to revelations about the Ghost Rider's origin years later and the Caretaker's job to obfuscate the true history of the Spirits of Vengeance, as shown in Ghost Rider (2006) # 27 and Ghost Rider (2006) # 33, the story told by the Caretaker during "Road to Vengeance" is likely altered from the actual events or even perhaps outright lies.

Following his defeat at the hands of the Spirits of Vengeance, Zarathos' inert body was left buried for centuries before being discovered by the Cult of Zarathos, as told in flashback in Ghost Rider (1973) # 77.  A significant part of his essence, however, was locked inside the Medallion of Power, as seen in Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms # 3.

Michael Badilino made his deal with Mephisto to become Vengeance in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 9.  This issue claims that Mephisto did not give Badilino his power, instead he tapped into the Medallion of Power within Badilino to ignite his own natural abilities.

Centurious and Zarathos were both trapped inside the Soul Crystal in Ghost Rider (1973) # 81.  Centurious escaped from the Soul Crystal some time prior to Ghost Rider (1990) # 18, but the circumstances behind his freedom were never revealed.

This issue also included a 16-page insert advertising the upcoming "Siege of Darkness" crossover, profiling each Midnight Sons title with narration by the ghost of Barbara Ketch.

REVIEW

"Road to Vengeance" delivers three things long promised by the years of build-up in this title, and two of those things are decidedly underwhelming with the third one up in the air for the next chapter's conclusion.

This crossover had a lot to handle as its mandate, to finally give a decisive origin to the new Ghost Rider and provide a satisfying conclusion to the return of Centurious.  I'll tackle the latter first, since it's the least divisive part of the storyline.  I can't imagine anyone that had read the original Centurious issues from the end of the 1970s series found this interpretation of the character interesting.  He had an excellent amount of lead-in in both Ghost Rider and Spirits of Vengeance for about two years, with him coming along as the person behind smaller threats like Steel Wind and Death Ninja and the Firm.  There was a tremendous amount of excitement going into "Road to Vengeance", finally we were going to see Centurious make his return!  He had a great redesign by Adam Kubert and a true personal grudge against the protagonists.  I didn't think there was any way the story couldn't deliver with something really epic and powerful.

Then "Road to Vengeance" came along and ruined everything, the end.

Seriously, though, Centurious is neutered in this issue, downgrading from the prime villainous threat to someone who's defeated in the span of about three pages.  With so much mystery and threat built up around the character, who was satisfied by this?  I can't imagine that this was the story Howard Mackie had in mind when he decided to bring this character back, especially given the villain's importance to the Ghost Rider mythology.  He suffers from a worse fate than the other villains thrown haphazardly into this crossover, such as Blackout, Deathwatch, and Lilith, because he never got that great moment that those characters had received in earlier stories.  Centurious arrived with trumpets and left with a gasping fart sound as he gave demon birth to Zarathos at the end of this issue.

The most brain-smashingly terrible moment in the comic is the "origin" sequence for the Spirits of Vengeance and the Medallion of Power.  I don't think there's a single macguffin in comic history that makes me roll my eyes harder than that damn Medallion, an 11th hour invention that took the place of all the established mythology that Mackie had been laying down not even four months prior to this issue.  This, more than anything, has editorial fingerprints all over it, just like this crossover as a whole seemed to be driven by marketing instead of storytellers.  Mackie's Ghost Rider had at its core this fascinating mystery of who this Rider was, what the nature of the Spirit of Vengeance was, and how it differed from the only other Ghost Rider we'd known before, Zarathos.  He'd been careful to lay down all the hints and directions toward the Soul Crystal and, as Mephisto had predicted not long before, the coming war for human souls.  Then this Medallion of Power nonsense started and things stopped making any sense at all.  It's just swapping out one mystical artifact for another, but at least the Soul Crystal had legitimate history with Ghost Rider, Centurious, Mephisto, and Zarathos.  There's some interesting stuff in the history lesson, such as the revelation that there were Spirits of Vengeance in ancient times, giving the character a wide-ranging lineage that would get explored in more depth many years later.  Still, though, how can a physical Medallion be embedded in a family's bloodline and passed down?  I mean, it's literally INSIDE THEIR BODIES apparently, though also coexisting as Ghost Rider's gascap?  It gives me the brain pain if I think about it for too long.

The artwork takes a huge nosedive in this issue, too, though that's not the fault of artist Ron Garney.  He turns in another serviceable job and does some nice silhouette work during the origin flashback sequence.  His action scenes are clear, and he almost makes Cyborg Blaze work (though not quite, because it's terrible).  The problem comes with new colorist John Kalisz, who replaces long-time colorist Gregory Wright with this issue.  Suddenly everything has this haze over it, like the colors are washed out, out of focus, and way WAY too bright.  The most egregious part, though, is the new way that Ghost Rider and Vengeance's skulls are being colored, without inks and highlighted in reds and purples.  It takes away almost all the definition from the skulls and makes them stand out in a way that's garish and hard on the eyes.  It looks to me like this is a very early attempt at computer coloring, and in those early days almost all of the experimentation came out ugly and misapplied.

"Road to Vengeance" still has one more issue to go, will it give this storyarc a decent resolution and do justice to Zarathos, a character fans have been demanding to see for nearly four years?  No, it won't, but at least the review should be interesting to write!

Grade: F

Inner Demons Episode 24: "Cosmic Lone Beat Cop"

Inner Demons is serving up another steaming hot plate of VENGEANCE for your earbuds!  This episode Brian and Chris look back at four classic (or not so classic) comics of the past, including Ghost Rider (1973) # 7, Punisher War Journal (1988) # 29-30, and Ghost Rider (2006) # 2!  Adjust your toupee, take a hit of Spin, and squeeze your Dixie tight because HERE COMES HELL!

You can listen to the episode at the Vengeance Unbound page on blogspot, or you can download it from either Stitcher or iTunes .  You can also find us on Facebook, just search  for "Vengeance Unbound" and on Twitter under @InnerDemonsGR.  Thanks for listening!

Ghost Rider (1990) # 30

"Nightmares of Truth"

Cover Date: October 1992
On Sale Date: August 1992

Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Andy Kubert
Inker: Joe Kubert
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

Cover Artist: Andy Kubert

Danny Ketch finds himself in the realm of Nightmare alongside an unconscious Ghost Rider, surrounded by Lilith and her Lilin.  Nightmare appears and tell Danny that his wanderings through the afterlife have allowed him to be pulled into the dream realm, and through him Ghost Rider was brought as well.  Nightmare then transforms the images of the Lilin into Danny's friends and family, including his dead sister Barbara.  He screams, and in the realm world Mrs. Ketch, Stacy Dolan, her father Gerry Dolan, and Jack D'Auria all wake up from the same nightmare about Danny.  They all get up and start getting ready for their day, each of them thinking about Danny and his disappearance after Blackout kidnapped them all.

In Nightmare's realm, Ghost Rider awakens and attacks both Nightmare and Danny, who thinks is a demonic illusion.  He quickly realizes his mistake and talks with Danny about what happened with Blackout and the vision of Lilith.  Nightmare interrupts them and says that he's learned the Ghost Rider may not be Zarathos after all, and the fear generated by Lilith and her brood will cause Nightmare to grow even more powerful if left unchecked.  Therefore, he's decided that he has to kill Ghost Rider and Danny.  That night in Brooklyn, Mrs. Ketch has called together Jack, Stacy, and Captain Dolan to her house to talk about what happened to Danny.  Jack takes note that the night looks particularly dark tonight, but doesn't see that the darkness is beginning to ooze through the windows.  In the Nightmare realm, Ghost Rider and Danny flee on the Rider's motorcycle toward a floating house, pursued by Nightmare.  Back in the real world, Danny's friends are attacked by Lilith and the Lilin, including Blackout.

When they approach the floating house, Danny recognizes his mother's scream.  When they crash through the ceiling, they find his four loved ones encased in mystical bubbles.  Ghost Rider quickly finds that the Lilin are mere illusions, and when Lilith transforms into Nightmare he easily overpowers the Rider.  Nightmare explains that he has captured the souls of their friends and will not relinquish them unless Ghost Rider and Dan allow themselves to die at his hands.  He attacks them, claiming to know the Ghost Rider's origin, telling him that he should have searched out the Soul Crystal.  He also notes that Danny knows nothing about his father or his sibling. Danny and Ghost Rider are able to merge once more to defeat Nightmare, but the two quickly separate and tell the defeated demon that he will no longer hold dominion over them.  Danny frees the souls of his loved ones, who will wake up on Earth with  no memory of what's happened.  Dan and Ghost Rider leave the Nightmare realm and come to a crossroads, and while Dan continues to search for a way back to life Ghost Rider will continue his fight against Lilith.

Meeting, quite literally, FACE TO FACE!

THE ROADMAP

This issue falls between chapters two and three of the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover, Morbius the Living Vampire (1992) # 1 and Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins (1992) # 1.

This story happens concurrently with Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 2.  In that issue, Ghost Rider loses consciousness for several pages to travel to Nightmare's realm and awakens after this issue's end.

Blackout kidnapped Danny's friends and family, then ripped out his throat, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 25.

Ghost Rider and Dan first encountered Nightmare in Ghost Rider (1990) # 11.  Ghost Rider has had subsequent encounters with Nightmare in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 100 and Deathlok (1991) # 9-10.

Nightmare mentions the Soul Crystal, which was last seen in Mephisto's possession in The Mighty Thor (1966) # 430.  He also mentions Danny's father and "sibling"; while the father is a red herring that Mackie never followed up on, the "sibling" comment could refer to one of two things: a) that Barbara Ketch was meant to be the host of the Ghost Rider instead of Danny or b) that Johnny Blaze is actually Danny's long lost brother.

Nightmare, you have no clue, do you?

CHAIN REACTION

Ghost Rider has another interlude story falling between crossover chapters, yet while the last issue was entertaining this one is ultimately pointless.

I think we've turned a corner with this series, because while I really hate to admit it I think this is the first truly bad issue of Howard Mackie's Ghost Rider series.  It's one that lots of fans remember fondly, mainly due to that awesome cover and the fact that the series was at its sales pinnacle during the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover, but this is not a very good comic.  That may be judging it too harshly, though, because it's not so much "bad" as it is an issue of the creative team spinning its wheels and going nowhere.  I also really hate Nightmare as a villain under Mackie's pen, who comes off as a one-note fiend that dishes out vague hints and comments in place of having a personality.  He's the "master manipulator" cliché that Mackie trots out from time to time, though his other ones like Mephisto and Deathwatch at least have something else that makes them stand apart.  Nightmare is generic evil for evil's sake, and that's a motivation I really despise in a villain.

The most frustrating thing about this issue, though, is that it does nothing to move the series' plots forward.  We're treated to the aforementioned hints and teases about the character's origin, though even those are going to be ultimately meaningless once Mackie drops the Soul Crystal angle in favor of the Medallion of Power nonsense.  There's also the stock solution to every story where Ghost Rider and Danny are separated in the dream realm, they combine their powers to make themselves whole again and easily trounce the villain (usually Nightmare, come to think of it).  It happened in the dream realm in issue # 8 and again when they fought Nightmare for the first time in issue # 11.  It's a forced resolution that has no originality anymore, and when Danny tells Nightmare that he "no longer holds dominion over them" and he "caused his own defeat", I can't for the life of me figure out that cognitive leap.

Now, that's not to say this issue is devoid of good stuff, because I'm a fan of any inclusion of Dan's supporting cast.  Sure, characters like Mrs. Ketch and Captain Dolan change first names every time they appear, but they (and Jack and Stacy) are what grounded the series in the first two years.  They remind the reader that Dan has a real life divorced from all this supernatural mumbo jumbo that's flooded the title in recent issues, and it's a shame that most of them are making their last appearance for quite a while after this, at least until the Midnight Sons era is over.  I like the attempt at following up on Blackout's attack in issue # 25, too, because for all anyone knows Blackout just disappeared and took Danny with him.

This issue treats us to more artwork from the Kubert family, specifically Andy Kubert and his legendary father Joe.  I'm not a big fan of Andy's work, but coupled with Joe's finishes the end product looks perfectly decent.  The storytelling gets a bit wonky near the end, particularly with how exactly Nightmare gets defeated (it's just "explosion, then on his back in defeat").  The anatomy can be a bit off in places, too, with Danny suddenly looking like a body builder in the last few pages.  It's certainly not as good as Adam Kubert over on Spirits of Vengeance, but it's serviceable.

This, I think, is the where the bloom finally came off the rose for this series, at least for the next year or so.  If you really want to read it, go read issue # 11 instead, because it's much better and essentially the exact same story.