Ghost Rider 2099 (1994) # 10

"Concrete Jungle"

Cover Date: February 1995; On Sale Date: December 1994

Writer: Len Kaminski; Artist: Kyle Hotz; Letterer: Richard Starkings w/ John Gaushell Colorist: Christie Scheele w/ Heroic Age; Editor: Evan Skolnick; Editor in Chief: Bobbie Chase; Cover Artist: Tom Taggert

Two members of the Pioneer Society, a group of wealthy elitists, watch the recording of a robotic "predator" remotely piloted to murder humans for sport in Little Calcutta. Later, investigating the murder of his friend Pak, Zero Cochrane goes around Little Calcutta to talk to various people about the murders. Unfortunately, everyone he talks to has a different theory about what's happening. One of the people he talks to is a drug dealer, who sells a new drug called "White Heat" to a local gang, the Toxic Zombies. A few hours later, Kylie Gagarin and Dr. Neon are assaulted by the gang, who are intoxicated by the new drug. Two securicops intervene, and the melee is quickly joined by a cybernetic enhanced mercenary named Coda, who kills the gang members.

Later, Ms. Matlin is piloting her predator when she sees a target: Jeter of the Artificial Kidz. When she attacks him, however, his holographic disguise fades to reveal the Ghost Rider. He battles the predator, realizing that it's being piloted remotely, and is eventually led into a trap. The rest of the Pioneer Society have arrived, each in their own remote drones, ready for a "multiplayer game".

CHAIN REACTION

Kaminski and Hotz continue the slow build of Transverse City and its occupants with the first chapter of this arc.

I don't think it can be denied that there are two major factors that make this title such a compelling read. One is the way the creative team have taken the futuristic Transverse City and made it come to life as a character all on its own, each issue introducing another element. Outside of the exploration of Little Calcutta, which we caught a glimpse of in the previous issue, and its motley assortment of citizens, we also get the Pioneer Society. Outside of the corporate cogs that work for D/Monix we haven't had many looks at how the upper crust of society operate in Transverse, so discovering that they're as equally perverse as the cops are corrupt and the corporations are manipulative is fittingly appropriate. Using expensive "predator drones" to hunt people of lower economic and social status is a damning indictment of how the rich literally eat the poor in this future world.

The second factor is the attitude of Zero Cochrane, the antisocial and anarchistic worldview that comes out not just in the character's actions and words but are reflected in the events happening around him. The Ghost Rider rails at authority of any kind, so putting him against the elite monsters who would happily target him alongside his friends as sport fits right in with how Zero looks at anyone other than himself. He hates everything about Transverse City yet takes great pains to find out who murdered his friend. It's a repeating motif, that every time Zero tries to help a friend he winds up paying for it in the end, such as when he saved Kylie in the previous arc. It's really only when he's helping himself that he's ever really successful, which I guess shores up his usual selfish motivations.

The artwork by Kyle Hotz continues to sell the dirty, dingy highlights of Transverse, especially the nitty gritty parts of Little Calcutta that gets explored here. He has a variation to his art that can sometimes come off as busy or cluttered, but I think it works well to emphasize just how overly complicated everything is in the future. The predator robots look appropriately monstrous, though the influence of films like Alien and Predator, obvious inspiration for Coda's visual design, can be a bit glaring. Still, there's a visceral feel to Hotz's work that act as a sharp contrast to the cleaner tone of Bachalo and Buckingham from the series' first arc.

This issue is a set-up for the fight that's coming in the next issue, but that confrontation is really an afterthought to all the masterful world building that the creative team are so successful with. This series continues to be solid gold on just about every level.