Cover Date: December 1992; On Sale Date: October 1992
Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Bret Blevins; Letterer: Janice Chiang; Colorist: Gregory Wright; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Bret Blevins
At New York University’s Medical Center, Dr. Strange is in a trance while trying to locate the soul of Danny Ketch through Ghost Rider’s body. With them are John Blaze and Dr. Bruckner, a trauma surgeon and friend of Strange who is there to treat Danny’s physical wounds when he returns. When Blaze goes out to smoke a cigarette, he is spotted by an agent of the Firm. Dr. Strange locates Danny’s soul in the spirit realm but discovers that it is still tainted by Lilith’s influence. Meanwhile, the Firm send out a squadron of their soldiers to apprehend the Ghost Rider.
Back in the spirit realm, Dr. Strange purges Danny of Lilith’s corruption, which causes a backlash in the physical realm that interrupts the spell, leaving both Strange and Ghost Rider unconscious. At that moment, Blaze and Bruckner are attacked by the Firm’s troops. In the spirit realm, Strange attempts to transport himself and Danny back to the physical world but finds the way blocked due to their bodies being moved by Blaze and Bruckner during the Firm’s attack. Elsewhere, at the Firm’s headquarters, former Firm agent Stern makes his way inside with help from some of his former colleagues.
Ghost Rider awakens and fights off the Firm, despite Brucker saying it could doom both Strange and Danny for him to move. After the Firm’s men are defeated, Strange and Ghost Rider are placed back into position, which opens the barrier back up from the spirit realm. Strange enters his body and Ghost Rider transforms into Danny, who is dying from a massive wound to his throat. Bruckner steps in and performs emergency surgery, saving Danny’s life. Back at the Firm’s headquarters, all of the Firm board members have been executed, leaving Stern in charge with a plan to capture and kill Ghost Rider.
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| Ah, brotherly love! |
THE ROADMAP
Dan Ketch had his throat ripped out by Blackout in Ghost Rider (1990) # 25 and had his soul corrupted by Lilith in Ghost Rider (1990) # 31.
Ghost Rider appears next in Ghost Rider/Captain America: Fear and John Blaze appears next in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 4.
Stern and the Firm appear next in Ghost Rider/Captain America: Fear and the identity of Stern's true master is revealed in Ghost Rider (1990) # 37.
CHAIN REACTION
Bret Blevins makes his debut as the new series artist while Dan Ketch finally makes his way back to life, wrapping up the huge dangling thread from issue # 25.
Blevins is an artist whose work lives and dies depending on the finisher he’s teamed with. He’d had a long stint on New Mutants that at this point in time had just finished work on Sleepwalker, which he’d co-created with Bob Budiansky. His work on Sleepwalker was aided by inker Michael Bair, and I can see where Bobbie Chase was coming from when she offered him the gig on Ghost Rider. In particular, Sleepwalker # 11 featured a guest appearance by Ghost Rider, and the artwork in that issue was phenomenal. The Ghost Rider that appeared there was perfectly in line, both in tone and style, with the most successful depictions of the character to date. So what happened when he transitioned over to the main Ghost Rider series to make his work so maligned by fans? Again, it all comes down to his artistic partners, and this issue is Blevins on both pencils and inks. It lacks the grittiness that Michael Bair brought to Sleepwalker, instead going for a more animated style with a distinct lack of shadows and thin lines. It doesn’t look terrible, there are some great panels in this comic and the storytelling is solid, much more so than in coming issues when he’s paired with the completely incompatible Fred Fredericks.
Taking the artistic change out of the equation, this comic is still one that doesn’t completely satisfy. The return of Danny Ketch should be a big deal considering how major an event his death was in issue # 25 and it feels like what happens here makes the resolution too pat and easy. However, this is also a plot that has dragged along in the background through the better part of a year and across two crossovers. It certainly reads like it was a story idea that got derailed somewhere along the way in favor of those aforementioned crossovers, with marketability getting in the way of character driven plots. Danny’s death and Ghost Rider being forced to occupy the physical world 24/7 had the potential to be a really interesting exploration of both characters and their relationship. Unfortunately, it just percolated in the background for the majority of the time until coming to this issue’s disappointing conclusion.
Another carryover from the 25th issue is the return of Stern and the Firm, who I’m not exactly excited to see again. In theory the idea should work, a corporation that’s looking to exploit Ghost Rider for their own ends, but Stern is less than interesting, and the Firm are just faceless cannon fodder for Ghost Rider and Blaze to fight for a few pages. Dr. Bruckner, who is introduced in this issue and never appears again, is far more fascinating and is a character I actively wanted to learn more about. Instead, the next few issues are all Firm, all the time.
Overall, this issue is not the best, though at least it does reset Ghost Rider and Danny back into their standard status quo.
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| Nope, doesn't look painful at all... |
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