Cover Date: October 2023; On Sale Date: August 2023
Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Daniel Picciotto; Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham; Colorist: Guru-eFX; Editor: Darren Shan; Editor in Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Ben Harvey
Several years ago, a mutant Morlock named Scav is kicked out of the community for eating the flesh of their dead. In the present day, the Caretaker recovers from wounds inflicted by the Scarecrow. He leads Danny Ketch and John Blaze through a mausoleum that mystically transports them back to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. At that moment, the immensely more powerful Scav holds court with the captive Stacy Dolan and Roxanne Simpson, flanked by his minions the Broker, Scarecrow, and Blackout. Caretaker leads Blaze and Ketch to Scav's base of operations in the cemetery and is confronted by the Broker, who the Caretaker stays behind to handle.
Danny and Blaze arrive at Scav's throne room, where they also find their captive loved ones. When Stacy is injured Dan goes to trigger his transformation into Ghost Rider. Scav senses the presence of the Medallion of Power and declares that he is going to devour its power. He reclaims the power given to Blackout and Scarecrow, which mutates him into a larger, more monstrous form. The Broker halts his fight with the Caretaker when he senses Scav's enhanced power and goes to stop him, stating that he has reneged on their deal. Blaze's shotgun proves ineffective against Scav as he simply eats the hellfire. Caretaker and Broker arrive and determine that they cannot allow Scav to consume the Medallion, so Ghost Rider uses Caretaker's shovel to knock out all of the villain's teeth. The Broker then takes away the depowered Scav and teleports them both to parts unknown, leaving the heroes behind to pick up the pieces of the battle.
THE ROADMAP
This mini-series takes place during the 1990s Ghost Rider series, but where exactly it fits in continuity is unclear due to contradictory elements.
Due to the Quentin Carnival being active and John Blaze's wife and children still being with him this story likely takes place shortly after the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover and before Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 4.
Blackout would have last appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 31 where he was killed in the Arctic along with the rest of the Lilin; he will be resurrected in Ghost Rider (1990) # 41. He received his facial scarring in Ghost Rider (1990) # 3 and learned that Dan and Ghost Rider were one and the same prior to Ghost Rider (1990) # 7.
Scarecrow would have last appeared in Ghost Rider (1990) # 38 where he escaped from the Firm's hospital prison. He was given the ability to induce overwhelming fear in his victims via pheromones in Ghost Rider/Captain America; Fear.
CHAIN REACTION
The Danny Ketch mini-series wraps up in a truncated fashion after it's slashed from five issues down to four.
To say this issue rushes through to its conclusion would be a severe understatement. I'm not sure what was behind the decision to cut this series down to four issues instead of five, but it certainly did the story no favors. Everything does get resolved, it's true, but it's not satisfying in any way. It lacks all of the characterization and individualized moments from the previous issues and instead focuses on Scav the Morlock Master and his desire to eat everything he sees.
Scav has it in him to be a terrifying villain, a cannibal who mutilates his female servants by eating their limbs, but it's all just too convoluted. He was powered up by the Medallion sliver he apparently ate? He goes through the Broker to give power to other people, then when they get defeated consumes the power back into himself to make himself stronger? Why give the power out to others in the first place? What's the Broker's role in all of it? For what was a seemingly simple plot in the first three issues, things definitely got needlessly complicated at the end.
I guess parts of it hang together okay, such as the reasons behind kidnapping Stacy and Roxanne (to lure Blaze and Ketch to Scav), but other bits get swept under the rug with barely a mention. Scarecrow and Blackout get shuffled off stage haphazardly with no resolution to their own individual stories, the Broker is a big ball of enigmas, and Scav himself is reduced to a monster that actually tries to eat Ghost Rider's motorcycle. With all the best will in the world toward Howard Mackie, this ending feels slapped together and it absolutely needed another issue to breathe and give a satisfying conclusion. That's not the creative team's fault, I guess they did their best with what space they had to work with.
I'm also not as enamored with Picciotto's artwork in this issue, as it looks just as rushed through as the plot developments he's drawing. Character proportions are all over the place, with Scav's size and stature fluctuating from panel to panel. He still draws a nice Ghost Rider, but the gritty edge that was seen in his work in previous issues looks smoothed over and polished down in this one. Again, maybe it was due to last minute changes in the publishing schedule that's to fault for it, but it's disappointing nonetheless.
This was a mini-series that was ultimately a bunch of excellent parts that built up to an unsatisfying whole. I do hope Mackie gets another swing at continuing these "untold tales", because all the promise was there in the earlier chapters for it to be a return to glory for the writer and the characters.
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