Cover Date: September 1993; On Sale Date: July 1993
Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Chris Bachalo; Inker: Mark Buckingham; Letterer: Richard Starkings; Colorist: Christie Scheele; Editors: Bobbie Chase & Evan Skolnick; Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Chris Bachalo
In Central Park a gang of men attempt to mug a seemingly homeless drifter. They are in turn attacked and killed by the drifter, who is an amnesiac vampire. By drinking their blood the vampire also absorbs their memories while regaining pieces of his own. On the street outside the edge of the park, Danny Ketch rides past with Seer, a young girl who is acting as a guide. She receives a warning of danger and tells Danny he needs to go into Central Park. Upon entering the park he is attacked by the vampire, who drains some of his blood before he is able to transform into the Ghost Rider. The vampire flees into the park and is pursued by Ghost Rider to Lincoln Center. After losing Ghost Rider in the crowd, the vampire comes across a familiar door and rips it off it’s hinges, revealing a staircase. He’s watched on computer monitors by Ms. Malone, who recognizes him as Carl Blake, also known as Night Terror. Her superior, Mr. Batlin, orders a security team to kill Blake, while Ghost Rider also makes his way down the staircase.
Night Terror kills the security team and escapes Ghost Rider again by turning into mist. When Blake arrives in the control room he kills Batlin. By the time Ghost Rider catches up Blake has killed all of the people in the facility but one, Ms. Malone. Blake explains that the facility represents a spy organization that he worked for as a freelance assassin. During a mission Blake disappeared and was found a year later as an amnesiac vampire. He had recently escaped from the facility again, killing many of the staff as he left. He now intends to kill Malone and drink her blood so he can learn where his last mission took place. Ghost Rider impales Blake to the wall with his chain while escaping the facility with Malone just before it self-destructs. Outside in Lincoln Square, Ghost Rider meets back up with Seer, neither of them seeing the mist rising from a nearby grate.
“The Worm Turns”
Writer: Joey Cavalieri; Artist: Kirk Van Wormer; Inker: Brad Vancata; Letterer: Kurt Hathaway; Colorist: Sara Mossoff
In Cypress Hills Cemetery during a rainstorm, Ghost Rider fights a demonic woman named Rigor Mortis who can turn things to stone with a touch. The fight ends in an underground mausoleum filled with the eggs of ancient “conqueror worms” that Mortis has to midwife through birth. The chamber fills with mud, which Ghost Rider tricks Rigor Mortis into turning into stone, trapping her. The eggs hatch and die while Ghost Rider walks away.
CHAIN REACTION
Ghost Rider receives its first official Annual, which introduces a new villain named Night Terror.
So in 1993 Marvel decided that all of that year’s Annuals would introduce a new character, complete with a polybagged trading card. All but one or two of those characters were instantly forgettable, including poor Night Terror. However, I argue that this comic is a hidden gem that’s well with your time to find and read.
Mackie’s Ghost Rider was never really a horror title, though it did have it’s frightening moments. This story, however, is really scary. Night Terror may come off as a weaker iteration of Blackout, but Mackie’s internal monologue for the villain really beings you to his point of view. Ghost Rider is the protagonist but Carl Blake is who the story is about, and that focus allows him to stand out as a fully realized character. Most of Mackie’s other villains can’t claim that, guys like Zodiak and Death Ninja were little more than gimmicks with names. Night Terror provides an interesting contrast to Ghost Rider, as both are characters desperate to learn their pasts. Naturally, and very easily, he could have been just a generic vampire, but giving him the ability to drink memories along with blood gives him a fascinating angle to explore. Of course, Mackie won’t get to work with the character again outside of a forgettable backup strip in this issue, but Night Terror does at least get a sort of resolution to his story in am issue Blade the following year.
Mackie is paired with a fantastic artistic team for this issue. Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham had been the long running artists on DC Comics’ Shade the Changing Man, and this Annual was their debut at Marvel. Their work here is immediately engaging, providing the dark atmosphere that the series has honestly lacked since Texeira departed. I would have killed to see Bachalo and Buckingham as the main series art team going forward, but at least we got them on Ghost Rider 2099, if only for the first few issues.
This Annual naturally has a couple of inconsequential backup strips, as most Annuals of this era did. The first us the aforementioned Night Terror story that I didn’t even bother writing a summary for and the second is an utterly bizarre story about giant flying worms. It barely comes across as more than gibberish and has Ghost Rider comparing himself to a Nantucket whaler, it’s absolutely ridiculous. Some nice art by Kirk Van Wormer, though.
I would certainly recommend tracking this comic down, the main story is entertaining enough to make up for the nonsense other stories.
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