Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 11

Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Ghost of the Past"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Karl Kerschl
Inker: Dan McDonnel
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Scott Marshall
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

Sensing danger, Dan Ketch feels himself transforming into Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance.  He's immediately attacked by Johnny Blaze, who has once again become the "original" Ghost Rider under the control of Zarathos.  Ghost Rider finds himself unable to fight his friend, but is also being destroyed by Blaze's blasts of hellfire.  Ghost Rider sees a shield made of hellfire laying nearby and grabs it, realizing that it must have been created by Blaze, who is fighting Zarathos' control.  Using the shield and his chain, Ghost Rider grabs Blaze and gives him the Penance Stare, which frees John from being the evil Ghost Rider and heals the wounds he had received.  Ghost Rider and Blaze wonder what Zarathos will attempt next, unaware that the demon is watching them and plotting his next move.

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the eleventh in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Ghost Rider III figure.

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

Blaze was wounded by Outcast in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 8, and he was saved from his wounds by Caretaker in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 9.

REVIEW

The Toy Biz mini-comic series ends with a battle between Ghost Riders, giving an extremely truncated version of what most fans really wanted to see in the main comics of this era.

As a whole, the Toy Biz comic series is only there to help support the action figures and give kids the barest of bones for story structure and plot.  As long as it explains the powers and broad stroke personality of the action figure its packaged with, it's done its job admirably.  That said, and as simplistic as the plot line is here, I think the 4-part story that was packaged with the second wave of figures was more successful than the first.  Sure, the first wave of comics had a more ambitious storyline, with the riots caused by DJ Zarathos and the Wacky Morning Crew, but this second arc (and I use that term in the loosest possible sense) hit on something that most fans would have killed to see in the actual Ghost Rider comics.

Hanging over the series, especially around the time of "Road to Vengeance" and "Siege of Darkness", was the mystery of Ghost Rider's origin and the return of Zarathos.  What readers got out of those stories were some pretty disappointing resolutions, and I myself am stunned that the creators refused to produce what everyone really wanted.  Setting things up for John Blaze to become the evil Zarathos-possessed Ghost Rider again, and the inevitable showdown with the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider, was a perfectly logical and anticipated way to conclude everything that had been building in the series to that point.  Instead, we got "Siege of Darkness" and the Blood/Fallen nonsense, leaving that tease of a much better storyline to be played out in the pages of a toy tie-in series.  While the end product isn't spectacular, the promise of that Blaze/Ketch Ghost Rider face off is what makes this simple little Toy Biz pamphlet so interesting to me.  Chris Cooper does what he can to liven things up, but with only 6 pages to give both a satisfying Ghost Rider fight and conclude the story, he doesn't really get to strut his stuff much.

The artwork, though, is by an early Karl Kerschl and it's actually quite good for what it is.  I assume that the art was drawn at full comic size and then just shrunk down at the print stage, so it squashes details into a mess of lines at different points in the series.  Kerschl's clean linework is perfectly appropriate for the format, though, because nothing is muddled or unclear.  His Ghost Riders both look on-model, not just to the characters but to the toys they're emulating, and he gets to do a decidedly G-rated Ghost Rider transformation sequence on the first page.  No melting flesh or anything, but it still looks appropriately horrific for kids.

These mini-comics aren't particularly good, but they're definitely an interesting curio for the character at the end of his popularity peak.  Ultimately, though, they're for hardcore collectors only.

Grade: B

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 10

Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Reprise"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: David Boller
Inker: Derek Fisher
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

From his dimensional prison, Zarathos watches John Blaze and states that Blaze had once been corrupted by a small portion of the demon's essence, which caused him to transform into a "dark version of Ghost Rider".  Now, Zarathos plans on testing Blaze again, which will gain the demon power to conquer the world.

On a bridge leaving New York City, Blaze sees a demon made of hellfire terrorizing the motorists trapped in a traffic jam.  Blaze hears a voice in his head telling him that he'll need to become the Ghost Rider again to defeat the demon, but John tries to ignore it.  However, when he finds that his hellfire shotgun only makes the demon stronger, Blaze gives in and becomes the "original" Ghost Rider once more.  He defeats the demon by absorbing its hellfire into his body, which places Blaze under Zarathos' control.

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the tenth in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Original Ghost Rider figure.

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

REVIEW

Johnny Blaze becomes the Ghost Rider again, which is a move I'm surprised the regular comics hadn't tried yet by this point.

There's not a lot to say about this comic, since it's so short and it has to make its point so quickly by hammering out a way to make Blaze the original Ghost Rider again.  Zarathos makes some interesting comments on how Johnny was once corrupted by a "fraction of my essence" and became a "dark version" of Ghost Rider, which is certainly one way of addressing the continuity quagmire revolving around the whole Zarathos/Medallion of Power stuff from around this time.  It's as simplistic and as dumb-downed as it can get, which is appropriate for a toy tie-in comic, so you can't fault it there.  The story doesn't even attempt to give any kind of explanation for how Blaze becomes the Ghost Rider again, he just sort of decides to do it after hearing a voice in his head, but again: limited page space and simplistic as possible.  This series is almost review proof at this point.

The artwork is by David Bollers, who had drawn the last couple of these along with Karl Kerschl (who is still here on the cover duty), and it's perfectly serviceable for what it is.  He does a good job with Zarathos, making him menacing on the opening page, and his original Ghost Rider is appropriately old school.  His "hellfire demon" looks more like its made from electricity, but we'll say that's a coloring mistake and be generous.

I'll have a bit more to say about this story when I review the last chapter, because this is the same as before: interesting for collectors, but not worth tracking down if you just want to read it.

Grade: C

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 9

Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Armored Vengeance"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: David Boller
Inker: Derek Fisher
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

Outcast has taken a subway car hostage, gloating about how he destroyed John Blaze and now there is no one able to save his captives.  Blaze, now in a new armored form, blasts his way onto the train on his motorcycle and confronts Outcast, telling him that the armor saved his life.  He blasts Outcast with hellfire, blowing them both off the train and into the tunnel, where Outcast uses a water hose to douse Blaze's flames.  Hellfire, however, can't be doused by water, and Blaze shoots Outcast in the head with his shotgun.  Meanwhile, in another dimension, Zarathos boasts that he continues to gain knowledge on his enemies strengths and weaknesses.
 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the ninth in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Armored John Blaze figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

 

In regular continuity, Blaze was injured by Centurious and received his cyborg enhancements in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 15.
 

REVIEW

One of the worst character decisions of the 1990s gets its own action figure!

I still don't understand the thinking behind the cyborg/armored redesign of John Blaze, which took a really great character and made him into a carbon copy of Cable.  Still, I imagine that Toy Biz was enamored with idea, because it gave them another action figure derivative for their second wave of Ghost Rider action figures.  As a design by itself, the cyborg look isn't terrible, so it makes a decent looking toy.  For Johnny Blaze, though, it was and always will be an absolute shit idea.

Regardless, the spotlight for this mini-comic was of course on Blaze and his new armored form, though it really doesn't get much of a focus.  The armor was used at the conclusion to the last issue to save his life, and this issue allows him to get his revenge...but the armor wasn't really necessary, and you could tell Chris Cooper was having difficulty justifying the attention that the redesigned toy was supposed to have.  You could tell that Cooper was struggling on a LOT of this, because the dialogue is very clichéd and hackneyed, with such gems as "Noooooooo, I DESTROYED you!" when Blaze makes his entrance.  Outcast's big idea is to use a water hose against John, which is a bit anticlimactic.  It does, however, give us an ending where Blaze shoots Outcast in the fucking head with his shotgun, which is something I suppose.

The artwork for this issue isn't by Karl Kerschl, who I was hoping would draw the entire series of mini-comics for the second wave, but instead by David Boller.  I'm not real familiar with Boller's work, I think he might have been an artist on New Warriors or Night Thrasher back in the early 1990s?  He does a perfectly fine job on the art here, though just like most other artists he really has a difficult time making Blaze's android design work on the page. 

These mini-comics started with something of a plot, as bare bones as it might have been, but for the second wave of figures they've just become paint-by-number fight comics.  They're worth picking up for the collector, but for the casual reader they're not worth tracking down.
 

Grade: C-

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 8



Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Slash Attack!"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Karl Kerschl
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Scott Marshall
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

In another dimension, Zarathos watches the three Spirits of Vengeance - Ghost Rider, John Blaze, and Vengeance - and swears revenge on them for foiling his last attempt to conquer Earth.  He decides that he will test them and chooses the Outcast to perform the first test on John Blaze.  While taking a break from the Quentin Carnival, Blaze is attacked by Outcast, who slashes him repeatedly with his claws.  Before he can kill Blaze, Outcast is distracted by the Caretaker, allowing John to stab Outcast with a knife formed out of hellfire.  Outcast flees while Caretaker checks on Blaze, whose wounds are leaking hellfire.  Caretaker places his hands on Blaze and covers his wounds with mystical armor, which will help him heal.  Now back on his feet, Blaze vows to make Outcast pay.
 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the eighth in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Outcast figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

 

In regular continuity, Blaze was injured by Centurious and received his cyborg enhancements in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 15.
 

REVIEW

A new semi-arc begins, though this one doesn't really bother with that pesky "plot" thing too much.

Outcast was such a bizarre choice for an action figure, even with the line pulling heavily from the Siege of Darkness era.  The fact that they chose him over someone like Caretaker or Centurious really blows my mind, I guess it was because they wanted another big monster character to go along with Skinner from the first wave of figures.  Unfortunately, while Skinner was an interesting character with a backstory, Outcast was just a bearded sasquatch without a personality. 

With Zarathos somehow banished back to his exile dimension (how, we will never know, since issue # 7 was never released), his big plan is to send out minions to test the Spirits of Vengeance for weakness one by one.  That does, of course, allow for some solo stories, but it also makes Blaze the de facto lead in a story that's supposed to spotlight a different character.  Outcast jumps out of the trees, slashes Blaze up, then runs away.  Not real compelling, even for a six-page story.

What does work is the artwork, which is some of the first published work by Karl Kerschl.  It's almost unrecognizable from his work nowadays, there's a real echo of Jae Lee that I dig a lot.  He makes Outcast's attack look scarier than it probably deserved, and for a toy tie-in that not many people read he does an admirable job.

These aren't supposed to be high art, but they could at least pretend to have a story.  I suppose I can't blame the creators, though, since they had to frame a comic around Outcast, whose personality was nonexistent.
 

Grade: D+

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 6



Cover Artist: Paris Karounos

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Zarathos Unbound"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Paris Karounos
Inker: Derek Fisher
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

Ghost Rider and Vengeance have joined John Blaze in the hospital room of Linda Addams, whom Blaze has just saved from being killed by Skinner.  The three Spirits of Vengeance discuss the events of the last several issues, now with the knowledge that Linda's blood is the key to freeing Zarathos from his dimensional prison.  While they talk, the skeletal Skinner manages to cut Linda's arm with a blade before being stopped by Blaze, waking Linda up in a blast of mystical energy.  Above her bed a portal opens, from which enters Zarathos, now returned to Earth.  The Spirits of Vengeance put up a brief fight, but are all three defeated by the seemingly-triumphant Zarathos.
 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the sixth in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Ghost Rider figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

 

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 7, which would have featured the conclusion to this story, does not actually exist.  The first wave of action figures originally planned to have Zarathos as the seventh figure in the line, but the figure was pushed back to the second wave.  The mini-comics released with the second figure wave start with # 8 and the delayed Zarathos figure was packaged with random issues from the rest of the series.
 

REVIEW

Zarathos finally makes his return to Earth and the heroes all fail spectacularly at their job.  Way to go, Spirits of Vengeance!

Chris Cooper had what was probably both an easy yet unenvious job when it came to writing these comics.  He had to introduce characters in 6-page installments and keep them relatively kid friendly, which is tricky for a horror series like Ghost Rider.  Now that all of the characters (outside of Zarathos) have had their spotlight, this one turns into an extended recap.  That's due to this issue being packaged with the only other actual Ghost Rider figure in the line, so having it be mostly a rehash of "what's gone before" is probably intentional.  After all, how many kids would likely skip the Blackout and Skinner figures in favor of just the two Ghost Riders?  A good majority, I'd say.  So not much happens in this installment, though it also features the biggest event so far, Zarathos' return to Earth, which the whole series had been leading up to.  Zarathos gets to be the badass for two pages, stomping holes in the heroes' faces and making his victory speech...too bad we'll never know how he was defeated, since issue # 7 doesn't exist!

Paris Karounos continues as the artist for these mini-comics, and his work seems a lot sloppier here than in the previous installments.  I can't imagine the conditions these comics were produced under, I assume they had accountants waiting with censoring notices waiting beside the art tables, which would explain how Linda is cut by Skinner with no blood being produced.   Still, Karounos' art was sharper in the last few issues, which is a let down for the big Zarathos fight here.

So that's it, kids, Zarathos wins!  Forever! 

I hate stories without an ending, though luckily I wasn't waiting with baited breath to see how this one gets resolved.  We can imagine Ghost Rider was saved by, oh let's say...Moe.
 

Grade: C

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 5

Cover Artist: Paris Karounos

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Skin Condition"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Paris Karounos
Inker: Derek Fisher
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

Posing as a mutilated victim of the riots, the demonic Skinner is brought into a hospital, where he quickly murders the doctors and uses their skin to replenish his own.  Dressed as a doctor, he is able to make his way to the hospital room of Linda Addams, who he is there to kill, referring to her as his daughter.  However, John Blaze is waiting to protect Linda and blasts Skinner with his hellfire shotgun.  During the fight, Skinner states that only by releasing the magical energy within Linda can Zarathos be brought back to this dimension.  Blaze shoots Skinner once again with his shotgun, stopping Skinner before he can kill his daughter.
 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the fourth in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Skinner figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

 

During his first appearance in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 3, Skinner murdered his wife and children to appease his mother, Lilith.  Given the virtual immortality of the Lilin, it's certainly feasible that Skinner would have more children.

Blaze rescued Linda Addams in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 3.
 

REVIEW

The second villain in the action figure line, Skinner, gets his spotlight issue as Cooper and Karounos continue their tie-in storyline.

Skinner was an interesting choice for a villain for this series (and the action figure line), but he made sense considering he's got an interesting visual and is one of the few Blaze-centric villains to choose from (unless they went with Centurious, who I'm surprised they skipped, or Steel Wind).  Skinner's story here hits the highlights of his established characterization, that he will kill his family to pay off debts to those he serves, and he gets a better introduction than poor Blackout last issue.  Of course, it does strike me as odd that the figures and comics couldn't flag up Blackout being a vampire, but having Skinner mutilate innocent people to steal their skin is A-Okay. 

Paris Karounos continues as the artist for these mini-comics, illustrating 4 of the 6 of this first wave of figure tie-ins, and I imagine the small scale of the comics does his work no favors.  He's not the most detail-minded artist, but he has a style that is clear and mostly easy to follow (and hey, this issue has backgrounds!).  He naturally can't show any of the gruesome stuff that usually pops up in Skinner stories, but he does well to sell the brutality of the character.  I did like the panel with Blaze wheeling on screen in a desk chair to surprise the readers, that was a nice touch.

So as a spotlight issue for a villain, this one works just fine.
 

Grade: B+

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 4

Cover Artist: Paris Karounos

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Dead Air"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Paris Karounos
Inker: Derek Fisher
Letterer: Jimmy Novak
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

The vampire Blackout is at a radio station threatening a technician for cutting off the broadcast signal that had been driving New York citizens to go insane and riot.  Before Blackout can kill the technician Ghost Rider arrives and stops him.  A brief fight results in Blackout taking the technician hostage, but Ghost Rider's chains snake in behind the villain and imprison him.  Blackout explains that he used mystical spell words to make the city go into a violent rage as a distraction to keep Ghost Rider busy.  The real plan is the return of Zarathos from his dimensional prison, which Ghost Rider vows to stop.
 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the fourth in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Blackout figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

If this follows the standard Marvel continuity (which is questionable, at best), then Zarathos was banished to another dimension at the conclusion of the "Siege of Darkness" crossover in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.

 

Blackout killed the talk radio host at the beginning of Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 1, which sparked the riots in New York City.
 

REVIEW

Now that our three heroes have had their spotlight issues, Blackout gets his introduction as the first villain of this series. 

These mini-comics are damn hard to review, given that they're just 6 pages meant to do nothing more than hype a toy line.  The story is ultimately incidental other than to give the spotlight to the issue's designated action figure accompanying it, but we at least get a forward movement of plot this time.  Blackout has taken over a radio station and sent out a mystical "crazy signal" in order to distract Ghost Rider from Zarathos' return, which is I suppose straightforward enough for a mini-comic aimed at children.  Blackout is made out to be less than a credible threat against Ghost Rider, though, consider all he does is swipe once with his claws and then threaten a hostage.  Again, since it's aimed at kids writer Chris Cooper can't really get into the vampire aspect of the character other than gesturing vaguely via the artwork, which kind of neuters Blackout into "generic clawed guy".  They might as well have cast Sabretooth in this comic, to be honest. 

The artwork is from the returning Paris Karounos, who drew the first issue of this series, and his work is decent enough, if slightly amateurish.  Other than the opening splash page, Karounos doesn't seem concerned with drawing backgrounds in any of his panels, meaning the radio station recording booth that is meant to be the setting is really just a blank white void with infinite amounts of space.  The weirdest bit of the art comes in the design of Blackout himself, who has hands bigger than his head, but that was actually what the figure in the toy line looked like, so I assume Karounos was told to use the toy as the character model.  Still, it looks so freaking odd.

These mini-comics are honestly just for die-hard Flameheads, you're not going to get much in the way of story or characterization out of them.  Still, for what they are, they're not that bad.
 

Grade: B

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 3

Cover Artist: Geoff Isherwood

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "To the Rescue"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Geoff Isherwood
Inker: Dan McConnel
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

While riots rage in Brooklyn, John Blaze hears a woman screaming from help inside a high-rise building. Blaze rides his bike up the side of the building and crashes through a window on an upper floor, where he finds rioters attacking a young woman. Surprisingly, though, the rioters recognize Blaze and immediately attack him. He holds them off long enough for him to rescue the woman; her name is Lynda, and she senses that John is the reason she was drawn to this part of the city. Blaze thinks to himself that she must be connected to the supernatural, due to him being a sort of magnet for magical beings.

 

Blaze and Lynda ride up to the building's roof, but the attackers bust their way through the rooftop to find them. This tells Blaze that they're not normal people, they're either superhuman or supernatural, most likely the latter. Blaze whips out his hellfire shotgun and blasts them, revealing them to be demons as they're destroyed. However, the weakened roof collapses beneath Blaze's bike - and though he's able to land without harm to himself, Lynda is injured during the fall. Blaze decides to take her to a hospital, where he'll protect her from any more demon attacks.

 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the first in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Blaze figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

Blaze learned that he was a magnet for supernatural magic in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 1.

 

Lynda's connection to the supernatural is revealed in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 5, which focused on Skinner of the Lilin.

 

REVIEW

Chris Cooper continues his series of Ghost Rider toy tie-in comics with John Blaze and an artist who I was surprisingly familiar with: Geoff Isherwood.

 

Following last issue's disappointing introduction story for Vengeance, Cooper gives a much stronger showing with a much stronger character in John Blaze. Not only is Blaze immediately more interesting than last issue's star, we also get an advancement in the plot (paper thin as it may be). Lynda is introduced as an unknown variable thrown against the riot plot, where we also get to see our first example of demonic intervention amidst the rioting humans of the previous issues. Most importantly, while the first two issues seemed to be severely lacking in story, even for a 6-page comic, Cooper finally shows a glimmer of being the great writer I know he is from his work on Darkhold. I'm actually invested in the storyline now, believe it or not!

 

Even more of a surprise is the artist for this issue, Geoff Isherwood. Unlike the last two issues, which featured artists I was largely unfamiliar with, Isherwood had been the artist for Marvel's Dr. Strange and Namor comics for extended runs. His work helps to elevate the story in this issue, as it lacks a lot of the amateurish elements of the previous artists. I'm not sure what happened to Isherwood after the 1990s were over, but he was a solid artist who does a great job on this assignment.

 

So the mini-comics are getting better, people!

 

Grade: B+

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 2

Cover Artist: Karl Kerschl

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Vengeance"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Jim Craig
Inker: Randy Emberlin
Letterer: Jimmy Novak
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

New York City has been crippled by its citizens rioting like maniacs, while the local police try to calm things down. Two uniformed officers have been joined by Lt. Michael Badilino, who are unable to fire at the crowd of people who are obviously not in their right minds. The two uniformed cops are quickly overwhelmed by the insane rioters, and in order to save himself Badilino jumps into a nearby squad car and transforms into the demonic Vengeance!

 

Vengeance drives away most of the rioters with his blasts of hellfire, but three brave lunatics stand their ground to fight him as commanded by the radio voice that started the riot. Behind them, however, Vengeance's motorcycle surges forward and scatters them like bowling pins. Vengeance is then approached by Ghost Rider and John Blaze, reuniting the Spirits of Vengeance once more. Ghost Rider informs his partners that a radio broadcast is what triggered the riot, and while Vengeance and Blaze help on the streets Ghost Rider himself will try to stop the source of the insanity.

 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the first in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Vengeance figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

Vengeance first appeared as an enemy of Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 9 but eventually switched sides in Ghost Rider (1990) # 43.

 

A copy of this comic was donated to Vengeance Unbound by GR_Fan82 from the Superhero Hype forums. Thanks, GR_Fan!

 

REVIEW

Vengeance is the second character to get a spotlight in this series of mini-comics that were released with the Ghost Rider line of toys in 1995.

 

So we've been given the thinnest of plots - a supernatural force causing people to riot in Brooklyn - to justify introductions of each member of the Ghost Rider starring cast with each new issue. Not surprisingly, the second issue is given over to Vengeance, who was essentially the "extreme" version of Ghost Rider who wouldn't hesitate to kill his enemies while making a wry comment. Like with Venom a few years before, I understand why Vengeance was popular during this time (though I still say he was far more interesting and successful as a villain than an anti-hero, which only served to make a weak sauce Ghost Rider clone), and I can imagine he would similarly be a popular character in the toy line. For boys who thought Ghost Rider looked cool, and even scarier looking demon biker should have been an easy sell.

 

Chris Cooper is still the writer as in the first issue, but the art chores have changed to artist Jim Craig, who had previously penciled other giveaway comics a year or so before (the Spider: Trial of Venom and Hulk/Venom one-shots). His work is not dissimilar to last issue's artist, Paris Karounos, so there's a smooth transition from part 1 to part 2. The colorist gets Badilino's hair color wrong, making it light brown instead of black, but there's not much else to complain about in the art.

 

Unfortunately, this story does little more than show Vengeance off as yet another flaming skeleton on a motorbike. It almost hurts Ghost Rider himself, because the character is no longer unique. But this is an inoffensive comic, it does what it needs to do in its 6 pages.

 

Grade: C+

Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 1

Cover Artist: Paris Karounos

Published: 1995
Original Price: N/A

Title: "Transformation"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: Paris Karounos
Inker: Derek Fisher
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Jim Hoston
Editor: Glenn Herdling

SYNOPSIS

Talk radio star Russ Armtree is telling his New York City audience to "rise up" against the "scum that's holding America down". Suddenly, the lights in his studio go off and Armtree is killed. The show's new host, speaking with "the word of Zarathos", tells the listeners that Russ was right - they need to destroy.

 

Dan Ketch rides through the city while its gripped in an insane riot with half the population attacking the other half for no reason. Dan sees a group of insane rioters assaulting a young woman, and he crashes his motorcycle through the crowd to stop them. The rioters advance on the crashed Ketch, but he's able to transform into Ghost Rider in time to save his own life. Ghost Rider gives one of the rioters his Penance Stare, which causes her to reveal that a voice on the radio is what's caused them to go crazy. Ghost Rider uses his chain links to incapacitate the other rioters, determined to find out who is causing the madness and stop them.

 

ANNOTATIONS 

This mini-comic was the first in a series packaged with Toy Biz's line of Ghost Rider action figures. This issue came with the Transforming Ghost Rider/Danny Ketch figure.

 

There's really no place to fit this series into established continuity. It obviously takes place after "Siege of Darkness" and Ghost Rider (1990) # 50, but the relationships between Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance certainly don't fit the characters at the time.

 

The identity of the radio show announcer that kills Russ Armtree is revealed to Blackout in Ghost Rider Special Edition (1995) # 4.

 

REVIEW

This is the first issue in the series of mini-comics that tied in with the Ghost Rider action figure line, and it does its job of introducing the character to new readers well.

 

There's really not much to say about this comic, considering its only 6 pages long. That doesn't give much room for a good story to develop, but that's not really the point of this comic, is it? If anything, its purpose is to get the kids that buy the action figures to get a sample of the comics as well. In that respect, its successful, as it gives an abbreviated showing of what the character was about in the regular comic series.

 

Chris Cooper, besides being one of the editors of the Midnight Sons titles, seemed to be Marvel's go-to-guy for the few Ghost Rider tie-in comics that the company produced for their toy division. At least they went with a writer that knew the established back story, given his involvement with "Siege of Darkness", and not someone else unconnected to the regular books. Of course, making these comics (and the toys, for that matter) a sequel of sorts to "Siege of Darkness" is a problem in itself given the reader reaction to that crossover. The Midnight Sons books had moved away from the "Siege" type stories by 1995 as well. But complaining about stuff like this is a moot point; they were trying to sell toys, not produce compelling literature.

 

These mini-comics are the only place I've seen artwork by Paris Karounos, and he has a nice handle on Ghost Rider. The size format doesn't do the artwork any favors, though, and I wonder how it would look at normal comic size. I especially like the shot of Ghost Rider giving his Penance Stare, with his eyes becoming more round with the energy radiating outward. Nice stuff.

 

I doubt many current readers have seen these mini-comics and tracking them down now outside of buying the toys is nigh impossible. I'd imagine they'd fetch a hefty price tag if you did find them, though, and they're certainly not worth it unless you're a hardcore, diehard Ghost Rider fan.

 

Grade: B-