Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 137

Cover Artist: George Pratt

Published: Sep. 1993
Original Price: $1.50

Title: Fellow Travelers, Part 1: "Rage of Honor"
Writer: Len Kaminski
Artist: Reggie Jones
Inker: Fred Harper
Letterer: Ul Higgins
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Richard Ashford
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS

In Hong Kong, an elderly fisherman named Tsui Wu has a conversation with three others in shadow. The three tell Wu that they have reviewed his plea and are granting him their services; "we relieve you and those you speak for of the burden of vengeance". Wu thanks them, then cries for his daughter Michiko, who will finally have justice.

Much later, in New York City, Daniel Ketch sits astride his motorcycle at a pier. He looks out over the water and feels something, a calling or an omen, that causes him to ride out toward Chinatown. As he rides, he transforms into the Ghost Rider, who realizes that something has called him forth, the wailing voices of murdered innocents. He follows the feeling to its source, an abandoned warehouse. As he approaches the doors on foot, he is struck in the back by a dagger. He turns to find himself surrounded by the Golden Fist, a group of red-clad ninjas, who tell him that the penalty for trespassing is death. The Ghost Rider eagerly battles the ninjas, unaware of three robed strangers watching from nearby - three strangers who assume that the Rider belongs to Hark. After the Ghost Rider quickly defeats his attackers, he is approached by the three robed strangers, whom the Spirit refers to as "distractions". The strangers discard their robes and leap at the Rider, saying that this is the first time "distractions" has been used to describe the Masters of Silence.

ANNOTATIONS 

Ghost Rider last appeared in Gun Runner (1993) # 2.

This issue of MCP also contained stories featuring Iron Fist, Wolverine, and Ant-Man.

REVIEW

We've made it to the final "Ghost Rider Team-Up" style story that graced the pages of Marvel Comics Presents (with the remaining issues being dedicated to the "Siege of Darkness" storyline before being handed over completely to Vengeance in Ghost Rider's stead), and we're given the most odd-ball pairing of all here - yes, even more odd than Typhoid Mary from several issues back.

The Masters of Silence were characters that debuted during Len Kaminski's run on Iron Man a year or so previous to this story, and it's my feeling that the writer was probably hoping the trio of ninjas would catch on more than they did. As it wound up happening, the Masters only appeared in stories written by Kaminski himself, and - to my knowledge anyway - this is the only series outside of Iron Man where they appeared. There's really not much you need to know about them: they're mercenaries with a vengeance motif.

"Fellow Travelers" is an odd, simple little story - essentially, it's just one huge fight scene stretched out over six chapters. We've got some paper-thin motivations for the Ghost Rider's involvement and the inevitable "heroes fight each other due to misunderstanding" scene coming in the next issue. But all that's okay, because this story isn't pretending to be anything more than it is...a dumb action story.

This story is the first by the artistic team of Reggie Jones and Fred Harper, and it looks rough - really, really rough. I'm not sure how much of the "breakdowns/finishes" each artist is responsible for, considering the finished result looks a lot more like Harper's style than Jones, but what matters is that despite the rough edges there's the glimmer of potential here. The gritty, sleazy atmosphere that the artists give the story is excellent, even though there's a distracting lack of backgrounds in the last half of the chapter. Don't worry, Jones and Harper are going to get better, and there's one thing I can't deny - they draw some damn good fight scenes here and in later chapters.

Overall, "Fellow Travelers" is a middle of the road MCP story for Ghost Rider - while not as bad as some that's come before it (like the Cloak & Dagger team-up), it neither has enough story to put it with the truly great ones (such as the aforementioned Typhoid Mary story).

Grade: B-