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| Cover Artist: Javier Saltares |
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Title: "The Last Temptation, Part 3: The Secret Fire"
Writer: Ivan Velez Jr.
Artist: Javier Saltares
Inker: Mark Texeira
Letterers: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Brian Buccellato
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Bob Harras
SYNOPSIS
The Ghost Rider is in Hell, and after striking a deal with Blackheart he has regained his original human body and become Noble Kale once again. Meanwhile, Danny Ketch awakens from a dream where he and his ex-girlfriend Stacy Dolan were married with a child and finds the ghost woman from the void hovering over his bed. When he refuses to help the Ghost Rider now that he's free from the curse, she uses magic to channel Noble's memories through him, effectively making him relive Kale's life in the 18th century. Noble/Danny tells her about his father, Pastor Kale, and the town of Patience in which they lived. He remembers the woman, Magdelena, who they saved from death in the wilderness and how he fell in love with her despite his father's objections that she was from "savage stock". When Magdelena became pregnant, Pastor Kale had Noble whipped and the baby taken away from them, causing Danny/Noble to declare his father evil.
Meanwhile, in Hell, Blackheart holds a banquet for the Ghost Rider and his four new Spirits of Vengeance (Wallow, Pao Fu, Verminous Rex, and Doghead). When Blackheart explains that Ghost Rider will teach the four how to mete out vengeance, Wallow states that he should be the leader. This causes Noble to jump the table and place a sword to his head, saying he will learn from him or be destroyed.
Back in the memory replay, the ghost woman forces Noble/Danny to relive when Magdelena was burned at the stake for being a witch. When the ghost accuses him of cowardice and not being willing to help his wife, the memories show that Noble had been drugged, beaten, and imprisoned by his father. Magdelena had learned Pastor Kale's secret, that he was a servant of Mephisto and had used black magic make the town prosper; because she discovered this, he had her burned as a witch. When she died Magdelena cursed the town, calling upon the Furies to avenge her. In response, Pastor Kale summoned Mephisto and gave his son over to the demon, who transformed him into the Ghost Rider. Noble fought the Furies for three straight days before finally achieving victory, upon which Pastor Kale offered him his own infant son to feast upon. This sickened Noble so much that he took his own life, causing both Mephisto and the angel Uriel to appear. The demon and the angel struck a deal where neither side would claim Noble's soul, instead he would become the Spirit of Vengeance and would possess his descendants of each new generation. Mephisto then cursed Pastor Kale with immortality, to watch over the family and mark each first born with the vengeance brand. In the void, where Noble would stay when not on the Earthly realm, the ghost woman sees him visited by Uriel in secret. There they learn the secret that had been kept hidden, that Noble has become the angel of death. This causes the memory spell to end, and both Danny and the ghost woman appear back in his apartment. They have the knowledge they need to defeat Blackheart and allow the Ghost Rider to claim his full power, god help them all.
ANNOTATIONS
Meanwhile, in Hell, Blackheart holds a banquet for the Ghost Rider and his four new Spirits of Vengeance (Wallow, Pao Fu, Verminous Rex, and Doghead). When Blackheart explains that Ghost Rider will teach the four how to mete out vengeance, Wallow states that he should be the leader. This causes Noble to jump the table and place a sword to his head, saying he will learn from him or be destroyed.
Back in the memory replay, the ghost woman forces Noble/Danny to relive when Magdelena was burned at the stake for being a witch. When the ghost accuses him of cowardice and not being willing to help his wife, the memories show that Noble had been drugged, beaten, and imprisoned by his father. Magdelena had learned Pastor Kale's secret, that he was a servant of Mephisto and had used black magic make the town prosper; because she discovered this, he had her burned as a witch. When she died Magdelena cursed the town, calling upon the Furies to avenge her. In response, Pastor Kale summoned Mephisto and gave his son over to the demon, who transformed him into the Ghost Rider. Noble fought the Furies for three straight days before finally achieving victory, upon which Pastor Kale offered him his own infant son to feast upon. This sickened Noble so much that he took his own life, causing both Mephisto and the angel Uriel to appear. The demon and the angel struck a deal where neither side would claim Noble's soul, instead he would become the Spirit of Vengeance and would possess his descendants of each new generation. Mephisto then cursed Pastor Kale with immortality, to watch over the family and mark each first born with the vengeance brand. In the void, where Noble would stay when not on the Earthly realm, the ghost woman sees him visited by Uriel in secret. There they learn the secret that had been kept hidden, that Noble has become the angel of death. This causes the memory spell to end, and both Danny and the ghost woman appear back in his apartment. They have the knowledge they need to defeat Blackheart and allow the Ghost Rider to claim his full power, god help them all.
ANNOTATIONS
The story of Noble Kale and Magdelena was first told in Ghost Rider (1990) # 78, though some details were left out in that issue that were revealed here.
The Furies returned in the modern day, when Ghost Rider recovered the lost memories of Noble Kale, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 78. Magdelena's ghost appeared and renounced her curse on the Kale bloodline in Ghost Rider (1990) # 80.
The ghost woman is revealed to be Danny's mother, Naomi Kale, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 93.
While Noble Kale was transformed into a Spirit of Vengeance, as shown years later in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33, it was the meddling of Mephisto and Uriel that formed his particular curse and bound him to the bloodline of his descendants.
Uriel, or another incarnation of him named Uri-El, appeared in Blaze (1994) # 12.
The Furies returned in the modern day, when Ghost Rider recovered the lost memories of Noble Kale, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 78. Magdelena's ghost appeared and renounced her curse on the Kale bloodline in Ghost Rider (1990) # 80.
The ghost woman is revealed to be Danny's mother, Naomi Kale, in Ghost Rider (1990) # 93.
While Noble Kale was transformed into a Spirit of Vengeance, as shown years later in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33, it was the meddling of Mephisto and Uriel that formed his particular curse and bound him to the bloodline of his descendants.
Uriel, or another incarnation of him named Uri-El, appeared in Blaze (1994) # 12.
REVIEW
The classic Ghost Rider art team of Javier Saltares and Mark Texeira are reunited, but it's too little too late as the book barrels toward both the end of this story-arc and the series itself.
I'm going to spend another post talking mostly about the artwork, at least at the top of the review, because having the Saltares/Texeria team back together was a big damn deal to Ghost Rider readers at the time. It was one of the many attempts that editor Tom Brevoort made to rescue the sales figures for the title, which had fallen from the top of the charts to being one of Marvel's lowest-selling books, along with bringing back the black leather outfit and classic logo. Saltares came back to the series a few issues before, during the "Flashback" event, and while it was all really nice looking artwork (the best the series had seen in years, to be frank) it just didn't pop the way Saltares' work did in the series first year. Texeira, his original finisher on that first run, was brought back onto the team with this issue, and it makes things look immediately familiar to fans of that particular time. That's the magic that the editor was hoping to recreate, that fans would see a recognizable version of the once-popular character and pick the series up again.
While the line work looks fantastic, those two artists together could draw Ghost Rider on a napkin and have it look like a million bucks, the art falls down with a crucial component. Colorist Brian Buccellato jacks the contrast to the max while coloring everything way too bright and vibrant, which robs the artwork of the darkness and heavy blacks established by Texeria's finishes. Take a look at how Gregory Wright colored the Saltares/Texeira team in the early 1990s or how Dan Brown tackled it 10 years after this when the art team reunites for a third time. The right colors make this art team one of the best in the business, and Buccellato completely overpowers the pencils and inks with too many oranges and yellows. It's a shame, too, because the art provides some fantastic visuals, particularly Noble's flashback transformation into the Ghost Rider and fight with the Furies.
Ivan Velez continues to make this arc a big damn deal in its own right with all of the upheavals and revelations he's packing into each issue. Ghost Rider reclaims his original body, though until Texeria steps in with his finishes I couldn't see the resemblance between Noble and Danny that everyone mentions in the text. The extended flashback sequence finally puts all the pieces together for Velez's origin story, and though it doesn't jive AT ALL with anything that had come before his run, whether it was by Marc DeMatteis or Howard Mackie, it's still a satisfying part of the story Velez has been telling for the last two years. The angel Uriel seems a bit tacked on, because unlike Mephisto and the Furies he hadn't been established in the earlier origin teases in Velez's run, but it doesn't feel out of place. Everything has this momentum to it, the stuff in Hell with Blackheart and the ghost woman, and it's the most exciting and interesting this series had been in quite a long time.
"The Last Temptation" is a forgotten piece of Ghost Rider history, since it was at the tail-end of a run that got the title cancelled, but it's well worth reading. Just don't go into it cold, because it's absolutely the climactic story for a writer that had been playing the long game with his plotting for over 20 issues.
Grade: A-
I'm going to spend another post talking mostly about the artwork, at least at the top of the review, because having the Saltares/Texeria team back together was a big damn deal to Ghost Rider readers at the time. It was one of the many attempts that editor Tom Brevoort made to rescue the sales figures for the title, which had fallen from the top of the charts to being one of Marvel's lowest-selling books, along with bringing back the black leather outfit and classic logo. Saltares came back to the series a few issues before, during the "Flashback" event, and while it was all really nice looking artwork (the best the series had seen in years, to be frank) it just didn't pop the way Saltares' work did in the series first year. Texeira, his original finisher on that first run, was brought back onto the team with this issue, and it makes things look immediately familiar to fans of that particular time. That's the magic that the editor was hoping to recreate, that fans would see a recognizable version of the once-popular character and pick the series up again.
While the line work looks fantastic, those two artists together could draw Ghost Rider on a napkin and have it look like a million bucks, the art falls down with a crucial component. Colorist Brian Buccellato jacks the contrast to the max while coloring everything way too bright and vibrant, which robs the artwork of the darkness and heavy blacks established by Texeria's finishes. Take a look at how Gregory Wright colored the Saltares/Texeira team in the early 1990s or how Dan Brown tackled it 10 years after this when the art team reunites for a third time. The right colors make this art team one of the best in the business, and Buccellato completely overpowers the pencils and inks with too many oranges and yellows. It's a shame, too, because the art provides some fantastic visuals, particularly Noble's flashback transformation into the Ghost Rider and fight with the Furies.
Ivan Velez continues to make this arc a big damn deal in its own right with all of the upheavals and revelations he's packing into each issue. Ghost Rider reclaims his original body, though until Texeria steps in with his finishes I couldn't see the resemblance between Noble and Danny that everyone mentions in the text. The extended flashback sequence finally puts all the pieces together for Velez's origin story, and though it doesn't jive AT ALL with anything that had come before his run, whether it was by Marc DeMatteis or Howard Mackie, it's still a satisfying part of the story Velez has been telling for the last two years. The angel Uriel seems a bit tacked on, because unlike Mephisto and the Furies he hadn't been established in the earlier origin teases in Velez's run, but it doesn't feel out of place. Everything has this momentum to it, the stuff in Hell with Blackheart and the ghost woman, and it's the most exciting and interesting this series had been in quite a long time.
"The Last Temptation" is a forgotten piece of Ghost Rider history, since it was at the tail-end of a run that got the title cancelled, but it's well worth reading. Just don't go into it cold, because it's absolutely the climactic story for a writer that had been playing the long game with his plotting for over 20 issues.
Grade: A-
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