Cover Date: July 2023; On Sale Date: May 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
Inside Cypress Hills Cemetery, the Ghost Rider fights a superpowered killer. When Ghost Rider uses his Penance Stare the killer loses his power and states that he made a deal with an unknown individual to gain the power to get revenge on people who laughed at him, but instead only caused him pain. The police, led by officer Stacy Dolan, interrupt and cause Ghost Rider to flee the scene. This is watched by the Broker, who gave the killer his power in service to an unknown "master", who is now interested in the Ghost Rider's power. On the other side of the cemetery, Ghost Rider transforms back into Danny Ketch, who reminisces about how he first became the Ghost Rider and the mystery of the Medallion of Power that is part of his motorcycle. For the first time he notices a scratch on the Medallion and sets off to find answers.
Elsewhere in Brooklyn, two thugs named the Bagman Brothers are taught a lesson by the gangster Jimmy-6, who works for Don Fortunato. After Jimmy-6 leaves the brothers beat up in an alley, they are approached by the Broker, who offers them power to get revenge. Danny returns to his mother's home to find John Blaze waiting for him and the two men go out for a motorcycle ride. Their visit is interrupted by police sirens, which they follow to discover the Bagman Brothers, now fused together into one superpowered creature that is laying waste to Jimmy-6's men on the street. The police, including Stacy, are unable to stop the Bagman Brothers, and only when Stacy is injured is Danny able to trigger the transformation into Ghost Rider, who joins the fight alongside Blaze. After a fierce battle, Ghost Rider is able to use the Penance Stare to disrupt the villains' power, separating them once again. The police move in to apprehend Ghost Rider and Blaze, but the two escape on their motorcycles. Then the Broker arrives and takes the Bagman Brothers back to his master, a former Morlock that is also a cannibal who feasts on the brothers.
Several years earlier, in Cypress Hills Cemetery, a fierce battle for the Medallion of Power has just been won by the Caretaker and the Blood. The Caretaker fuses the Medallion to the motorcycle and notices that a piece of it has broken off. The fragment of the medallion is found by a thin hand reaching out from a nearby crypt, a hand belonging to the Morlock that will become the Broker's master.
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.
Stacy Dolan will learn that Dan and Ghost Rider are one and the same during the "Siege of Darkness" crossover, specifically in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 18.
CHAIN REACTION
Howard Mackie returns to the series he created for a nostalgia-fueled exercise in solid storytelling.
Bringing back creators for nostalgia stories seems to be all the rage in Marvel around this time. Chris Claremont came back for X-Treme X-Men, Peter David returned to the Hulk in Joe Fixit, and even Daredevil's 1990s series received a revisit by writer Dan Chichester; so seeing Howard Mackie come back to Ghost Rider wasn't a huge surprise. What it was, though, was a gift to readers of a certain era of the character; arguably the most successful era, to boot.
Thankfully, Mackie doesn't disappoint with this debut issue, as it checks all the boxes for what made the 1990s series so compelling in the first place. It has Ghost Rider as a force for vengeance, it has Danny Ketch as the questioning human host, and it even has John Blaze as the mentor figure. Mackie immediately goes back to what was successful the first time around and this comic is all the better for it. Compare it with the slog that is Benjamin Percy's current series and it's like night and day, filled with recognizable characters and an interesting mystery at its core The Caretaker showing up at the end makes me a little wary that Mackie may be trying to cram too much in to what should be a hyper-focused plot, but we'll see where it goes from here.
What also works incredibly well is the artwork by Daniel Picciotto, an artist I admit to being unfamiliar with, There's some roughness to his character work, you can tell he's a somewhat new artist that struggles a bit with some of the emoting and facial expressions, but he really gets the essence of the 1990s Ghost Rider down to a tee. There's no question that this is the Mackie Ghost Rider swinging his chain around, hitting all the right marks of nostalgia while keeping things decidedly modern.
This may be an exercise in futile continuity mining (and don't get me started about where this fits on the timeline, because it doesn't at all), but it's highly entertaining. Recommended.
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