Cover Date: January 1994; Publication Date: November 1993
Ghost Rider leads the remaining Midnight Sons to a crypt, the entrance to Zarathos’
underground lair. Mystical energy prevents all but Ghost Rider, Blaze, and Vengeance
from entering, but Stacy Dolan manages to follow behind them. They quickly locate the
imprisoned Caretaker, who tells them they’ve been lured into a trap. Zarathos appears
and challenges Ghost Rider to a final battle. He teleports the two of them away, but at
the last second Stacy jumps into the portal with them.
They reappear at Glastonbury Tor in England, where Zarathos allows Ghost Rider to
usher Stacy to safety inside the castle. Zarathos talks with Ghost Rider about how he
has no memory of what happened after his original defeat and that he is a slave to
machinations he set into action thousands of years ago. The two battle but Ghost Rider
is quickly and easily overpowered, dying as his essence is absorbed by Zarathos. As he
does he reverts to Dan Ketch, who tells Stacy that he will always love her. As she
cradles his bones, finally realizing why she felt a connection to Ghost Rider, Zarathos
claims his fallen enemy’s jacket as his trophy. The other Midnight Sons arrive, ready for
the final battle.
THE ROADMAP
This is the sixteenth chapter of "Siege of Darkness"; continuing from Dr. Strange: Sorcerer Supreme (1988) # 61 and continuing into its conclusion in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 4.
Stacy Dolan joined with Ghost Rider and the rest of the Midnight Sons in Ghost Rider (1990) # 45.
CHAIN REACTION
The final battle between Ghost Rider and Zarathos! The event that the last three years
have been building to, the most important moment so far in the character’s history!
There’s no way they can screw this one up!
Yeah, obviously they can, because this is one of the most underwhelming comics I’ve
ever read. Mackie tries, I mean he tries real hard, to sell this as something monumental.
It has all the promise in the first few pages, but it goes horribly off the rails once the final battle begins. The fault lays at the feet of the way the writer characterizes Zarathos,
an enemy that twice pauses the battle to have a conversation.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Mackie attempting to give the villain
some depth and personality, which Zarathos certainly has here. The problem is that the
personality doesn’t fit the expectations of that character’s return. The Zarathos
presented here has no similarities with the demon that possessed Johnny Blaze, who
was a cackling, megalomaniacal sadist. This sad sack Zarathos is a pale shadow of that,
and when the crux of the story demands a recall of those older comics it does this one
no favors whatsoever.
So what about that heroic sacrifice, with Ghost Rider giving his life in a futile attempt to
stop Zarathos? I like the effort put into the idea that Ghost Rider is hopelessly
outmatched, but it doesn’t make the fight all that interesting to read. It also robs the
narrative of the sacrifice the story really needed. Had John Blaze received the final
confrontation with Zarathos it would have added that weight of history that the comic
was sorely lacking. That Blaze and Zarathos don’t share any scenes alone together is a
crime.
This whole back half of the crossover has been a series of disappointments, but none so much as the events in this issue. That it gives us a status quo of Ghost Rider's lackluster "death" is just the terrible icing on a less-than-edible cake.
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