Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 18

"Siege of Darkness, Part 16: Spirit of Death"

Cover Date: January 1994; Publication Date: November 1993

Writer: Howard Mackie; Artist: Henry Martinez; Inker: Keith Williams; Letterer: Bill Oakley; Colorist: John Kalisz; Editor: Bobbie Chase; Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco; Cover Artist: Henry Martinez

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.