By 
When Ghost Rider rode back into comic book stores in 1990, fans welcomed the character back as they never had before. Written by Howard Mackie and drawn the art team of Javier Saltares and Mark Texeira, this all-new Ghost Rider became one of Marvel's highest selling series. Whereas previous writers made an intricate story between the Ghost Rider and Satan, Mackie abandoned that approach to portray a character stripped down to his minimalist roots, encapsulated by the slogan: Spirit of Vengeance!
In the first few pages of Ghost Rider Volume 2 #1, we meet the host for the vengeful demon: Daniel Ketch. (Readers of the Busiek-Ross MARVELS book may remember that Ketch shows up on the last page of the story.) We know nothing of this fellow other than he's walking through a graveyard at night with sister, Barb. They run into a gang of criminals fighting each other (one group belongs to the Kingpin) and Barb gets critically wounded. Daniel backs into a junkyard, where he discovers a mysteriously abandoned motorcycle with a glowing gas cap. After touching the gas cap, Daniel gets imbued with a powerful energy.
The Ghost Rider emerges a few panels later, having possessed Daniel's body. It was clear from the start that Daniel and the Ghost Rider were separate entities, given that Daniel remembered little of Ghost Rider's nocturnal activities. All of these elements made Daniel Ketch less interesting as a person for me. I couldn't believe the way that he accidentally stumbled into these powers, which was so unlike a typical Marvel hero! Worse, I could never get a grip on Daniel Ketch's personality, his aspirations, fears, love interest, his family or friends. All the supporting characters belonging to the Daniel Ketch character all seemed too bland, too indistinct. I could never tell his girlfriend from his sister!
That said, this new Ghost Rider had a very strong visual appeal that made me buy the book as long as Saltares and Texeira drew it. While Ploog's original costume had elements in cowboy mythology, the new Ghost Rider's dark spike-laced jacket told us this was one mean motherfucker. There was a new weapon, a chain, that he could use to capture his enemies. The new Hellcycle was a cool mixture of metal and flames that defied gravity on a regular basis. Combined with the fact that the artists mostly set the Ghost Rider scenes at night (with colorists supplying the appropriate highlights), gave the new Ghost Rider an incredible visual flare.
And then there was the new power: the Penance Stare. Ghost Rider could inflect the guilty with the pain of their victims, torturing them with memories for years to come. For a Spirit of Vengeance that exists to punish the guilty, it's a fantastic power to have. All these elements that made Ghost Rider V2 a mega-hit will probably also be found in the 2007 Ghost Rider movie.
It's no coincidence that the Ghost Rider's success was surpassed only by the Punisher during this same time period. The Punisher was so popular that it took two monthly series to chronicle his pursuit of wickedly bad dudes. Naturally, Ghost Rider and Punisher teamed up often and contrasted their different means of accomplishing the same goal. The Punisher-craze ended in 1995, but Ghost Rider V2 cruised along until 1998. Like his predecessor, Ghost Rider survived by adapting into the superhero world: one arc had Ghost Rider getting captured and analyzed by S.H.I.E.L.D.
To Mackie's credit, he didn't forget about Johnny Blaze. Blaze came roaring back when he discovered a new Ghost Rider was running amok. After kidnapping Daniel Ketch, Blaze nearly killed the Ghost Rider with a hellish shotgun capable of wounding the demon. Their antagonism didn't last for long. Soon Ketch and Blaze became friends and eventually became co-stars in the spinoff title Spirits of Vengeance in 1992 (which lasted for 18 issues).
Mackie left Ghost Rider with issue #69. In all that time, he had never written a backstory explaining the connection between Ghost Rider and Daniel Ketch. Who was the demon that possessed Daniel Ketch? Mackie's Wikipedia entry provides some interesting insights into this question. It could be that like Wolverine, Mackie felt Ghost Rider's origin was best left shrouded in mystery. The writer who took over Ghost Rider, Ivan Velez, explored this territory in detail. His stories indicated that Daniel Ketch and Johnny Blaze were brothers and became Ghost Riders because of a terrible event that befelled their ancestor, Noble Kale. This origin is detailed fully in the Ghost Rider Wikipedia article. I don't quite like this origin, as it mutes the impact of Marvel Spotlight #5. By making Johnny Blaze's mother responsible for becoming the Ghost Rider, it makes Johnny's self-sacrifice totally worthless. It's very unclear whether Velez' Noble Kale origin is canon or not. Ghost Rider V2 #93 ended with Daniel Ketch dying. Mackie brought him back in Peter Parker Spider-Man #93 and claimed the Noble Kale story was a lie. With the new Ghost Rider series underway, Marvel is actually going to publish the long lost Ghost Rider #94. Perhaps Daniel Way will explain all of this mess in his version of Ghost Rider. Nuff said.
Leave a comment