Micro-Reviews: GHOST RIDER - Volume Two, Part Two

GHOST RIDER #11 (March 1991) Tex inking Larry Stroman!

Tex still overpowers, but some of Stroman’s personality remains. It’s a nice pairing.

Stacey asks Dan what’s up with his “George Michael” beard. Art doesn’t portray him as scruffy. And, as of “Freedom ’90” wasn’t that look dead for Michael? Stacey’s also asking about Dan’s “new leather jacket” (hasn’t he worn it since #1?) 

It’s issue 11 and she’s just now getting around to this? Likely in response to fan demand, Mackie’s attempting to reconcile this Ghost Rider with the original. Zarathos has been revealed as the demon inhabiting Johnny Blaze in the ‘70s.

Whether or not this Ghost Rider was Zarathos, Mackie didn’t want to commit to, apparently. I’ve heard some fan complaints this dragged on forever, with Mackie offering no answers.

GHOST RIDER #12 (April 1991) No Tex on my cover! What’s the deal?

Interior is the classic Saltares/Texeira team, thankfully. Their last issue, though.

Strange explains the plot; and uses the word McFarlane received twenty years of grief over.

Having read a year of these stories, I feel justified in saying these plots are a mess. What’s the deal w/the hate crime subplot from issues past? Did it turn out the rogue Morlocks were the culprits, or was it Zodiak? The endings of the plots are so murky, I can’t tell. Neither story would seem to fit the setup. The Morlocks were killing dissidents who displeased Masque. Zodiak is a hitman covering up his jobs w/a serial killer gimmick. Where’s the racial angle? Did I forget the resolution amidst this fog of half-baked subplots?

Also, Zodiak is revealed this issue to be kidnapping children. They’re kept in some goo, which enables demons to invade earth. That’s acceptable comics dumb --

-- but how does this fit with Zodiak killing random people? Since when was his gimmick kidnapping kids?

GHOST RIDER #13 (May 1991) A very ‘90s cover. I mean that as a compliment here.

Tex is officially the penciler & inker now, w/Palmiotti on backgrounds. Saltares was important for providing consistency and solid construction. Tex on his own is always stylish, but not always uniform. Occasionally his figures get a bit lumpy. Wow, a page of thugs named after the Ninja Turtles assaulting a guy, directly followed by…an ad for Ninja Turtles cereal! #TMNT

TMNT cereal was later revamped as SPIDER-MAN cereal in ’95, by the way. Ninja nets became spiderwebs. #TMNT

After pages of awkward subplots, new villain Snow Blind debuts. Resembles an abandoned Magneto design.

Snow Blind, get this, is an evil CEO type with a penthouse office and cops on his payroll. A comics first! This ain’t winning any Eisners, but it does look cool. Mackie’s lack of effort when writing exposition is just funny by now.

GHOST RIDER #14 (June 1991) 1991’s “Flash of Two Worlds.”

After months of teasing, Blaze finally meets Dan. He’s given the most ‘90s makeover of all, right down to the perpetual cigarette dangling from his lips. Tex has some issues with panel to panel continuity. Where was that cigarette supposed to be when Blaze picked up the phone?

Blaze assumes this is the same demon who once possessed him, so he’s stolen Gambit’s wardrobe and sworn a vow to kill it. Recasting Blaze as an antagonist, one with a defensible motive, is smart. Unfortunately, he’s given some wretched dialogue, never once coming across as a believable character. Players from THE HONEYMOONERS cameo in a cheesy/gruesome scene. Mackie just doesn’t have the grit as a writer to commit to this edgelord stuff, so we end up w/scenes like this.

Another page that should come across as disturbing, but is more comical than anything. “We will HAVE TO have at each other.” Yeesh.

Hey, we see Ghost Rider is all bone under his clothes. My kid confusion is now resolved. Why aren’t his clothes baggy, though?