Behind that Jim Craig cover are Jim Craig interiors. That makes sense! Also Don Hudson teams up with Chris Ivy for inks and Ed Lazellari colors. Dwayne McDuffie hangs on as writer, of course. On the splash, we’re told Spider-Man’s been in Canada 3 days, and he is ready to go home. But he’s not quite done with his photo assignments.
Is this one gonna be about bicycle safety?
That car plowing down the alley (The wrong way, sez the kid) doesn’t do anything about, you know, running down a child. Our boy Phil starts pedaling like mad the other way, but he can’t outrun the car. Of all the things that coulda happened in this comic, I did not expect to see a child hit by a car.
What a crazy setup! Danny Ketch’s bike ridin’ cousin. This could’ve been like when Jennifer Walters got a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce to become She-Hulk. They coulda have Kid Rider! Well, anyway, Peter Parker is photographing Phil’s friends in the “Right Riders” putting on their show at the Skydome. He overhears them saying Phil would never miss this and worrying about him, and decides to investigate. What a guy!
Some very 70s Spider Sense in these comics. Believe it not, the hit & run drive is downstairs. He called around and found out what hospital Phil was taken to, and wants to make sure he’s ok, and even donate some money to his hospital bills. I mean… I guess that’s pretty nice, all things considered. But Danny’s about to leave on his bike, and recognizes the car, so his bike bursts into flames. In moments, Ghost Rider is zooming up behind the drunk. He goes speeding out of the parking garage, GR in hot pursuit (Eh? Eeeeeh?). I wonder how many vehicle chases Ghost Rider gets in in his regular series. I can’t think of any, but I only read a handful of them, and a long time ago, most of them.
Man, this guy goes from hitting a kid, to wanting to make sure the kid’s ok and give him money, to wanting the kid assassinated in the span of half an hour. Spider-Man catches up with GR and wants to know why he’s after that guy. Ghost Rider refuses to tell him, so it’s Two Heroes Fight Over A Misunderstanding right outside the bar the bad guy’s in. He bolts for his car. He needn’t worry, tho, our heroes are way too busy beating each other up to notice.
Collision insurance joke is A+. GR has sped off by the time Spidey gets up, so he takes off chasing the tracer on the guy’s car. The guy’s name is Ray, how’d I miss that and how does Spider-Man know it? GR is following Spider-Man at a discreet distance, assuming he’ll lead him to his prey. Then Spidey sees Phil’s pals and drops down to ask them a favor.
This page is now the best Ghost Rider thing I have literally ever seen. Oh man. That is amazing. Ghost Rider does his trick of driving right up the side of a building, but Spider-Man ambushes him, sending him crashing back down to the street. Spidey and GR finally talk long enough to realize they shouldn’t be fighting, and we move our scene to Phil’s hospital room, where Ray and his muscle are legit about to execute this child. Bananas, man. Ray says he’s figured out Phil is Ghost Rider (And maybe he coulda been, if the blood transfusion thing had happened!), which is nuts…
If you had told me that I would find Dwayne McDuffie, who I think of as a DC guy, writing quite literally the best Spider-Man of the 1990s in some educational comics, I would not have believed it… but here it is. This is absolutely perfect Spider-Man dialogue. What a strange journey this has been. One part left to go…