What? Why? I bought this not too long ago, around the time I got Alpha Flight 123, and promptly forgot about it. I just happened to discover I have it after I read the next few issues, but… ok! Howard Mackie is still writing this series since #1, and will continue to do so for 20 more issues, which is pretty impressive. But I was mostly swayed to by this by Ron Garney. The big purple dummy is Vengeance, Ghost Rider’s own Venom, and that’s literally all I know about him. Well, I know he took over Ghost Rider’s spot in the final years of Marvel Comics Presents due to GR having quite enough exposure elsewhere, but now that’s really all. Chris Ivy inks and John Kalisz colors. To open, we’re in a Ghost Rider comic, so a cop is beating up a guy called Dread who works for a guy called Hellgate because he killed some cops before other cops make him leave for, like, violating all sorts of regulations by beating on a prisoner. Hey, look who’s here.
Oh, wow, the ultra-violent cop IS Vengeance, ok. Like I said, I know nothing.
“Rak.” Got it. Peter’s Spider-Sense goes off, and then everyone sees Rak drop down to the street and freaks out. Our man runs into an alley, still snappin’ photos, hoping the Vengeance cop guy can buy him enough time to change clothes. Cop guy shoots Rak several times, but just gets swatted into the street for his efforts.
Really, Ghost Rider’s Venom. More or less the same thing, only bigger, uglier, and more violent. Big V goes running into battle, not even summoning his own flaming bike, when the crowd catches sight of another guy showing up, which Garney gives a pretty wild 2-page spread.
It’s funny and kind of delightful to me that Spider-Man sees this guy, of all guys, and is like “Oh, probably on my team.” No Two Heroes Fight Over A Misunderstanding this time. The goodies mix it up with the baddies, Spider-Man tricking Rak into smashing Dread through a wall with a filing cabinet and crackin’ wise the whole time. That’s refreshing right now! Vengeance tells him to stop fooling around, and that there’s only one way to deal with animals like this, and then he gets stabbed through the chest.
Is… Is Ghost Rider in the Ghost Rider comic anymore? I mean… it’s his name on it. Are we piloting a Scarlet Spider-type situation here? Looking it up, I guess GR “died” in issue 45, only to be resurrected in 50. Ok! So it’s the Vengeance show for awhile. Well, Big V doesn’t wait for Spider-Man. The weirdos are in some kind of regenerative machines Vengeance has seen before, and he starts trashing them. Spider-Man jumps in joking that someone could get hurt, and gets told to leave if he doesn’t have the stomach for this. You’d love him in a few months, V. They have an argument about whether killing is ok while fighting the bad guys, who weirdly just kinda let them talk. Rak doesn’t like Big V attacking his buddy Dread.
So tuff! So 90s! Well, that wasn’t much of anything, but Garney was on. He was a cut above most of the guys in this middle period between everyone trying to be Jim Lee and everyone trying to be Joe Mad, and he’s only gotten better as time’s gone by. He’s not far out from a beloved run on Captain America, and will later have a noteworthy run on Wolverine, among other things. The letter page is a survey asking people what they want to see in this title, which is unusual and pretty interesting.