But, this is arguably near the peak of his popularity, before Marvel maybe started
really overusing him. From 1992,
Ghost Rider #22, "Death's Eyes" Written by Howard Mackie, art by Mark Texeira.
Current GR Danny Ketch has taken his predecessor Johnny Blaze's advice to heart, and is trying to use the Ghost Rider "to do some good." Most of the villains he had faced had been taken care of, except for Deathwatch, whom Danny knows is really entrepreneur Stephan Lords. Lords has a big new building downtown and allegedly does a lot of charity stuff, but also has a sub-basement full of ninjas. I am not 100% what, if anything, Deathwatch can actually do; but he kills a poorly-performing ninja and seemingly gets something out of it.
At Deathwatch's building, which has "387" on it, probably a reference Marvel's old offices at
387 Park Avenue South; Danny decides to try and get some info from a receptionist, Renee. Who's into him: he gets her number instantly, although he already had a girlfriend, cop Stacy Dolan, who pulls them over on Danny's motorcycle! That's not an abuse of power or anything, even if she doesn't ticket him or anything. Still, while Danny is able to get another date with Renee, Deathwatch's staff has noticed her talking, and some ninjas are sent to her apartment. Renee's roommate is killed, but Danny gets there in time to save her, and takes her to his friend Jack. (Russell?) But, the ninjas have followed them there, so now Renee, Jack, and Stacy are in danger. Oh, and another girl died; get in the game, Ghost Rider!
The Rider tears through the ninjas, then shrugs off Stacy's attempt to arrest him and Jack's attempt to help. Lt. Badilino arrives at the scene, somewhat steamed that Stacy 'let' him go: we'll see him again later. Ghost Rider storms the building, riding through more ninjas like they were nothing; but Deathwatch had already left. He had a life outside of Ghost Rider, other fires in the iron and so forth; and no longer had time to play with him. Deathwatch blows up the building, whatever ninjas and staff happen to be there, and buries the Rider in it!
I thought Lords was darker-skinned, in some parts of the issue than others? It seemed a little inconsistent; but let's be honest, he's not really given the same attention Renee is.
1 comment:
Ninjas as expendable bad guys were all the rage back then in the 90's. Hell they seemed to be in most NES/SNES & Sega video game franchises at the time, and this definitely reminds me of a possible GR video game level where you have to plow through an entire level or levels of Ninjas just to get to the main boss. But you don't have many continues or else you have to start the game over from scratch. Not even a cheat code.
I gotta' admit as well, Renee does look a whole lot better than Stacy does, not to mention has a sweeter disposition, even if she's naïve AF.
Deathwatch got killed off in the 90's right & never came back? I don't remember if Jason Aarons ever brought him back or not.
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