By Marc Strom
The past has just come back to haunt Johnny Blaze in a big way.
Recent months have seen the return of Danny Ketch, aka the 90's Ghost Rider, and on September 17, GHOST RIDER #27 will feature the debut of an all-new Caretaker even as Johnny Blaze fends off the menace of Blackout, one of Ketch's most notorious villains.
Caretaker, the supernatural historian of the Spirits of Vengeance and a mainstay of the 90's GHOST RIDER series, made his return in issue #26 only to meet his demise—but luckily, someone will soon take over his role.
"In issue #26, Caretaker's previously unseen granddaughter, Sara, leaves the nunnery where she was raised to track down the grandfather she never knew she had," series writer Jason Aaron recaps. "Interesting timing, wouldn't you say? Sara is an all-new character and one that we'll be seeing a lot more of in the coming months."
The same issue saw Ketch leading a group of former villains—including two of his own enemies, Blackout and Death Ninja—in a mission to kill his former ally, Caretaker. But just what would make Blackout agree to work under Ketch's command?
"The money, for one," states Aaron. "But also just so he could gloat about how Danny has fallen from the side of the good guys. Blackout's cruel like that."
And for Danny, working with the villain responsible for the death of his sister doesn't seem too pleasant, either.
"As you can tell, he's not too thrilled about it," Aaron points out. "But he's just doing what he feels like he must."
Thus far, Aaron has used primarily new villains to menace the original Ghost Rider, but the writer explains that he had a number of reasons for re-introducing some more classic antagonists in this story:
"In part I wanted to highlight just how low Danny has fallen by showing him having to work alongside some of the same villains he once fought against as Ghost Rider. But I also wanted to try and inject some excitement into Ghost Rider's rogues gallery, which has lately been dominated by only demons and devils.
"There will be more new villains, yes. But we'll also eventually see the return of some more old favorites."
Similarly, Aaron chose now to re-introduce Caretaker, a character who fans haven't seen in a number of years, because of the changes whipping through Blaze's life.
"Caretaker always seemed pretty integral to the Ghost Rider mythos back in the 90's series, and since we're doing something now that really dramatically alters what readers think they know about the Spirit of Vengeance, it only seemed fitting that Caretaker would return to pass his mantle on to someone new," the scribe sums up.
"With Ghost Rider, I'm all about moving the story forward." Aaron continues. "I love to acknowledge the past and put in things that long-time fans will recognize—like all those items in Caretaker's shack—but the main goals here are to tell exciting new stories, to take these characters somewhere they haven't been before, and to bring in the Flamehead fans of the future."
Moving forward, fans only have to wait a few more months to see Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch go at it one-on-one in a clash of the Ghost Riders. With that event on the horizon, how will issue #27 lead into "The Last Stand of the Spirits of Vengeance?"
"Directly," promises Aaron. "With Danny Ketch running through a magic door, and Johnny Blaze giving chase. And what revelations await them on the other side, you won't believe. Oh, and they'll also be beating the living crap out of each other too.
"With [writer] Simon Spurrier's new [GHOST RIDER: DANNY KETCH limited series] coming up [beginning in October] and with all the crazy twists and epic battles we've got lined up in the main title, it's definitely a great time to be a fan of ol' Flamehead," Aaron leaves off.
GHOST RIDER #27 blazes a trail into stores on September 17, but you can catch up with the Spirit of Vengeance on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
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