GHOST RIDER # 6 (volume 2)
SYNOPSIS
Ghost Rider and the Punisher are surrounded in a warehouse full of the Flag-Smasher's followers, the terrorists called Ultimatum. The Rider manages to disarm a few of the goons, but the fight is called off by the Flag-Smasher, who doesn't want to see his men get hurt in a pointless battle. The building clears out, and the Flag-Smasher escapes in a helicopter. As he escapes, he tells the two vigilantes that the warehouse is rigged with explosives, and in twenty seconds the entire building will be destroyed. The building begins to explode around them, but the two manage to escape on the Ghost Rider's bike. While on their way out, the Punisher sees one of the kids from the warehouse running down an alley. The Ghost Rider scares the kid into telling him the Flag-Smasher's plan, which is that he's going to provide the neighborhood kids with guns so they can hit Wall Street on the next night.
At daybreak, the Ghost Rider transforms back to Dan Ketch, who realizes he's almost late for work at his messenger service job. When he gets there, his co-workers are watching news footage of the warehouse fire from the previous night, which reporter Linda Wei suggests was caused by the Punisher and Ghost Rider. Dan calls his mother, who tells him that his sister has stabilized, but that she's still no closer to coming out of her coma.
Later that night, Danny is riding on his bike, thinking about the effect the Ghost Rider is having on his life. Without warning, the transformation is triggered and Danny is turned into his demon alter-ego. At Wall Street, the Punisher watches the Ultimatum troops hand out weapons to the thier teenage followers, and decides not to wait on the Ghost Rider any longer. At that moment, in New York Bay, ten men on flying rocket sleds shoot out of the water, the Flag-Smasher in the lead. He explains to his men that while his teenage army wreak havoc on Wall Street, he and his men will release an electro magnetic pulse in order to erase the computers of the Federal Reserve Bank, therefore taking them in the first steps of polictal anarchy in the country. Back on Wall Street, a large group of gun-toting kids are confronted by the Ghost Rider, who disarms them with his chain. The Punisher arrives and takes captive an Ultimatum soldier, who tells them all about the Flag-Smasher's plan after he is threatened.
While the police round up the kids on Wall Street, the two vigilantes make their way to the Flag-Smasher. Using a grenade launcher, the Punisher manages to shoot down three of the sleds, leaving the Ghost Rider to chase down the rest on his bike. The demon manages to destroy all of the sleds, while a well-placed shot by the Punisher knocks the Flag-Smasher out of the sky. The Rider grabs the anarchist and applies the penance stare, leaving him a whimpering wreck. The Punisher, however, believes that nothing will stop the madman from killing again, unless he's killed first. The Ghost Rider grabs the Punisher and breaks his gun, telling him that he serves vengeance, not death. The police arrive on the scene, but are unable to apprehend the two heroes, as they speed over the water of New York Bay on the Ghost Rider's motorcycle.
ANNOTATIONS
Ghost Rider and the Punisher will next cross paths in Punisher War Journal # 29.
As mentioned in Ghost Rider # 50 (vol. 2), the Flag-Smasher was set to encounter GR again, but the subplot was never followed up on.
This issue was reprinted in the Ghost Rider: Resurrected trade paperback.
REVIEW
Review Coming Soon.
Grade:
Ghost Rider # 6 (volume 2)
Published: Oct. 1990
Original Price: $1.50
Cover: Mark Texeira
Title: "Do or Die!"
Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Javier Saltares
Inker: Mark Texeira
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco