GHOST RIDER COLLECTOR'S EDITION # 1
SYNOPSIS
During a funeral held at Cypress Hills Cemetery, three criminals threaten the mourners at gunpoint, demanding their cash and valuables. Before they can hurt anyone, they are stopped by the Ghost Rider, who gives the first hood a dose of the Penance Stare. Outside the cemetery gates, Kirsten Crowley waits behind the wheel of the crooks' getaway van and admires herself in the rear-view mirror. She sees her partners fleeing the cemetery with Ghost Rider giving chase, so she abandons them and drives away. When she reaches the bridge, she realizes that Ghost Rider has pursued her, and in an attempt to out-maneuver him she runs the van off the bridge. She's caught by the Ghost Rider's chain, but when he takes her hand to pull her up the right side of her body is consumed by hellfire. Before he can get answers as to why this happened, the sound of police sirens force the Rider to depart. Back at the Cemetery, Ghost Rider transforms into Dan Ketch, who regrets what happened to Kirsten. The Caretaker appears and tells him to stop whining and visit her at the hospital if he's that worried about her.
The next day, Dan arrives at the hospital with flowers in his guise as a motorcycle messenger. As he walks to her room, he overhears two doctors talking about Kirsten being a confirmed mutant. Dan concludes that it must have been her latent mutant powers that caused the reaction with Ghost Rider's hellfire. He enters the room, and finds that the right side of Kirsten's body has been horribly burned and disfigured. She angrily knocks the flowers from his hand, and when a nurse enters to help pick them up Crowley yells at them to get out of her room. After they leave, Kirsten's anger at how she used to beautiful causes her mutant powers to activate, setting the right half of her body on fire once again. She starts terrorizing the hospital, forcing Dan to transform into Ghost Rider in order to stop her. She attacks the Rider, and at first he takes the fire blasts without fighting back, as he blames himself for what happened to her. When she turns her attention to the innocent bystanders, however, he realizes that the only person to blame for her cruel fate was Kirsten herself. Ghost Rider grabs her from behind and gives her the Penance Stare, which forces her to see the ugliness within her soul instead of her outward appearance. She collapses to the floor and the Rider leaves; but when she asks for help, the nurse she threatened to kill is there to embrace her.
ANNOTATIONS
This limited-edition comic was available exclusively through Kay Bee Toys as a promotional giveaway attached to the X-Men game for the Sega Genesis. As a result, this comic is incredibly rare and hard to find. Copies do pop up on eBay on occasion, though usually with a high price.
This story takes place between Ghost Rider # 38 (vol. 2) and Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance # 4.
REVIEW
Ghost Rider Collector's Edition # 1 - frequently referred to as "Ghost Rider: Hot Pursuit" due to the cover blurb - is near-mythical amongst Flameheads. Because of its incredible rarity and high-price tag I figure it's a Ghost Rider comic that most fans have never read; that, I think, makes it an appropriate subject for Vengeance Unbound's 200th review!
I remember seeing the advertisements for this promotional comic in the regular Ghost Rider comic in the mid-90s, and I so badly wanted to get it. Unfortunately, there wasn't a Kay Bee Toys anywhere near where I lived, so I had no way of tracking one down. In fact, it wasn't until last year that I got my hands on a copy through the wonders of eBay, even if it did cost me a pretty penny to purchase. Sadly, it didn't live up to the years of anticipation I had for it; though I shouldn't have been surprised, considering it was a promotional comic with a fill-in creative team doing a totally inconsequential stand-alone story.
The story isn't that bad, but its nothing phenomenal either. The most interesting aspect is Ghost Rider's feelings of guilt over what happened to Kirsten Crowley, and the responsibility he feels when she finally gets to seek her revenge against him. Kirsten's a bit of a shallow character, the stereotypical narcissist concerned only with her physical beauty, and once that beauty's taken away she blames everyone but herself. As Ghost Rider eventually realizes, its no one's fault but her own due to the choices she made in her life. If it hadn't been hellfire that destroyed her, it eventually would have been something else. We also get the typical "feel good ending" with the nurse accepting Kirsten's pleas for help, while the Spirit of Vengeance drives on to its next destination. Its a simple story, but it gets its point across fairly well.
I'm unfamiliar with artist John Hebert, other than seeing his artwork on another Ghost Rider story in one of Marvel's Holiday Specials from around the same time as this comic. He's certainly at the start of his career, with the expected amateur bits to his work, but for the most part he does a solid job. In particular, he does a good rendition of Ghost Rider himself, which is certainly the most important part to get right. The only complaint I have, really, is his design for Kirsten while she's in the hospital. Would a severe burn victim really be dressed in what looks like body armor? I suppose its supposed to be some sort of rejuvenating outfit, but it looks way too "super-villain" to be taken seriously.
This isn't a bad comic, far from it in fact. But unless you're a die-hard Ghost Rider fanatic who absolutely has to own every one of his comics (which I admit to being one of those, sad to say, lol) I can't recommend it due to the high price tag it carries today.
Grade: C
Ghost Rider Collector's Edition # 1
Published: 1993
Original Price: $1.50
Cover: John Hebert
Title: "Eye of the Beholder!"
Writer: Chris Cooper
Artist: John Hebert
Inker: Bill Anderson
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Editor: Glenn Herdling
Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco