Blackout Kills Danny Ketch

[mrosa]

I don't know if people here loved the '90s Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch. I loved the first years of the series and then it turned into a mess with bad writing and incomprehensible art. For me the best story of the series was the ongoing feud between Ghost Rider and the vampire Blackout.

Blackout first showed up in #2, working for the crime boss Deathwatch; he had to recover some canister containing a biotoxin that could kill millions of people, blah blah blah. I don't think these early stories were very strong, but Blackout's brutality and viciousness always impressed me, starting with his first appearance:





Even for the series, this was pretty violent. Later in the issue he butchered another family:



And had his first fight with Ghost Rider:







Then in their second meeting, it went from strictly business to deeply personal when this happened:





To make matters worse, Blackout found out Ghost Rider's secret identity and did what you'd expect a psychopath with a grudge would do: he started killing his family and friend, starting with Danny's comatose sister, Barbara:





Blackout's slaughter of his friends and family was an ongoing story for over a year until it reached its climax with #25. Finally emerging from the shadows he contacts Danny and begins a sinister cat-and-mouse game with him:



Ha ha, yeah right:



Oh shit, he actually thought this through!

Danny realizes just how serious Blackout is when he kidnaps his mom practically in front of his eyes:



Powerless, Danny goes meet the villain at his own house and the inevitable happens:





His line - "Maybe. Maybe not. You'll never know, Danny. You'll never know." - is utterly creepy.



For my young mind this was mind-blowing, the villain actually killing the hero. I had never seen anything so amazing in comics! Then the stories got stranger and too bizarre for my taste and I lost interest in the series. But this arc became impressed on my mind. Whenever I think of really successful villains, it's not Magneto or Dr. Doom that comes to mind, but Blackout biting Danny's throat in his own front lawn. What a horrible, sordid and inglorious way for a hero to go.

Comments

[freezer]

WTF was with the Villan Exit Stage Left escapes? Did Blackout fly away? Teleport? Hit the super speed? Or did Danny just watch him run off like the NInja Turtles watching Shredder run off?

[greenmask]

Give them a break, they don't eat well.

[mrosa]

Ah yes, Blackout had the power to create a field of darkness around himself, making himself invisible. That's how he walks into the hospital unseen.

[freezer]

So it was as I suspected: There was a reason, but the art was crap at portraying it.

[mrosa]

I think the art had many fine qualities, but portraying Blackout's powers was definitely not one of its strengths.

[silicondream]

It is pretty sweet art. Very 50's-horror-comic-inspired. I wonder, too, if they were trying to go for an effect where Blackout rarely actually vanished in front of you; he just wasn't there when you looked again. Easy to do with film, hard to do on paper.

If it's just invisibility, though, Ghost Rider still isn't trying very hard to catch him. At least feel around a little or swing your chain in the general area, just in case...

[cainofdreaming]

I don't remember Blackout's powers being exactly like that. He made light sources fail, but I don't think invisibility was ever inferred from that or actually generating darkness - his vulnerability to sunlight would have been much less of an issue if he could.

[greenmask]

And that was the actual for-real end of Danny Ketch? :0

[mrosa]

No, the series lasted for many more issues, although Ghost Rider couldn't revert to human form or Danny would die, and he was caught in some limbo. I think he came back to life, but by that time I was no longer following the series, so all I know is from hearsay. I just really love these early issues.

[greenmask]

Ohh yeah, I remember knowing he had that spell in limbo.

Still, you're right, that's a pretty huge victory.

[icon_uk]

I did love ONE of those early issues, but more for my own personal reasons than anything else.

[alexanderlucard]

Lilith brought him back as a Lilin to fuck with Noble and Blaze. Then Strange and a few others restored him to his human form.

[goggle_kid]

I was sad that Blackout never wore his purple coat in the Ghost Rider: Spirits of Vengence movie.

[silicondream]

This seems like a case where playing along with the villain is completely insane. Why wouldn't Blackout kill them all afterwards? He kills families for kicks anyway, he has no sense of honor, and he's obsessed with scoring every possible point over Danny. Everything about him says he'd kill them all, just to make sure Danny saved absolutely nobody dear to him.

By comparison, the Doom Patrol getting blowed up to save a random bunch of civilians (which I loved) made sense, because Zahl was a proud man and didn't give a crap about said civilians one way or the other; he just wanted the DP gone.

[mrosa]

Well, what other options did he have? He was being closely monitored and Blackout would have killed his family if he for instance tried to seek aid from other heroes, which, truth be said, he didn't know many.

[silicondream]

As far as I can see, his only option was to show up, then transform to Ghost Rider and attack. Blackout claimed he'd be able to kill at least one of Danny's family before he was stopped, and maybe he was right, but at least that way the others would have a chance. And Danny himself would live, and Blackout wouldn't be free to continue his general lifestyle of mass murder. Better all round, I think.

[deleonjh]

Wasn't it Danny's sister who was supposed to become Ghost Rider, but through shenanigans ended up in a coma and Danny got Ghosty?

I too liked this series, the middle part with the coming together of the Midnight Sons was pretty cool, though I never actually got a chance to read the ending until a couple of years ago and it was pretty crap.

[icon_uk]

Yes, she should have been the Ghost Rider rather than him.

[cainofdreaming]

And his brother should have been Ghosty before her.

[icon_uk]

IIRC his brother WAS Ghost Rider before him, since Johnny Blaze was Danny's sibling.

[cainofdreaming]

Yup, but not that particular Ghostie. Their mother made it so that Johnny evaded the Kale line curse, so Mephisto made him a host for Zarathos instead.