Guess who's coming to (my) town?
Alrighty folks, this is a bit of a re-post of the Spider-Man and Ghost Rider comic that I received as a little kid and had posted to the old comm. It prominently features the SkyDome and other Toronto Blue Jays-related things. Why? Because the Rogers Centre SkyDome was new back then, and the Jays were playing well, and the world was out to get me, that's why. (Over-exposure to baseball-related things as a kid made me hate the sport for many years. But enough of my bitterness, on with the comics!)
(Six interior pages and one cover under the cut.)
Half the comic is mostly that kid inserting bike safety lessons into the story, but I have kindly spared you, since we are all (I hope) above the age of six by now.
Hey! It's written by Dwayne McDuffie! I don't think I noticed that before. Anyways, there's this kid who's biking around downtown Toronto alone, remembering all his safe bicycling rules and wearing his helmet, when he decides to take a shortcut down an alley. Unfortunately for him, there's a villainous ex-con driver barrelling down that alley who accidentally hits the kid with his car. Being a Bad Guy, he takes off. Hit and run.
Fortunately for our little cyclist, a fellow on his motorcycle (who happens to be the kid's cousin) arrives on the scene and is able to get Phil (the kid) help, while silently swearing vengeance upon the evil hit and run driver. Yep, Danny Ketch has family in Toronto!
Heheheheheh. Anyways, Danny and Phil are now at Sick Kids' Hospital with Phil's parents. Peter Parker is in the hospital as well for some reason and accidentally bumps into Danny in the hallway, who sets off his Spidey-sense.
As Danny's leaving, he sees the driver in his car (said driver had been calling around to hospitals to see if the kid was all right, and was contemplating leaving a few bucks anonymously for his "hospital bills"--dude forgot his OHIP?). And so enters...
Oh, Ghost Rider! So, stuff happens here which I'm not scanning. Ghost Rider almost causes the driver, Ray, to crash his car, but Spidey slings his webs and saves him. Ray lies to Spider-man and says that it was Ghost Rider who hit the kid. Spider-man is skeptical, but decides to seek out Ghost Rider for a nice little chat. Meanwhile, Ray goes to a "seedy, underworld bar" and hires some thugs he knows from jail to protect him against Ghost Rider and to kill off the kid.
Spidey and Ghost Rider meet and have the usual "first we fight, then we become BEST FRIENDS!" scene...er, minus the best friends part.
Heh. I love the dig at the Toronto Sun. In the next page, Spider-man and Ghost Rider get separated as the kid's safely bicycling friends ride by.
I can't remember who, but I remember someone once saying that that is the best characterization of Ghost Rider they'd ever seen. I can't really say one way or the other, because this may be the only Ghost Rider comic I've ever read all the way through.
Anywho, I also wanted to let you guys know about the Toronto Comics Arts Festival that's happening this weekend in Toronto, if you're nearby.
They literally have a gazillion comics creators attending (seriously, just look at the guest list) and it's all free and happening at the Toronto Reference Library! Fun!