Ghost Rider/Captain America: Fear #1
Fear
At an undisclosed location a team of surgeons are busy performing an unauthorized procedure on Ebenezer Laughton, the criminal also known as the Scarecrow.[1] When one of the nurses expresses her reservations about doing this, the lead surgeon reminds her how much they’re all getting paid for doing this. Despite the fact that Laughton was anesthetized, he manages to slip loose from his arm restraints.[2] He then suddenly bolts up, grabs a scalpel off a nearby tray and smashes the lights. Beliving that he is answering the call of his mother, Ebenezer slaughters the entire staff. Once the slaughter is complete, he Laughton believes that his mother is calling on him to track down and “open up” Captain America and release his “presents” as he has done with the surgeons.[3]
A week later, in Brooklyn, the police have surrounded a grocery store where a hostage situation is underway after a robbery went sour. Captain Arthur Dolan has arrived and is attempt to negotiate with the hostage takers when, suddenly, the Ghost Rider comes racing on the scene on his motorcycle. As the flaming demon races into the grocery store, Dolan orders his men to press in and capture the Ghost Rider.[4] While inside, the Ghost Rider quickly incapacitates the robbers by spraying the room with the links of his enchanted chain. He then grabs their leader and gives him the penance stare. With the crooks dealt with, Ghost Rider then checks on their hostages. Unfortunately, one of them is an old man who is so frightened by the Spirit of Vengeance’s appearance that he begins to suffer a heart attack. That’s when the cops arrive and open fire on Ghost Rider, hitting him with sufficient force to knock him into one of the refrigerators. However, the Ghost Rider is unharmed and soon gets up, mounts his motorcycle, and speeds off. Captain Dolan is furious that the Ghost Ride has evaded capture again. His second-in-command worries that Dolan will give himself a heart attack chasing the vigilante and when he suggests that the Ghost Rider might be on their side, Dolan scoffs at the idea.
When Danny Ketch, the current host for the Ghost Rider, reads the paper the following day he is upset that the press is blaming the Ghost Rider for the hostage that died of a heart attack. His girlfriend Stacy Dolan — Arthur’s daughter — asks him what’s wrong and Danny expresses his frustration about how the public perceives the Ghost Rider. Stacy reminds him that the Ghost Rider is a criminal and expresses her own concerns because Danny has been acting different ever since their encounter with the madman known as Blackout.[5] She isn’t sure what’s she is more afraid of, the sudden change in Danny’s attitude or the Ghost Rider. However, she doesn’t press the issue further because she has to go on duty. After she is gone, Danny thinks about how he can’t tell her how he actually died during the fight with Blackout and saw and felt things that no living person should have. He concludes that his life is built around fear, just like everyone else.
This entire time, the Scarecrow has been on a killing spree across the city, claiming three victims already. The police eventually find the slaughtered surgeons. Miraculously, one of the nurses has survived this entire time and is rushed to the hospital. This recent discovery prompts Police Commissioner Robert Stubbs to call Arthur Dolan into his office. He wants Dolan to focus all of his resources on capturing the Scarecrow. Dolan doesn’t like having to put aside his Ghost Rider case, but Stubbs insists that this is more important and that he can go back to chasing the vigilante after Scarecrow is back in custody.
That evening, the Scarecrow is out on the prowl for more victims. In his twisted mind, he views these killings as a message being sent out to Captain America. Thanks to the surgery he has undergone, he can now trigger intense fear in all those he encounters, making it much more gratifying to “open” them up like “presents”. He and his murder of crows locate a young couple walking on the street and attack them. After slaughtering the pair with his pitchfork, the Scarecrow is caught in the act by Stacy Dolan who is on patrol with her partner. Scarecrow’s new fear abilities cause them to become so frightened the two cops drop their guns. Ebenezer then murders Stacy’s partner, but when he gets close enough to her he mistakes Dolan for his mother and takes her with him instead.
At the same time, a group representing the Firm have gotten ahold of the surviving nurse. She isn’t expected to survive so they inject her with a truth serum so she can tell them everything she knows before she dies.
Elsewhere in the city, Danny Ketch has gone out for a motorcycle ride because he can’t sleep. When a police car speeds past with its sirens on, the medallion built into the gas cap of Danny’s motorcycle begins to glow. Touching it, Ketch is transformed into the Ghost Rider who races off to see who needs to be avenged this evening.
A little ways away, Captain Dolan and a team of officers and EMTs have arrived on the scene of the Scarecrow’s recent murders. Arthur fears the worse of his daughter who isn’t on the scene. That’s when Captain America arrives and offers his aid, telling Dolan that he and the Scarecrow have unfinished business. Cap fills them in on his last encounter with the villain and how he has gone utterly insane. However, he has no idea why he would have kidnapped Stacy Dolan instead of killing her, but promises Arthur that he intends to find out. That’s when one of the other officers notices Ghost Rider watching things from the rooftops. Captain America tells the officers to stand by while he goes up and sees what the Ghost Rider wants.
Climbing up onto the roof, Cap confronts the Ghost Rider, who stands unafraid of the hero. Captain America knows about the Ghost Rider’s reputation, but also knows that by its deeds it is not a killer. Learning how the Spirit of Vengeance wants to find the Dolan woman and bring the Scarecrow to justice, Captain America suggests that they work together. Climbing onto the back of the Ghost Rider’s motorcycle, the pair speed off just as officers arrive to try and apprehend the vigilante.
Meanwhile, Stacy has been taken to the abandoned family home where Ebenezer Laughton grew up. There she is tied to a scarecrow’s perch and her kidnapper — still thinking she is his mother — promises that she won’t have to drink anymore and that he can help her.
Elsewhere, Stern, a high ranking member of the Firm, is informed that the surgery conducted on the Scarecrow was a complete success. Stern is pleased and orders his men to bring the Scarecrow back in because them.
While in Brooklyn Heights, Captain America and Ghost Rider continue their search for the Scarecrow. Along the way, Cap tires to learn more about the Ghost Rider, but it admits to him that it doesn’t know much about its past or the source of its power.[6] They soon spot a swarm of crows in the sky and quickly discover that they are hovering over the Scarecrow’s family home. Once there, Captain America decides that since the Scarecrow wants him, he’ll go through the front door and create a distraction while Ghost Rider gets in through the roof and frees Ebenezer’s hostage. When Cap goes inside, he is ambushed by the Scarecrow and the hero quickly discovers that his enemy now has enhanced strength. Knocked back outside, Captain America finds himself barely able to hold his own against the Scarecrow.
That’s when the Ghost Rider’s chain is thrown and wraps around the killer and yanks him up onto the roof. When the Scarecrow tries to make the Ghost Rider fear him, he discovers that his powers have no affect on him.
Back on the ground, Captain Dolan arrives on the scene, having learned the location of Laughton’s family him with his detective skills. Now that he is on the scene, Cap tells him to call for back up right away. Up on the roof, Scarecrow and Ghost Rider fight it out until the madman spots Captain America racing into the house. Fearing for his “mother”, the Scarecrow slips past the Ghost Rider and uses his contortionist skills to skimmy down the chimney back into the house. Annoyed, Ghost Rider wraps his chain around a smoke stack and uses it to swing into the house through one of the upstairs windows. Captain Dolan has also gotten inside and while searching for his daughter he is horrified to find a number of Scarecrow’s other victims. Not only have they all been horrifically murdered, but the maniac has also filled his victims mouths with straw.
Ghost Rider finds the Scarecrow in the upstairs bedroom where he has stashed Stacy. There, the two fight it out until the Ghost Rider overpowers the lunatic. The Spirit of Vengeance is almost ready to beat Ebenezer to death, but stops himself from crossing that line. No matter what a villain has done, the Ghost Rider won’t kill. That’s when Captain America and Captain Dolan enter the room. At first, Arthur believes his daughter is dead until she wakes up and spits out the straw stuffed in her mouth. The Scarecrow then comes at Captain America with his pitchfork, but Cap blocks the attack with his shield. Before the Scarecrow can summon his murder of crows to aid him, Stacy manages to get loose and fire a shot from her service pistol. The bullet only creases the Scarecrow’s brow but seeing his mother “turn” against him he decides to take the “fearful thing” out of her right away.
As the Scarecrow charges at Stacy, Ghost Rider uses his enchanted chain to trip the madman. This causes Ebenezer to stumble out a window and fall to the ground where he is impaled on a wrought iron fence down below. The Ghost Rider insists that he was only trying to stop his foe and Cap points out that the Scarecrow intentionally threw himself out the window to try and escape. As the police and paramedics arrive on the scene, Ghost Rider departs. When Captain America asks if this means Captain Dolan has changed his mind about the Ghost Rider, Dolan admits that he doesn’t know.
Meanwhile, Danny Ketch visits the grave of his sister Barbara.[7] He tells her that he has gone through a lot of changes since the last time he visited her. He discovers that he has something in common with the Scarecrow. While the villain wanted to release other people’s fears, Danny releases his own whenever he becomes the Ghost Rider, but that in turns makes everyone — including Stacy and her father — fear him.
Back at the crime scene, the Scarecrow wakes up, having survived his fall and begins trying to pull his body free from the fence. Here he is confronted by Stern who is very impressed by Laughton’s abilities and tells the lunatic that the Firm has a use for his special talents.[8]
Recurring Characters
Ghost Rider, Captain America, Scarecrow, Stacy Dolan, Arthur Dolan, The Firm
Continuity Notes
The Scarecrow appears here after his last defeat at the hands of the Ghost Rider. The mysterious organization that has commissioned this surgery is identified as the Firm. See Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #7.
Did you forget that this Scarecrow is a master contortionist? If you don’t, go back and read Tales of Suspense #51.
Scarecrows deranged obsession with Captain America stems from their last encounter in Captain America #280.
Dolan has made it his mission to arrest the Ghost Rider since Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #1.
Danny Ketch’s brush with death at the hands of Blackout happened in Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #25.
It’s later explained in Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #92 that the Spirit of Vengeance that Danny hosts is actually the spirit of his ancestor Noble Kale who was transformed into that form by the demon Mephisto thousands of years earlier.
Danny’s sister Barbara was murdered by Blackout in Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #7.
The Firm will use the Scarecrow to attack Ghost Rider again in Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #38.
Topical References
When Danny crumples up a newspaper and tosses it away, Stacy Dolan asks him if they have canceled Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin and Hobbes was a popular newspaper comic strip that featured the imaginative adventures of Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes. The series ran from 1985 until series creator Bill Waterson decided to retire the strip in 1995. It still retains a following to this day as reprints of old strips still circulate in papers and the collected books have sold millions of copies. That said, this is a real world comic strip, so its reference here should be considered topical.
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. They have subsequently been replaced with the Freedom Tower.
