The God, the Ghost, and the Guilty!

Following their battle with the Ghost Rider, the Wrecker gets upset when Piledriver implies that they retreated out of cowardice after he accidentally summoned the demon Mephisto in the middle of the battle. The Wrecker violently attacks his comrade, saying he is afraid of nothing and that he’ll prove it by defeating the Ghost Rider and his “red faced friend.”[1]

Meanwhile, the Ghost Rider has been disturbed by the appearance of Mephisto. He recognizes the demon from somewhere but doesn’t know where or why.[2] While Loki is furious over the incident, as Mephisto’s summoning could interfere with his carefully laid plans. Loki decides to venture to the netherworld and meet with the Lord of Lies to find out what he is up to and enter into a pact. In Hell, Mephisto welcomes Loki and explains that he is indeed seeking out a soul to steal. He shows the trickster god a soul shroud that his followers are currently weaving. On it is the fact of the soul he wishes to claim. Seeing whose visage is on the shroud, Loki believes that an alliance is in order.[3]

Elsewhere, at the home of Eric Masterson, the architect is confronted by Susan Austin and Jerry Sapristi. Concerned over Eric’s frequent disappearances and the slow disintegration of his personal life and business, the pair have staged an intervention. Jerry stuns Eric by saying he knows his secret. Fearing that Jerry has discovered that he shares his existence with Thor. In reality, Jerry has come to believe that Eric has developed a secret drinking problem, which is equally as shocking to Masterson who doesn’t know what to say about this “revelation”. Before he can explain himself, his ex-wife Marcy comes over with their son, Kevin, leading to a heart warming reunion between father and son.[4]

By this time, Loki has returned from his visit with Mephisto, and his minions — Ulik and the Enchantress — wonder what sort of deal he made with the devil. He assures them that whatever their agreement, Loki intends to betray Mephisto in order to further his own goals. In the meantime, however, he intends to take back the power that was stolen from him from the Wrecker.[5]

Later, Eric Masterson finishes his visit with Kevin and as the boy leaves, Marcy pauses long enough to express her concern for Eric’s well being. Even though they are divorced and she now has full custody of Kevin, she still cares about her ex-husband and tells him that he can talk to her about anything.

Meanwhile, the Ghost Rider changes back into his mortal form of Danny Ketch. Although the immediate danger is over, Danny continues to patrol the city trying to find the Wrecking Crew so he can mete out justice. At that same time, Eric Masterson tries to get to work on his latest designs but cannot get his mind off the fact that his friends think he is an alcoholic. Deciding that he needs to get his mind off the drama, he changes into Thor and goes out on patrol. The thunder god’s presence in the city is spotted by Thunderball who reports back to the Wrecker, although he secretly hopes to steal Thor’s power to usurp control from the group. Seeing this as an opportunity to prove how tough he really is, the Wrecker orders his crew to get read for a fight unaware that they are being secretly observed by Loki. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to strike, Loki uses his mystical powers to create an illusion of the Wrecker in order to lure Danny Ketch and the Ghost Rider into another battle. The Spirit of Vengeance soon arrives on the scene just as Thor is being ambushed by the Wrecking Crew.

As the battle rages, Susan Austin is at home trying to make sense of her feelings for Eric Masterson. That’s when he roommate, Leena Morgan arrives and gets her to talk about what’s going on. Seeing how much Susan loves Eric, Leena tells her that the best way to get to his heart is through Eric’s son Kevin.[6]

Back at the scene of the battle, Thor and the Ghost Rider work together to fight off the Wrecking Crew. While everyone is distracted, Thunderball waits from the sidelines for the right moment to strike when he is ambushed by Loki and Ulik. There is a brief struggle that comes to an abrupt end when Loki takes back the Asgardian magic that gives Thunderball his powers. By this point, Piledriver has had enough and tries to flee the scene and runs right into Loki and has his power stolen as well. With only the Wrecker and Bulldozer left, Loki then manipulates a mystical bolt fired by the Wrecker to summon demons from Mephisto’s realm which quickly swarm Thor and the Ghost Rider. Seeing this as their opportunity to high tail it out of there, the Wrecker and Bulldozer are ambushed by Ulik. This allows Loki to steal Bulldozer’s power.[7] However, he merely knocks the Wrecker out, as he wishes to make him suffer for stealing the power meant for Loki before taking it back.

By this time, Thor and Ghost Rider have fought off the demons, who are vanquished by a powerful bolt of lighting. After rounding up the defeated Wrecking Crew, Thor wants to take them to a hospital, but Ghost Rider is not interested in helping and takes off.

While back in Hell, Mephisto is informed that the soul shroud is complete. Going to the loom that created it, the Lord of Hell is pleased to see that it holds the image of Thor and begins to laugh.

Recurring Characters

Thor, Ghost Rider, Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, Bulldozer), Eric Masterson, Loki, Ulik, Enchantress, Mephisto, Susan Austin, Jerry Sapristi, Marcy Steele, Kevin Masterson

Continuity Notes

1. Here, the Wrecker reminds his teammates that he fought Thor and Hercules in the past. The Wrecker has clashed with Thor many times, the first being back in Thor #148. The time he fought both Thor and Hercules was back in issue #418.

2. The reason why Mephisto finds Mephisto familiar is because the Spirit of Vengeance that is bonded to Danny Ketch was once his ancestor Noble Kale. Kale was tricked by Mephisto and his soul was transformed into the Ghost Rider spirit that possesses Danny here. A spell of forgetfulness has made Noble forget all of this. See Ghost Rider (vol. 3) #92.

3. This is a very convoluted situation, the face that Loki sees on the soul shroud is that of Thor, as we’ll learn later this issue. Later, when Thor seemingly slays Loki in Thor #432 and is banished, it is assumed that Thor’s soul is trapped in the soul shroud. In fact, many stories hint at this, particularly in Thor #443. In reality, Odin’s spirit is displaced by Loki, who takes possession of Odin’s body for a time and it is Odin who is trapped in the soul shroud, something we won’t learn until Thor #450-455. What is unrevealed here is that Loki knows about future events after being brought forward in time between last issue and this one. See Thor #440-441 and 454.

4. Masterson was bonded with Thor after the thunder god was seriously injured back in Thor #408. This will remain the status quo until issue #432.

5. This is another reference to Thor #148. At the time, Loki was stripped of much of his power and sought more by borrowing it from Karnilla the Norn Queen. When summoning her to Earth, Loki was ambushed by the Wrecker who was just a petty criminal at the time. Putting on Loki’s helmet, the Wrecker was mistaken for the trickster god in the darkened room and Karnilla ended up giving him the power meant for Loki.

6. Leena Morgan is secretly the Enchantress in disguise, as we’ll learn in next issue.

7. Although depowered here, the Wrecking Crew are not gone for good. Thunderball will continue his criminal career in Damage Control (vol. 3) #1 and Captain America #395. He will obtain high tech replacements for his powers in Amazing Spider-Man #353-358. He and the rest of the Wrecking Crew will get their powers restored to them in Alpha Flight #118-119.