Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #119, Marvel Comics Presents #120, Marvel Comics Presents #121, Marvel Comics Presents #122 (Ghost Rider/Cloak & Dagger story only)
Cover Date: Jan-Feb 93
Title: And Let There Be Light...:"The door" / "In a dark place" / "The bride of Grimbat" / "The light within"
Credits:
Paula Foye - Writer
Alexander Morrissey - Penciler
Ken Branch / Ken Branch & Tim Tuohy - Inker
Mark Powers - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
I saw that this story featured a character called Grimbat. My first thought was that he would be a Batman parody. I definitely wasn't expecting an adorable bling-wearing dragon.

The story is that he comes from the planet of Zianon, which is in total darkness. So he wants to kidnap Dagger and make her his queen in order to bring light to his dimension. If nothing else, he understands that he's in a story delivered in 8 page segments, so he wastes no time in making a quick speech stating his motivations and then kidnapping Dagger, all by page two.

He does gut some poor drunk on the way out.

But nothing beats Cloak waking up, seeing the guy bleeding to death, and then deciding that he'd better accuse some random onlooker of being a criminal so that he can drain his light for sustenance.

It seems like Grimbat just knocked the memory out of Cloak. He doesn't remember the giant disco dragon man at all.

The drunk guy is there to provide the innocent blood that brings Ghost Rider to the scene.

This poor guy! He's managed to drag himself over to the wall and sit up, but he's still got blood gushing out of him. Cloak obviously doesn't care. Finally someone shows up that does care, but is he going to get him to the hospital? No! He's going to get into a Misunderstanding Fight with Cloak.

Ghost Rider's attack jolts Cloak from his confusion and suddenly he remembers everything.

Cloak and Ghost Rider then notice that everyone around them seems drugged and drained of light, and then Grimbat shows up again, this time deciding that Ghost Rider's "light" will also help his dimension. Cloak follows.

It turns out Grimbat lives in a He-Man playset, which makes sense.

Meanwhile, it turns out that everyone in Zianon wears a giant necklace. Disco chains and Castle Greyskull. It is a groovy planet. And you can't fool me; that is an Umber Hulk on the left. This is the best planet ever.

The headtrips keep coming. Ghost Rider pretends to allow himself to get captured so he can learn more about Grimbat, and it turns out that Grimbat eats light and then regurgitates it for his followers, like a parent bird.

Dagger has been hypnotized, and seems quite happy in her role as a fairy princess.

And that's understandable, since she gets all the bling.

But she's visited by a older woman named Melnoa, who tells her that her friends are imprisoned in a labyrinth beneath the castle. This seems to shake Dagger out of her hypnosis, and she destroys her bling (Nooooooooo!)...

...and goes to look for Cloak and Ghost Rider.

She finds them, and then blasts Grimbat when he approaches again.

Melnoa reveals that she's already the bride of Grimbat, so you can add polygamy to his list of crimes. It also turns out that blasting Grimbat with light wasn't the best idea.

I'm not drunk, so i must be having the DTs.

Grimbat actually wasn't aware that Melnoa was still alive. She previously played Dagger's role but was eventually drained of all her light, and she's been recovering since then. After hearing that, Grimbat is absorbed by Cloak, who drains his light and transforms him back into single-headed dragon form. Grimbat now realizes the error of his ways, and he asks Dagger to power him up one last time and he'll sacrifice himself, reducing himself to atoms to share the light with his people. Dagger is drained after her first blast, but she's bolstered by Melnoa. Light is brought to Zianon and then everyone goes home. I guess a part of Dagger still likes having been a princess, though.

This story is terrible, but it's awesomely terrible.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A