Heroes For Hire (2011) # 2

"Damnunition"

Cover Date: March 2011

On Sale Date: January 2011

Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

Artist: Brad Walker
Inker: Andrew Hennessy
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Jay David Ramos
Assistant Editors: Rachel Pinnelas & John Denning
Editor: Bill Rosemann
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Dougie Braithwaite

Misty Knight, using the handle "Control", hires international bounty hunter Silver Sable as her next agent. Elsewhere, at the Bronx morgue, Paladin goes against Misty's orders and investigates the bodies of fourteen people killed in one of eight mass shootings with weapons that can punch through body armor, vehicles, and even walls. Misty has uncovered a name in connection to the shootings, gun-running Derin Vitali, but Paladin believes there's more to the case. Knight, however, has already seen Silver Sable after Vitali.

At Manhattan's west side dock, Sable is in a firefight with Vitali's men, who are using weapons that can cut through anything, making her armor useless. Back at the morgue, Paladin finds a gun fused to the hand of one of the shooters. He calls in Satana, who is a supernatural antiquities dealer, and she tells him that the weapon is cursed - it's called a Demonica Soulcutter that fires demon bullets capable of ripping the souls out of its target. The bullets eat souls and will eventually fuse to and corrupt the gun's owner until they are devoured as well. Suddenly, the corpse comes to life, reanimated by the Demonica, but Satana easily dispatches him. Paladin contacts Misty and tells her to pull her agent out immediately.

Back at the docks, however, Sable has picked up one of the Demonica weapons and is using it to fight back against Vitali's men. Misty orders her to drop the gun, but Sable finds that she's unable to let go of it. At that moment, Silver Sable and Vitali's men are teleported from New York to Miami by Baron Brimstone, a villain who combines sorcery with super-science. Misty tracks Sable's location and sends word that there's another agent on the way back-up. Then Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider, roars through the compound, scattering Vitali's men. Ghost Rider quickly takes out all of the soldiers, leaving only Baron Brimstone, whose escape is cut off by Sable. She throws the Demonica gun away, allowing Brimstone to claim it - but when he pulls the trigger, he finds that Silver has taken out the bullets. Brimstone is then dragged though a portal to Hell, to answer to the demon responsible for the Demonica. The Miami compound explodes behind the escaping Ghost Rider and Silver Sable.

Misty, meanwhile, tells Paladin that she's holed up in her in her control room. But Paladin is standing in her empty control room, because Knight is secretly in a coma and under the control of the Puppet Master. 

Ghost Rider actually sounds pleasantly surprised.

THE ROADMAP

Ghost Rider last appeared in X-Men: To Serve and Protect # 2 and appears next in Amazing Spider-Man/Ghost Rider: Motorstorm # 1.

Misty Knight most likely met Johnny Blaze in the aftermath of Shadowland # 5.

Ghost Rider appeared on the cover of Heroes For Hire (2011) # 1 but didn't make his appearance in the series until this second issue.

CHAIN REACTION

After being teased in the first issue, Ghost Rider finally makes his way into the Heroes For Hire series.

Heroes For Hire's first issue was a great introductory issue with a fantastic cliffhanger - even if I was disappointed that Ghost Rider was front and center on the cover but didn't appear at all in the story - and I was a little worried that Abnett, Lanning, and Walker wouldn't be able to keep up the momentum in its second issue. In this instance, I'm glad they proved me wrong.

I find the Heroes For Hire concept to be one with infinite possibilities for exciting character matches. This issue brings together two characters I wouldn't have believed to be such great compliments to one another: Ghost Rider and Silver Sable. The two play off one another well, and I especially liked Sable's role in the story. Silver Sable is a character I've always liked, but she's one that writers seem to have no idea what to do with. So it's great to see her handled well here. I've seen other reviews of this comic that take issue with Ghost Rider's role, complaining that he's being manipulated once again. I don't see it that way, because Misty is obviously implementing a "scratch my back, I scratch yours" way of doing business - I don't know what she could have offered Blaze, but it's obvious to me that he wouldn't have been there to help if he didn't want to be there. It's also great that Ghost Rider's finally being portrayed as the unstoppable juggernaut that Shadowland failed to deliver on.

One of the things that makes this series so enjoyable is Brad Walker's artwork, which is so full of life and energy that every panel is exciting. Silver Sable's appearance on the first page is magnificent, the image of Misty's lips speaking into the microphone is the most distinctive image of the series, and his Ghost Rider...oh man, his Ghost Rider is amazing! Compare Walker's Ghost Rider scenes with Billy Tan's in Shadowland, the difference is as extreme as night and day (even if Walker does use the design for Ghost Rider's motorcycle that Tan created and I seriously dislike).

Abnett, Lanning, and Walker sold me on Heroes For Hire, which is impressive considering it was a spin-off from the terrible Shadowland crossover. It's too bad Ghost Rider didn't have a return engagement with the series before it ended.

It's not delivery, it's demonica.