Ghost Rider (2006) # 12

"Apocalypse Soon, Part 1"

Cover Date: August 2007

On Sale Date: June 2007

 

Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Javier Saltares
Inker: Scott Hanna
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Dan Brown
Editor: Michael O'Connor
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Gabrielle Dell'Otto

 

Inside the cockpit of an airliner plane, one pilot reveals himself to be a host of Lucifer and kills his co-pilot. He looks out the windshield of the plane and sees the Ghost Rider coming down the runway toward him. The pilot attempts to play "chicken" using the plane, but Ghost Rider wraps his chain around the jet and rips the whole cockpit away from the rest of the plane, causing it to crash and burst into flames. Lucifer walks out of the fire and is hit by a speeding gasoline tanker truck that then explodes. Before he can finish the kill, Ghost Rider sees the survivors from the plane being rescued by firefighters; Lucifer, still alive but badly burned, taunts Blaze by asking "get the bad guy or save the innocents?". Before the decision can be made, the rest of the plane explodes, killing the passengers, and Lucifer escapes

 

The next morning, Johnny wakes up on the side of the rode and has an internal argument with the Spirit of Vengeance about all of the people that died aboard the plane. Blaze begins the ride to Buffalo, which was the destination of the Lucifer shard in the plane, but he's stopped when sees a mass evacuation out of New York taking place. Assuming it's because of Lucifer, he stops in a diner and sees a news report about the Hulk having arrived in New York City with an alien army. He has given 24 hours to evacuate the city and has demanded that Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, and Iron Man be brought before him. Blaze leaves the diner to go stop the Hulk, but the Spirit of Vengeance stops him, claiming that it is not their affair and Blaze is foolish to jeopardize the lives of billions threatened by Lucifer just to save a few. Johnny regains control of the Ghost Rider body and says "yeah, I AM that foolish". He rides through the army barricades that have blocked off Brooklyn and enters the empty city, finally coming face to face with the Hulk.

Size doesn't matter, Lucifer!

THE ROADMAP

This issue is a tie-in to Marvel's crossover event World War Hulk.

 

The Hulk and Johnny Blaze first encountered one another in Ghost Rider (1973) # 11.

 

The burned Lucifer host that escapes the airport returns in Ghost Rider (2006) # 15 as "Jack Daniels".

 

CHAIN REACTION

We go from a "Civil War" tie-in to a crossover with the "World War Hulk" event, giving us at least a partial distraction from the ongoing Lucifer storyline.

 

I can imagine that readers picking this up solely for the "World War Hulk" crossover were sorely disappointed, given that the Hulk himself only shows up on the very last page. The bulk of the story is given over to Ghost Rider's ongoing feud with the hosts of Lucifer, never mind that kick-ass Dell'Otto cover with Ghost Rider chain strangling the Hulk. Still, even with the obvious bait-and-switch that cover implies, writer Dan Way turns out a really well-written script that proves once again that he does really have a great handle on the Blaze/Ghost Rider dynamic. The argument between the two brings back fond memories of the Zarathos era, and it really shows that despite being in control during the early issues of this run Blaze is fighting a losing battle against the Spirit of Vengeance inside him. There's a subtleness there, something I never thought I would say about Way's usually heavy-handed writing, with Blaze losing more and more ground to the Ghost Rider each time he allows it to "handle business" against Lucifer. Things have spun out of Johnny's control, and though he wins a small battle against the demon inside him when he goes off to fight the Hulk, it's obvious that he's slowly losing the war. Just the nature of the two sides having an out-right married couple fight in Johnny's head puts some unsettling vibes into the middle of the story.

 

We can't escape the inevitable fight with yet another Lucifer host, though, and god does the Devil's personality grate on me every time I have to slog through his dialogue. Yes, yes, we all know he's Satan and is evil, but if he's just "hitching a ride to Buffalo" then why kill his co-pilot? Because he's eeeeeeeeevvvvvvviiiiiiiillllllll, that's why! Way's interpretation of Lucifer isn't "regal angel who fell out with God over philosophical differences", he's a spoiled brat. I assume that's supposed to be the point, so fair enough, but damn if it's not annoying as all hell to read.

 

The big change this issue is the absence of art finisher Mark Texeira, with inker Scott Hanna filling in. Javier Saltares is a great artist, I will never say otherwise, but this issue plainly shows that working with Texeira just sends Saltares' work into a whole 'nother place than when he's inked traditionally. There's nothing wrong with Hanna's finishes, per se, it just looks like a normal superhero comic. He doesn't clash with Saltares as badly as Tom Palmer does a few issues later, but a lot of the really epic sequences just feel smaller without Texeira there to fill in the spaces. The bit with Ghost Rider ripping off the plane's cockpit is inspired and makes a great visual, but there we are with yet another freaking full-splash-page explosion. I went though tonight and counted all of the full-page explosions during the Way/Saltares run, and the count is ridiculous: 7 times in 19 issues. It can be a cool way to fill a splash page, true, but when you go to the well that many times it just looks like a way to waste space; all of the drama of the scene is lost when you realize how many times the creators have done this very same trick.

 

This issue gets so many things right, despite the usual problems I have with Daniel Way's writing, that it almost gives me hope that the writer knows what he's doing after all. Of course, later issues will prove me wrong, but for the sake of this issue I'm going to pretend it all works out in the end.

 

Modern Ghost Rider comics need more of THIS.