Ghost Rider (2006) # 13

"Apocalypse Soon, Part 2"

Cover Date: September 2007

On Sale Date: July 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

 

In the middle of an evacuated New York City, Johnny Blaze has found the Hulk, who has taken over the city and demanded revenge against Iron Man, Dr. Strange, and Mr. Fantastic. Blaze tries to talk sense into Banner, begging him to stop what he's doing, but the Hulk laughs and sends him flying away with a clap of hands. Hulk walks away, and while the Spirit of Vengeance tries to convince his human host to let him take over, Johnny has an idea. He takes off on his bike, dragging his chains through the foundations of two buildings, causing them to crash down onto the Hulk. Blaze stops the bike, thinking he's actually won, but the Hulk's hand comes up through the ground to drag Ghost Rider down into the subway. Hulk tries to tell him to go away and leave him alone, but Johnny is arguing with the Spirit inside his head; when he says "shut up!" to the demon, Hulk thinks he's talking to him and throws him back up through the hole in the street. As he soars into the air, Blaze throws down his chain, which wraps around Hulk's neck. Thinking he has Banner caught, he attempts to drag him out of the city, but instead pulls to the street a subway train car that Hulk had attached with the chain. Johnny hears a roar and looks up to see the Hulk perched atop a tall building, screaming. Hulk jumps down and crashes on top of Blaze, the force of the collision blowing out a crater in the street.

 

Reed Richards and Dr. Strange have both been observing the battle from their homes, and Reed asks Strange if the Ghost Rider could possibly defeat the Hulk. Strange says that yes, the Ghost Rider is possessed of boundless, godlike power; but it's not the Ghost Rider that's fighting the Hulk, it's Johnny Blaze. Reed asks if there's a difference, and Strange explains that the Ghost Rider's human host asks as a "safety mechanism" to keep the Spirit of Vengeance's full power in check. But as the Hulk stands over the defeated Blaze, who is laying in the crater, Strange realizes something that frightens him: Johnny is no longer in control of the Ghost Rider, and that is not a favorable occurrence. Ghost Rider blows up the street with an enormous explosion of hellfire, which actually staggers the Hulk. The Rider leaps out of the crater on his bicycle, stares at the Hulk for a moment, and then rides away out of the city. Dr. Strange explains to Richards that the Ghost Rider only avenges the innocent, and the heroes that betrayed the Hulk are all guilty and deserve their fate.

Let me hear your hands clap!

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.

 

Ghost Rider appears next in Ghost Rider Annual (2008) # 1.

 

CHAIN REACTION

Ghost Rider versus the Hulk in this "World War Hulk" crossover!

 

After last issue's extended set-up for the huge fight between Ghost Rider and Hulk, this issue brings an unsatisfying conclusion to what should have been an epic brawl between two unstoppable engines of destruction. Well, I say "unsatisfying", but that's exactly the point of this story, isn't it? We don't get to see a massive battle between Ghost Rider and Hulk, because the protagonist in this issue isn't the Spirit of Vengeance, it's the woefully unprepared Johnny Blaze trying to harness power he doesn't know how to effectively wield. Johnny tries thinking outside of the box, but he's simply not clever nor powerful enough to be more than a nuisance to the Hulk (who appropriately enough calls Blaze "a bug", because to the Hulk that's exactly what he is, an annoying fly buzzing around him that won't go away).

 

I'm sorry guys, but this issue is just straight-up brilliant. All through the issue, I was thinking "come on, Ghost Rider would do WAY better against the Hulk than THIS!", and I was right! The pitch-perfect ending to this issue lays it all out on the table: the Ghost Rider could very well stop the Hulk, but the Ghost Rider isn't interested in this fight any more than the Hulk himself is. Johnny Blaze, the "human safety switch", is the one that picked the fight and he has no idea how to win. Every great idea he has, which every time ends with him thinking "I did it!", fails to even slow the Hulk down. Only when the Hulk takes Johnny out of the equation does the real Ghost Rider make himself known. That two-page explosion, which I would normally rag on as the over-used trope it really is, works perfectly in this issue. Johnny Blaze was the pin on the grenade, and when removed the Ghost Rider explodes.

 

And that brings us to the twist in the story, which Dr. Strange narrates to Reed Richards, and it works so damn well. Of course Ghost Rider would be on the Hulk's side, he's all about seeking vengeance, the exact thing that the Hulk is not only after, but that he deserves. As Strange so perfectly says, "the Ghost Rider avenges only the innocent, which we...are not." The heroes screwed up royally, and when the opportunity to use Ghost Rider to defeat the Hulk ends with the Rider leaving, it's the heroes own guilt that makes it happen. I think I may love this comic.

 

Unfortunately, the artwork still suffers from the absence of Mark Texeira as the finisher on Javier Saltares' pencils. Scott Hanna does his best, and while this is not a bad looking comic I can only imagine how much better it would have looked had Texeira not needed a break. Saltares still turns in some great images, particularly the two-page explosion and the final page, which reflects on the heroes the Hulk is after (two of which, Iron Man and Black Bolt, are already laying in defeat).

 

I think this is definitely Daniel Way's best issue of Ghost Rider, which is kind of funny considering it's an inconsequential tie-in to a crossover event.

 

They're lucky he didn't stay to get vengeance WITH the Hulk.