Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Matthew Clark; Inker: Sean Parsons; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Adam Kubert
Mephisto transports himself and John Blaze to Hell's motorcycle
garage, where the demon lord attempts to talk Johnny into signing a
contract that will give him the bike of his choice and the chance to
save the world from the fate his actions have doomed it to. Blaze
punches Mephisto, but the demonic Servicer steps in and lifts Johnny
from the ground. Blaze tells Mephisto that he can forget him ever
becoming the Ghost Rider again, but Mephisto replies that Johnny can
never be the Ghost Rider's host again anyway. Mephisto asks the man for
help (even saying please!), but Blaze just laughs him off. The two are
then transported to the base of the Asgardian Serpent, where they are
invisible, and Mephisto explains that the Serpent's war of fear against
humanity was the signal that Adam was waiting on to purge the world of
all sin. The Serpent senses their presence, so Mephisto and Johnny
return to Hell, where Blaze is shown a vision of the future: the human
race, their sin burned from them by Adam and the Ghost Rider, live as
emotionless zombies with no desires, flaws, or creativity. Mephisto
needs Blaze because no one else alive has more experience controlling
the Spirit of Vengeance and he must rescue the current host and get her
away from Adam.
In Nicaragua, Alejandra has returned from her
failed attack on Sin and her soldiers. Adam tells her to judge her
fellow students in the temple, the people she was raised alongside, and
free them from their sins. The Seeker, a reanimated corpse that chose
Alejandra as the next Ghost Rider, tries to step in to stop Adam, but
his armed bodyguards keep him at bay with gunfire. When Alejandra
transforms into the Rider, she refuses to heed Adam's orders, so the two
begin to fight. Adam grabs the Rider and forces her to comply.
Outside, Johnny Blaze arrives at the temple on his
new motorcycle, blasting his way inside with his hellfire shotgun.
Blaze shoots Adam in the shoulder, then partners up with the Seeker to
power Alejandra down. However, the Servicer smashes into the temple and
attacks; in response, the Ghost Rider unleashes a horde of demonic
locusts from her mouth, which devours the Servicer in moments. When
Johnny steps in and attempts to talk her down, the Rider turns on him
and puts her scythe to his throat, declaring that she will wipe out all
sin, starting with his.
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| I wonder how often Mephisto gets that reaction? |
THE ROADMAP
The Servicer, the demon in charge of Hell's garage, made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man/Ghost Rider: Motorstorm # 1.
In Marvel Spotlight on Ghost Rider (1972) # 5 it was Satan who cursed Johnny Blaze. This was changed to Mephisto in Ghost Rider (1973) # 68 and remained until Ghost Rider (2006) # 1,
where it was changed back to Satan. As of this issue, we're back to
having Mephisto as the original demon that cursed Blaze. By the next
series, I'm sure this will change yet again.
Of course, Mephisto was totally wrong when he said
Blaze could never become the Ghost Rider again, because that's exactly
what happens to Johnny in Ghost Rider (2011) # 9.
Johnny Blaze is once again wielding his hellfire shotgun, which he first used in Ghost Rider (1990) # 14. It was last seen in the possession of Kowalski in Ghost Rider (2006) # 32. Blaze is also wearing the leather jumpsuit that he wore when he first transformed into the Ghost Rider, way back in Marvel Spotlight on Ghost Rider (1972) # 5.
This issue is a tie-in to the "Fear Itself" crossover and takes place during the events of Fear Itself # 3.
CHAIN REACTION
"Give Up the Ghost" turns the spotlight back on to Johnny Blaze, while Alejandra is just happy to go outside.
Despite the direct tie-in to "Fear Itself" in the
first issue, this story is obviously just using the crossover as a
springboard for its own storyline under fairly tenuous circumstances.
So, after all the catastrophic events in Marvel Universe history, it was
THIS one that spurred Adam to trigger his plan? Fair enough, fair
enough. I'm less concerned with the Serpent and all that than I am with
this comic's principle players, most of which don't get the greatest
treatment here. Every time Blaze shows up in this series, I just grit my
teeth and suffer through it, because Rob Williams' dialogue is
atrocious. I get that Williams is portraying Johnny as a country boy and
that's fine, but I happen to be from the south (Kentucky, in fact), and
I'm pretty sure Williams is just winging this dialogue. Other
characters get the short end of the stick as well: Adam is so
one-dimensionally evil that it gets to the point of cliché, and the
Seeker has an extremely obnoxious English accent (that, at least, gets
flagged up in the dialogue). I don't get the point of the Seeker, it's
yet another needless addition to Ghost Rider's backstory. If Zadkiel was
the person responsible for giving out the Spirits of Vengeance to their
hosts, where does this Seeker come into play?
Not everything about this comic is bad, though; in
fact, there's a lot of good floating around in here, too. I like
Williams' take on Mephisto being the ultimate shady used car salesman,
it fits the character and works well on a comedic level. I also like
that Alejandra gets her first actual bits of characterization in this
issue, though she's still so much of a cipher that I had trouble caring
about whether she gets rescued or not. She's an innocent girl that is
super stoked to see the outside of the temple she was raised in, that's
cute and it helps to sell her as a victim pulled between numerous
powerful forces. There's also the nods to the past that I enjoyed, with
Blaze running around in his 1970s jumpsuit (for some reason?) and using
the hellfire shotgun again.
In comparison to the last two issues, Matthew
Clark's artwork looks a bit rushed here (I assume he was pressed for
time, considering he takes the next issue off before returning in # 4). I
still like his portrayal of Blaze, though I think the character looks
much better before he goes back to the blue jumpsuit. I'm disappointed
that Clark reverts back to the 1960s design for Mephisto, because he did
such an awesome job rendering him in John Romita Jr.'s style last
issue. I also like the sleepy-eyed, blissfully ignorant facial
expressions he gives to Alejandra during her few brief pages in her
human form. The action scenes are still a bit stiff and he's still
drawing the Ghost Rider's head much bigger than her body, but I'm
content with the work he's turned out here.
There seems to be as much good as there is bad
mixed into this Ghost Rider series, but it's not really selling me on
the new status quo.
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| She looks like she needs a hug. |
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