Writer: Daniel Way; Artist: Carlo Barberi; Inker: Juan Vlasco; Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino; Colorist: Marte Gracia; Assistant Editor: Jody Leheup; Editor: Axel Alonso; Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada; Cover Artist: Dave Johnson
In the desert outside of Las Vegas, Johnny Blaze leaves a diner and rides into the city. At a casino in Vegas, Deadpool quits his newly-acquired job as the casino's security head. He kills the casino owners, but as he's leaving he is stopped by the Ghost Rider, who grabs the killer with his chain and pulls him behind his motorcycle through the city. Ghost Rider has tracked Deadpool down to make him face vengeance for all the lives he's taken. When they reach the desert, past the city's limits, Deadpool pulls himself onto the back of the Ghost Rider's bike and grabs one of the handles, throwing on the brakes. The bike flies out of control, throwing the two men into the air. As they fall, Deadpool pulls out his guns and blows Ghost Rider's skull apart. After they land, which results in several broken bones for Deadpool, Ghost Rider reforms his head and grabs his target by the throat. Ghost Rider gives Deadpool the Penance Stare, which causes an unforeseen feedback between them that causes Ghost Rider to turn back into Johnny Blaze.
The Penance Stare causes Deadpool to relive the "highlight reel" of his life, including when he first became a mercenary, when he was diagnosed with cancer, and when he signed up for the Weapon X project. He wakes up screaming and immediately punches Blaze in the face. Blaze tells him that they're 80 miles away from Las Vegas, and that he'll need time to fix his motorcycle. After he finishes, Deadpool asks Blaze if he came after him to kill him. Johnny explains that it wasn't him that came after him, it was the Ghost Rider that wanted him to see something important; if he'd wanted Deadpool dead, he'd be dead. Deadpool asks Blaze if he thinks he deserves to die. Johnny answers "yes", to which Deadpool replies "Thanks, man".
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| There are worse ways to travel, right? |
THE ROADMAP
Johnny Blaze first encountered Deadpool in Deadpool Team-Up # 897.
Ghost Rider last appeared in Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural # 5 and he appears next in Shadowland # 2.
CHAIN REACTION
Ghost Rider appears in another Deadpool story, but thankfully this one's a hell of a lot better than the last issue they appeared in together. As always, the creative team makes all the difference.
As you may or may not remember, I reviewed an issue of Deadpool Team-Up that ranked as one of the worst comics I'd ever read. That comic failed because it wanted to be a comedy without actually being funny, which just further illustrated to me why Deadpool is a character I really could care less about. It was with severe trepidation that I picked up this issue for another Ghost Rider appearance, but I was pleasantly surprised. Daniel Way, who wrote his fair share of bad Ghost Rider stories a few years before this, actually turned in a pretty good comic here. The secret...? He actually took the characters seriously. Deadpool is a character that I suppose can work as strictly comedy, but the approach to the character in this issue is one that I find infinitely more interesting. Way treats him as an actual character instead of a walking cartoon.
The interaction between Deadpool and Ghost Rider is really good, too. I wasn't much of a fan of Way's run on the Ghost Rider series, but I never really had a problem with how he wrote Blaze himself. He had a fair handle on the character, and here he makes a good contrast to Deadpool. The most interesting part of the story, though, is the Penance Stare sequence that shows how Deadpool became the man he is today. The gives a very downbeat ending to what I assume is usually a fairly light-hearted series.
The artwork is by Carlo Barberi, who has a style that's very reminiscent of Humberto Ramos without so much exaggeration. He does a good Ghost Rider, but his action sequences a little hard to follow (see the sequence with the bike wreck, which took me a few looks to understand what was supposed to be happening). His work is highly congruent with the house style that Marvel favored at the time this comic was released, and it fits in nicely with that era.
So, my opinion on Deadpool has improved somewhat since that Team-Up issue. I won't be buying any more of his comics, but at least I didn't regret buying this one. Perfectly decent comic.
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| Time for a montage! |
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