On Sale Date: December 2009
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Roland Boschi
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Dan Brown
Editor: Sebastian Girner
Consulting Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Cover Artist: Greg Land
In the ruins of Heaven, with a trail of dead angels at his feet, Zadkiel sits on the throne of God. His power is growing as time passes, and already he is able to tamper with reality. Soon, he will have the power to eradicate, to unmake the world and destroy everything. All who live will beg him for mercy, and his reply will simply be a laugh while he watches them burn.
On Earth, Vengeance and the Orb lead their army of zombie bikers against the Gun Nuns, who are guarding the last known gateway into Heaven. As the villains advance, the Orb gets his hand shot off by the Mother Superior. Outside the caverns, John Blaze and Dan Ketch arrive, deciding that they must have come to the right place after all.
Meanwhile, Daimon Hellstrom and Jaine Cutter free themselves from the mind control placed upon them by Madcap and the Scarecrow. The two switch opponents - Jaine against the Scarecrow and Hellstrom against Madcap - and easily make short work of them. Elsewhere in the town, Blackheart the Anti-Christ has turned on Sister Sara with the help of Master Pandemonium, who holds the gateway to Hell in his chest. Pandemonium opens the gateway and begins releasing demons onto Earth while Blackheart converses with the restrained Sara. He tells her that there was a reason her grandfather had her hidden away in a nunnery all those years. Blaze and Ketch have been running around looking for a door to Heaven, not knowing that there was one right beside them the whole time. He whispers an angelic phrase in Sara's ear, and she herself is revealed as the gate to Heaven.
Back at the Gun Nuns' tunnels, the Orb runs screaming after his hand was shot, and is immediately knocked unconscious by Blaze. The brothers spot Vengeance, and though they know its not the Vengeance they're familiar with they realize they still need to work together to stop him. Blaze and Ketch transform into the Ghost Riders and attack Vengeance as a team. The Gun Nuns continue to fight off the zombies, when suddenly the lights blink off. Blackout has arrived...
While Master Pandemonium keeps the gateway to Hell open, demons flood through him and into the gateway opened by Sara; an army led by Blackheart to capture Heaven itself. Jaine and Hellstrom break into the church, and Blackheart flees through the Heaven gate. Sara struggles to control the portal opened within her, and with a surge of strength she manages to close it, causing her to disappear along with it. This leaves Hellstrom and Cutter alone to face the horde of demons let loose by Pandemonium.
In the tunnels, Vengeance falls down, broken and defeated by the Ghost Riders. Blackout, too, is driven off when he is shot repeatedly by the Gun Nuns, who were using bullets dipped in holy water. The Mother Superior tells the Ghost Riders that they've been waiting for them to arrive, and that they can't hope to beat Zadkiel in open combat. She tells them that they have to remember how to be brothers, and that the Ghost Rider will never die. She opens the door to Heaven, and the Riders race through it. Immediately after, the Nuns are attacked by the Deacon, who massacres them all until only the Mother Superior is still alive. Before he can kill her, Sister Sara arrives through the Heavenly door, and she instantly recognizes the Deacon as the one who killed her fellow Nuns not long ago.
Finally, in Heaven, the Ghost Riders arrive in the ruins of the Golden City. Zadkiel hovers above them, and challenges them to do their worst...
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| Master Pandemonium, everyone! |
THE ROADMAP
Zadkiel won the war for Heaven at the end of "Last Stand of the Spirits of Vengeance" in Ghost Rider (2006) # 32.
The All-New Orb first appeared in Ghost Rider (2006) # 26. The new Vengeance first appeared in Ghost Rider (2006) # 21, but didn't gain his newfound power until Ghost Rider (2006) # 32.
Master Pandemonium previously appeared in Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire (2009) # 2 as the go-between for Danny Ketch and Satan.
The Deacon slaughtered Sister Sara's former convent in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33.
CHAIN REACTION
We're at the penultimate chapter in Aaron's final Ghost Rider story, and as I'd silently feared while “Heaven's on Fire” was released he simply has way too much going on to give the really important parts adequate screen time. Three villains in this issue were dispatched with little fanfare, one of whom after a measly two panels. What was the point of creating a new Vengeance, or involving Blackout, when their sole contribution to the story at the end is to be shuffled off like they were? Yes, the real important “fight” to this story has always been the confrontation with Zadkiel, which I assume we'll be getting in the next issue. And yes, I pretty much assumed that the Orb would be dispatched in a way similar to his fate in this issue, he was more of a joke character than a true villain. But Vengeance has been built up since the first arc, and he's taken out off-screen by the Ghost Riders! Blackout has been a key villain that created the “Ghost Rider Revenge Squad”, and he runs off after being shot. This was not what I expected when I started to read this issue, and it was page after page of disappointment on just about every level. When the cliffhanger to the previous issue promises us a battle with Vengeance, the Orb, and a horde of zombie bikers, that's what I expect, not to see the end of the battles after the fights have taken place off-camera.
Aaron wasted time and page space by including Hellstrom and Cutter, yet another one of his numerous side plots that has to be tied up before the end of the series. Kid Blackheart, the Deacon, Sister Sara, Master Pandemonium, Scarecrow and Madcap (who also suffer from inglorious defeats; I'm sorry, the Scarecrow is not a joke villain to me, not after the way he was presented in the 90s series), the Gun Nuns, Zadkiel... Jesus, that's just way too much shit going on! Now, I would much prefer a comic to have too much story rather than not enough (see Daniel Way's run), but with this many plots demanding resolution in such a short span of time, it means that the majority of them get shuffled off into last-minute, one-panel climaxes that disappoint readers who wanted to see them fully realized. Next issue's conclusion should be allowed to focus on the Ghost Riders' confrontation with Zadkiel, but how much room will they have with all these other minor subplots crowding the pages?
I hate to say it, but even Roland Boschi's artwork disappointed me this month. Following a beautiful 3-page sequence of Zadkiel on the throne of Heaven with a trail of dead archangels littering the streets, the rest of the comic seemed sloppier or rushed in comparison to the stellar work he produced on previous issues. I think it may in fact be due to the way the script jumps scenes and characters every other page, as it doesn't allow Boschi to get into a solid groove of penciling a coherent sequence. I can't begin to guess, maybe its just deadlines creeping up on him?
After four fantastic issues, “Heaven's On Fire” stumbles in the home stretch. Here's hoping Aaron and Boschi will be able to score a final home run with next issue's conclusion.
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| A face only their momma could love. |
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