Writer: Christopher Hastings; Artist: Myisha Haynes; Letterer: VC's Clayton Clowes; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Editor: Heather Antos; Supervising Editor: Jordan D. White; Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Paulina Ganucheau
Gwenpool and her ghost friend Cecil meet with a sorceress, their goal being Cecil's return to a corporeal form. The witch tells them that there is a vessel in Los Angeles that can help them, Cecil would enter it and would then be able to return to life. She locates a magical portal in Los Angeles and prepares to send Gwen and Cecil through it via her bathtub, but hesitates when she recognizes the type of magic that has created the portal. Gwen and Cecil jump through anyway, before the sorceress can tell them that the magic came from Satan.
In the Hollywood Hills, a group of Asgardian trolls are in the midst of a ceremony that involves both a sacrifice of one of their number and a large diamond that they have stolen. They're being watched by Kate Bishop, the teenage Hawkeye, but before she can act the party is broken up by the arrival of Ghost Rider in the Hell Charger. While Ghost Rider and Hawkeye fight the trolls, Gwenpool and Cecil pop out of the Hell Charger's trunk, which was the portal that the witch had sent them through. During the melee Cecil tries to grab the diamond but finds himself sucked into the gem. When the police arrive the trolls and heroes scatter, with Ghost Rider grabbing the diamond and throwing it into his car before he leaves. Gwen hitches a ride with Hawkeye, but they quickly realize they can't catch up with him.
Later, Robbie arrives back at his house and leaves the diamond inside his car. Cecil, still trapped inside the diamond, hears the voice of Eli Morrow asking him if he has really achieved the vengeance his spirit needs to move on to the next world.
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| Probably how I'd react, too. |
THE ROADMAP
Ghost Rider last appeared in Ghost Rider (2016) # 5.
CHAIN REACTION
After the end of his own series, Robbie Reyes makes an appearance in Gwenpool, a series whose existence still kinda flummoxes me.
I don't get Deadpool as a character, so to try and read a derivative concept like Gwenpool and make sense of it on a base level is just beyond me. The first time I read this comic, I had no idea what was going on nor did I have any kind of idea what Gwenpool's deal as a character was. She's Deadpool mixed with Gwen Stacy, that was my assumption? Now, we've reviewed this on the next episode of the podcast where Brian schooled me on the premise behind Gwenpool, and that made the events of this issue a little more clear. However, there is nowhere in this comic, including the recap page, where the premise is explained. She's apparently a girl named Gwen Poole who came from a dimension where she's read all of the Marvel Comics and thus has insider knowledge about stories and characters, which is a clever concept. I'm not sure why it's tied to either Deadpool or Gwen Stacy, other than it sprang from a really weird variant cover, but I suppose it's a moot point. Still, would have been nice to have all of that told up front on the recap page, because without that background knowledge this comic is baffling.
Once you have that knowledge about the book's premise, though, this is a fairly entertaining read. There are some genuinely funny bits with the trolls during their party, particularly when one of them phones 911 and attempts to describe what's going on after the heroes attack. I don't particularly find Gwenpool herself funny or engaging, which would be a problem if I were at all interested in reading this comic for the main character. Hawkeye, who is kind of infuriatingly referred to as "the REAL Hawkeye" more than once, is just kind of there as an inoffensive guest star, and there's nothing that really mandates her appearance. Ghost Rider, however, plays a pretty significant role in the story, acting as the agent of change for Cecil the ghost. I liked the way Hastings handled Ghost Rider's characterization, he actually seems more rounded and fleshed out in this guest appearance than he did during the entirety of his last series. Even more interesting for me, though, is the conversation between Cecil and Eli at the issue's end, which furthers Eli as this demonic agent of vengeance. In fact, this is the closest I think Robbie has ever come to feeling like an actual Spirit of Vengeance in more than name only.
The artwork, however, doesn't hold up at all for me. I saw that the past artists for this series were Gurihiru and Danilo Beyruth, both of whom are much better than Myisha Haynes. I might be judging the artwork unfairly, as this is both a light-hearted and generally whimsical comic, but man does the art come off as amateurish. Haynes rendition of Ghost Rider is cartoonish to the extreme, and it does the character no favors at all. I get that maybe this art fits the tone of the series, but I didn't care for it all.
Robbie will continue to appear in the next issue, and its nice to see him getting some play in other corners of the Marvel Universe. This appearance was pretty inconsequential, but it was a decent read if you can get past the art.
I don't get Deadpool as a character, so to try and read a derivative concept like Gwenpool and make sense of it on a base level is just beyond me. The first time I read this comic, I had no idea what was going on nor did I have any kind of idea what Gwenpool's deal as a character was. She's Deadpool mixed with Gwen Stacy, that was my assumption? Now, we've reviewed this on the next episode of the podcast where Brian schooled me on the premise behind Gwenpool, and that made the events of this issue a little more clear. However, there is nowhere in this comic, including the recap page, where the premise is explained. She's apparently a girl named Gwen Poole who came from a dimension where she's read all of the Marvel Comics and thus has insider knowledge about stories and characters, which is a clever concept. I'm not sure why it's tied to either Deadpool or Gwen Stacy, other than it sprang from a really weird variant cover, but I suppose it's a moot point. Still, would have been nice to have all of that told up front on the recap page, because without that background knowledge this comic is baffling.
Once you have that knowledge about the book's premise, though, this is a fairly entertaining read. There are some genuinely funny bits with the trolls during their party, particularly when one of them phones 911 and attempts to describe what's going on after the heroes attack. I don't particularly find Gwenpool herself funny or engaging, which would be a problem if I were at all interested in reading this comic for the main character. Hawkeye, who is kind of infuriatingly referred to as "the REAL Hawkeye" more than once, is just kind of there as an inoffensive guest star, and there's nothing that really mandates her appearance. Ghost Rider, however, plays a pretty significant role in the story, acting as the agent of change for Cecil the ghost. I liked the way Hastings handled Ghost Rider's characterization, he actually seems more rounded and fleshed out in this guest appearance than he did during the entirety of his last series. Even more interesting for me, though, is the conversation between Cecil and Eli at the issue's end, which furthers Eli as this demonic agent of vengeance. In fact, this is the closest I think Robbie has ever come to feeling like an actual Spirit of Vengeance in more than name only.
The artwork, however, doesn't hold up at all for me. I saw that the past artists for this series were Gurihiru and Danilo Beyruth, both of whom are much better than Myisha Haynes. I might be judging the artwork unfairly, as this is both a light-hearted and generally whimsical comic, but man does the art come off as amateurish. Haynes rendition of Ghost Rider is cartoonish to the extreme, and it does the character no favors at all. I get that maybe this art fits the tone of the series, but I didn't care for it all.
Robbie will continue to appear in the next issue, and its nice to see him getting some play in other corners of the Marvel Universe. This appearance was pretty inconsequential, but it was a decent read if you can get past the art.
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| Ugh, Eli is just the worst. |
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