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| Cover Artist: Clayton Crain |
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| Cover Artist: Stefano Caselli |
Original Price: $3.99
Title: "Circle of Four, Part 1"
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Tony Moore
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Val Staples
Editor: Jeanine Schaeffer
Senior Editor: Stephen Wacker & Mark Paniccia
Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso
SYNOPSIS
Flash Thompson is currently hiding in a Las Vegas motel after he went AWOL from the army with the Venom symbiote. He is unaware that the army has sent General Thunderbolt Ross, the Red Hulk, to find and bring both him and the symbiote back. Elsewhere, at the Devil's Den casino, the owner Mr. Degli is dealing with a gambler unable to pay back his debts. Degli offers to eliminate the debt and all it will cost is the man's soul, which he eagerly agrees to.
Meanwhile in Vegas, Johnny Blaze attempts to give guidance to the current Ghost Rider, Alejandra, who claims that there's nothing the former host can teach her. Red Hulk approaches the city, jumping through the desert while thinking about how much he hates deserters. Finally, X-23 has gone undercover as a waitress at the Devil's Den to find Degli, who she claims stole a vial of her blood for experimentation. At an empty construction site, Degli and his aide Ms. Oyle prepare to enact their master plan. Having built a spinning pentagram machine, they introduce their ingredients: 100 human souls signed over willingly, the remains of the Toxin symbiote, and the blood of a mortal who's been to Hell and back. Now they only have to wait for the final ingredient to come to them, which Degli says "the Devil couldn't keep her away". At a diner, Blaze and Alejandra are having dinner when she suddenly transforms into the Ghost Rider and says that Zarathos hears the call of hundreds of crying souls. Blaze tries to talk her into thinking before acting, but Alejandra ignores him and rides into Las Vegas. Before leaving to follow her, Blaze places a phone call to Daimon Hellstrom for help.
A drunk Flash Thompson is attacked by the Red Hulk at the motel, and a brief fight begins when Venom attempts to run. X-23, meanwhile, has broken into Degli's office, where she finds clones of herself created from her stolen blood. Before she can destroy them, the clones break free and reveal that they have also been given alien symbiotes of their own. Ghost Rider arrives at the construction site and sees the spinning pentagram, which she decides to stop by jumping into it and riding in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, that was Degli's plan all along, and the Ghost Rider opens up a portal to Hell that spreads all across Las Vegas. Before leaving, Degli tells the Rider that if she stops the centrifuge then all of Earth will be sucked into Hell. Venom and Hulk are forced to stop fighting when they see the city overrun with demons, and reluctantly they team up to save the helpless citizens. When Blaze arrives at the city limits, he places a mystical amulet that blocks magic on the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. The amulet halts the spread of Hell from going past the city's border, and Blaze enters the city to find Alejandra.
Degli and Oyle arrive back at the casino and reveal themselves as Blackheart and his gargoyle companion. Blackheart contacts his father, Mephisto, and attempts to gloat that he has brought Hell to Earth and will soon depose Mephisto as Hell's ruler. Mephisto mocks and disregards him, which angers Blackheart even more. Blaze finds Ghost Rider at the centrifuge and rides his own motorcycle into the machine to power it, telling Alejandra to go stop the person causing this while he keeps the portal open. The top of Blackheart's casino is where all of the heroes converge; X-23, Venom, Red Hulk, and finally Ghost Rider all confront Blackheart, but only the Hulk shows caution as he's read the Avengers file on the demon. Using his black mirror cauldron, Blackheart calls forth the dark antitheses of each hero: X-666, Ichor, the Evangelist, and Encephalon.
ANNOTATIONS
Meanwhile in Vegas, Johnny Blaze attempts to give guidance to the current Ghost Rider, Alejandra, who claims that there's nothing the former host can teach her. Red Hulk approaches the city, jumping through the desert while thinking about how much he hates deserters. Finally, X-23 has gone undercover as a waitress at the Devil's Den to find Degli, who she claims stole a vial of her blood for experimentation. At an empty construction site, Degli and his aide Ms. Oyle prepare to enact their master plan. Having built a spinning pentagram machine, they introduce their ingredients: 100 human souls signed over willingly, the remains of the Toxin symbiote, and the blood of a mortal who's been to Hell and back. Now they only have to wait for the final ingredient to come to them, which Degli says "the Devil couldn't keep her away". At a diner, Blaze and Alejandra are having dinner when she suddenly transforms into the Ghost Rider and says that Zarathos hears the call of hundreds of crying souls. Blaze tries to talk her into thinking before acting, but Alejandra ignores him and rides into Las Vegas. Before leaving to follow her, Blaze places a phone call to Daimon Hellstrom for help.
A drunk Flash Thompson is attacked by the Red Hulk at the motel, and a brief fight begins when Venom attempts to run. X-23, meanwhile, has broken into Degli's office, where she finds clones of herself created from her stolen blood. Before she can destroy them, the clones break free and reveal that they have also been given alien symbiotes of their own. Ghost Rider arrives at the construction site and sees the spinning pentagram, which she decides to stop by jumping into it and riding in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, that was Degli's plan all along, and the Ghost Rider opens up a portal to Hell that spreads all across Las Vegas. Before leaving, Degli tells the Rider that if she stops the centrifuge then all of Earth will be sucked into Hell. Venom and Hulk are forced to stop fighting when they see the city overrun with demons, and reluctantly they team up to save the helpless citizens. When Blaze arrives at the city limits, he places a mystical amulet that blocks magic on the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. The amulet halts the spread of Hell from going past the city's border, and Blaze enters the city to find Alejandra.
Degli and Oyle arrive back at the casino and reveal themselves as Blackheart and his gargoyle companion. Blackheart contacts his father, Mephisto, and attempts to gloat that he has brought Hell to Earth and will soon depose Mephisto as Hell's ruler. Mephisto mocks and disregards him, which angers Blackheart even more. Blaze finds Ghost Rider at the centrifuge and rides his own motorcycle into the machine to power it, telling Alejandra to go stop the person causing this while he keeps the portal open. The top of Blackheart's casino is where all of the heroes converge; X-23, Venom, Red Hulk, and finally Ghost Rider all confront Blackheart, but only the Hulk shows caution as he's read the Avengers file on the demon. Using his black mirror cauldron, Blackheart calls forth the dark antitheses of each hero: X-666, Ichor, the Evangelist, and Encephalon.
ANNOTATIONS
"Circle of Four" was originally conceived as a crossover event between the Venom, Hulk, X-23, and Ghost Rider titles, and it was first teased at the end of Ghost Rider (2011) # 0.1. Due to the low sales of three of the titles, which would result in the cancellations of both Ghost Rider and X-23 immediately after the crossover, it was decided that the story would be published as "Point 1" issues of the Venom ongoing series.
The original publication plan for this story would have had the chapters released in the following order:
- Chapter 1: Circle of Four # 1
- Chapter 2: Ghost Rider (2011) # 9
- Chapter 3: X-23 (2010) # 21
- Chapter 4: Hulk (2008) # 48
- Chapter 5: Venom (2011) # 13
- Chapter 6: Circle of Four # 2
Alejandra and Blaze both appeared last in Ghost Rider (2011) # 8.
Blaze stole the anti-magic medallion from Hawkeye in Ghost Rider (2011) # 8.
This story is an updated homage to the "New Fantastic Four" storyline from Fantastic Four (1961) # 347-349, which brought Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider (Ketch), and the Hulk together as a substitute Fantastic Four team.
This issue was released with two variant covers by Walter Simonson and Clayton Crain.
The original publication plan for this story would have had the chapters released in the following order:
- Chapter 1: Circle of Four # 1
- Chapter 2: Ghost Rider (2011) # 9
- Chapter 3: X-23 (2010) # 21
- Chapter 4: Hulk (2008) # 48
- Chapter 5: Venom (2011) # 13
- Chapter 6: Circle of Four # 2
Alejandra and Blaze both appeared last in Ghost Rider (2011) # 8.
Blaze stole the anti-magic medallion from Hawkeye in Ghost Rider (2011) # 8.
This story is an updated homage to the "New Fantastic Four" storyline from Fantastic Four (1961) # 347-349, which brought Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider (Ketch), and the Hulk together as a substitute Fantastic Four team.
This issue was released with two variant covers by Walter Simonson and Clayton Crain.
REVIEW
The "Circle of Four" event kicks off with an extra-length first chapter, but the behind-the-scenes publication decisions almost overshadow what's actually a pretty great crossover.
So, in 2011 Marvel had four titles that were going to participate in a one-month six-part crossover called "Circle of Four". Hulk, Venom, X-23, and Ghost Rider were all titles that had an interesting connection, as they were all legacy titles for characters that had been part of the "New Fantastic Four" storyline in 1991. Writers Rick Remender, Rob Williams, and Jeff Parker began to sew the seeds for the crossover in their individual titles, going as far back as the first issue of Williams Ghost Rider series earlier in the year, and it everything was looking good for the crossover. Unfortunately, this all happened in the wake of Marvel Comics being purchased by Disney, and the parent company took a very hard look at the sales threshold for Marvel's line of titles. Suddenly, two of the four titles involved in the crossover were now being flagged for immediate cancellation a month after the crossover was to be published, so what were the options? Venom was the only title that was able to stave off the executioner, so it was decided that instead of a 4-title crossover the story would take place solely in the pages of Venom. Marvel had also recently rolled out its "Point One" initiative, which allowed extra issues to be slotted in between regular monthly installments, which meant they could do this crossover as issues 13.1 through 13.4 of Venom.
That doesn't make a god damn bit of sense, does it? It must have at the time to the editors, who I imagine were simply trying to salvage the crossover that they had worked so hard to produce and just wanted it to be released in any form they could get. Still, would it have been so much worse to just have the crossover happen across the titles as originally planned, cancellations or not? I guess its a moot point, but I think its kind of fascinating. This issue, instead of being Venom # 13, should have been Circle of Four # 1, hence the increased page count and successful attempt to make each character a star of the story in their own right and not just a guest in Venom's book.
Naturally, that ability to give each of the four main characters equal time in the comic makes this opening chapter come together as a whole much better than if it had been focused on just Venom as the primary protagonist. It's a natural comparison to make, but contrast this with the "Four on the Floor" storyline in the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider series, where the main character was shoved into the background while the other heroes took over. This is a similar situation, since Venom doesn't get any more to do than the other heroes despite his name being on the logo, but at least here you can understand why given what it was originally supposed to be.
Rick Remender and Tony Moore were the original creative team of this Venom series, and having them reunite to kick off the crossover was a great touch. Getting Moore back to draw Ghost Rider again is a treat in itself after his massively awesome Ghost Rider story with Jason Aaron a few years previous. Moore is one of those artists whose characters all act throughout the pages with their facial expressions and their body language, they're not stiff or posed, they actually appear to be emoting in places. There's the problem with Johnny Blaze and Flash Thompson looking practically identical, and in turn they both look like Rick Grimes, but Moore is too good at crafting the story to let that be much of a problem for me while I'm looking at his work. He's at his best when he's drawing the demons and landscape of Hell-possessed Las Vegas, the guy's got an eye for detail that nearly rivals Geoff Darrow's, and you can spend several minutes examining each panel for interesting stuff. Plus, his rendition of each hero is really great, especially his Ghost Rider. A lot of artists really struggled with making the Alejandra Ghost Rider look menacing yet feminine, but Moore balanced both bits just right.
Remender, who was one third of the writing team on this crossover (I have no idea why X-23 writer Marjorie Liu sat the story out), brings all of the characters together in a very natural way. In a lot of these crossovers, looking back at you "Four on the Floor", there's too much coincidence and happenstance involved to bring all of the pieces into the story. Remender takes the time to give each character a reason for being involved, and it all falls together really well. This issue definitely feels like it's a natural culmination to what each of the heroes must have been going through in their own books, because the story has a real feel of tying off outstanding plot threads. Remender gets a lot of shit for some of his storylines, like "Frankencastle" and "Axis", but when he's on his game he is ON his GAME. The Alejandra Ghost Rider series was not a pleasant title to read through, but Remender's take on the Alejandra/Blaze relationship feels so much more genuine than what Rob Williams had been doing on the actual Ghost Rider series. Remender paints Alejandra as a dangerous amateur, and this issue shows what later chapters are going to hammer home, that Blaze is the only real hero in this whole damn crossover.
While the 2011 Ghost Rider series is terrible on a whole lot of levels, "Circle of Four" almost redeems the whole series. This is a fantastic opening chapter to what was a really surprising and engaging crossover, I just wish the behind-the-scenes stuff hadn't sidelined it as what many readers probably assumed was just a Venom story with guest-stars.
Grade: A+
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