Cover Date: April 2018; Publication Date: February 2018
During his last attack on Earth, Thanos was in the skies above Manhattan slaughtering all of the planet's heroes. On the ground below was Frank Castle, the Punisher, who was crushed under a falling building. As he died, he thought that he would give anything to punish Thanos...and found himself in Hell before Mephisto. Castle signed a deal with Mephisto to become the Ghost Rider, but found that he was the only living being left on Earth. Centuries later, after having become mad from loneliness, Castle witness the coming of an injured Galactus. Castle makes his second deal and becomes the cosmic powered Herald of Galactus, and the two of them went across the galaxy hunting for Thanos. It took the pair centuries, but when they finally confronted Thanos the Mad Titan killed Galactus and offered Castle a place by his side, where he remained until the end of time.
Old Man Thanos, his younger time travelling counterpart, and the Ghost Rider are confronted by the Silver Surfer and his Annihilation Wave. When the wave of alien insects attacks, Thanos reminds Ghost Rider of his hellish power and, with a massive blast of hellfire, he destroys the entire Annihilation horde. The Silver Surfer attacks, knocking all three of his opponents to the ground, and Old Man Thanos asks why the Surfer waited so long just to die. The Surfer answers that he wasn't waiting, he was becoming worthy...just as Thor's hammer Mjolnir flies into his hand.
CHAIN REACTION
Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, having revealed the identity of Cosmic Ghost Rider in the last issue, gives readers his full origin sequence in this chapter of "Thanos Wins".
It's frankly amazing to me that this series was able to devote such a dedicated amount of presence to Cosmic Ghost Rider, who was essentially just a supporting character at best by this point. I'm sure Marvel and the creators knew he was striking a chord with the readership, but this issue actually devoted a 13 of its 20 pages to the Rider's origin. That's astounding ballsy, since this book is in fact titled THANOS and emphatically not COSMIC GHOST RIDER (not yet, anyway). The origin sequence we get here actually makes the Frank Castle identity revelation a little easier to swallow, given how out of character it seemed in the last issue. Detailing the "deals with devils", literally in one case, that Castle made to continue his path of vengeance was fascinating. Unfortunately, it still glosses over the "centuries" that managed to transform the stoic Punisher into a riff on Deadpool, but I suppose it's forgivable when you consider the narrative in play.
Cates and Shaw continue to deliver these moments and images that probably sounded ridiculous until it was put on the page. Castle as the Earthbound Ghost Rider, complete with Punisher skull shirt beneath his own flaming skull, astride the hell cycle? Galactus and Castle as Butch Cassidy and Sundance? Galactus even has a poncho and giant gun for god's sake, making him look like he's cosplaying as Cable. Still, you can't deny the visuals of all those things, and Shaw makes it all look epic as possible.
Something else to note is that this arc has had some of the best damn cliffhanger endings for a series in recent memory. This issue, which ends with the Silver Surfer brandishing Thor's hammer was one of those "holy shit!" moments that makes you sit up and beg for the next issue. Cates and Shaw really have something special here, this whole series has been extremely high quality. Recommended.
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