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| Cover Art: Dave Johnson |
Original Price: $3.99
Title: "Attilan Rising, Part 1: The Voice Unheard"
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: John Timms
Inker: Roberto Poggi
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Frank D'Armata
Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso
SYNOPSIS
In the Hulk-controlled dominion of Battleworld called Greenland, a quartet of freedom fighters called the Voice Unheard arrive, led by the Undead G-Man, a Ghost Rider from the 1950s. They're attacked by a mindless Hulk, which they are able to give conscious thought back to with a spray mist developed by their benefactor. Their actions are noticed by a squad of Thors, the police force of Battleworld, and the Undead G-Man tells his teammates to leave while he draws away the Thors' attention. He leads them on a chase through the desert in his hellfire-powered car, but is eventually captured by the Thors.
Later, in New Attilan, the G-Man is brought before Medusa, ruler of the domain. A vision of Doctor Doom appears and tells Medusa that she will interrogate the G-Man to find out information on the rebellion and them destroy him. Elsewhere, the rest of the Voice Unheard meet with Karnak and discuss what's happened to the G-Man, and how eventually he'll tell Medusa everything he knows. Back in New Attilan questions the bound G-Man, who spits hellfire at her feet. She brings in a psychic Inhuman named Sterilon, whose telepathic interrogation kills the Undead G-Man. Sterilon learned only one thing, the name "The Quiet Room". Recognizing the name, Medusa sends an Inhuman named Auran to infiltrate the nightclub called The Quiet Room. While there, Auran is met by Black Bolt, who recognizes that Medusa must have sent her to find him.
ANNOTATIONS
This mini-series was part of the 2015 Secret Wars event, which saw the Marvel multiverse destroyed with only a single world remaining under the rule of a godlike Doctor Doom. The planet, Battleworld, was comprised of dozens of domains consisting of fragments of alternate realities. This issues takes place in the Greenland and New York City domains of Battleworld.
On Battleworld all Ghost Riders are called "Spirits of Ignitions" and are forced to participate in the Ghost Races, held in the domain of Doomstadt's Killiseum, as shown in Ghost Racers (2015) # 1.
The Undead G-Man first appeared in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33 alongside his partner Knuckles O'Shaugnessy. Knuckles appears as one of the captive Spirits of Ignition in Ghost Racers (2015) # 2. The Undead G-Man is an escapee of the Ghost Races and is working as an agent of Black Bolt until his death in this issue.
REVIEW
An unexpected Spirit of Vengeance makes a surprise appearance in this Inhumans tie-in to the Secret Wars event.
One of the more interesting things about the "Secret Wars" set-up is the ability for different iterations of characters to appear in locations and titles you would normally expect to find them. Ghost Rider, in particular, really benefited from that idea with the Ghost Racers concept and how it allowed for every single version of the character to appear simultaneously. Seeing as how that series had roles for all of the well-known Riders, such as Reyes and Blaze, alongside some of the less-familiar ones like Vengeance and Alejandra, there probably weren't many options left for any other writers wanting to utilize the "Spirit of Ignition" concept in their story.
Charles Soule must have dug deep to pull the Undead G-Man into this series, as he gets more screen time and characterization here than he did in the two panel appearance he made during Jason Aaron's Ghost Rider run. Soule makes the G-Man into an immediately interesting take on the Ghost Rider (sorry, Racer), with his old Hollywood gangster dialogue and hellfire tommy gun. I could honestly care less about the Inhumans or all the other characters floating around in this comic, but the G-Man was a welcome addition whose role in the story was more engaging and important than most people would have guessed.
The artwork by John Timms is perfectly serviceable, nothing flashy or outlandishly dynamic about it but it tells the story well. He gets some good action moments out of the Undead G-Man and is able to make his distinct visual style work to the comic's benefit. The rest of the characters all kind of meld into a generic haze of fiddly designs, but that could just be par for the course with an Inhumans series for all I know.
This certainly isn't a mandatory or necessary read, even if you're just following the Ghost Riders' path through Secret Wars, but it's certainly entertaining enough to not disappoint.
Grade: B
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