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| Cover Art: Geoff Shaw |
Original Price: $4.99
Title: untitled
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Brian Level
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Jordan Boyd
Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski
SYNOPSIS
Thanos, having returned from the future desperate to change the events that led to the end of time, waits for his daughter Gamora to kill him. He thinks back about his return from the future and his confrontation with Mephisto in Las Vegas, where he threatened the devil to "leave Frank Castle alone", which only served to confuse Mephisto. Gamora sneaks behind Thanos and decapitates him, which was exactly what Thanos wanted to happen in order to kill the future he witnessed. Gamora takes Thanos' head and leaves his body for the animals to eat. Later, Cosmic Ghost Rider arrives and pisses fire on Thanos' body. When the animals come to eat the remains, a booby trap destroys them. Thanos' brother Starfox arrives and cuts open the body, pulling out a device that could send the universe into war: the last will of Thanos.
ANNOTATIONS
Cosmic Ghost Rider and Starfox appear next in Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) # 1, which reveals that the device hidden inside Thanos' body is the Mad Titan's last will and testament.
Thanos returned from the end of time in Thanos (2017) # 18. He was killed by Gamora in Infinity Wars (2018) # 1. The whereabouts of his missing head is revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) # 3.
Mephisto was imprisoned in the top of a Las Vegas penthouse in Doctor Strange: Damnation # 4. The deal he makes in the future with Frank Castle that transforms him into the Ghost Rider was shown in Thanos (2017) # 16.
This issue was reprinted in the Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die trade paperback.
Podcast Review: Inner Demons Episode 33 - "Satanic Fanboys" (Click to Listen)
REVIEW
Donny Cates places Cosmic Ghost Rider into the modern day Marvel Universe while proving once again that no one since Jim Starlin can write a Thanos story like him.
This is a really curious one-shot comic, the type that I really didn't think Marvel bothered to do anymore. It's a continuity patch that also serves as a prelude to a later story, a bridging episode between two stories that works to fit together a timeline of events. You used to see this kind of story all the time back in the day, when Marvel were more concerned about continuity and maintaining the illusion that all of their comics happened along a realistic linear timeline. That concept went out the window around ten years ago when Wolverine started making dozens of appearances each month, so having it crop up here is a really interesting throwback. The events that this issue bridges are, of course, the end of "Thanos Wins" and the start of the Infinity Wars crossover, both of which heavily involved Thanos.
Cates obviously knows how to write a highly interesting Thanos, picking up seamlessly from where the "Thanos Wins" story left off. This certainly wasn't necessary, to show how he got from point A to point B, but it's an excuse for more masterful narration about Thanos from Cates, so it's certainly welcome. That it touches on other bits of current Marvel continuity, such as Damnation and Hela's wedding in Thor, are nice as well. The most important detail, though, is the inclusion of Cosmic Ghost Rider, confirming that the character does indeed make his way to the current timeline of the Marvel Universe. This is the first time we've seen Castle interact with anyone outside of Thanos from current continuity, and it provides a lot of promise for his inclusion in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Brian Level, stepping in as another Cates collaborator following Geoff Shaw and Dylan Burnett, does a pretty good job that's aided by the fantastic Jordan Boyd colors. There's something a lot cleaner and less fluid to Level's work compared to those other two artists, and it almost dips into being too animated in style to work for the grim tone, but he hits all the important beats as the story progresses. He does a nice Cosmic Ghost Rider, and the fire pissing bit is a nice callback to the Ghost Rider films.
This isn't a necessary story, though it serves as both an excellent epilogue to "Thanos Wins" and a stepping stone to Guardians of the Galaxy. I recommend it if you're a fan of either.
Grade: B+
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