Writer: Christopher Sebela; Artist: Phil Noto; Letterer: Travis Lanham; Colorist: Phil Noto; Consulting Editor: Nick Lowe; Editor: Kathleen Wisneski; Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Clayton Crain
Mephisto has killed Johnny Blaze, separated him from the Ghost Rider, and sent both falling down into Hell. When they arrive, Blaze convinces the Spirit of Vengeance to help him with his plan, which getting to Hell was only the first part of. After making their way through a demonic welcoming committee they arrive at an arena, where Blaze defeats the most sinful soul within in order to gain attention of a group of deceased supervillains. He attempts to convince them to help him overthrow Mephisto but they refuse; they do, however, provide him with a map to Mephisto's throne.
The Spirit of Vengeance produces a pair of motorcycles for them and the two depart on a race across Hell, chased by Mephisto's horde. Eventually, Blaze is able to convince the Spirit to merge with him once again, allowing Johnny to regain control of the Ghost Rider. While being chased by a demonic train, one of the supervillains named Mammomax arrives and agrees to help, destroying the train and buying Blaze time to enter Mephisto's tower. He finds the throne and takes a seat, claiming rulership of Hell for himself, which was all part of the plan to stop Mephisto.
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| Spirits of Cooperation! |
THE ROADMAP
"Damnation" was a crossover event in 2018. Other titles that featured tie-ins to the event were Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider, and Johnny Blaze: Ghost Rider. Mephisto killed Johnny Blaze at the end of Doctor Strange: Damnation (2018) # 3 and the story continues from this issue into Doctor Strange: Damnation (2018) # 4.
This isn't the first time Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider have been separated by Mephisto for a race across Hell, it happened the first time in Ghost Rider (1973) # 76.
This also isn't the first time Ghost Rider has taken Mephisto's throne as the King of Hell, the Noble Kale Ghost Rider did so in Ghost Rider (1990) # 93.
This isn't the first time Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider have been separated by Mephisto for a race across Hell, it happened the first time in Ghost Rider (1973) # 76.
This also isn't the first time Ghost Rider has taken Mephisto's throne as the King of Hell, the Noble Kale Ghost Rider did so in Ghost Rider (1990) # 93.
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| Hail to the king, baby! |
CHAIN REACTION
Ghost Rider gets a one-shot tie-in to "Damnation" that's superior to the rest of the event on just about every level.
Up to this point, "Damnation" has been a rather disappointing crossover that's suffered from a major pacing problem coupled with wasted characters and a lack of momentum. The third chapter of the event series ended with Johnny Blaze's death at Mephisto's hand, and it wasn't as shocking as the comic wanted it to be, ending with an unexpected but not particularly surprising cliffhanger. This one-shot picks up after that death and reveals the actual plan formulated by Blaze and Wong to stop Mephisto and save Las Vegas, and while that revelation isn't very surprising either it does allow the creative team to turn in a really great exploration of Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider as characters.
Like much of the "Damnation" event, the story in this issue isn't anything new. We've seen Blaze and the Ghost Rider separated in Hell before and we've even seen the Ghost Rider take over as the ruler of Hell before, so this ground is one that's been walked upon several times in past stories. What it lacks in innovation, though, it absolutely makes up for with one of the best takes on the Blaze/Rider relationship that's been seen in years. For a long time now most creators seem to have forgotten the dual aspect of the character, instead just writing Johnny Blaze with his head on fire, so getting an entire comic that revolves around that relationship is a breath of fresh air. I dare say it's what makes the Johnny Blaze character so interesting and endearing to begin with, his struggles to control and direct a force of demonic retribution that he's cursed to have live inside him. If he's just a redneck with a magic motorcycle a lot of the ingenuity of the Ghost Rider concept gets thrown aside like litter on the highway.
It also amazes me that, since being laid to wallow in guest-star limbo since the creation of Robbie Reyes, Blaze is getting such a huge shift in status quo with this event. I wondered when it was published if it was just Marvel's way of getting Johnny out of the way so Robbie could have that sweet sweet Avengers spotlight, but it turns out that there was an actual plan to the whole "King of Hell" bit that rounds off this issue. Again, it's not an innovative idea for a Ghost Rider story, but it's the character-building lead-up in this issue and the consequences that play out over the next few years that make it interesting. Christopher Sebela does a lot of heavy lifting here, pulling up the whole "Damnation" event by its bootstraps to slow things down and make the readers actually care about one of the characters involved. It's a monumental feat.
Aiding Sebela is the phenomenal artwork by Phil Noto, who is an artist I never would have imagined being a good fit for Ghost Rider. His work usually has a washed-out water color effect to it that's too soft for a character like this, but that technique is put aside in favor of bolder colors and much stronger finishes. The color in particular offers some amazing contrasts, with the Ghost Rider's blue placed against the fiery red background of Hell. I'd love to see Noto come back for more work on the character, but his work on this issue is fantastic.
In fact, having Sebela return along with Noto would be a welcome event as part of the follow-up to this one-shot. They manage to take a lame-duck crossover and produce solid gold out of it that does something I would have thought impossible: they make us care about Blaze's fate and stick the landing of the massive status quo change.
Up to this point, "Damnation" has been a rather disappointing crossover that's suffered from a major pacing problem coupled with wasted characters and a lack of momentum. The third chapter of the event series ended with Johnny Blaze's death at Mephisto's hand, and it wasn't as shocking as the comic wanted it to be, ending with an unexpected but not particularly surprising cliffhanger. This one-shot picks up after that death and reveals the actual plan formulated by Blaze and Wong to stop Mephisto and save Las Vegas, and while that revelation isn't very surprising either it does allow the creative team to turn in a really great exploration of Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider as characters.
Like much of the "Damnation" event, the story in this issue isn't anything new. We've seen Blaze and the Ghost Rider separated in Hell before and we've even seen the Ghost Rider take over as the ruler of Hell before, so this ground is one that's been walked upon several times in past stories. What it lacks in innovation, though, it absolutely makes up for with one of the best takes on the Blaze/Rider relationship that's been seen in years. For a long time now most creators seem to have forgotten the dual aspect of the character, instead just writing Johnny Blaze with his head on fire, so getting an entire comic that revolves around that relationship is a breath of fresh air. I dare say it's what makes the Johnny Blaze character so interesting and endearing to begin with, his struggles to control and direct a force of demonic retribution that he's cursed to have live inside him. If he's just a redneck with a magic motorcycle a lot of the ingenuity of the Ghost Rider concept gets thrown aside like litter on the highway.
It also amazes me that, since being laid to wallow in guest-star limbo since the creation of Robbie Reyes, Blaze is getting such a huge shift in status quo with this event. I wondered when it was published if it was just Marvel's way of getting Johnny out of the way so Robbie could have that sweet sweet Avengers spotlight, but it turns out that there was an actual plan to the whole "King of Hell" bit that rounds off this issue. Again, it's not an innovative idea for a Ghost Rider story, but it's the character-building lead-up in this issue and the consequences that play out over the next few years that make it interesting. Christopher Sebela does a lot of heavy lifting here, pulling up the whole "Damnation" event by its bootstraps to slow things down and make the readers actually care about one of the characters involved. It's a monumental feat.
Aiding Sebela is the phenomenal artwork by Phil Noto, who is an artist I never would have imagined being a good fit for Ghost Rider. His work usually has a washed-out water color effect to it that's too soft for a character like this, but that technique is put aside in favor of bolder colors and much stronger finishes. The color in particular offers some amazing contrasts, with the Ghost Rider's blue placed against the fiery red background of Hell. I'd love to see Noto come back for more work on the character, but his work on this issue is fantastic.
In fact, having Sebela return along with Noto would be a welcome event as part of the follow-up to this one-shot. They manage to take a lame-duck crossover and produce solid gold out of it that does something I would have thought impossible: they make us care about Blaze's fate and stick the landing of the massive status quo change.
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