Avengers (2018) # 23

"Challenge of the Ghost Riders, Part 2: Hell Race 666"

Cover Date: October 2019; On Sale Date: August 2019

Writer: Jason Aaron; Artist: Stefano Caselli; Colorist: Jason Keith

Letterer: VC's Cory Petit; Assistant Editor: Shannon Andrews Ballesteros; Associate Editor: Alanna Smith; Editor: Tom Brevoort; Editor in Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Stefano Caselli

Thor and She-Hulk return to Avengers Mountain and are told by Captain America that their headquarters is currently on lockdown due to it being possessed by a demonic spirit. While Daimon Hellstrom attempts to communicate with the being that's possessing the Celestial headquarters, the rest of the Avengers (Captain Marvel, Blade, and Black Panther) discover that the demon has taken possession of Iron Man's extra suits of armor.

Meanwhile in Hell, Johnny Blaze attempts to convince Robbie Reyes to race him in the "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" by telling him of its history and the races that various Spirits of Vengeance have held with one another throughout history. Robbie refuses to race, even after Blaze tells him that only by consolidating all of the powers of the Spirits of Vengeance can he be ready to defend the throne of Hell against Mephisto's return. Frustrated with Robbie, Blaze finally threatens to bring Robbie's brother Gabe down to Hell, which finally convinces Robbie to transform and race.

Back at Avengers Mountain, Hellstrom attempts to communicate with the possessing spirit, recognizing it as "the finest mass murderer the world has ever known". When he realizes who the spirit is, the Celestial attacks, nearly crushing the Avengers inside of it before the Boy-Thing weaves itself through the giant alien and sets it on fire. Hellstrom states that the invading spirit is attempting to reclaim its natural form, which appears inside the Mountain in front of Thor and She-Hulk. 

In Hell, Blaze has demons attempt to sabotage Robbie while they race, causing him to wreck the Hell Charger while Blaze ramps into the lead. Robbie is then confronted by the Ghost Riders of the past, who tell him that he has to stop King Blaze.  At Avengers Mountain, Thor and She-Hulk battle against the demonic spirit, who Hellstrom tells them is from the future and was a former Herald of Galactus. Finally regaining his true form, the Cosmic Ghost Rider introduces himself as Frank Castle, "the guy who's here to murder the Avengers".

Robbie's just not in the mood, Johnny!

THE ROADMAP

The "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" story that Blaze tells mentions several previous Spirits of Vengeance, including Ghost (from Avengers (2018) # 7), Noble Kale and Chief Hellhawk (from Ghost Rider (2006) # 33), and Danny Ketch.

Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch did indeed have a race for control of the Spirits of Vengeance in Ghost Rider (2006) # 32, which Blaze lost.

The collection of past Ghost Riders that meet Robbie in Hell were last seen in Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance # 1 where they welcomed Alejandra Jones into their ranks.

Cosmic Ghost Rider was last seen in Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) # 6, where he was killed and brought to Hell at the behest of Johnny Blaze, who drafted him into the Challenge of the Ghost Riders.

And those deals never go wrong, do they?

CHAIN REACTION

Robbie and Johnny start their race while another Ghost Rider is brought into the fray against the Avengers!

If there is any writer out there with the chops to write a Ghost Rider arc involving almost all of the various incarnations of the Spirit of Vengeance, it's Jason Aaron. He wove a brilliantly plotted storyline for the character in the 2000s, crafting a new origin story and introducing scores of past Ghost Riders, so he was the ideal choice to follow up on Blaze's status as the new King of Hell and his relationship with Robbie Reyes. Unfortunately, while this issue goes a long way to cement Robbie's place as a Ghost Rider proper it does so at the expense of Johnny Blaze, who undergoes not a small amount of character assassination to become this story's villain.

Despite the history lesson given by Blaze, I'm still not super clear on what the "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" was supposed to entail. I mean, sure, it's about Ghost Riders racing one another, but it doesn't effectively make it clear WHY they race one another. Blaze's end goal here is to consolidate all the power of the Ghost Riders to make himself powerful enough to maintain his spot on Hell's throne (which isn't all that dissimilar to Aaron's reintroduction of Danny Ketch back in 2008), but how does winning a race with Robbie Reyes make that happen? It's all fairly nebulous at this point, and doesn't become much clearer as the story moves forward.

The most galling part of the comic, though, is the way Johnny Blaze is utilized as a villain. Making him the antagonist against Robbie Reyes to secure Hell's throne, sure; making him fall prey to the corruption of Hell in the process, yeah, I buy that too; but having him threaten Robbie's disabled younger brother takes it a step too far. It certainly helps to bring Robbie back around to that family-oriented protector of his early appearances, but it absolutely robs Johnny of any virtue that should be afforded to a character that's always been presented as a hero. Again, it's all really reminiscent of Aaron's work with Danny Ketch, which was hard for a lot of fans to swallow at the time.

The rest of the comic is all fairly standard for Aaron's Avengers series, with the character dynamics being fairly compelling and the action beats all landing successfully. The inclusion at the end of Cosmic Ghost Rider is promising, of course, if only to see that character brought even more into the wider Marvel Universe. The artwork by Stefano Caselli is also solid as a rock, with his style complimenting both the action in Hell and at Avengers Mountain with equal amounts of gusto. I particularly like his rendition of Johnny Blaze, who is once again rocking the old school 1970s jumpsuit. 

This issue squanders a bit of the successful promise of the previous chapter, and it's looking like "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" may be less about celebrating the Spirits of Vengeance than about propping up Robbie over all the others.