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| Cover Art: Leinil Francis Yu |
Original Price: $4.99
Title: untitled
Writer: Bryan Hill
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Inker: Gary Alanguilan
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Editor: Will Moss
Associate Editor: Sarah Brunstad
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski
SYNOPSIS
At Avengers Mountain, Thor's mother Freya meets with the Punisher to discuss a mission and the agents needed to carry it through. Castle handpicks She-Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Blade and assembles them in a meeting room to listen to Freya. She tells them that Malekith has his own Black Bifrost Bridge in the Dark Elf realm of Svartalfheim that must be destroyed. The heroes all agree to join her, but she tells them that first they must be tested. Using Asgardian magic Freya forces each of them to confront their greatest fear: for She-Hulk it is her cousin the Hulk and for Blade it is himself as a future lord of the vampires. Robbie Reyes faces Johnny Blaze, who calls him an imposter. The Avengers fight through the magic and attack Freya to prove their worth. She stops the magic challenge and cinsukts with Punisher to plan their attack on the Black Bifrost. Much later in Svartalfeim, Freya decides to make a last stand to defend the Black Bifrost, as it is now the only way to cross between the Nine Realms.
ANNOTATIONS
This issue takes place between War of the Realms # 3 and 4, both of which featured the last and next cameo appearances of Ghost Rider.
Robbie Reyes last encountered Johnny Blaze in Hell in Avengers (2018) # 16 and will confront him again in Avengers (2018) # 22.
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REVIEW
Ghost Rider guest stars in this completely unnecessary tie in to War of the Realms that does, at least, feature some pretty art.
I followed along with War of the Realms rather half-heartedly, less because I enjoyed it and more to see if Ghost Rider played much of a role in it. I felt the main event was entirely underwhelming, to the point of it feeling more like an exercise in pointless crossovers than a story in its own right. This one shot was a perfect example of that idea, a comic created not to tell any kind of engaging story but to just exist as another comic titles War of the Realms. That's likely not the fault of Jason Aaron, who was writing the main event series, because everything that happens in this comic had already been a part of the larger event.
What makes this fundamental unnecessary is that its a "gathering the team" exercise that doesn't need an explanation. This justification for these characters going on this mission together doesn't need more than the flimsiest of motives, so why devote an extra large one shot to do so? Had this story revealed something integral to the team's mission I could excuse its existence, but instead it falls back on the ancient story trope of 'testing the heroes with their worst fears". It's a stock plot that pays lip service to characterization without doing anything of substance.
I guess that's not quite fair, though, because as a conversation piece between Punisher and Freya it's quite interesting. Seeing two characters who normally would never cross paths interact with one another leads to some great dialogue, which writer Bryan Hill has a good ear for in his script. As a Ghost Rider fan, though, this didn't tell me anything I didnt already know from the last several issues of Avengers. I suppose as a piece of the long game tease of the Reyes/Blaze storyline it almost works, but thats giving it more charity than it likely deserves.
What does deserve praise is the artwork by Lienil Yu, who again shows why he is such a great fit for Ghost Rider. Having previously illustrated the Ultimate Avengers arc that featured Ghost Rider I've been eagerly awaiting his return to the character in any capacity. He does great work on the dream sequences in this issue, and even makes all of the talking head pages interesting through use of intriguing panel layouts and camera shots. His art is easily the best thing about this comic.
So, yeah, this really isn't worth the cover price, either as a Ghost Rider story or a worthy event tie in. It does have some damn fine art, though...
Grade: C
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