Writer: Ed Brisson; Artist: Juan Frigeri; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorist: Dono Sanchez-Almara; Editor: Chris Robinson; Consulting Editor: Devon Lewis; Senior Editor: Jordan D. White; Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Phillip Tan
In a small Nicaraguan village, former Ghost Rider Alejandra Jones finds the people she's been protecting under attack by Carnage, who is there to claim the Symbiote Codex attached to Alejandra. Meanwhile, at the Fadeaway Pub in New York, Danny Ketch is visited by the spirit of his brother, Johnny Blaze, who is now the King of Hell. Johnny asks Danny to go help Alejandra, since he can't leave Hell to help her himself. Danny reluctantly agrees to help.
Danny arrives in Nicaragua shortly after and finds a family hiding inside a store. The family's young daughter tells him about Alejandra fighting to protect them, and they soon see her outside battling Carnage. Danny transforms into the Ghost Rider and joins the fight, but is unable to stop Carnage from killing Alejandra. Carnage absorbs her Codex and temporarily gains powers similar to the Ghost Rider. Alejandra wakes up in Hell and finds Blaze, who tells her about the Codex and why Carnage wanted it. She demands that Blaze send her back to Earth to help the village, but the only way he can is to have her spirit possess someone.
Back on Earth, Danny gives Carnage the Penance Stare, but it backfires and incapacitates Danny instead. Blaze sends Alejandra to possess the daughter of the family that Danny met and she leads the villagers to fight back against Carnage, saving Danny in the process. Alejandra says goodbye and relinquishes the girl's body. She finds herself back in Hell, where Blaze introduces her to other past Ghost Riders, telling her "welcome home".
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| Spine-tingling suspense in the Mighty Marvel Manner! |
THE ROADMAP
Danny Ketch/Ghost Rider made his last appearance in The Punisher (2018) # 16.
Johnny Blaze became the King of Hell in Damnation: Johnny Blaze - Ghost Rider # 1 and has been making sporadic appearances in that role during the previous year. Blaze and Ketch last worked together in Wolverine (2010) # 6.
Alejandra Jones first appeared in Ghost Rider (2011) # 1 when she became possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance. During her brief career as the Ghost Rider she was used to wipe the sin from a village in Nicaragua in Ghost Rider (2011) # 3 and fought Mephisto to regain the souls of the villagers in Ghost Rider (2011) # 9.
Alejandra's series ended with her retaining a fraction of the Ghost Rider's power when the Spirit of Vengeance returned to Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider (2011) # 9. Outside of an alternate reality version of her appearing in Ghost Racers (2015) # 1 she had not appeared since the end of her series in 2012.
During the "Circle of Four" crossover event, Alejandra and Blaze joined Red Hulk, Agent Venom, and X-23 in stopping Hell from taking over Las Vegas. In Venom (2011) # 13.4 the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom Symbiote bonded with Red Hulk before returning to Alejandra in Venom (2011) # 14, which is when she was infected with the symbiote codex that Carnage is hunting in this issue.
Ghost Rider once attempted to give Venom the Penance Stare in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 6. It backfired on him then just as it does against Carnage in this story due to the alien symbiotes.
Johnny Blaze became the King of Hell in Damnation: Johnny Blaze - Ghost Rider # 1 and has been making sporadic appearances in that role during the previous year. Blaze and Ketch last worked together in Wolverine (2010) # 6.
Alejandra Jones first appeared in Ghost Rider (2011) # 1 when she became possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance. During her brief career as the Ghost Rider she was used to wipe the sin from a village in Nicaragua in Ghost Rider (2011) # 3 and fought Mephisto to regain the souls of the villagers in Ghost Rider (2011) # 9.
Alejandra's series ended with her retaining a fraction of the Ghost Rider's power when the Spirit of Vengeance returned to Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider (2011) # 9. Outside of an alternate reality version of her appearing in Ghost Racers (2015) # 1 she had not appeared since the end of her series in 2012.
During the "Circle of Four" crossover event, Alejandra and Blaze joined Red Hulk, Agent Venom, and X-23 in stopping Hell from taking over Las Vegas. In Venom (2011) # 13.4 the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom Symbiote bonded with Red Hulk before returning to Alejandra in Venom (2011) # 14, which is when she was infected with the symbiote codex that Carnage is hunting in this issue.
Ghost Rider once attempted to give Venom the Penance Stare in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 6. It backfired on him then just as it does against Carnage in this story due to the alien symbiotes.
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| LOOK INTO MY EYES! |
CHAIN REACTION
Danny Ketch is back under the guidance of Ed Brisson and Juan Frigeri in this crossover tie-in that brings back a forgotten character.
Ed Brisson knows his Ghost Rider history, there's no mistaking that. He'd already shown his aptitude for reinvigorating Danny Ketch but who knew he could take Alejandra Jones and make her compelling? And it's all contained within an inconsequential crossover tie-in as well? Again, who knew just what a boon Brisson was going to be to the Ghost Rider mythos before that Marvel Comics Presents issue came out?
The rehab job that Brisson managed to do with Danny Ketch had been monumental considering the state he was left in about a decade back. Its like Marvel, through Brisson, had finally realized that Danny's 1990 series is far and away the most successful the character has ever been and decided to try and right the ship. Its not that the other Ghost Riders were being left behind, Robbie Reyes was doing just fine over in Avengers, it's that a whole generation of readers were getting THEIR Ghost Rider back, and to us that was damned exciting.
While the original Ketch revamp was hugely successful in its time, one of the attempts in recent years to recapture that lightning in a bottle was the decidedly unsuccessful Alejandra series from 2011. It had no lasting impact and was cancelled within a year, so having all of that come back in this story was surprising in how redemptive it was for not just Alejandra as a character but for the events in her series in total. Brisson seemingly forgets nothing and somehow wove everything together into a highly satisfying story that gave closure to Alejandra, a Ghost Rider footnote at best and black mark at worst.
Speaking of highly satisfying, Juan Frigeri again proved his chops with Ghost Rider after his work on that aforementioned Marvel Comics Presents story. He quickly cementing himself as an iconic Ghost Rider artist, even though his relatively clean and bright art style should clash pretty harshly with the subject matter. The guy drew Carnage literally eating Alejandra's spine, which was naturally metal as hell. He also turned in the surprisingly effective design for Carnage with Ghost Rider powers, which doesn't fall into the bland trap that Host Rider landed in a while back.
This comic didn't make me any more interested in "Absolute Carnage" but it absolutely had me excited for Brisson's continued work on Ghost Rider. Highly recommended.
Ed Brisson knows his Ghost Rider history, there's no mistaking that. He'd already shown his aptitude for reinvigorating Danny Ketch but who knew he could take Alejandra Jones and make her compelling? And it's all contained within an inconsequential crossover tie-in as well? Again, who knew just what a boon Brisson was going to be to the Ghost Rider mythos before that Marvel Comics Presents issue came out?
The rehab job that Brisson managed to do with Danny Ketch had been monumental considering the state he was left in about a decade back. Its like Marvel, through Brisson, had finally realized that Danny's 1990 series is far and away the most successful the character has ever been and decided to try and right the ship. Its not that the other Ghost Riders were being left behind, Robbie Reyes was doing just fine over in Avengers, it's that a whole generation of readers were getting THEIR Ghost Rider back, and to us that was damned exciting.
While the original Ketch revamp was hugely successful in its time, one of the attempts in recent years to recapture that lightning in a bottle was the decidedly unsuccessful Alejandra series from 2011. It had no lasting impact and was cancelled within a year, so having all of that come back in this story was surprising in how redemptive it was for not just Alejandra as a character but for the events in her series in total. Brisson seemingly forgets nothing and somehow wove everything together into a highly satisfying story that gave closure to Alejandra, a Ghost Rider footnote at best and black mark at worst.
Speaking of highly satisfying, Juan Frigeri again proved his chops with Ghost Rider after his work on that aforementioned Marvel Comics Presents story. He quickly cementing himself as an iconic Ghost Rider artist, even though his relatively clean and bright art style should clash pretty harshly with the subject matter. The guy drew Carnage literally eating Alejandra's spine, which was naturally metal as hell. He also turned in the surprisingly effective design for Carnage with Ghost Rider powers, which doesn't fall into the bland trap that Host Rider landed in a while back.
This comic didn't make me any more interested in "Absolute Carnage" but it absolutely had me excited for Brisson's continued work on Ghost Rider. Highly recommended.
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