Writers: Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum; Artist: Scott Hepburn; Letterer: Travis Lanham; Colorist: Antonio Fabela; Editor: Darren Shaw; Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Scott Hepburn
Following a brief, one-sided fight inside the Hotel Inferno, the Cosmic King takes the soul of Frank Castle away from Mephisto. Cosmic King then teleports back to his headquarters, where he is informed that the Cosmic Ghost Rider is destroying one of his spice fields on the planet Kanda. Cosmic Ghost Rider slaughters the cartel members on the planet but refuses to allow his new companion, Cammi, to help due to her soul being pure. When she protests, Cosmic Ghost Rider chains her to his bike before his next mission underwater in the Trench of Natal Lax.
Later, a space diner, Frank and Cammi are attacked by seven of Cosmic King's assassins, all of whom Castle kills in the span of three minutes, again not allowing Cammi to kill anyone. They travel to the planet of the Jemonites, who refused to allow Cosmic King to pass drugs and supplies through their planet, resulting in him setting up a blockade in orbit, starving the citizens to death. Cosmic Ghost Rider goes off to destroy the blockade, leaving Cammi chained on an asteroid, but she manages to escape and boards one of the blockade ships. Before she can kill the ship's captain Frank destroys the ship, killing everyone on board other than Cammi. Cosmic King arrives and transforms into a monstrous creature, attacking Frank and grabbing Cammi. When Castle tells Cosmic King to let her go, he obliges by flinging her into a wormhole while Frank can do nothing but watch.
THE ROADMAP
Mephisto was imprisoned in the Hotel Inferno in Las Vegas at the end of Doctor Strange: Damnation (2018) # 4.
Mephisto comments that time in Hell is fluid and that he doesn't actually own Castle's soul yet, due to him having sold it to Mephisto to become a Ghost Rider in the future of a now dead timeline, as told in Thanos (2017) # 16.
CHAIN REACTION
Hallum and Hepburn continue their Cosmic Ghost Rider mini-series, but play way too heavily on the "pure soul" of their pet character, Cammi.
I'm afraid I just don't buy Frank's interpretation of Cammi Bennaly being this innocent being when she's actively trying to murder people left and right. I get where Hallum is coming from, juxtaposing the damned soul and weighed guilt of Frank Castle against someone with the potential for goodness, but it forces the characters to twist into pretzels in order to justify their actions. Frank essentially treats Cammi at best like a pet, chained to the side of his motorcycle, and at worst a slave that he uses to plan strikes against the Cosmic King. All while proclaiming that he's protecting her innocence like some valiant night, not realizing that he's exposing her to the same corruption he's trying to keep her away from. It just doesn't make a ton of sense and it makes both characters look worse for their efforts.
That's not to say there's not stuff to like in this comic, because the rest of Frank's characterization is spot-on in line with Donny Cates' original interpretation. Hallum goes out of his way to separate Cosmic Ghost Rider from "all-beef" Frank Castle, flagging up the change in personality that the hellfire has on his psyche by saying Castle loves no one and nothing even while he revels in slaughtering aliens as Cosmic Ghost Rider. It's an intriguing take on the character that doesn't forget his Punisher side, someone that writers (even the good ones, like Cates) struggle with.
Scott Hepburn falls right in line with previous CGR artists like Geoff Shaw and Dylan Burnett, giving the pages this hyper-kinetic quality that really sells the speeding action sequences. His Cosmic Ghost Rider is appropriately funny when he needs to be, but the comedy beats don't define the artwork or the story itself. It toes that fine line that the series needs to be more than just a parody.
I'm not sold at all on the Castle/Cammi relationship, but I'm involved enough in the story to want to see where everything goes from here.
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