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
Cosmic Ghost Rider reminisces about the death of his family in Central Park as he's forced to watch Cammi be sucked into a black hole while he's held at bay by the Cosmic King. Frank attacks Cosmic King while in orbit of the nearby planet of the Jemonites, causing them to crash down like meteors on one of their cities, killing all of the inhabitants. Frank flashes back to when he died and arrived in Hell, where he met Mephisto. The demon lord offered him a deal, to continue punishing the wicked as a Ghost Rider, and Frank accepted.
Frank climbs out of the crater made by their landing on the planet and continues the fight with Cosmic King. The battle rages while the two talk about Frank's life and his relationship with death, finally ending with Frank dragging Cosmic King behind his motorcycle. Realizing he's beaten, the Cosmic King offers Frank another deal: his mortal soul, reclaimed from Mephisto, in exchange for sparing Cosmic King's life. Frank accepts without hesitation, stripping himself of the power of the Ghost Rider, while Cosmic King just laughs and says "pleasure doing business with you".
THE ROADMAP
Frank Castle's deal with Mephisto was first shown in Thanos (2017) # 16.
CHAIN REACTION
Hallum and Hepburn turn in an incredible action issue that delves in to the history and personality of Frank Castle in a way that resonates to the core of the character.
I have to admit up front, I thought this comic was fantastic. The Cosmic King may not be much of a villain other than "scary space monster", but his ongoing dialogue with Frank Castle in this issue allows writer Hallum to really dig into what makes Castle tick in this current form. In past Cosmic Ghost Rider stories there's not been much in the way of allowing his personality as the Punisher to break through, instead playing up the insane wackiness that's kind of become an albatross around the character's neck. Compare the flashback to the Central Park event in this issue to the entirety of the previous "CGR Destroys Marvel History" mini-series and the seriousness in which its depicted; this is Ghost Rider filtered through the Punisher, which is what the character's honestly been missing since his creation.
Hallum hangs all of his characterization on the window dressing of an issue-long fight scene, which really allows the creators to show off just how destructive these two cosmic beings can be when they're let off the leash. The dialogue is spot on, with flags thrown up about Frank's disregard for innocent lives and his obsession with death. We're also given the incredibly insightful flashback with Mephisto, who in a great bit almost wants to rescind his offer to Frank once he sees how depression his life had been.
The artwork by Scott Hepburn continues to impress. His art is busy but not distractingly so, providing a lot of kinetic movement to his panels. His version of the Cosmic King's monster form is constantly morphing and moving, and you can see those transitions on panel. He also dramatically sells the major waves of destruction the fight between the two characters creates and the death toll they rack up. Hepburn gets to show off his character chops in bits that are more than just comedy routines as well, such as the death of the Castle family on the opening page. Good, solid stuff here.
I think allowing the comic to focus solely on Frank, without Cammi as the hanger-on, really let it breathe and focus in ways that it sorely needed. Hallum leaves us with a great cliffhanger, I'm curious to see where it goes from here.
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