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
Having been tossed into a wormhole by the Cosmic King, Cammi finds herself transported back to the past, landing in the bedroom of the Cosmic King's two young children. The kids believe Cammi to be an alien pet and treat her like a toy until she is able to sneak out and learn that this is the day Cosmic King is possessed by the alien parasite that escaped from the Shi'ar prison. The parasite briefly infects Cammi, who sees a vision of the parasite's history and desires, that it wants to gain possession of Cosmic Ghost Rider so it will become unstoppable. Cammi escapes and barely makes it back through the wormhole before she is taken again by the parasite.
Back on the planet Squol in the present day, Frank Castle has regained his soul and lost his power as the Spirit of Vengeance. The Cosmic King attempts a double cross, which Frank was expecting. Cammi arrives just after the Cosmic King's final defeat at Frank's hands. Mephisto arrives and demands Frank's soul by way of contract, but when Frank refuses Mephisto takes Cammi's soul in his place and returns to Hell, leaving Frank with her comatose body.
THE ROADMAP
Frank Castle's deal with Mephisto was first shown in Thanos (2017) # 16.
CHAIN REACTION
Cammi gets a spotlight issue that frankly just stalls for time in a story that didn't need it.
I get the appeal of having pet characters that writers enjoy slotting into their stories, and I really didn't have that big of a problem with Cammi or her presence in this series...until this issue. After the action heavy antics of the previous issue, this one just derails all of the momentum for a diversion about Cammi and space children. It's frustrating, because while it's not written poorly it's just so insufferably bland that it actively makes me dislike Cammi more than I probably should. Having her be an important part of the story is one thing, but throwing one fifth of the mini-series to her as the star is too much for me.
It's not even so much that this issue is bad, it actually delivers some important information for the plot, specifically as to why the alien goo monster wants Frank so badly. It just takes that information and stretches it amongst Cammi's story, which isn't very interesting. There's nothing in this comic that couldn't have been done in a page or so, which it in fact does with the double-page spread of Cammi getting possessed by the alien. That's all that the story needed, it certainly didn't need to involve time travel and the Cosmic King's annoying kids. It actually distracts from the fantastic cliffhanger of the previous issue, with Frank regaining his soul and losing his Ghost Rider powers, which only gets a couple of pages of follow-through here.
Hallum does continue to show that he has a superb handle on Frank Castle as a character, specifically the "that's a criminal and I'm the Punisher" bit near the end that details Cosmic King's fate. That the final blow between Frank and the Cosmic King happens off panel is a bit frustrating, though. We could have had THAT sequence instead of Cammie's time travel adventure, and it would have been so much more satisfying.
Scott Hepburn does continue to supply some solid artwork, even if he's not given as much action or interesting material to draw as he did in previous issues. I love his design for the alien, which seems to be constantly morphing and transforming as it moves. I also really dig his design for Old Man Punisher, who looks distinctly different than Frank as Cosmic Ghost Rider. It's a nice touch that I thoroughly appreciate.
I really enjoy this mini-series, I just wish the unnecessary detour into Cammi's worm hole excursion had been truncated down into a few pages instead of a whole issue.
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