Writer: J. Michael Straczynski; Artist: Juan Ferreyra; Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham; Colorist: Juan Ferreyra; Editor: Wil Moss; Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Terry Dodson
New York City, the late 1970s, the Thing confronts a murderer in the streets. When the killer pulls a gun, Ghost Rider arrives and gives him the Penance Stare, turning him to ash. The Thing invites Johnny to go with him while he picks out a suit for his date with his girlfriend, and Johnny accepts. While at the tailor, the Thing asks Johnny if his Penance Stare would work on Galactus, who has killed trillions of innocent beings without any consequences. Johnny expresses doubt and asks how he would even get into space, to which the Thing replies, "you'll figure it out".
Two days later, at Cape Canaveral in Florida, Ghost Rider arrives just as a rocket is being launched into space. He latches his motorcycle onto the side of the rocket and transforms it, riding it into space as it blasts off. Once he leaves the planet he activates a stargate to transport him deeper into space.
Later, Galactus destroys and devours the energy of an inhabited world. He's confronted by Ghost Rider on the rocket, who Galactus calls "a tiny insect". Ghost Rider uses his power to grow in size until he is comparable to Galactus and attacks with hellfire, which Galactus counters with an energy blast of his own. Ghost Rider grapples with Galactus and looks into his eyes, giving him the Penance Stare, but is shocked when nothing happens. While Galactus turns his back, Ghost Rider is addressed by Uatu, the Watcher, who explains that Galactus feels no guilt or remorse for his actions and that is why the Penance Stare was not effective. When Ghost Rider refuses to accept this, Uatu continues to explain that as a cosmic destroyer Galactus serves a purpose that will be fulfilled when the universe dies and is reborn again. Ghost Rider denies this information and states his determination to make Galactus pay for the deaths he has caused regardless of what will happen in the future. Uatu teleports Ghost Rider back to Earth, outside of the restaurant where the Thing is on his date. Johnny is invited to join them in their meal and he accepts.
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| It's a cosmic Ghost Rider |
THE ROADMAP
This story is impossible to place in continuity and therefore must take place in an alternate reality from the mainstream Marvel Universe. The first page dates the story as taking place in the late 1970s, which would be fine from a publishing stand point but does not adhere to the Marvel Universe's sliding timescale. Furthermore, the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider did not have access to the Penance Stare during his original series, which is seemingly when this story is supposed to take place.
In the episode "When Calls Galactus" from the 1995 Fantastic Four animated series, Ghost Rider stops Galactus with the Penance Stare. This comic seems to take that episode as it's inspiration.
CHAIN REACTION
Ghost Rider fights Galactus in what can only be described as being a very...odd...team-up comic.
Just to get this out there from jump street, I did not like this comic. I felt like it was a tone clash between two characters that can, in theory, work well together in a story but just did not here on any level. It's a really cynical response to an episode of a cartoon from thirty years ago, denying a true "hell yeah" fist-pumping moment with a Comic Book Guy style "well, actually..." rebuttal that is, in fact, not true within the canon of the characters involved. Finally, it has some really forced bits of comedy that don't land at all and are there just as attempts to be cute. Again, complete tonal clash.
Like, okay, I get the whole "Galactus is a necessary evil for the universe" bit, that's been there as a part of his standard operating procedures for a long, long time now. Flagging up Ghost Rider's Penance Stare as a way to once again hammer home that point is a result of a fundamental misreading of how Ghost Rider's power works, one that's been floating around in the canon for a few years. For the record, the Penance Stare emphatically does NOT operate in relation to guilt or remorse. If that were the case, then what good would it do to use it against a villain when most murderers don't care about the people they hurt? The Penance Stare, since it's inception by Howard Mackie in the early 1990s, forces the bad guy to actually FEEL all the pain and harm they have EVER caused to anyone. It doesn't matter if they care or not, the point is to make them experience what their victims felt! That's WHY it was such a badass moment in that Fantastic Four cartoon, because Ghost Rider was able to one-shot the heaviest of heavies with just a LOOK. Like Ghost Rider says in this comic, this stupid misinterpretation of how his power works has been trotted out for the likes of the Punisher and Thanos; I could forgive the latter of those two, because Thanos is a sadist that also enjoys pain, so it makes sense that he would get off on the effects of the Penance Stare. But Galactus should have been shaking in his big purple booties in this comic, end of story.
I mean, J. Michael Straczynski was a good writer once, right? I haven't read much of his older work, but he was a big deal back in the 2000s on characters like Spider-Man and Thor. This one, though, is just such a massive dumpster fire that it actually damages Ghost Rider as a character more than anything else. He's a joke for the first several pages, playing straight-man to the Thing, and then he gets lectured on cosmic stuff by the Watcher for the back half of the story. He's rendered impotent, and I think that's actually the whole point of the comic. Johnny Blaze is considered insignificant not just to Galactus, but to anything more than just sitting in a restaurant where he's again playing straight-man to Ben Grimm. Look, the Cosmic Ghost Rider stories by Donny Cates proved that the character type can work in a cosmic setting, so there's the template right there.
I hate to say, but Juan Ferreyra didn't impress me here either, and I usually really enjoy his work. I don't understand the bizarre decision to set the story in the 1970s, and one of the results of that decision is that Ferreyra tinted the coloring in this weird beige pallet that I assume is meant to look like pages from a Bronze Age comic. The majority of the comic looks nice, there's nothing technically bad or wrong about any of the art, but I just don't think it's enough to elevate the comic past it's genuinely stupid plot.
I refuse to accept that this story is canon for Ghost Rider. Besides the massive continuity errors, the terrible comedy asides, and the pompous lecture on cosmic destiny in the end - all of which are bad, mind you - it's ultimately a slap in the face to a character that deserves better. I don't think I've actively disliked a comic as much as this in a really long time. Avoid it all costs.
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| That 100% should have worked! |
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