Ghost Rider (2011) # 9

Published: May 2012; On Sale Date: March 2012

Writer: Rob Williams; Artists: Lee Garbett & Emanuela Lupacchino; Inker: Guillermo Ortego; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editors: Sebastian Girner & Ellie Pyle; Senior Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Blankas

Alejandra, the Ghost Rider, bursts into a strip club and decapitates the Seeker, the zombie that was responsible for giving her the Spirit of Vengeance (though he's quick to point out that Zarathos chooses his host, not him).  She is determined to go to Hell and rescue the souls of the Nicaraguan village that she was responsible for damning, and the Seeker tells her to find Adam for the power boost she needs.  She teleports to the desert and pulls Adam through a portal, positioning him high above a building.  He agrees to give her the power she needs, happy that it will allow her to spread vengeance to Hell.  Meanwhile, Johnny Blaze is having a conversation with Doctor Strange about the Ghost Rider, with Blaze agreeing that Alejandra needs to be stopped after she turned against them to side with Blackheart.  Strange opens a portal to Hell, but Blaze shoots him in the foot and rides into the portal alone, saying that the Ghost Rider is his responsibility only.

In Hell, an armored Alejandra storms the gates of Mephisto's realm, slaying her way through an army of demons.  Blaze follows her trail and is besieged by more demons, who are forced to back off when he produces the contract he has with Mephisto, which the demons claim is a "great weapon".  He continues on through Hell and finds a giant-sized Alejandra fighting Mephisto in a lake of fire.  While the two fight, Blaze transforms the contract into a shotgun shell.  Mephisto gains the upper hand against the Ghost Rider, but before he can claim victory Alejandra punches her hand into his chest and rips out of his heart.  She threatens to destroy his heart, which will consequently destroy Hell and all of creation, if he does not return the Nicaraguan souls.  He does so, but Alejandra decides to destroy his heart anyway, and is only stopped when Blaze fires his shotgun through her skull.  She shrinks down and falls, grabbing onto a ledge above the lake of fire.  When Blaze tries to save her, she lets herself fall while the Spirit of Vengeance returns to Johnny.  He plunges into the fire after her, and as the Ghost Rider he pulls her burnt body to safety and makes his way back to Earth.  In Nicaragua, Blaze as the Ghost Rider explains that while Alejandra is no longer the Spirit of Vengeance she has retained some of its power.  He shows her that she was successful in her gambit against Mephisto, the souls have been returned to the people she wiped the sin from, but that's not good enough for her.  She claims that she is due revenge on Blaze for what he helped do to her, and the two part ways, with him telling her to come find him when she's ready.

Ghost Rider (2011) # 8

Cover Date: March 2012; On Sale Date: January 2012

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Lee Garbett; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager & Andres Mossa; Editor: Sebastian Girner; Senior Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Matthew Clark

Alejandra has been shot in the heart with an arrow by Hawkeye, who has used a mystical amulet attached to the error to paralyze the Ghost Rider and keep her from transforming.  He takes her into custody, but realizes that he needs to save Johnny Blaze from Steel Wind and Steel Vengeance.  The two sisters have chained Blaze between their bikes are about to drive him into a bullet train when Hawkeye arrives to save him.  Hawkeye has to jump off of his skycycle during the fight and leaves Alejandra tied onto it.  Right before it crashes into the bullet train and explodes, Alejandra successfully pulls the arrow from her chest.  Blaze and Hawkeye are taken prisoner by Steel Wind, who tells them that they will experience "The Dragging".

The two men are dragged through downtown Tokyo by Steel Wind and Steel Vengeance, but they are saved by Alejandra.  The Ghost Rider has transformed the bullet train into a "hell train" with a giant skull as its engine car.  She chases them out into the desert, where Blaze and Hawkeye jump onto the train and Alejandra blows up the sisters with the hellfire shotgun.  Afterward, Blaze offers to help Alejandra and Hawkeye tells her that she still needs to pay for her crimes.  Blaze takes the mystical amulet and both he and Alejandra teleport away.

Ghost Rider (2011) # 7

Cover Date: March 2012; On Sale Date: January 2012

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Lee Garbett; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Stefano Caselli

In Tokyo, Adam the first man stands in a cemetery with Steel Wind, an old enemy of Johnny Blaze.  In return for the resurrection of her sister, Steel Vengeance, Steel Wind will find the new Ghost Rider and deliver her to Adam.  He brings the cyborg corpse of Steel Vengeance out of her grave, but as a desiccated corpse powered by her robotic parts.

Elsewhere in America, Alejandra has tracked the Seeker down at a movie theater, where she asks him how she can return the souls to the people she wronged in Nicaragua.  The Seeker tells her that the souls are in the possession of Mephisto in Hell, and that she should find Johnny Blaze to help her get there.  Blaze, meanwhile, is riding his bike through a city when he's attacked by Hawkeye, who has been sent by the Avengers to find and capture the Ghost Rider for what happened in Nicaragua.  After a brief fight, Hawkeye learns that Blaze is no longer the Ghost Rider, just as Alejandra arrives to ask Johnny for help.  Suddenly, a vortex opens in the sky, which sucks Alejandra inside.  Blaze jumps in after her, followed by an aggravated Hawkeye.

The vortex deposits Alejandra and Blaze at a desert, where they are confronted by Steel Wind and Steel Vengeance.  Steel Wind attacks Alejandra, but quickly realizes that Adam has not truly resurrected her sister, merely reanimated her dead body.  She tells Alejandra to stay out of her way and she will let her live, deciding to take her revenge out on Blaze instead.  Before Alejandra can rescue Blaze, an arrow with an amulet wrapped around the shaft strikes her in the chest, turning her back into her human form.  Hawkeye stands over her, saying that the people in Central America have now been avenged.

X-Men (2010) # 15.1

"Hell to Pay"

Cover Date: October 2011; On Sale Date: August 2011

Writer: Victor Gischler; Artist: Will Conrad; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorist: Brian Reber; Assistant Editor: Jordan D. White; Associate Editor: Daniel Ketchum; Editor: Nick Lowe; Editor-In-Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Jason Pearson

At a Native American reservation, X-Man Danielle Moonstar says goodbye to an old woman named Awanata who is laying catatonic and is slowly dying. She exits the small room and tells the other X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, and Pixie) that they need to seal the entrance to the room. The woman's husband, Arnold Blackfeather, tells the X-Men that they have to seal Awanata up due to events that happened decades ago. The town was attacked by demons, and though he was a young training shaman Blackfeather was unable to stop them. Awanata, a powerful shaman as well, absorbed the demons into herself and trapped them inside her own soul. But now she's old and dying, and she knows that once she dies the demons will be released. Blackfeather hands Pixie a magical book that contains a spell to seal the demons inside the brick crypt they're building around Awanata.

Before the spell can be cast, the Ghost Rider arrives declaring the sin in the town must be cleansed in fire. Cyclops, noticing that the Rider has changed (shorter, now a female), tries to talk but is cut off by the Spirit of Vengeance, who senses that Awanata has just died. The tomb explodes and a host of demons in human form emerge from the old woman, calling themselves the Atahsaia. The X-Men stand against them, and when the demons transform into their true forms they create a deep pit in the street. The X-Men attack, but quickly discover that they cannot kill the demons. Ghost Rider pulls up beside Moonstar and orders her to get on the bike while Pixie takes the spell book from Blackfeather. The X-Men herd the demons toward the pit, where Ghost Rider and Moonstone use the Rider's mystical chains to drag them down. When the two women emerge from the chasm, the X-Men seal it with rubble and Pixie uses the spell book to mystically seal the demons in. Blackfeather emerges to thank the heroes, but he's caught by the Ghost Rider's chain and forced to confess his sin. It was Blackfeather who originally summoned the demons to use against a rival tribe, and his wife saved him. Ghost Rider commands Blackfeather to pay penance by repairing the town and regaining his family's honor, then she rides away. The X-Men depart as well, leaving the town to put itself back together.

Ghost Rider (2011) # 6

Cover Date: February 2012; On Sale Date: December 2011

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Dalibor Talajic; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Sebastian Girner; Senior Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Arturo Lozzi

Zarathos has brought Alejandra to the swamps of Louisiana, where a hurricane is getting ready to hit.  She comes across an old woman in a boat who calls her a "guilty ghost" and smiles.  Alejandra notices a voodoo trinket hanging from a tree, and when she crosses the border past it finds herself transformed back into her human form, unable to turn back into the Ghost Rider.  She is saved from the alligators in the water by an old man, who pulls her to shore and introduces himself as Earle.  He takes her to a small community of people imprisoned by the witch, explaining that all of them are murderers cursed to stay within the community's borders.  The witch, who lost a daughter to a killer, cursed every murderer in the region to her swamp prison, where each of them have changed their ways.  Earle sees Alejandra's arrival as a sign that their curse is going to end, as she's the first person the witch has ever allowed to cross the border.

While Earle talks to Alejandra, the rest of the town holds a meeting where they decide to take care of Alejandra themselves.  They touch one another and merge into a monstrous gestalt creature, which bursts out of the small building to attack Alejandra, knocking the protesting Earle aside.  The creature explains that they haven't changed their ways, the witch's curse states that they have to murder one more person to be free...but they are unable to kill each other, no matter how hard they have tried over the years.  The monster chases Alejandra back into the swamp, and when she crosses the border her power returns.  She transforms into the Ghost Rider and calls down a bolt of lightning, which she uses to destroy the combined murderers.  Earle sees the body of the witch, now dead in her boat, and realizes that he's finally free from his curse.  Alejandra, however, cuts him down with her scythe, stating that he's still a murderer.  The Ghost Rider leaves the swamp just as the hurricane hits, leaving the town to be destroyed.

Ghost Rider (2011) # 5

Cover Date: January 2012; On Sale Date: November 2011

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Lee Garbett; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Arturo Lozzi 

In Mexico, a young girl is running in the desert, pursued by two men with guns.  When the girl fights back, the men prepare to kill her instead of taking her back to their boss, but a portal of fire opens up beneath their feet.  Alejandra, the new Ghost Rider, rides through the portal and stands before the two men.  Zarathos, the demon inside Alejandra, has told her that he would open portals to take her where she needs to go, to lead her to those most deserving of vengeance.  She incapacitates the two men and allows the girl to run away toward a nearby town.  That night, Alejandra sits in the desert and thinks about how she had been adopted by Adam and never knew her parents.

The next day, at a secure compound in the desert, a group of slave traffickers are loading a truck with women and children that they plan to sell.  The operation is run by a Texan man named Jones, who is known for punishing any of his men who fail to live up to his expectations.  From the desert comes a black cloud in the shape of a skull, out of which the Ghost Rider emerges.  She uses her abilities to attack the men with a plague of locusts, then frees the enslaved children.  She sees Jones escaping in a truck into the mountains, a truck filled with innocent children.  She chases Jones, who jumps out of the truck just before it drives off of a high cliff.  Despite Zarathos screaming for vengeance in her head, Alejandra uses her power to save the children by opening a portal for the truck to fall through to safety.  She later catches up with Jones on a mesa and realizes, through Zarathos' insight, that the man is her father.  She turns back to her human form and introduces herself as his daughter; he replies that he's had lots of children with women whose names he doesn't remember.  He sold all of his children, just like he sold her to Adam.  He tells her that he sees the strength inside of her, admits that she is his daughter and that he's proud of her.  She transforms back into the Ghost Rider and cuts away Jones' sin with her scythe, leaving him a soulless human shell.  She rides away while Zarathos smiles inside her.

Ghost Rider (2011) # 4

"Give Up the Ghost, Part 5"

Cover Date: December 2011; On Sale Date: October 2011

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Matthew Clark; Inker: Sean Parsons; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Adam Kubert

Alejandra, the newest Ghost Rider, is aboard a NASA space-station with her mentor, Adam, and a pair of lobotomized astronauts.  Adam explains that the satellite is actually a giant telescope used to take photographs of distant stars, and now they will use the giant lens to turn the Ghost Rider's power on the Earth to wipe it free of sin.  While Adam speaks, Alejandra hears the whispers in her head from the demon Zarathos, barely able to keep in control of her newfound power.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Johnny Blaze returns to the devil Mephisto and demands a "space bike" to reach the satellite before Adam can end the world.  Mephisto claims that his power comes from making deals with people and asks Blaze what he would trade for the bike, making a soul contract appear before the man.  Blaze sells his soul to the Devil once again and launches into space on a futuristic motorcycle with the zombie-like Seeker accompanying him.  When the Seeker tells Blaze that he's there to ensure Alejandra becomes Heaven's Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny jettisons him into space to keep him from trying to claim the Ghost Rider for himself.  Using missiles fired from the bike, Blaze blows his way into the space-station, forcing Adam to accelerate his plan.  Adam activates the Ghost Rider's power in front of the telescope while Blaze makes his way through the satellite, losing his hellfire shotgun along the way.  Johnny puts the two zombie-like astronauts into an escape hatch, then finds Alejandra in front of the telescope.  Alejandra is unable to control her power, but Johnny talks her down by saying the power is hers to do with as she chooses.  Johnny is then shot in the chest by Adam, who is wielding the hellfire shotgun.  Adam admits that he is the one who created original sin, cursed by God for his curiosity, and he has been waiting for this moment ever since.  However, when Alejandra realizes what Adam has admitted, the Ghost Rider turns on him and fries him with hellfire, blowing up the station in the process.  Alejandra rides down to Earth atop the space-bike, which carries the dying Blaze.

Johnny wakes up in Nicaragua, in the village that Alejandra erased of sin.  Alejandra tells Johnny that she was able to save his life by removing the hellfire shot into him by Adam, and that now she is dedicating herself to finding a way to reverse what she did to the village.  Johnny offers to help train her in use of her power, but Alejandra refuses, knocking him down.  She rides away, saying "The Ghost Rider found me.  Now I'm going to put things right".

Ghost Rider (2011) # 3

"Give Up the Ghost, Part 4"

Cover Date: November 2011; On Sale Date: September 2011

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Brian Ching; Inker: Sean Parsons; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Adam Kubert

Inside Adam's temple in Nicaragua, new Ghost Rider Alejandra attempts to kill Johnny Blaze. She is stopped by the Seeker, who tells her that she's not supposed to wipe the sin out of everyone, just those who are deserving, and that Adam is using her. Adam blasts the Seeker away and grabs Alejandra by her skull, supercharging the Spirit of Vengeance's power (which manifests itself as a giant demonic motorcycle). The temple starts to fall apart, and the Seeker tells Blaze that the energy building up inside Alejandra will explode like a bomb. Blaze jumps on his bike to escape, but the Seeker wastes time pontificating and loses his arm to a falling boulder. Blaze and the Seeker ride out of the temple just before the Ghost Rider explodes, destroying the temple. Blaze and the Seeker arrive at a small village just before Adam again amplifies Alejandra's power, destroying everything in the vicinity. When this happens, the Serpent tells his follower Skadi that they have a new sister in destruction.

Meanwhile, in Columbia, three Avengers (Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Woman) are stranded following a battle with the Hulk. They see a white flash on the horizon, and when Ms. Marvel takes to the sky to investigate she sees a large crater where Nicaragua used to be. Back in the village, Blaze has survived thanks to the Seeker's power protecting him, but he sees that all of the villagers have been left as mindless zombies. The Seeker explains that the Ghost Rider's power burned all of the sin out of them, destroying the people that they used to be. Later, at Cape Canaveral, Adam and Alejandra break in to steal a space shuttle.

Ghost Rider (2011) # 2

"Give Up the Ghost, Part 3"

Cover Date: October 2011; On Sale Date: August 2011

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Matthew Clark; Inker: Sean Parsons; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Adam Kubert

Mephisto transports himself and John Blaze to Hell's motorcycle garage, where the demon lord attempts to talk Johnny into signing a contract that will give him the bike of his choice and the chance to save the world from the fate his actions have doomed it to. Blaze punches Mephisto, but the demonic Servicer steps in and lifts Johnny from the ground. Blaze tells Mephisto that he can forget him ever becoming the Ghost Rider again, but Mephisto replies that Johnny can never be the Ghost Rider's host again anyway. Mephisto asks the man for help (even saying please!), but Blaze just laughs him off. The two are then transported to the base of the Asgardian Serpent, where they are invisible, and Mephisto explains that the Serpent's war of fear against humanity was the signal that Adam was waiting on to purge the world of all sin. The Serpent senses their presence, so Mephisto and Johnny return to Hell, where Blaze is shown a vision of the future: the human race, their sin burned from them by Adam and the Ghost Rider, live as emotionless zombies with no desires, flaws, or creativity. Mephisto needs Blaze because no one else alive has more experience controlling the Spirit of Vengeance and he must rescue the current host and get her away from Adam.

In Nicaragua, Alejandra has returned from her failed attack on Sin and her soldiers. Adam tells her to judge her fellow students in the temple, the people she was raised alongside, and free them from their sins. The Seeker, a reanimated corpse that chose Alejandra as the next Ghost Rider, tries to step in to stop Adam, but his armed bodyguards keep him at bay with gunfire. When Alejandra transforms into the Rider, she refuses to heed Adam's orders, so the two begin to fight. Adam grabs the Rider and forces her to comply.

Outside, Johnny Blaze arrives at the temple on his new motorcycle, blasting his way inside with his hellfire shotgun. Blaze shoots Adam in the shoulder, then partners up with the Seeker to power Alejandra down. However, the Servicer smashes into the temple and attacks; in response, the Ghost Rider unleashes a horde of demonic locusts from her mouth, which devours the Servicer in moments. When Johnny steps in and attempts to talk her down, the Rider turns on him and puts her scythe to his throat, declaring that she will wipe out all sin, starting with his.