On Sale Date: February 2018
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: David Baldeon
Letterer: Cory Petit
Colorist: Andres Mossa
Editor: Chris Robinson
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso
Cover Artist: Dan Mora
While Lucifer prepares his army, the Covenant begins on Earth. The Spirits of Vengeance see Necrodamus driving through desert on his way to assassinate the archangel Michael, and while Blade and Ghost Rider chase after him Satana and Hellstorm stay behind to fight the army of demons working for the sorcerer. Ghost Rider's pursuit is stopped by Razan, who knocks him off his motorcycle with her winged dragon. He pulls her down with his chain while, back at the town, Daimon and Satana are aided by a host of angels.
Necrodamus arrives at the Covenant and introduces himself while Razan fights the Ghost Rider. Blade interrupts by hitting her with his motorcycle, allowing Ghost Rider to race toward the Covenant. Necrodamus produces his weapon and fires a missile made from the Judas silver at Michael, but Ghost Rider rides into the missile's path and takes the hit in place of the angel. Ghost Rider stands up and pulls the melting silver from his chest, saying that the Judas silver was "a weapon of vengeance", which is the Rider's domain. The demon Beleth leaves the Covenant and Michael watches as the Rider attempts to give Necrodamus the Penance Stare, but the sorcerer is rescued by Razan who flies them both away.
With the fight over, Hellstrom explains that the silver was cursed by Judas' vengeful spirit, which is what gave it the power to kill angels. When it struck the Ghost Rider the Spirit of Vengeance nullified the curse, robbing it of its power. He also explains that since the Ghost Rider "technically isn't a demon", it was able to enter the Covenant without breaking the rules. Michael explains that Heaven set the scenario up for the fate of the world to be dependent on mortals, that while the four of them have dark sides it was their humanity that won out. He departs, telling them that Heaven now owes each of them a favor, leaving Hellstrom to wonder what they should do with the Judas silver.
While Lucifer prepares his army, the Covenant begins on Earth. The Spirits of Vengeance see Necrodamus driving through desert on his way to assassinate the archangel Michael, and while Blade and Ghost Rider chase after him Satana and Hellstorm stay behind to fight the army of demons working for the sorcerer. Ghost Rider's pursuit is stopped by Razan, who knocks him off his motorcycle with her winged dragon. He pulls her down with his chain while, back at the town, Daimon and Satana are aided by a host of angels.
Necrodamus arrives at the Covenant and introduces himself while Razan fights the Ghost Rider. Blade interrupts by hitting her with his motorcycle, allowing Ghost Rider to race toward the Covenant. Necrodamus produces his weapon and fires a missile made from the Judas silver at Michael, but Ghost Rider rides into the missile's path and takes the hit in place of the angel. Ghost Rider stands up and pulls the melting silver from his chest, saying that the Judas silver was "a weapon of vengeance", which is the Rider's domain. The demon Beleth leaves the Covenant and Michael watches as the Rider attempts to give Necrodamus the Penance Stare, but the sorcerer is rescued by Razan who flies them both away.
With the fight over, Hellstrom explains that the silver was cursed by Judas' vengeful spirit, which is what gave it the power to kill angels. When it struck the Ghost Rider the Spirit of Vengeance nullified the curse, robbing it of its power. He also explains that since the Ghost Rider "technically isn't a demon", it was able to enter the Covenant without breaking the rules. Michael explains that Heaven set the scenario up for the fate of the world to be dependent on mortals, that while the four of them have dark sides it was their humanity that won out. He departs, telling them that Heaven now owes each of them a favor, leaving Hellstrom to wonder what they should do with the Judas silver.
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| Motorcycle jiujitsu. |
THE ROADMAP
Johnny Blaze appears next in Doctor Strange: Damnation (2018) # 1 and again teams up with Blade in Doctor Strange: Damnation (2018) # 2.
The conclusion to the story and Ghost Rider's role in it doesn't make much sense as it states the Spirit of Vengeance is "not a denizen of Hell". It was established way back in Ghost Rider (1973) # 77 that Zarathos, who is called out by name in this issue, is in fact an ancient demon. It was also revealed, much more recently in Ghost Rider (2006) # 18, that the Spirits of Vengeance originated from Heaven.
CHAIN REACTION
The "Spirits of Vengeance" mini-series concludes on a high note, but not one high enough to justify the series' existence.
I can happily say that this is not a bad comic and is, in fact, definitely the best issue of the mini-series. Unfortunately, that's not saying much considering the slog that readers had to wade through to get to this point over the previous four issues. It was an unnecessarily complicated plot that the writer had to drag kicking and screaming through pages upon pages of meandering exposition to reach this point. At least this issue has some action in it instead of the usual coffee shop and bookstore conversation scenes that were the hallmark of the previous issues.
Actually, the action is pretty engaging in this issue, which shows that if the creative team had put more effort into making the series exciting they probably could have produced something more memorable. I can't shake the feeling, though, that this was possibly pitched as a Ghost Rider story and ballooned out into a team book. The conclusion hinges on the Ghost Rider's role, even if it doesn't make sense at all with the ground rules Gischler set up about the Covenant and the Rider's established back story (ANY of his back stories, none of them jibe with this). If you have to end the book with a hand waving explanation about the Ghost Rider "technically not being a demon" to justify the climax you may not have thought things all the way through. Still, at least Blaze had a major role to play, which is more than can be said for the other characters.
Had this been released as a Ghost Rider mini-series, it still wouldn't have been very good but at least it might have had a tighter focus. Let Hellstrom be the guest-star, the guide to get the plot from point to point, since that was his only role anyway. Drop Blade and Satana, because neither one of them offer anything to the plot whatsoever. Blade's only contribution was to hit Razan with his motorcycle and Satana, well, who knows what the point of her inclusion was. Letting everything revolve around Blaze, clarifying the whole "arbiter of vengeance" and the point of the cursed Judas silver, and dropping all the unnecessary filler might have saved this series.
I do feel bad for poor David Baldeon, cursed to draw endless dialogues about coffee, but at least he finally gets to cut loose in this issue. His artwork has a tremendous amount of energy and fluidity to it, which goes a long way to excuse his exaggerated character designs. His work here reminds me a lot of Tradd Moore's art on All-New Ghost Rider, both artists selling the action with some amazingly kinetic action choreography. His Ghost Rider still isn't quite to my taste, too bony and elongated, but that panel of him pulling the melted silver out of his chest is quite good.
Even though this issue was an improvement, it was far too little far too late. This series sinned in one of the worst ways for a Ghost Rider comic, it was boring an honestly a chore to read through. Give it a hard pass.
The conclusion to the story and Ghost Rider's role in it doesn't make much sense as it states the Spirit of Vengeance is "not a denizen of Hell". It was established way back in Ghost Rider (1973) # 77 that Zarathos, who is called out by name in this issue, is in fact an ancient demon. It was also revealed, much more recently in Ghost Rider (2006) # 18, that the Spirits of Vengeance originated from Heaven.
CHAIN REACTION
The "Spirits of Vengeance" mini-series concludes on a high note, but not one high enough to justify the series' existence.
I can happily say that this is not a bad comic and is, in fact, definitely the best issue of the mini-series. Unfortunately, that's not saying much considering the slog that readers had to wade through to get to this point over the previous four issues. It was an unnecessarily complicated plot that the writer had to drag kicking and screaming through pages upon pages of meandering exposition to reach this point. At least this issue has some action in it instead of the usual coffee shop and bookstore conversation scenes that were the hallmark of the previous issues.
Actually, the action is pretty engaging in this issue, which shows that if the creative team had put more effort into making the series exciting they probably could have produced something more memorable. I can't shake the feeling, though, that this was possibly pitched as a Ghost Rider story and ballooned out into a team book. The conclusion hinges on the Ghost Rider's role, even if it doesn't make sense at all with the ground rules Gischler set up about the Covenant and the Rider's established back story (ANY of his back stories, none of them jibe with this). If you have to end the book with a hand waving explanation about the Ghost Rider "technically not being a demon" to justify the climax you may not have thought things all the way through. Still, at least Blaze had a major role to play, which is more than can be said for the other characters.
Had this been released as a Ghost Rider mini-series, it still wouldn't have been very good but at least it might have had a tighter focus. Let Hellstrom be the guest-star, the guide to get the plot from point to point, since that was his only role anyway. Drop Blade and Satana, because neither one of them offer anything to the plot whatsoever. Blade's only contribution was to hit Razan with his motorcycle and Satana, well, who knows what the point of her inclusion was. Letting everything revolve around Blaze, clarifying the whole "arbiter of vengeance" and the point of the cursed Judas silver, and dropping all the unnecessary filler might have saved this series.
I do feel bad for poor David Baldeon, cursed to draw endless dialogues about coffee, but at least he finally gets to cut loose in this issue. His artwork has a tremendous amount of energy and fluidity to it, which goes a long way to excuse his exaggerated character designs. His work here reminds me a lot of Tradd Moore's art on All-New Ghost Rider, both artists selling the action with some amazingly kinetic action choreography. His Ghost Rider still isn't quite to my taste, too bony and elongated, but that panel of him pulling the melted silver out of his chest is quite good.
Even though this issue was an improvement, it was far too little far too late. This series sinned in one of the worst ways for a Ghost Rider comic, it was boring an honestly a chore to read through. Give it a hard pass.
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| There ain't no vengeance without him! |
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