On Sale Date: August 2018
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Sara Pichelli
Inker: Sara Pichelli & Elisabetta D'Amico
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Associate Editor: Alanna Smith
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski
Cover Artist: Geoff Shaw
This story, which features the origin of the earliest recorded Spirit of Vengeance, once again places Mephisto as the originator of the Ghost Rider curse. This breaks the continuity that writer Jason Aaron himself established in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33 that showed the origins of the Spirits of Vengeance as Heaven's weapon system created by God and overseen by the angel Zadkiel.
In the year One Million B.C., a young boy living among a tribe of cavemen thinks to himself about how he is different, how he has developed language and intelligence. One day a stranger arrives at their cave and talks with the boy, recognizing one like himself who has evolved past the rest of humanity. The stranger transforms into a monster and slaughters the tribe, leaving only the boy alive. Before the stranger leaves he gives the boy a name, "Ghost". Ghost travels out into the snow and eventually collapses, where he is found by a white serpent that promises him the power to get revenge on the stranger and, most importantly, warmth. Ghost agrees and says the serpent's name, "Mephisto", and catches on fire as the snake is stomped on by a passing wholly mammoth.
Five years later, the stranger is walking through the snow and is approached by the Spirit of Vengeance riding atop the back of a flaming mammoth. The stranger recognizes Ghost and transforms into his own monstrous form, becoming the Wendigo. The fight carries them to the Wendigo's den, which is covered in the scattered bones of his kills. Ghost uses his power to form a chain out of the bones, but he is still unable to defeat the Wendigo. Only at the cost of his mammoth's life does the Wendigo fall into a chasm, leaving Ghost alone once again. Then, he is confronted by Odin and the Phoenix, who tell him that they have a world to save.
Five years later, the stranger is walking through the snow and is approached by the Spirit of Vengeance riding atop the back of a flaming mammoth. The stranger recognizes Ghost and transforms into his own monstrous form, becoming the Wendigo. The fight carries them to the Wendigo's den, which is covered in the scattered bones of his kills. Ghost uses his power to form a chain out of the bones, but he is still unable to defeat the Wendigo. Only at the cost of his mammoth's life does the Wendigo fall into a chasm, leaving Ghost alone once again. Then, he is confronted by Odin and the Phoenix, who tell him that they have a world to save.
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| Sweet bone chain, dude. |
THE ROADMAP
The Ghost Rider of 1,000,000 B.C. first appeared in Marvel Legacy # 1.
This story, which features the origin of the earliest recorded Spirit of Vengeance, once again places Mephisto as the originator of the Ghost Rider curse. This breaks the continuity that writer Jason Aaron himself established in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33 that showed the origins of the Spirits of Vengeance as Heaven's weapon system created by God and overseen by the angel Zadkiel.
CHAIN REACTION
The exploration of the prehistoric Avengers continues with the origin of the first Ghost Rider by Aaron and Pichelli.
While this is certainly not a bad story by any means, it's actually the best issue of the series so far following the widely disappointing and disjointed first arc, it's implications in regards to the Ghost Rider concept are frustrating. The character by its very nature is one rooted in legacy, that's been the case since Johnny Blaze took the name from Carter Slade in 1972 and has been reinforced over and over again since then, especially in the last decade. It was actually Jason Aaron that brought that idea of multiple Ghost Riders throughout history to the forefront of the story engine, so it's certainly appropriate for him to be telling the tale of the first Spirit of Vengeance. What grinds my gears is that the Ghost Rider origin is being changed once again after all of the heavy lifting that Aaron did 10 years ago to take all the demonic and angelic baggage that Ghost Rider had accumulated and streamline it into something that made sense. Sure, he had to hammer some of those pieces into positions that they didn't quite fit into, but it worked for the most part and gave the character some much-needed definition going forward.
So, of course, now the Devil is behind it all again (though not the original Devil, the retconned Devil). It's simplified things down to what's actually a more workable starting point: the Spirit of Vengeance comes from Hell and is the result of making a deal with Mephisto. It doesn't make a bit of sense when you take it context with dozens of other Ghost Rider stories, especially the ones from the very same writer, but it is certainly more concise and easy to explain than "angelic spirit weapons". I've always liked the simple appeal of the "deal with the Devil" origin, and the way its handled here is appropriately eerie and foreboding, but I don't like how it just shoves all the other origin stuff out of the way. Aaron obviously has something in the works to explain all of this, considering his use of Mephisto in later issues, but it doesn't make this one any less infuriating as a longtime Ghost Rider fan.
The story of "Ghost", taken by itself outside of that origin context, is on the other hand quite intriguing. I'm not really sold on the idea of the One Million B.C. Avengers, I think it's a concept that stretches my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point just by existing, but it's apparent that Aaron isn't going to let the idea die even after the wrap of his first arc. This issue seems so divorced from everything around it, like it's a story that's told that really didn't need telling, but it's still well-written and well-drawn. There's a sense of tragedy to Ghost's story that fits right alongside Blaze, Reyes, and Ketch, and making his nemesis another mythological Marvel creature was a nice touch. The best scene is easily the Mephisto Snake, which has a great sense of dread surrounding it.
Much of what works about this issue is Sara Pichelli's artwork, which fits the snowy backdrop of the prehistoric setting. Her work is a bit too clean and polished for my liking when it comes to Ghost Rider artists, but she certainly falls right in line with the work done by Medina and McGuiness in the previous Avengers issues. I really don't like the design for Ghost as the Spirit of Vengeance, who just has a human body with a skull on top, as it robs the character of the unnatural gauntness that's one of the defining visual characteristics of the Ghost Rider. Still, she draws a good mammoth, and the sequence with the bone chain is sufficiently epic, so Pichelli gets the nod.
I don't quite know what to make of this, on a creative and story level it's a perfectly decent comic featuring a potentially interesting new Spirit of Vengeance. I just don't like the retroactive origin revamping being done yet again nor do I like the prehistoric Avengers as a concept.
While this is certainly not a bad story by any means, it's actually the best issue of the series so far following the widely disappointing and disjointed first arc, it's implications in regards to the Ghost Rider concept are frustrating. The character by its very nature is one rooted in legacy, that's been the case since Johnny Blaze took the name from Carter Slade in 1972 and has been reinforced over and over again since then, especially in the last decade. It was actually Jason Aaron that brought that idea of multiple Ghost Riders throughout history to the forefront of the story engine, so it's certainly appropriate for him to be telling the tale of the first Spirit of Vengeance. What grinds my gears is that the Ghost Rider origin is being changed once again after all of the heavy lifting that Aaron did 10 years ago to take all the demonic and angelic baggage that Ghost Rider had accumulated and streamline it into something that made sense. Sure, he had to hammer some of those pieces into positions that they didn't quite fit into, but it worked for the most part and gave the character some much-needed definition going forward.
So, of course, now the Devil is behind it all again (though not the original Devil, the retconned Devil). It's simplified things down to what's actually a more workable starting point: the Spirit of Vengeance comes from Hell and is the result of making a deal with Mephisto. It doesn't make a bit of sense when you take it context with dozens of other Ghost Rider stories, especially the ones from the very same writer, but it is certainly more concise and easy to explain than "angelic spirit weapons". I've always liked the simple appeal of the "deal with the Devil" origin, and the way its handled here is appropriately eerie and foreboding, but I don't like how it just shoves all the other origin stuff out of the way. Aaron obviously has something in the works to explain all of this, considering his use of Mephisto in later issues, but it doesn't make this one any less infuriating as a longtime Ghost Rider fan.
The story of "Ghost", taken by itself outside of that origin context, is on the other hand quite intriguing. I'm not really sold on the idea of the One Million B.C. Avengers, I think it's a concept that stretches my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point just by existing, but it's apparent that Aaron isn't going to let the idea die even after the wrap of his first arc. This issue seems so divorced from everything around it, like it's a story that's told that really didn't need telling, but it's still well-written and well-drawn. There's a sense of tragedy to Ghost's story that fits right alongside Blaze, Reyes, and Ketch, and making his nemesis another mythological Marvel creature was a nice touch. The best scene is easily the Mephisto Snake, which has a great sense of dread surrounding it.
Much of what works about this issue is Sara Pichelli's artwork, which fits the snowy backdrop of the prehistoric setting. Her work is a bit too clean and polished for my liking when it comes to Ghost Rider artists, but she certainly falls right in line with the work done by Medina and McGuiness in the previous Avengers issues. I really don't like the design for Ghost as the Spirit of Vengeance, who just has a human body with a skull on top, as it robs the character of the unnatural gauntness that's one of the defining visual characteristics of the Ghost Rider. Still, she draws a good mammoth, and the sequence with the bone chain is sufficiently epic, so Pichelli gets the nod.
I don't quite know what to make of this, on a creative and story level it's a perfectly decent comic featuring a potentially interesting new Spirit of Vengeance. I just don't like the retroactive origin revamping being done yet again nor do I like the prehistoric Avengers as a concept.
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| How the Ice Age film franchise should end. |
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