Thunderbolts (2013) # 28

"The Punisher Vs. the Thunderbolts, Part 2"

Cover Date: September 2014; Publication Date: July 2014

Writers: Ben Acker & Ben Blacker; Artist: Gerardo Sandoval; Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino; Colorist: Isreal Silva; Editor: Jordan D. White; Editor-In-Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: David Yardin

During the Avengers' battle with a giant monster in New York City, Hawkeye notices something going on atop a nearby building.  After the battle, Hawkeye and Iron Man investigate the rooftop and find evidence of both the Punisher and Ghost Rider being present.  Iron Man tells Hawkeye to find out what happened, and when Hawkeye later uses a SHIELD station to look in on one of the Punisher's safehouses he learns that the building had recently been site to an explosion.

At Thunderbolts Mountain in Michigan, Red Hulk addresses the remaining team members (Deadpool, Elektra, Ghost Rider, and the Leader) about the Punisher's recent departure.  Ross tells the others that they need to decide if they're in or out, especially since he's running the team and making all of the decisions, such as the one to keep the villain Dr. Faustus around as a conscripted prisoner/associate of the team.  Johnny Blaze goes to a nearby bar and encounters a pack of killer werewolves, prompting him to transform into the Ghost Rider to destroy them, all the while contemplating whether he should stay with the team or not.  The Leader makes his decision to stay, while also thinking about ways to incapacitate the others.  Deadpool discusses the team with his wife, the vampire Shiklah, during a battle with various assassins.  Red Hulk interrogates the captive Faustus, telling him that he's part of the Thunderbolts now whether he likes it or not.

Meanwhile, Elektra visits the Punisher's destroyed safehouse and finds Hawkeye there investigating.  After a brief fight, Hawkeye tags the departing Elektra with a tracking device.  Deadpool resigns from the team by phone, leaving Hulk and Ghost Rider to be confronted by an enraged Elektra, who accuses Ross of killing the Punisher out of revenge for quitting the team.  Their fight is interrupted by the sound of gunshots, and they find both the Leader and Faustus dead.  The Punisher has killed the villains and taken the anti-Hulk gun taken from Faustus' mercenaries, leading Red Hulk to realize that the Punisher "has declared war on the Thunderbolts".

Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History (2019) # 1

Cover Date: May 2019
On Sale Date: March 2019

Writers: Paul Scheer & Nick Giovannetti
Artist: Gerardo Sandoval
Inker: Victor Nava
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Editor: Darren Shaw
Assistant Editor: Danny Khazem
Senior Editor: Jordan D. White
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Cover Artist: Gerardo Zaffino

Having been stuck in the past for an indeterminate amount of time, Frank Castle - the Cosmic Ghost Rider - has spent his time on Earth waiting for a certain day.  Specifically, he's been waiting for the day before his family is destined to die in Central Park, and now that day has arrived.  He goes to his family's house and introduces himself to his former wife as her husband's Uncle Fredo.  He interacts with his young son, Frank Junior, and is left to babysit him while Maria goes to fetch her daughter from school.  Castle tells his son that he's a superhero and transforms into his Ghost Rider form, then proceeds to tell the boy fabricated tales of how he had been a member of the Fantastic Four several times throughout the team's history.  When Maria Castle returns home, Frank goes into the bathroom and is confronted by Uatu, the Watcher.

THE ROADMAP

Cosmic Ghost Rider made his final trip to the past in Cosmic Ghost Rider (2018) # 5.

Frank Castle relates his version of events from Fantastic Four (1961) # 1, Fantastic Four (1961) # 50, Fantastic Four (1961) # 262, Fantastic Four (1961) # 347-349, and Fantastic Four (1998) # 509-514.

Step One: Knock on Door.  Step Two: ????

CHAIN REACTION

If this comic is any indication, the bloom has finally come off the rose for Cosmic Ghost Rider.

While he's become fairly popular with casual readers, I've noticed that a lot of Ghost Rider fans don't seem to hold Cosmic Ghost Rider in very high regard.  Maybe it's the ludicrous concept behind the character or just the further dilution of the Ghost Rider brand, who knows?  I can say that, personally, I've thoroughly enjoyed the character as he's been developed by Donny Cates, who continued to utilize him effectively in his Guardians of the Galaxy series.  The problem now, though, is that poor Frank has been farmed out to a relatively inexperienced writing team that simultaneously misses the point of the character and delivers one of the most disjointed and boring comics I've read in recent memory.

I had high hopes for this, I really did.  Paul Scheer is a staple of my Stitcher playlist and seems to be a genuinely funny comedian, so I was hoping that this series would at least be entertaining if not very deep.  That's part of the problem, though, is that while Cosmic Ghost Rider is a character that's been blessed with some deft comedic moments throughout his brief history he's not just played for laughs.  The Frank Castle of the previous CGR mini-series has a profound sadness and depth to him that not only differentiated him from the modern day Punisher but brilliantly showcased his ultimately futile quest to change his nature.  The final two issues of that mini-series were a bit heartbreaking in that respect, giving us a Ghost Rider that was so thoroughly broken by what he'd been forced to become and his desperate fight to be someone better.  This comic throws all of that away to make him an even unfunnier Deadpool.

That's the comic's biggest sin, that it leans so heavily into farce that it thinks is brilliantly funny but is actually the complete opposite.  It's a 22 page fart joke that thinks it's a George Carlin stand-up special, with a delusion of grandeur that made my head spin.  It wants to have that profound sadness that the character is laden with, going so far as to reunite him with his son who is destined to die the next day, and throws all of it away for curse words and a tedious recount of Fantastic Four history.  It's essentially an issue-long montage with the unfunny conceit that Frank Castle is an unreliable narrator whose narration is conflicted by each panel's dialogue.  Does that mean the events in-panel actually happened, or is there two layers of nonsense happening?

I did know going in that I probably wasn't going to enjoy the artwork.  Gerardo Sandoval's drawn other comics that I didn't enjoy, such as the Age of Apocalypse mini-series that spun out of Secret Wars and the New Avengers series by Al Ewing not long after.  I can see the appeal for some fans, sure, he has a highly exaggerated and energetic art style that would have fit right in with early 1990s Image Comics.  I just don't think he's a good storyteller, and while he does okay with what has to work with here, the montage nature of the comic doesn't do him any favors.  I did like a couple of the visual gags, such as CGR cosplaying as Matlock in the trial sequence.

It's hard to describe the utter distaste this comic left me with, it's aggressively bad on a level I hadn't encountered in quite a while.  The fact that there's going to be five more issues of this fills me with dread.  Absolutely avoid.

Sitting this one out is the best decision, Danny.