Ghost Rider: Kushala (2021) # 2

“Off to See the Wizard”

Cover Date: October 2021; On Sale Date: October 2021

Writer: Taboo & B. Earl; Artist: Guillermo Sanna & Vanessa Del Rey; Letterer: Joe Sabino; Colorist: Jordie Bellaire; Editor: Sarah Brunstad; Editor in Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Guillermo Sanna

Olivia Obtera returns home to relieve her parents from babysitting her daughter, Heather Rae. At bedtime, Olivia tells the story of Kushala to Heather Rae, Suddenly, two Doombots appear through a portal and attempt to abduct Heather Rae. Olivia finds herself transformed into the Spirit Rider, possessed by the spirit of Kushala in her time of need to save her daughter. However, even though she disables one of the Doombots, the other escapes with Heather Rae through the rift, closing it behind them.

Kushala explains to Olivia that Doctor Doom seeks to find all of the Wands of Watoomb, which originated from the same dimension as Leviathan, the vengeance spirit that possesses her. Kushala has been attempting to stop Doom from uniting all six Wands, but he is targeting her bloodline to attempt to lock her out of existence. Realizing that they need to start with Jeffrey McKraken, whose journals Olivia has been researching, Kushala transports them back in time to meet with him. They arrive in 1923 Peru, where McKraken is being chased by a group of bandits. McKracken tells Olivia to run.

Ghost Rider: Kushala (2021) # 1

“Once Upon a Time in Tongva Land”

Cover Date: October 2023; On Sale Date: October 2023

Writer: Taboo & B. Earl; Artist: Guillermo Sanna; Letterer: Joe Sabino; Colorist: Jordie Bellaire; Editor: Sarah Brunstad; Editor in Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Guillermo Sanna

In the future, Kushala – the Spirit Rider – is chased through outer space by a spaceship piloted by Dr. Doom. They enter Earth’s atmosphere and Doom’s ship crashes into the flooded remains of Los Angeles while Kushala rides her flaming horse above the water.

In the present day Los Angeles, on the Tongva Ancestral Land, the descendent of Kushala named Olivia Obtera arrives on a motorcycle at an observatory to meet her Uncle Bunk, who has found the missing journals of an explorer/scientists named Jeffery McKracken, who was also Olivia’s distant cousin. The research was connected to “The Pluto Project”, which was believed to connect the moon Charon to another dimension. Olivia, a paranormal journalist, goes to her office to meet with her coworker Liam to decode the journals. Olivia leaves to be with her daughter and Liam is visited by a Doombot, revealing him to be an agent of Dr. Doom. The Doombot opens a rift that transports Liam to the throne of Dr. Doom, who has gathered all but one of the mystical Wands of Watoomb.

Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider # 1

Cover Date: October 2021
On Sale Date: August 2021

Writer: Taboo & B. Earl
Artist: Paul Davidson w/ Jeffrey Veregge
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Dan Brown
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Cover Artist: Takashi Okazaki

After going berserk in New York City, Johnny Blaze is brought to California by Dr. Strange to meet Kushala, the time-displaced Demon Rider who is also a Sorcerer Supreme. Sensing a connection between the two of them, Kushala agrees to help Blaze, who she says is possessed by something that is corrupting the Spirit of Vengeance. They teleport to the Arizona desert where Kushala's tribe was massacred by American soldiers. Kushala journeys with Blaze into his subconscious to root out the source of the mystical infection, first arriving in Johnny's memory of his childhood at the Quentin Carnival. They meet a version of Barton Blaze, Johnny's father, who along with the rest of the carnival bystanders attempt to kill Kushala. Johnny rescues his innocence, in the form of himself as a young boy, and escapes with Kushala on a plane. The spirit of his innocence disappears and Blaze lands the plane at the place of his second challenge, where he meets his mother and two siblings that he never knew growing up. Despite Kushala's warnings that they should leave, Blaze is ensnared by the trap and fights against Kushala. The fight is interrupted by Zarathos, who attacks Johnny as his final challenge.

Kushala is separated from Johnny and confronted by the Leviathan, an alien creature from another universe that was fragmented into pieces, with the final shard coming to rest inside Kushala as her Spirit of Vengeance. She confronts the Leviathan and realizes that she cannot fight it with the power of vengeance. Instead she remembers her mother and lets go of the vengeance she feels in her heart, which depowers the Leviathan. It shrinks down to the size of an insect and Kushala eats it, devouring its power to join her own. She and Blaze return to the desert, where she tells Dr. Strange that the corruption inside Johnny is now contained within her. Using the extra power granted to her by defeating the Leviathan, Kushala is aided by Dr. Strange in returning to her own time in the 1800s. She decides that she is no longer a Demon Rider, but is now the Spirit Rider.