This had the Legacy number on the cover as well, but I did have a moment's confusion with this issue and yesterday's book; since I thought Sam was the Captain America in the Black Cat story, but this had Steve on the cover...because this was like 60-some issues prior! From 2019,
Avengers #23/LEG #723, "Challenge of the Ghost Riders, Part 2: Hell Race 666" Written by Jason Aaron, art by Stefano Caselli.
"Challenge of the Ghost Riders" sounds like a great cartoon that we'll never get in this failed earth; but this issue a failed exorcism of Robbie Reyes' Hellcharger car has sent Robbie to Hell (or a hell, we've discussed this!) and the Avengers Mountain--the Celestial the team lived in now--was possessed! Daimon Hellstorm--Hellstrom?--is called in, as the demonic entity also takes over several suits of Iron Man's armor. Meanwhile, in Hell, Johnny Blaze explains to Robbie that Ghost Riders love two things: vengeance, and racing. (The mammoth-riding prehistoric Rider is shown, either setting up or tying into later Avengers of 1,000,000 B.C. stuff.) Robbie doesn't wanna, though: he was trying to get rid of the curse, and didn't want to race. Johnny was currently King of Hell, and apparently needed to get stronger to keep his hold on the throne, which meant this race: forced to stop "babying" Robbie, he threatens to take Robbie's brother for a ride, which lights a fire in Robbie...see what I did there? Well, I liked it, anyway.
Back on earth, Hellstorm realizes who the demonic entity was--one of the biggest killers the world had ever known, but not a demon--and of course is knocked out before he can say this early in the story. The race in hell goes badly for Robbie; partly because Johnny cheats and has "zombie cannons" shooting at him, but also the street-racing Hellcharger maybe wasn't the right tool for the job: as he takes a jump for the lead, Johnny yells back "...you're the cocky jackass that took a tank to a motocross race!" But, Robbie is then visited by a gaggle of Ghost Riders--a surprising number of whom wear hats, which I feel is counter-intuitive for guys with their heads on fire--who tell him he's going to have race the Ghost Rider way. I feel like that involves a lot of cackling.
At Avengers Mansion, the demonic presence appears, engulfed in flames like a Human Torch, and taking on Thor and She-Hulk, before revealing himself as...Frank Castle, Cosmic Ghost Rider! Boooooo! Absolutely hate CGR. I don't think I'd take to him even if he wasn't Frank--and honestly, he's so not Frank I still can't believe anybody thought this was a good idea. They should've gone with
this guy, or better yet, brought back Ghost Rider 2099. That reveal just let the air out of the Hellcharger's tires for me. Also, while Marvel has pretty firmly established a legacy of Ghost Riders, they often seem to have trouble with what to do with more than one of them at a time? It's not quite like Green Lanterns, where even with several there you can distinguish them: put Johnny, Danny, and Robbie in the same scene and you have to be very careful with their outfits!
Cosmic GR always came across like a Deadpool clone/derivative to me in that he was wacky, had quips, was insane & had a tragic backstory. As a concept it’s ok on its own even if it’s hardly original or needed, but making the host an alternative version of Frank just never made sense. Then him trying to raise baby Thanos seemed like a direct copy of the Mandalorian & Baby Yoda before him & Old Man Logan trying raise Baby Banner before them. I see Jason Aaron tried to make CGR a thing yet it doesn’t look to be sticking, even though he has his own ML figure.
ReplyDeleteNo, I’m with you, 31st Century GR or 2099 GR would’ve been much cooler & made more sense.
Also, I’m pretty sure that horrible bald, goateed look Damian’s sporting here HAS to be a nod to Jason Aaron himself. Lame.