Writing: Howard Mackie
Art: Ron Wagner
What Went Down: This is Part 4 of the unnamed X-Men/Ghost Rider crossover. For Part 3, go here. Anyways, the X-Men have freed the Brood-infected Ghost Rider and Bella Donna has just died… at least until she comes back later.
Down below the church basement, deep underground, the X-Men discover a giant collection of Brood eggs. They also find the children of the Thieves and Assassins stuck in some gunk. As the X-Men go about freeing the children, Ghost Rider and Gambit wander off to find the Brood Queen. Wolverine decides to follow them.
Gambit asks Ghost Rider why he left his bike on the surface, but the supernatural hero reassures him that the bike will show up when it is needed. Inside Ghost Rider, Dan Ketch is struggling to survive in a hell-like landscape. In the real world, Ghost Rider shows signs of fatigue, but before the X-Men can ask what’s wrong, they are attacked.
Outside New Orleans Johnny Blaze is driving on his bike and talking to a girl in a truck named Clara. Clara tells him that she has had a vision, and leads Blaze to the French Quarter where the X-Men are fighting.
In the cave, the masked killer reveals himself to be familiar with Gambit. Meanwhile, the other X-Men are busy protecting the children from more Brood. They recognize Ghost Rider’s bike driving past them on its own. As Wolverine and Gambit fight the Brood, Wolverine wounds the killer. They are about to pursue him, but the Brood Queen shows up to kill them all. Ghost Rider’s bike pulls up, and he is able to drag the queen by a chain with it. Once GR knocks the Queen through a wall, the battle can take place out in the open. Ghost Rider takes the Queen’s arm, stabs it through her head, and rips off her skin. She is able to survive this, so Ghost Rider punches her and then Johnny Blaze shows up with a shotgun to finish her off.
Afterwards, the X-Men take the Queen apart with their powers. The X-Men thank Ghost Rider and Blaze for their help. As the two motorcycles drive off, the mysterious killer watches over them from a roof and swears vengeance on Gambit, the X-Men, and Ghost Rider.
How It Was: Ahh, the climactic battle. Mackie tries to up the ante over the battle with the Brood last issue, so this issue all the heroes fight the Brood Queen. Once again there is not enough for all of the heroes to do something, so the focus shifts to Gambit, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine. Actually the fight with all of the cannon fodder Brood is a lot more exciting than the fight with Brood Queen, which is really monotonous because they have to kill her like two or three times. After tearing her skin off, they still have to shotgun blast her point blank, and even after that they have to dismantle her. Still, there is a lot of action in this issue, which is pretty nice.
Unfortunately the story ends with a lot of plot holes. The guilds’ children are rescued, but there is no resolution as to their fates since all of their families were killed or infected by the aliens. Also there is no real reason given for why the Brood picked the Guilds for their plot and whether or not it was a coincidence that they would encounter the X-Men. Then there is Johnny Blaze, who shows up at the end for no other reason then the fact that he is needed to continue Ghost Rider’s main story line in his next issue. And the identity of the killer is left a mystery as well as his connection to the Brood, which doesn’t exist. For his identity, read the first Gambit mini-series.
Once again, the art is pretty fantastic. The Brood soldiers aren’t quite that detailed, but Wagner really makes up for it with the Dan Ketch scenes of him walking through an incredibly detailed hell with the panels shaped like broken glass. Ghost Rider, as I’ve always argued, is low on substance but still looks so cool. Of course, it’s hard to believe that Marvel would hire an artist for Ghost Rider that wasn’t great at drawing fire.
This is an adequate ending. It’s not game changing, but there’s some great action and art behind it.
B-
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