SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Ghost Rider: Johnny Blaze #1 by Christopher Sebela, Phil Noto and Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Johnny Blaze is dead, long live Ghost Rider. Doctor Strange: Damnation #3 ended with Mephisto stripping Blaze of his Ghost Rider powers and dropping him from the very top of the Hotel Inferno. However, that’s just the start of his troubles, as Blaze goes where Ghost Riders go when they die and discovers that with Mephisto strutting about on Earth, the throne of Hell is currently empty. This gives Blaze an idea that leads him and the Spirit of Vengeance on a little road trip through Hell, coming across demons, monsters and dead supervillains along the way.
Opposites Attract
As soon as Johnny Blaze hits the floor in Hell, he’s separated from the Spirit of Vengeance, who is more than happy to be free from Blaze’s precious morals and ethical code. However, Blaze has a plan, and in order to achieve it, he’s going to need the Spirit’s help. Blaze is going to storm the gates of Hell and plant himself on Mephisto’s empty throne, taking the domain for himself. And while the Spirit only really cares about punishing sinners, Johnny’s cross-Hell journey is going to attract a lot of attention, essentially serving up the damned like a take-out menu.
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Before heading off on their mission, Johnny tries to recruit the supervillains trapped in Hell, which results in some fun D-List cameos. Among the group that we see are Flux, a soldier who underwent exposure to gamma radiation in order to create a Hulk-like creature; Jack O’Lantern, but it’s hard to say which one; Vetis, a small-time demon who had the displeasure of crossing paths with Deadpool; The Rose, aka Richard Fisk, son of The Kingpin; Jaine Cutter, ex-girlfriend of Daimon Hellstrom and demonic bounty hunter, and Mammomax, a one-time member of Exodus’ Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Highway To Hell
Unable to convince anyone to help them, Johnny and the Spirit of Vengeance head out on their quest. Their trip allows them to chat and bond in a significant way that they never could when they were literally bonded and explores the relationship between the two in interesting new ways. Johnny wants to partner back up with the Spirit while the Spirit wants to be free of Blaze in order to punish whomever it likes, which is an inversion of the usual formula of Johnny Blaze seeking a way to restore his humanity. Ultimately, faced with the last big threat in their way, Johnny convinces the Spirit to re-merge so they can take on their final enemy.
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However, the pair get separated from their bike, which would be a problem if it wasn’t for the arrival of Mammomax, who decided to help after all. Now, it’s been well and truly established that a Ghost Rider can turn anything they ride into a vehicle of vengeance. We’ve seen bikes, cars, horses, mammoths, tanks, bi-planes and all sorts of other modes of transport, but one question remained: what would happen if someone gave Ghost Rider a piggyback? This comic dares to answer that question in the most awesome way possible, as Ghost Rider imbues Mammomax with an aura of hellfire and together the pair ride right the way to hell’s front door.
It’s there that Johnny Blaze kicks down the door and takes the throne of Hell for himself, with the demons that once bowed to Mephisto now bowing to him. The only problem is, what do you do next? Mephisto is likely to retaliate in some way and that’s not to mention the other Hell-Lords like Hela, Pluto and Satannish. Ghost Rider may be the new King of Hell, but he also just put the largest possible target on his back and changed the status quo of the entire Marvel Universe going forward. What happens when a one-time agent of both Heaven and Hell assumes the burning throne? We’ll find out as Damnation rockets towards its climax.