Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons Of Vengeance Omega #1 - Marvel Comics

GHOST RIDER/WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF VENGEANCE OMEGA No. 1, November 2023

Opening up with as bloodthirsty a welcome as any one new to this “brutal team-up” could want, Benjamin Percy’s script for Issue One of “Ghost Rider/Wolverine: Weapons Of Vengeance Omega” also arguably does a good job of bringing such oblivious bibliophiles bang up to speed with what’s occurred in this mini-series’ previous instalments. Admittedly, much of this context is established via a significantly wordy summary at the comic’s start. However, this initial ‘info dump’ is then enthrallingly built upon by Talia Warroad, when she decides to enlighten the hapless Jeff Bannister as to the birth of Bagra-Ghul, and the demon’s subsequent grafting onto baby Bram’s body.

Such ‘straight to the point’ penmanship easily allows the audience to subsequently experience Hellverine’s internal battle when it comes to the hellfire-flamed killer being ordered to murder an infant mutant, whose parents have just ruthlessly incinerated an innocent family simply for the crime of owning the “biggest house on the neighbourhood”. This diabolical dilemma really lies at the very heart of the thirty-page plot’s resolution, establishing a line in the sand that even a heavily mind controlled Logan won’t easily cross, and one that enables the X-Man to mentally fight back for command of his adamantium-laced body; “I got your pitchfork right here.”

Likewise, the American author delivers when it comes to pitching the two titular characters against one another in an exhilarating, dynamically drawn action sequence by artist Geoff Shaw. Indeed, this ‘white knuckle ride’ repeatedly ‘wrong-foots’ the reader by persistently suggesting that perhaps one of the finale’s onlookers is about to die during the conflict - Whether that be Bram, Father Pike, or the gun-toting C.I.A. agent who “really preferred my life before I met you and Johnny”.

Lastly, Percy should be congratulated for providing both the aforementioned Warroad and Bannister with plenty of beguiling personality throughout the sense-shattering shenanigans on show. It would have been all-too easy for the writer to solely focus upon just the Ghost Rider and Wolverine for this book. But instead, both the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and her slightly reluctant partner-in-crime prove integral to infiltrating Weapon Plus’ Headquarters, and bringing the programme administrator’s deadly plans to a fiery end.

The regular cover of "GHOST RIDER/WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF VENGEANCE OMEGA" #1 by Ryan Stegman