Enter the Rider
If you've been keeping up with my reviews it won't be news to you that I've been very skeptical about this title for a long time, mainly because it has been complete crap from the beginning, however, the arrival of Charles soule gave me hope that things will improve, and luckily, they did. But mere improvement wasn't enough, the damage had been done and it wasn't easy to get back on track because Charles soule had to set many things right. The issues following after Ways run were mediocre at best, so what this title really need was something fresh, a new start where it would have less strings attached to the beginning of this title. This new jumping point is exactly what this title needed, it's not perfect, but it's a vast improvement.
First of all, we now have a steady plan that actually deals with a problem. Mercy has been a huge bother for the team and it's time to finally deal with her, what do they suggest? Send her to hell. Charles soule seems fixated on adding a bit of humor to his writing which includes some bizarre concepts similar to the one I just said. This is absolutely fine if executed well and does give the reader a laugh or two so it's all well and good. Though Charles is tinkering with some tricky concepts by sending a death goddess to hell, therefore it things are well explained it could get really confusing, but I can't judge that based on ONE issue. The characterization is solid here, Ross seems to act like himself again, he's a gruff soldier who tries to save people and does it by being a bit of a d*ck, which is all in character so that's fine. Can't say much for the others since they didn't get enough screen time, and as for Johnny's introduction, it doesn't take much thought why they'd choose Johnny over guys like Doctor strange of Brother voodoo, but while his appearance was well played out it felt abrupt and I wasn't really convinced as to why Johnny decided to help them out. As the Ghost Rider he should know that going to hell is tricky or at the very least dangerous, but here it came off as if Blaze just said "M'kay, I'll do it". Maybe that's in character for Blaze? I'll admit that I'm not really a huge Ghost Rider fan so maybe Johnny can be a bit careless like that, but even so, it still felt rushed.
The fact that they put a much better artist on the title already suggest that Marvel wants this title to improve. Carlo Barberis art and character designs are superb, Most of the characters look threatening and are drawn with great detail. The colors mix well and provide a whole new tone to the book. However, while I did enjoy Barberis art I felt that the character movement was...I dunno, rigid? Like as if different figures had been simply placed together. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling I got but the characters seems static, Specially during the action scenes. If that makes sense?
Overall, while this title has been pathetic for some time it has finally shown something promising. The art and writing are good and this issue is nice jumping point for newcomers. For the first time, this looks like it can go somewhere.