Written by: Stephanie Phillips
Art by: Juann Cabal
Colors by: Espen Grundetjern
Letters by: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover art by: Valerio Giangiordano, Morry Hollowell
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: April 5, 2023

Cosmic Ghost Rider #2 introduces the next bounty hunter to take up the task of capturing the Cosmic Ghost Rider. Will Frank finally let the flaming skull out of retirement before more innocent lives are lost, and who is the second Cosmic Ghost Rider?

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Is It Good?

Cosmic Ghost Rider #2 is not bad but not as good as issue #1 for a specific reason I’ll get to in a minute. If you like eclectic space-faring characters, bounty hunter shenanigans, and top-notch art, there’s a lot to like in this issue. But if you want to know more about the mystery, this issue is lacking.

When last we left Frank Castle, he was held at gunpoint by a bounty hunter looking to make a payday in response to the Cosmic Ghost Rider indiscriminately killing his way through several planetary colonies. Plot twist: the killer is a second Cosmic Ghost Rider.

Now, Frank escapes one bounty hunter just long enough to encounter a second hunter hired by the Shi’ar to capture (not kill Cosmic Ghost Rider) for some unnamed purpose, and that’s it.

The big hook of the first issue is the mystery surrounding the presence of a second Cosmic Ghost Rider, and while the second Rider appears in this issue, we learn nothing about them, what they want, where they come from, or how they came to be when Frank is still the Cosmic Ghost Rider. In other words, this second issue is making the same mistake made by Zeb Wells and Nick Lowe over on Amazing Spider-Man – introducing a big mystery but not dropping any clues in the reminders.

Well, what do you get? You get a semi-lengthy introduction to a swashbuckling scoundrel of a bounty hunter named Monark Starstalker. His outfit looks out of place for present-to-future Marvel, but his cybernetic hunting bird is a top-notch accessory. Phillips doesn’t do much to flesh out Starstalker’s personality, but he has potential if handled well in the future.

Juann Cabal’s art is great. Grundetjern’s colors are excellent. And the action scenes have a distinctly Star Wars vibe that will appeal to sci-fi fans. Overall, the issue isn’t that interesting, but the journey looks great while you’re reading it.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Final Thoughts:

Cosmic Ghost Rider #2 ups the bounty hunter challenges for Frank Castle but doesn’t do much else. The art looks great, and the action is kinetic, but the story lacks any clues about the second Riders identity and doesn’t have a direction for Frank other than survival.

7/10