STORY: "The Not So Big Easy" (22 pages)   The X-Men defeat Ghost Rider and free him from the Brood.  Bella Donna is seemingly killed in battle.

What you need to know:
This is part 3 of an untitled crossover which concludes in Ghost Rider vol 3 #27.

We establish that Bella Donna's powers (plasma blasts, psychic stuff) are something that she's acquired since Gambit last saw her.  He doesn't know where she got them from.

Gambit gives an odd speech arguing that even though he was genuinely in love with Bella Donna, he needed to leave her because it was an arranged marriage and he had to make a choice of his own.  (Bella accepts that he had to leave town, but argues that he should have taken her with him.)

Speaking through Ghost Rider, the Brood claim that they chose the Guilds as host bodies because they had already been "programmed over the past several generations."  Gambit shuts him up before he can reveal any "family secrets."  Later stories revealed that the Guilds had used an Elixir of Life, obtained from Candra, to become immortal.  Presumably that's what Ghost Rider is referring to.

Bella Donna seemingly dies in battle, thus freeing up Gambit to pursue his relationship with Rogue.  She was later retconned into being comatose, and turned up again in the first Gambit miniseries.

The Brood fail to transform Ghost Rider, because they can't properly get at his human host, Dan Ketch.  Psylocke and Bella Donna telepathically free Ghost Rider from the Brood.

According to the Beast, Jubilee is "technically not an X-Man" - presumably because she's not on either squad, nor is she on the support team.  She's just hanging around at the Mansion for want of anything better to do.  (She was, however, a full member during the brief period prior to Uncanny X-Men #281.)

Psylocke has another brief scene seducing Cyclops.

The storyline concludes in Ghost Rider vol 3 #27, where the X-Men and Ghost Rider defeat the Brood.  The rest of that issue is devoted to a subplot that introduced Johnny Blaze into the Ghost Rider cast.

Comments:
This is where you get the big selling point of the crossover - Wolverine versus Ghost Rider.  It's a big fight issue, and kind of throws away Bella Donna by killing her off so quickly.  Then again, keeping her around would have been a little too much of a block for Rogue and Gambit's relationship.

Perfectly okay, as these things go.  Lee's art is looking a bit rushed again, as he's still only producing layout pencils.  But it's enjoyable enough - much better than you'd expect from a gratuitous Ghost Rider crossover, to be honest.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Gambit, Psylocke and Rogue (all between Ghost Rider vol 3 #26-27)
The Beast and Cyclops (both last in Ghost Rider vol 3 #26; both next in Ghost Rider vol 3 #27, then the Beast in Uncanny X-Men #288, then in Ghost Rider vol 3 #29, then in Wonder Man vol 2 #5-6, then both in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16)
Wolverine (last in Ghost Rider vol 3 #26; next in Ghost Rider vol 3 #27 and #29, then in Marvel Comics Presents #109-116, then in Captain America vol 1 #402-407, then in Dr Strange vol 3 #41, then in the second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16)

GUEST STAR
The Ghost Rider II (between Ghost Rider vol 3 #26-27)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Jubilee (between Ghost Rider vol 3 #26-27)
Bella Donna Boudreaux (between Ghost Rider vol 3 #26-27; rendered comatose)

VILLAINS
The Brood (between Ghost Rider vol 3 #26-27)
Guild members

back | next