Review by Ian Keogh

Jason Aaron’s run on Ghost Rider ends here with the stakes suitably high in this fall and rise arc. The fall was seen with Heaven taken over and seemingly no hope, but seeds of hope were planted by visitors from the future in Trials and Tribulations. There’s a reason for the plural of the title, and with both the world generally and Heaven particularly in such a state, Aaron also opens the door to others in the Marvel universe dealing with the supernatural.

Johnny Blaze now has his mojo back, and accompanied by Sara, the new Caretaker, he’s on a mission to discover Zadkiel’s plan now that he’s taken over Heaven. Give Aaron credit here, it’s ambitious, and it means Blaze has to save the Antichrist. Meanwhile Ghost Rider’s enemies are gathering to prevent him doing just that.

Those ridiculous enemies go a long way to making Heaven on Fire a treat. It’s shot through with a dark humour that’s been absent for much of Aaron’s run, but which infused his opening four chapters in Hell Bent & Heaven Bound. The grindhouse feel is back, and the series is better for it.

Also back is artist Roland Boschi whose loose style largely worked well when drawing the Ghost Rider before, with the one caveat of his drawing the all-important skull too small. That’s no longer the case, and as before he delivers joyous mayhem.

With readers knowing from the start that Heaven on Fire is just six chapters, it seems Aaron lingers too long on the starters and isn’t leaving enough room for the main course. That’s not the case, and he’s planted a good method by which the Ghost Riders can prevail.

There may be concerns about the levels of explicit violence in a graphic novel not marked specifically for adults, and about some sexual references. Otherwise this is a rollicking slaughterhouse firing on all cylinders.

This is included with the remainder of Aaron’s Ghost Rider run in Ghost Rider by Jason Aaron Omnibus, and it’s found in the bulkier paperback as War for Heaven Book 2.