This is how you write a damn fun comic book.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Rick Remender’s; I own almost everything he’s ever written. I was nervous for him to hand off this event to other writers, and my fears were somewhat validated with a shaky middle of this arc, but Rick’s brought it home with issue 13.4.

All of the characters have an important part to play, including ones that have been in the background thus far, like Doctor Strange and Daimon Hellstrom. Remender gives these characters enough time in the spotlight that they don’t feel tacked on, but not so much as to bore us. As always, though, the spotlight is on the unlikely team of Venom, Red Hulk, X-23, and the new Ghost Rider, Alejandra. Again, somehow all of these characters mesh well. Call it the magic of storytelling, but nobody has a thin reason to be in this arc. It truly is a sprawling event that always goes to extremes without ever feeling like it’s trying too hard.

Lan Medina’s art is on point, as always. Honestly, my biggest complaint about this arc has been the rotating artists, but a return to form is always welcome. Sadly, Medina will not be illustrating issue 14, but we get Tony Moore back, so it’s like getting out of the delicious frying pan into an even more delicious frying pan.

The final page of this issue – I feel no shame in saying – made me giddy. I can’t tell you how many times my friends and I have sat around and shot the breeze saying, “Wouldn’t it be cool if x happened?” and I believe that’s how Rick gets his ideas. Truly, if you’re looking for a comic book that’s written by a fan of fun books to a fan of fun books, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.