Comic book mini-series
Modern Warfare 2: Ghost is a six-part comic book mini-series. The series ties-in with the 2009 video game🔔 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, focusing on the character Simon "Ghost" Riley.[1] The first issue of the series debuted🔔 on November 11, 2009, and the second issue followed in December of that year.[2]
Publication history [ edit ]
Modern Warfare 2:🔔 Ghost was announced by Community Manager Robert Bowling via Twitter on August 17, 2009. The comic was published by Storm🔔 Productions and written by David Lapham, with art by Kevin West and Federico Dallocchio, who drew the covers of each🔔 issue.[1]
Plot [ edit ]
Modern Warfare 2: Ghost relates to the history of SAS (Special air service) Simon "Ghost" Riley, an🔔 important character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The comic series is set before Ghost became a member of🔔 Task Force 141, with events from both before and leading into the game, focusing on the origins of the character,🔔 his skull-like mask, and why he calls himself Ghost.[3]
Episode 1: Dead for a Day [ edit ]
The first installment begins🔔 to tell the story of how Ghost came to use his skull-branded balaclava. The narrative begins in a school in🔔 Lysychansk, Ukraine, and shows Ghost being held captive by a group of masked men. He then begins to tell about🔔 an old friend of his, Lieutenant Simon Riley.[4] Riley is recruited from his unit, the legendary 22nd Regiment of the🔔 Special Air Service, to join a task force made up of DEVGRU and Delta Force operators. The task force is🔔 assigned to eliminate Roba, a Mexican drug lord working with anti-Western terrorists.[5] However, things start to unravel during the mission🔔 when a team member is killed after his parachute fails to open during a jump. Riley suspects that there's a🔔 traitor among them. His hunch turns out to be correct when one of his comrades turns his gun on the🔔 team and reveals that Roba is aware of their presence. Riley manages to fight his way out of trouble only🔔 to be shot by Roba himself, leaving the action at a cliffhanger.
Episode 2: Dead Life [ edit ]
Lt. Riley and🔔 the surviving members of his team are captured by Roba's cartel. During their captivity, they endure continuous torture and advanced🔔 brainwashing techniques as Roba intends to use them for his own interests. Throughout this ordeal, the reader sees flashbacks of🔔 Riley's early life, from his childhood and how he had to endure an abusive fiend of a father, to his🔔 early years in the SAS and how he — after coming back from his first tour of duty in Afghanistan🔔 in January 2003 — takes care of his abused mother and helps clean up his drug-addicted younger brother, Tommy. In🔔 March 2004, he finally puts an end to his father's abuse and kicks him out of the house. By June🔔 2006, Riley is seen as the best man at Tommy's wedding. During these flashbacks, many of Riley's adversaries are seen🔔 wearing "ghostly" makeup (presumably a hallucination of Riley's) of similar style to that worn by participants celebrating the Day of🔔 the Dead. Eventually, two USSOCOM operators, Sparks and Washington, manage to escape after learning that the cartel plans to kill🔔 them for resisting the brainwashing. Riley is left behind, and Roba punishes him for the escape by having him dragged🔔 outside, thrown into a coffin that has been dug up, and then buried alive with the decaying corpse of a🔔 deceased soldier, Major Vernon.
Episode 3: Dead Will Follow [ edit ]
Back at the school, Ghost continues to tell Lt. Riley's🔔 story until he interrupts himself when he eyes one of the terrorists taking a good look at one of the🔔 young female victims also being held hostage and how upset and uncomfortable she's becoming. He shouts at him and catches🔔 him off-guard, making a comment that he basically knows what he's thinking of doing to her ("Prom's not for month's🔔 yet!" etc.), before continuing his story.
After being buried alive in the previous issue, Lt. Riley is now in a coffin🔔 with Major Vernon's corpse and wondering what he's going to do. It is only by using the major's lower jaw🔔 bone as a trowel that Riley is able to dig himself up from the grave, which takes him thirteen hours.🔔 After a quick rest, he makes for the border, and within days, is struck down by dehydration and delirium. He🔔 has vague memories of people helping him, but by the time he makes it across the border, about a month🔔 later, he has badly infected cuts, sores and wounds, is badly dehydrated, and has become delirious. He collapses in the🔔 sand and just lays there to die. He is later found by a Texas sheriff who takes him to a🔔 hospital. The story then jumps to December 18, 2010 (four months and a few weeks later); Riley is being debriefed🔔 about his experience to his superiors. Physically, Riley is fine, but his superiors fear that his mental state is still🔔 in question. Riley starts being plagued by nightmares of Roba taunting him. After one of his nightmares, he and his🔔 mother have a small talk, and he learns a few things about his father that are both disturbing but meaningful🔔 to the plot as well.
While spending Christmas with his family, Riley gets a surprise visit from Sparks. The two men🔔 have a beer together at a local pub, where they rehash old times and their experience during their time in🔔 Mexico. Sparks tells Riley that he and Washington will soon deploy to Afghanistan. He then notices woman with a nice🔔 body that he likes – and wants - as the conversation goes on. While walking back home, Sparks approaches the🔔 young woman and tries to sweet talk her into bed, but the young woman is not impressed. Sparks angrily knocks🔔 the woman unconscious and orders Riley to help him get her inside her house so that they can rape her.🔔 Riley secretly calls the police and they arrive just before any harm can be done to the woman, forcing Riley🔔 and Sparks to flee. Once they both arrive at Sparks' hotel room, Sparks starts having a panic attack and collapses🔔 on the bed and asks Riley to get his pills for him. Riley suspects that Sparks is up to something🔔 and when he finally pieces together the clues, Sparks points a gun at Riley's head. Riley immediately disarms Sparks and🔔 interrogates him. At first, Spark just says he "Wants to go back", but then finally reveals that he and Washington🔔 were allowed to "escape"; in truth, they've been brainwashed by Roba for months. Before Riley can get any more information,🔔 Washington arrives from an undisclosed task, exclaiming "Sparks! You won't believe what I---" and gets cut off when he sees🔔 Riley, panics, and attempts to gun him down. Riley escapes by jumping through a window, slightly injuring his leg, and🔔 steals a cab to drive away. Remembering what Roba said about his family, and what would happen if he screwed🔔 up: ("You were told what would happen..." "This is your Mother's Skull..." "This is your Brother's Skull...") Riley speeds home🔔 and witnesses a shocking display. His mother, Tommy, sister-in-law Beth, and his nephew Joseph, have all been brutally murdered by🔔 Washington. Riley vows that he will kill them all: Sparks, Washington, Roba, and his entire clan.
Episode 4: Dead Won't Leave🔔 [ edit ]
Haunted by the murder of his loved ones, Riley swears to hunt down the man responsible.
Episode 5: Dead🔔 Won't Rise [ edit ]
As Ghost begins to finish his story, the leader of the terrorists suddenly barges in fully🔔 armed and says the soldiers outside are taking positions and to get ready for a fight. Ghost looks at him🔔 and continues his story as though nothing is wrong. Riley is shown sneaking into a military base, where he kills🔔 Washington in his sleep and kidnaps Sparks, taking him back to his house and showing him his family's remains. Sparks🔔 begs for mercy, but Riley isn't listening. He binds, gags, and beats Sparks, then murders him and burns the house🔔 down to destroy the body. He makes sure to leave his dog tags behind so it seems he was the🔔 one who died. The base goes on alert the next morning when Washington's body is found, and the base commander🔔 checks the previous night's surveillance tapes. In Mexico, two retired military men are enjoying themselves on vacation when they are🔔 both ambushed and killed. Riley learns about the ambush and decides to hunt down the killers. He finds one of🔔 them, and takes him to a remote location to be tortured for information. He learns that Roba is trying to🔔 cover up any evidence of his crimes, giving him the perfect opportunity for revenge.
Episode 6: Dead and Gone [ edit🔔 ]
Riley locates the manor where Roba is hiding after a long trek through the jungle. Roba is captured after a🔔 firefight and tells Riley that, when his parents died in a crossfire, the terrorist within him saw that "a few🔔 people are nothing among a billion". Riley then finishes him off, escaping Roba's burning mansion while killing the rest of🔔 his guards. Back at the elementary school, the terrorists holding Ghost and the students hostage decide to act, but Ghost,🔔 having freed himself while using the story as a distraction, pins them down while backup arrives. A girl then asks🔔 if Ghost and Riley are the same man and if the story he told is true. Ghost then answers that🔔 his story is "true enough to that lot". The series ends with a flashback to Riley walking away from Roba's🔔 burning mansion. He is suddenly approached by a high-ranking military officer with a "Task Force 141" badge, leaving the impression🔔 that this is the moment when Ghost is born.
