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All-New Ghost Rider
bralinator
Posts: 5,967
As a motorcyclist myself, I was a bit put off at first by the idea of him being in a car. Perhaps Ghost Driver would've been a more appropriate moniker? But this is a totally new take on a similar character, so I'll give that a pass. He's out in LA, so there are no other characters from Marvel U to be tied to, though maybe a run in with Daredevil is in the future. With all of the history of Ghost Rider, I expect we will eventually see Johnny Blaze and/or Danny Ketch show up. But, why not let this take some new directions for a while? For a single issue, this was probably a bust, but for the first chapter in a larger arch, not bad. May be worth getting in trade.
Anyone read this yet?
Comments
Having the new Ghost Rider being inspired by the Fast & Furious films might be a little late in the day, but Smith and Moore make it work. And it's not like those films have diminished in popularity, in fact they've grown.
BTW Ghost Riding is a term associated with cars, but if the new Ghost Rider indulged in it, he might seem a lot less threatening.
Ghost Rider does not dive a car.
So wrong.
I'm not sure what I think yet. I love the new character, but there wasn't a lot to the issue. I also loved the art; it's nice having a different look.
I think this will be 100x better than the last series. The last GR series started stupid and only got worse.
And, this issue should have been double sized. There was WAY too much decompression. First 3 pages were titles and credits. The first story page was showing him being a mechanic. The next full page was showing he had a talent for money. Way too many pages of the car chase... I think they could've managed to trim some back and been more economical and made better use of the real estate. It was a bit too clear they were once again "writing for the trade"...
1) followed arguably the greatest Ghost Rider run ever (I've read a lot of Ghost Rider so take my word for it the Aaron run is badass, I would like to apologize to Way his first half was much better than I gave it credit it at the time)
2) It was garbage (not unusual for a lot of GR stories but it was in the lower rungs). I would put it below Johnny Blaze being an accountant (Fire and Ice, Marvel I'm waiting on your April Fool's WHAT THE?! call).
@bralinator you put it in better words than I did: the economy was off. I didn't mind having the car chase that long; the chase was interesting. But the issue was like decompressed, decompressed, decompressed, ohh crap we need to show the new Ghost Rider. It just seemed off.
I loved the art though; Tradd Moore is great, I love having a new GR; Robbie reminds me of how cool it was having "my Ghost Rider" Danny Ketch. I love it.
It seemed to me as though the writer started with the last two-page reveal of GR, and then divvied up the rest of the story beats in order to get to that point. A pretty typical way to do a first issue origin story these days from what I’ve seen. End with a bit of mystery in hopes of getting the reader to come back for issue #2.
A little padded, yes, but not so much that it bothers me. (Except for the title pages—that does bug me.)
^ I say this for two reasons:
1) I wanted to say that phrase.
2) I haven't read a single panel of this comic and I loathe the idea of what they're doing to him. Sorry. It's a completely uninformed opinion, but for some reason this new concept just pushes all the right buttons.
...but mostly the first reason.
I don't know if I care about a car though
I will only accept a flaming horse as any other form of Ghost Rider approved transportation of choice.
Also... Ghost Rider has a Flaming SKULL, not some silly stylize helmet. And where are the chains?
I'm not against change. Change can be good... but this is just pandering.
Seriously though I think Reyes's race/gender/religion hasn't been pushed really at all (unlike other new Marvel characters) . The fact that Reyes is a Ghost Rider that drives a suped up muscle car is the lead story. Thier ads and promotion of this series has been all about the car and his look. I'm pro this approach.
Which means @Hex and @EarthGBilly might be getting that flaming wheelchair at some point.