Ghost Rider

[The NZA]

Its an Ennis book, and a MAX one at that, had to check it out eventually...

 

Not sure how far the series is going, but its up to # 3 right now, and its pretty damn good, given the GR stuff ive read in the past. Ennis is having his usual fun with the supernatural, as well as the politics of heavn & hell, but Clayton Crain's digital art (also seen in Venom vs Carnage, or whatever it was called) fits like a glove here: hell's scary, the angels look awesome, and Ghost Rider's a complete badass. This series actually gets my hyped for a movie.

 

PS there's this image in # 2, when Johnny Blaze meets Malachi in hell....youd know it if you saw it. Fuck, is that a poster waiting to happen...

[The NZA]

PS here's some sample work, assuming it hotlinks:

 

 

 

 

Crain on his technique....i still have to find that image im talkin about tho..jesus.

[IguanaDon?]

Didn't expect it to be so artistic looking. When you mentioned Ennis I expected immediate Grit and bone. Looks bloody good.

[The NZA]

seriously. this guy's a photoshop artist, but his style - which initially looked good for the symbiote madenss, but kinda dragged after a while - is really, really working for this supernatural horror stuff.

GR's never looked this cool, even when Jim Lee drew him, in my opinion. I think im just gonna try to scan/capture the image i was talkin about m'self...the flames off the bike, the lighting/detail on the angels, its really cool, and Ennis hasnt had fun like this since Demon.

[The NZA]

Here it is: took a wee bit of effort, but tell me it wasnt worth it.

 

[Newtype]

That's a sweet looking pic, and yeah it was worth it,

[Silent Bob]

Damn, I'd buy that if it was a poster. Good to see Crain getting some better material than that symbiote fighting stuff. And Ennis? Damn. Ghostrider hasn't looked this good since...well let's face it, Ghostrider's never looked this good. I'm gonna have to check it out.

[Lycaon]

Haven't read this comic in a long while.

[Iambaytor]

Well, you all may or may not know but following Ennis' series (both of them in fact) Marvel went ahead and decided to continue from that point.

 

It started out kinda iffy, showing how Johnny got to Hell in the first place and finally his escape. I was skeptical as following up Ennis with another writer usually turns out catastrophic *cough*PunisherMAX*cough* but I daresay that what followed has managed to top Ennis.

 

The subject matter is sicker, more mean spirited, and 100 times more dismal. The series has managed to paint a picture of a world where Hell is now preferable to Heaven because of a new war being led by an angel called Zadkiel who makes Lucifer look like a fucking pansy.

 

They've built up continuity, harkening back to even the old 70s Ghost Rider, the late 80s Daniel Ketch, and even the 90s schlockfest it became. But while they're keeping continuity they've completely redone what Ghost Rider is, turns out the whole thing about him being a demon was a load of shit. While Blaze did sell his soul, Zadkiel seized the opportunity and made him a spirit of vengeance. Yes, I said A spirit. Johnny and Daniel are one of millions, apparently these "heaven's black ops" as they're so annoyingly referred to are all over the place and Zadkiel has tricked Dan Ketch into becoming an ultra douche and stealing all their powers to give him so that he can invade heaven.

 

 

Now he succeeded and Johnny's powerless, Zadkiel won, and the whole world is pretty much fucked. Dan Ketch is the last Ghost Rider right now and the new turn his character's gone through has pleased me a great deal

 

 

Ketch was always my favorite of the two, mostly cause Johnny's character sucked even in the series from a few years ago, even in Ennis' series I never liked Blaze. But this new book has made me fall in love with the character and it's given Daniel Ketch the much needed kick in the ass his character deserved after being run dry in the 90s series.

 

One thing I love about this book is that even though it's a good book in general it just rolls in the dark humor and really has a lot of Ennis-like qualities. It plays off half the time like some schlocky 80s horror movie and that's what makes it so brilliantly fun as well as compelling. If your only brush with this book has been those 2 shitty World War Hulk issues (Marvel crossover events cause cancer in rats) but the stuff before was pretty damn good and everything following them has been amazing.

 

Marvel has some great books going on but all of them are happening independent of the mainstream shit. This, Moon Knight, and Hercules have been good and I still need to check out Iron Fist sometime. Makes me wish they hadn't stopped making Toxin, ah well Gargan Venom is soooo much better (because apparently aping the campy Venom from 90s is cool when you give him a scorpion tail). Fuck Marvel, Toxin was the shit.

[The NZA]

its funny, the kids at the bendis board typically have good taste about this shit, which to me flows from having brubaker, mack etc post in your community. a few have been singing this one's praises, but yeah, having dropped this after Ennis, i dont know what issue to start with. from what youve got here though, im interested. and yeah, past ennis the most GR ive read was uh, that 90s jim lee x-men crossover.

 

Also, is Hercules a comedy, or is it more of that boring shit with the genius kid? ive hated much of that shit over in New Avengers and during WWH.

[Iambaytor]

Number 1 would be a good starting point but the series really came into its own after World War Hulk

 

I don't know if you hated the shit with Amadeus you might hate Hercules as he's still sticking around, but maybe not.

[The NZA]

By the way, on baytor's say-so, caught up on this, and it was indeed great. Plays a lot with b-level horror (The Highwayman was fun) as well as Spawn-level heaven & hell politics, in a good way though.

 

This, Moon Knight & Iron Fist have all been pretty surprising, but given that this went from Daniel Way to Jason Aaron (both of which are some of Marvel's up & coming greats in my book), i shoulnt be too surprised. Aaron really picked up a great direction where Way left off, and depending on how this massive storyline unfolds, its looking almost trade-worthy for me by then, we'll see. thanks again, baytor.

 

 

but yeah, they're proper-fucked right now, anyway you look at it.

[Iambaytor]

 

I'm not sure but is Johnny dead now? They never really told. If he is then he's proper fucked as he'd be in Hell now with no Spirit of Vengeance to help him escape.

 

 

And I was amazed at how they took a Z-list villain from a really shitty series. I mean Highwayman was the main villain in Us.1 for Christ sake

 

For reference: Us. 1 was a series about a semi-truck driver with special powers he got somewhere or another and his initials spelled U.S.A. and he always wore a head band and had a penchant for giving the thumbs up. It was like BJ and the Bear minus the monkey.

[The NZA]

finally caught up on the first 2 issues of the new series (baytor, is this a mini or the new thing?) "Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire, and was quite pleased - seems like the same creative team (Jason Aaron's another up & comer, from this and his stuff), arc is still focused on Zadkiel cementing power, while basically every occult figure in the marvel U is starting to crawl out of the woodwoorks here - really, if they hadnt started renumbering shit, you'd not've even noticed, which is a good thing.

 

 

oh, danny. what the fuck have you done now.

 

[Iambaytor]

I'm thinking it may be a mini but it's hard to tell. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was Big Wheel on the last spalsh-page wasn't it?

[The NZA]

depends, that was a pretty big page. which one's he again? and what's the name of that big tattooed one, or is he the same guy?

 

 

seriously though, danny was supposed to be the smart one, wasnt he?

 

[Iambaytor]

I saw Samson, Trull the Inhuman (which is apparently the big skid-loader thing), The All New Orb, The Scarecrow, Blackout, that one sheriff guy who I guess is the new Vengeance (Mike Bandallino's cameo last storyarc had me hoping Vengeance would be back, here's hoping he makes a comeback later on.), Big Wheel, and some jester guy I don't recognize.

 

They seem to just be scraping the bottom of the barrel for goofy ass characters of a bygone era to spin into solid gold. I'm loving the inclusions of The Highwayman, Master Pandemonium, Jaine Cutter, Daimon Hellstorm etc. I don't know if the creepy skin manipulator that looked like Sailor Moon was old or not.

[The NZA]

 

Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) is back for Marvel NOW! 2.0

 

Are you ready for the Ghost Rider-issance? Marvel's flame-headed anti-hero is headed to TV on ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but that's not the only place ol' skull 'n' fire will be turning up. TVGuide.com can exclusively reveal that he's also -- after almost a year away -- headed back to Marvel Comics.

 

The new series, appropriately titled Ghost Rider, will be written by Felipe Smith (who will also be doing art for the covers), with interior art by Danilo Beyruth. Tradd Moore, who co-created this brand new take on the character with Smith, will provide a back-up story in the first issue. The title launches ongoing this November.

 

For those not familiar with Ghost Rider, he was originally a motorcycle-riding, flaming skeleton man possessed by a demon. Then in 2014, Marvel gave the character a modern makeover courtesy of Smith and Moore. The more up-to-date incarnation focused on Mexican-American Los Angeles teenager Robbie Reyes, a part-time mechanic who also care of his developmentally disabled brother Gabe. That is, until he's taken over by an evil spirit named Eli Morrow, who gives him the power to turn any vehicle into a ghost-powered death machine.

 

Despite Ghost Rider's absence from the comic books for the past year, it was more happy coincidence than coordination that led to Reyes' return on TV and in comics simultaneously. "We were waiting for Felipe's schedule more than anything," Axel Alonso, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, told TVGuide.com over the phone. "I would have loved to have launched it sooner, but he has a prosperous career in animation, we needed the time to carve it up and do it right."