Chris Piers
10-11-2005, 12:51 PM
One of my favorite 90s comics was Marvel's new attempt at Ghost Rider. I'd never read Ghost Rider before, but you didn't need to know the history to jump onto the adventures of Dan Ketch/Ghost Rider. Basically, Dan's sister was murdered and while he was trying to escape the killers, he came across a motorcycle and when he touched it, he turned into the Spirit of Vengeance, Ghost Rider. Not only was Ghost Rider cool looking, a badass in leathers with a flaming skull for a head, but I dug his powers. You couldn't kill him by shooting or stabbing him and if he looked into your eyes, he gave the penance stare where the victim would feel all the guilt for their past attrocities all at once. Plus, his bike had flaming tires and he could ride straight up walls and shit.
Anyway, eventually the book weakened when they tried to explain his story a bit too much and introduced lame villains and it burned out. Along the way, though, one cool part was when Dan met Johnny Blaze, who had been the original Ghost Rider. Eventually, we found out they were brothers and Johnny was sort of a mentor. It always made me curious what Johnny's story was, but I never took the time to hunt down back issues.
Enter the Marvel "Essential" trades. These things collect the consecutive appearances of a character and put about 20 or more issues into a giant black and white trade. It's cheap and you get a ton of story. I love 'em. The Essential Ghost Rider came out a few weeks back and I just picked it up. The end result is a mixed bag.
The early Ghost Rider is VERY different. Basically, Johnny lost his parents at a young age and was raised by a cyclist family in a circus. When the "mother" dies in a freak accident, she makes Johnny promise not to ride motorcycles in the show and he agrees. But he doesn't tell Roxy, the daughter who he loves or Crash Simpson, the father. Basically Crash calls him a coward a lot and Rocky cries and thinks he's a loser. Then Crash gets cancer so Johnny makes a deal with Satan - Johnny's soul in exchange for Crash not dying of cancer. But Satan betrays him because Crash quickly dies in a cycling accident instead. Then Satan punishes Johnny by giving him super powers.
Hmmm. Well, I know eventually they'll explain how it's a curse but basically he just becomes Ghost Rider every night. Early on his only ability seems to be that he can shoot fire from his hands. He isn't a spirit or demon, he still is Johnny Blaze and we're privy to Johnny's thoughts and Ghost Rider has merely Johnny's human cyclist abilities (which are impressive but nothing supernatural). What's kind of funny is that Johnny keeps agonizing about the curse of having this horrible flaming skull but every time he runs around town, EVERYONE thinks he just has a glowing helmet. It never scares ANYONE.
The early stories are very confusing because Crash comes back to life in the guise of "Curly" a motorcycle gang leader and tries to sacrifice his daughter to Satan in exchange for immortality. If Roxy is killed, her "pure love" for Johnny is gone and Satan can finally take Johnny's soul. But then Ghost Rider interrupts the sacrifice and Satan makes Crash and Ghost Rider fight. Suddenly Crash decides he is fighting to protect his daughter's soul and give Satan Johnny's soul? Huh? Eventually Crash changes his mind and helps save Johnny from a demon during the fight and then dies. Ghost Rider puts him on some altar and Crash supposedly gets to go to heaven and Crash lets Johnny know he loves him like a son. Crash must have been on crack. He made no sense.
The next "villain" Johnny faces is even better. Johnny takes his cycling show to Arizona to jump Copperhead Canyon. His driver from the airport, a Native American, tells him that the Canyon land belongs to the Indians and that if Johnny makes the jump, the area will be famous and the government will never give the land back. Sounds reasonable enough to me, to be honest. Johnny's response? "Well I HAVE to make that jump!" So the Indian kicks him out and tells the tribal leader guy who's called SNAKE-DANCE. Snake-dance is the villain and he repeatedly insults Johnny by calling him "white eyes". I laughed out loud at that one. Don't ALL races have white eyes?
To be fair, I like the counter-culture vibe the book gives, the adventure, the look of Ghost Rider and plenty more. I just can't wait for the back story to improve.
Anyway, eventually the book weakened when they tried to explain his story a bit too much and introduced lame villains and it burned out. Along the way, though, one cool part was when Dan met Johnny Blaze, who had been the original Ghost Rider. Eventually, we found out they were brothers and Johnny was sort of a mentor. It always made me curious what Johnny's story was, but I never took the time to hunt down back issues.
Enter the Marvel "Essential" trades. These things collect the consecutive appearances of a character and put about 20 or more issues into a giant black and white trade. It's cheap and you get a ton of story. I love 'em. The Essential Ghost Rider came out a few weeks back and I just picked it up. The end result is a mixed bag.
The early Ghost Rider is VERY different. Basically, Johnny lost his parents at a young age and was raised by a cyclist family in a circus. When the "mother" dies in a freak accident, she makes Johnny promise not to ride motorcycles in the show and he agrees. But he doesn't tell Roxy, the daughter who he loves or Crash Simpson, the father. Basically Crash calls him a coward a lot and Rocky cries and thinks he's a loser. Then Crash gets cancer so Johnny makes a deal with Satan - Johnny's soul in exchange for Crash not dying of cancer. But Satan betrays him because Crash quickly dies in a cycling accident instead. Then Satan punishes Johnny by giving him super powers.
Hmmm. Well, I know eventually they'll explain how it's a curse but basically he just becomes Ghost Rider every night. Early on his only ability seems to be that he can shoot fire from his hands. He isn't a spirit or demon, he still is Johnny Blaze and we're privy to Johnny's thoughts and Ghost Rider has merely Johnny's human cyclist abilities (which are impressive but nothing supernatural). What's kind of funny is that Johnny keeps agonizing about the curse of having this horrible flaming skull but every time he runs around town, EVERYONE thinks he just has a glowing helmet. It never scares ANYONE.
The early stories are very confusing because Crash comes back to life in the guise of "Curly" a motorcycle gang leader and tries to sacrifice his daughter to Satan in exchange for immortality. If Roxy is killed, her "pure love" for Johnny is gone and Satan can finally take Johnny's soul. But then Ghost Rider interrupts the sacrifice and Satan makes Crash and Ghost Rider fight. Suddenly Crash decides he is fighting to protect his daughter's soul and give Satan Johnny's soul? Huh? Eventually Crash changes his mind and helps save Johnny from a demon during the fight and then dies. Ghost Rider puts him on some altar and Crash supposedly gets to go to heaven and Crash lets Johnny know he loves him like a son. Crash must have been on crack. He made no sense.
The next "villain" Johnny faces is even better. Johnny takes his cycling show to Arizona to jump Copperhead Canyon. His driver from the airport, a Native American, tells him that the Canyon land belongs to the Indians and that if Johnny makes the jump, the area will be famous and the government will never give the land back. Sounds reasonable enough to me, to be honest. Johnny's response? "Well I HAVE to make that jump!" So the Indian kicks him out and tells the tribal leader guy who's called SNAKE-DANCE. Snake-dance is the villain and he repeatedly insults Johnny by calling him "white eyes". I laughed out loud at that one. Don't ALL races have white eyes?
To be fair, I like the counter-culture vibe the book gives, the adventure, the look of Ghost Rider and plenty more. I just can't wait for the back story to improve.