By Jason Aaron (writer), Tan Eng Huat (artist), Jose Villarrubia (colorist)

If you’ve already seen the movie adaptation of this comic starring Nicholas Cage, you’ve probably made up your mind a long time ago to never take a chance on this book for as long as you may live.  I can’t blame you; I still have nightmares about Cage’s hair plugs spontaneously combusting.  But when I first read that Jason Aaron would be coming on board to revamp the title, my interest was fiercely piqued.  I was already an avid fan of Aaron’s gritty work on the Native American crime comic Scalped, and admired his command of tough, noir dialogue and uncompromising characterization.  Could Aaron bring that same sensibility to a struggling franchise like this?  The answer, I confirmed after reading this later volume of his run on the title, is a resounding hell yes!

Aaron’s tale shakes up Ghost Rider’s status quo by revealing (in the excellent trade paperback “Hell Bent and Heaven Bound”) that Johnny Blaze was not, in fact, an agent of the devil but rather a tool of the rogue angel, Zadkiel; in his bid to overthrow Heaven.  As “Last Stand” begins, Blaze’s quest for answers and justice puts him in the crosshairs of his own brother Danny Ketch, a former Ghost Rider himself who has been crossing the globe killing foreign Ghost Riders (you didn’t think Blaze was the only one on the planet to bear that mantle, did you?) to fulfill his own mysterious agenda.  Blaze, along with the gun-toting Caretaker, Sister Sara, meets the surviving Spirits of Vengeance deep in the jungles of Africa to plan their final assault against Zadkiel before he and his forces start knock, knock, knocking on Heaven’s door.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.

What makes Aaron’s run on this title, and especially in this volume, so much fun is that he abandons many of the melodramatic, moody trappings that have turned me off this book for so long. Instead, he embraces a tone that is bawdy, rough-edged, and delightfully lewd.  In short, he’s turned Ghost Rider into a grindhouse comic.  Every page is saturated in lurid entertainment, from shotgun-wielding nuns to elephants blazing with hellfire, right on through to Mr. Blaze himself, striding across the panels with a cocky and reckless attitude, as he purses a vicious cycle of overwhelming odds.

Aaron is aided in his efforts by the unique renderings of Huat and dynamic colors of Villarrubia, a creative team whose distorted, unsettling art style would look inappropriate on a more conventional superhero comic, but seems right at home on a dark, supernatural title like this.  When I first looked at their splash page of the Tibetan Ghost Rider, I grinned like a madman with all the fun I was having with this book.

From cover to cover, “The Last Stand” is solid entertainment that hits all the right notes; and more importantly, it succeeds in getting me interested in reading more about Ghost Rider.  If a graphic novel can achieve that, I’d say buying it was money well spent, wouldn’t you?

Grade: B+

-Tony Rakittke

Ghost Rider #34

It’s been a long time since I reviewed any comics (so much going on), and I’m still a bit behind in my readings, but I wanted to take the time share my thoughts on Marvels latest incarnation of the Spirit of Vengeance, Ghost Rider.

The current series (believe it or not is credited as volume 6) has wrapped up it’s Zadkiel arc ending in #32, and it looks as if Danny Ketch now the Ghost Rider again and writer  Jason Aaron with artist Tony Moore perhaps may be taking the book in a new direction.

After the culimation of such a long and convulted Zadkiel arc, this issue is a self-contained ‘fun’ issue that just stars Danny Ketch in the title role what the reader can imagine as only a few days or weeks after the issue #32.  It’s a bit unclear the exact passage of time, but it isn’t central to this story.  Danny realizes he was duped as Zadkiel’s agent in rounding up and destroying all the other Ghost Rider’s around the globe, and only has a fraction of the power he just had. 

Here Danny runs across the path of a Hillbilly Trucker who made a deal with a devil to sell his own soul so that he could continue to compete in today’s job market.  I know, I know…it’s sounds very lame up front, but the origin of the Trucker is actually done pretty well and within only a few panels.  It reminds you of the old ghost stories you heard around the campfire as a little kid…a legend of horrific fun.

There is the obligatory fight between the Trucker (with his truck no doubt) and Ghost Rider.  The action is tight and fast and Tony Moore’s art is really done well within the panels.  When Danny turns into Ghost Rider, the artwork on this alone give a whole new realization of the transformation process and you can imagine how brutal it is on the human host. 

The fight itself needs to be understood as fun, because you’ll need to set aside a little realism when your eyebrows cock that an 18-wheeler rig has the same hadnling and pickup speed of Danny’s cycle.  If you can get past that, supernaturally powered or not, you’ll have a good time.  The ending is good and a bit of a throwback to the old 70’s style B horror movies, and there a little gem surprise in the ‘end credits’ if you will.  I won’t spoil it here, but there was a little easter egg on the very last page.

I give this issue a 4 out of 5 for its art and fun value.

Now putting all the above aside I have a gripe and a concern.  My concern is that I think the regular run of this series may be ending with issue #35, and then launch into a 6 part miniseries and may continue thereafter as a ‘mini-series’ typ eof title.  That bums me out, because Ghost Rider has so much potential, and has had some good history and creativity under it’s belt, but it just can’t seem to get traction over at Marvel for the long haul.  They try and try with this title and it inevitably gets cut way before its time.  Maybe this sould be a ‘Max’ title, or bi-monthly until readers can appreciate this cast of characters.

Now my gripe:  Volume 6 started with Johnny escaping from ‘the’ Hell itself and having to defeat ‘the’ Lucifer (i.e. Satan…the antithesis of God).  After the first year Johnny not only put the Devil down, he also goes toe-to-toe with the Hulk (see World War Hulk crossover) and hold his own.  Then somewhere around the Zadkiel arc starting up, Johnny teams up with multiple versions of GR from around the globe and get defeated by Zadkeil?  WTF?  So Johnny can beat Satan, but can’t beat Zadkiel with the helps of others?  So is Zadkiel more powerful than Satan, the father of all sin and evil?  Yeah, I know this is a comic, but something just doesn’t seem to jive here….How did Zadkiel outsmart both heaven and Lucifer and defeat so many other Rider’s.  If you’re going to go that route, then you need to retcon Lucifer or change the story outcome somehow….this just doesn’t work in the overall mythos of the Marvel Universe, and that of our own to boot.

By Jason Aaron (story), Tan Eng Huat (art), Jose Villarrubia (colors)

The Story: Having learned that the spirit of vengeance is actually a weapon of heaven bonded to him by the renegade angel, Zadkiel– who in turn is preparing to overthrow Heaven, Johnny Blaze travels to the mountains of Tibet to exact his revenge on the angel. He then discovers that there are many different versions of the Ghost Rider all over the world, and that they are being pursued by Danny Ketch, Blaze’s long lost brother, who is at the center of Zadkiel’s plans.

The Good: Jason Aaron delivers a streamlined revamp of the title that is engaging and fun to read.  In a few well-written pages of recap narration, I understood the plot and what happened in earlier issues, never feeling lost.  The artistic pairing of Tan Eng Huat and Jose Villarrubia is a revelation, and I hope to see more from them soon.  Huat has a gritty style that reminds me of Kevin O’Neill, and is perfectly complimented by Villarrubia’s dynamic colors, which make the the flames on Ghost Rider’s skull literally burn right off the page.

The Not So Good: The idea of multiple versions of the Ghost Rider existing wasn’t terribly original or exciting, since Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction had already explored the notion with Immortal Iron Fist.  While this doesn’t imply that Aaron can’t use the idea as well and make it his own,  I felt like he was trying to make the concept more exciting than I thought it deserved to be.

Conclusion: Wow, I was not expecting to like this issue as much as I did!  Jason Aaron and Tan Eng Huat have done the impossible and convinced me to actually care about Ghost Rider with a plot that is friendly to new readers and some dynamic, quality art.  My only problem now is tracking down all his back issues!

Grade: B+

-Tony Rakittke