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Comics are so creative. They can be really great reads.
As a young kid, I liked Ghost Rider. I don't remember much, except for the flaming skull--that Johnny Blaze was a stunt rider--the basics.
So, in a fit of nostalgia and curiosity, I bought the first Ghost Rider Epic Collection that contains the first appearances of GR in Marvel Spotlight and moves into the rider's own mag.
It's really good! I mean, it's surprisingly good!
It's not what I was expecting at all. It starts, right off the bat, as a multi-issue story. I was expecting episodic bad-guy of the month type stuff. This is not that. What it is: a continuing serial telling a story about a cursed man who made the ultimate mistake once.
You deal with the devil, though....
GR's own universe--own version of New York--is being created, and I haven't read word one about any other superheroes. I've not yet finished the book, but so far, it doesn't even read like a superhero book, which surprises me, because what I do remember of GR is him riding up the sides of buildings and interacting with other supers.
Nope, not in this story. I guess that happens later. This is a story about a man who is cursed. He's a normal man, and, at least so far, he doesn't really have a lot of powers. He can create hellfire rings around people. His head is a burning skull (described from his point of view as actually his skin and face not disappearing but becoming transparent). He still at human power level on the bike, only doing stuff that Johnny Blaze can do.
His powers do seem to be slowing growing, though. Several issues in, he learns to blast people with hellfire.
Because he's not a superhero (yet), the fights are more harrowing. He's a normal guy--nothing special--fighting for his life.
I'm surprised, too, at how satan is used--there's quite of a bit of it. Black Mass and sacrifices to the devil himself. I really don't remember anything like that--maybe they toned it down later.
Marvel was so adept at harnessing the zeitgist of the times and translating that into comics. The Kung-Fu craze gets translated into Iron Fist and Master of Kung Fu. Blaxspoiltation shows up with Luke Cage, the Power Man. Here, it's Evel Knievel (man, I wanted all those toys when I was a kid! I saw Evel jump some cars in the Astrodome in the 70's), combined with Johnny Cash's hit, Ghost Riders in the Sky, combined with the fixation with satanism in the 70's (The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, etc.), combined with America's love of motorcycles that blossomed at that time (Easy Rider, Harley Davidson boom, Biker clubs and Biker movies like The Wild Angels).
What an interesting character. A biker in black leathers, on a massive, roaring bike, with his skull on fire!
C'mon, man! That's awesome!
This is a very creative, interesting read, and I'll be there for another Epic Collection when it is released.
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