Motorcycle Hero

Well...not so much.

In an attempt to get my comics reading to a manageable state (Currently over 75 GN's and Trades line my room and well over 150 floppy issues are stacked in a pile, all unread, not all recent material of course) I am going to monthly shipping from my online retailer for a while. Maybe.

So, yeah, I read Ennis' Ghost Rider: The Road to Damnation hardcover as well as the first issue of Daniel Way's new GR monthly book. As unimpressed as I was with Ennis' first issue when it first debuted, the story reads decently as a collection. GR gets out of Hell with some help an
must track down some demon. Nothing is what is seems and it's violent as all get out, exactly what you want in an Ennis book. But the art is atrocious. It looks like stills from an abandoned CGI heavy flik, with some dialogue added in word baloons, awkwardly worked into the panels. It all but makes the story unreadable. And it pretty much spits in the face of much of GR's established continuity. Not that I care, but it didn't much work that the last shityy GR mini a few years ago did it? Doesn't work here either.

Then we get Way's first issue. I've already decided to wait for the trades on both this and his Wolvie book, but damn he never fails to hook me. First, the immediately noticeable difference in art, here by Javier Saltares on breakdowns andfinishes by the always fantastic Mark Texiera. That alone makes all the difference in the world. Add to that Way's knack for acknowledging the recent past of characters he takes on and incorporating it into the overall continuity and it's just an awesome start to what I hope will be a fantastic run on the character.

Picking up where Ennis left off, Way has Ghosty successfully breaking out of hell, but discovers he's being played by Satan. It's filled with humour, action and so-so horror stuff. It's the humour that really pulled me in. Way out Ennis' Ennis here, and it just blows my mind. There's plenty of questions to be answered as well, hopefully ones that will drive the series for a while. I can't wait to see Way bring GR back into the regular MU, and I hope we get some definite nods to the history of the character, if not the out and out return of Danny Ketch.

So, avoid the Ennis version unless you're just a completist, or at least opt for the inevitable (and cheaper I hope) softcover. Instead, all you flameheads run out and pick up Ghost Rider #1. Then pray that the movie will at least be pretty good.

-L