SPLICED Magazine SPLICED Issue 05 June/July 2014 | Seite 60

SPLICED COMICS /

ISSUE 05

REVIEW / ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER #1

All-New

Ghost Rider 1
#

by Ray Whitcher

PUBLISHER / Marvel  GENRE / Supernatural  WRITER / Felipe Smith  ARTIST / Tradd Moore
SPOILER ALERT: Go and buy this book. Now.
Seriously.

VERDICT / 9
Eye-meltingly good
art, frenetic pacing,
great storytelling,
this is a book that
needs to be in every
collection. Well
done Marvel.
I approve.

You're still here? Okay, fine. I guess I should tell
you why. For most of you, the name Ghost Rider
causes involuntary cringing and mental images of
Nicholas Cage (you poor, poor souls), but
fear not, for the ghoulish vigilante
has seen a much-needed revamp
and a rather spiffy lick of
paint. Besides the rather bad
movies, how much do you
really know about Ghost
Rider? Did you know
that the character's been
around for 65 years? No?
You can obviously cheat
and read the feature on
Guardians of the Galaxy here
to know that he was also a part
of that team for a while, which
is still pretty odd, but hey, we won't
judge. He also originally rode a horse, and
only adopted the bike much later on.

flaming vehicle, which was generally a bike for
the most part (although he can actually use
ANY vehicle) resplendent with awesome flaming
wheels and skull whilst sporting a spiffy leather
jacket.
What makes THIS Ghost Rider so
awesome is what it's done, and
at great risk too. I'm actually
extremely impressed with
the directions that Marvel
has been taking some
of its rather high-end
characters, from a
Muslim Miss Marvel
to an Hispanic SpiderMan (Ultimate), minority
representation is coming to
the fore in an awesome way.
Ghost Rider is no exception,
ditching former stuntman
Johnny Blaze in favour of Robbie
Reyes, a mechanic living on the really
bad side of town desperately struggling to make
a better life for himself and his wheelchairridden younger brother. In a well-meaning, but
ultimately misguided attempt to get enough
money to move, Robbie 'borrows' a muscle car
from his workplace and enters an illegal dragrace. Things go terribly wrong and Robbie lies
engulfed in flames, but not dying...

" To put it
mildly, the story
is massively
compelling."

As a quick intro, Ghost Rider is a spirit of
vengeance, neither good nor evil. A host that
is on the verge of death, but at the hands of
another, is given the chance to instil justice
and help others in need. This is normally
accompanied by some kind of seriously cool

To put it mildly, the story is massively
compelling. Writer Felipe Smith harkens back
to the unapologetic days of comic whimsy - he
doesn't try to make the characters angst-ridden
or hardcore, Robbie is a good guy living in a bad
world and it makes him immediately relatable.
His little brother idolises him and he's burdened
by his responsibility to the only family that
he has, meaning willingly attacking gangsters
that harass his sibling regardless of the odds

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