The Pull List: Ghost Rider Issue 1
It’s a new comic day, and I wanted to highlight the first issue of Marvel’s new Ghost Rider series, which I have been excited about for a while. So rev up your motorcycles, and let’s ride.
Ghost Rider features the talented writer Benjamin Percy and artist Cory Smith as the creative team. In addition, the series has Bryan Valenza as the colorist and VC’s Travis Lanham as the letterer.
The series starts with Johnny Blaze, the original Ghost Rider, finally getting to have the life he never had. He has a loving wife and a couple of kids and enjoys an everyday existence. However, his perfect life feels a bit too perfect as cracks begin to form and dreams of demons and monsters fill his head. It’s a classic for a reason, and it works well here with reintroducing Johnny Blaze to readers. With Robbie Reyes being the other Ghost Rider and being on the Avengers, it feels excellent returning to that horror feel.
I have become a big fan of Percy’s work due to X-Force and Wolverine, and he is the perfect writer for the title. He does a great job of balancing the uneasiness of the idyllic suburbs and the more hellish aspects that lie underneath the serenity. With 48 pages, he’s given enough time to set up the series before hitting the gas. I was genuinely interested in the narrative, and it kept me hooked for issue two. I also appreciated that the comic does not spin its gears for Johnny, debating whether or not he imagines stuff. Percy understands what we want from a Ghost Rider comic and delivers. As a long-time fan, he sprinkles in some great callbacks that will tell readers what might be going on.
Smith’s work as an artist perfectly compliments the series. His work can go from everyday life to full-on horror. The variety of his talent elevates Percy’s writing and conveys Johnny’s struggle. There’s a wonderful bit of body horror in one panel. Also, his creature design is top-notch and draws a perfect Ghost Rider. It evokes what we want from a Ghost Rider comic while bringing his stamp to it. Even one creature reminds me of the alien from The Thing, which made me happy. It’s creepy in all of the right ways, and I had a blast studying over each drawing.
The other comic stars are Balenza’s colors and Lanham’s letters. Valenza picks the perfect shades of orange whenever Johnny transforms into Ghost Rider or when we’re looking into hell. It calls upon the horror nature of the character and the world he exists in. It walks the line between horror and superhero well. In addition, Lanham’s letter work captures the feelings well. I enjoyed their direction with the narrative boxes whenever Ghost Rider slowly begins to control Johnny’s thoughts. The grey coloring with the black flourishes provides a nice contrast to the traditional white thought boxes for the character. It also provides an excellent motif for Ghost Rider’s speech bubbles with those black flourishes.
I am highly impressed with issue one, and based on Percy’s previous writing, I know he’s in it for the long haul. It’s a fun comic that embraces the best 90s horror comics and gives Ghost Rider an exciting mystery to explore. I am simply burning with excitement for issue 2.
Thanks again for reading. You can keep with the blog and get updates by following it on Instagram @thebloginthewoods or by following/subscribing to The Blog in the Woods via Medium. Continuing “Found Footage-February,” I will be looking at Willow Creek and Rec on Thursday and Saturday. Also, I will link my review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) as soon as Slay Away publishes it.
