First Look: ALL-NEW GHOSTRIDER #1

(I must say that I am black for some reason) ENOUGH with the "diversity" characters already. I like the crap out of Black Panther and Power Man, prolly a little because they are black (like me) but that doesn't mean that I want random white characters to be turned black. Being a nerd, I feel some kind of kinship with fictional characters. Latin Ghost Rider is not Ghost Rider. Black Nick Fury is not Nick Fury. By all means, hype Static or Cyborg up and give them their own book but leave Spiderman and GR alone. /rant

The skull looks WEAK. The car thing is fugazi. YARRRGH!!!!

Not interested. I'm iffy anyway, because Blaze is such a great character and he deserves to have his own title again. But the whole car thing gets rid of any remaining interest. It's lame, even from just a practical standpoint. A car limits maneuverability gonna have trouble chasing someone down a narrow alley. And while I can suspend belief that the bike can drive up walls, seeing a car drive up a wall just seems comical. Just makes me think of the spider-mobile. And anyone who sees the car isn't gonna know it's the ghost rider, it's not like they'll be able to see him. They'll just think someone's car's on fire and needs help. Formerly the Ghost Rider could also shoot some hellfire, or use his chain while riding the bike. I don't know if this new Ghost Rider will have either of those powers, but if so what's he going to do? Stick his arm out the window? Might make aiming more difficult. And I think we're all tired of Marvel attempting to ram teenagers down our throats. It worked for Nova, but this character's background sounds cliche and dull I wasn't in love with the female ghost rider, but at least her character had an interesting background that tied into the ghost rider mythos, plus the changes made to the Ghost Rider and its abilities likewise were sensible. Oh well, at least I can read the Thunderbolts for my Ghost Rider fix.

Looks cool. I'll buy it.

This will be my only comment but "white wannabe"? Isn't that entire comment racist? You're bascially saying there's only black pimps and if there's a white guy doing it their a "wannabe" to being ignorant and heartless. A white guy can't own someone and make money off of them! Come on, thats preposterous!

I didn't really think of anything racist when I saw this.

... it actually looks GOOD.
I was NOT expecting that.

Love the Luther Strode vibe

TRADD MOORE!

I wouldn't say that it's racist per-say, but it does rest upon a negative stereotype that many people still believe in. And, that portray could have been handled much more better, and it would have still achieve the same affect they were going for.

YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!

The art, the car, the look! I'm digging it all. I've always liked the concept behind Ghost Rider, but being a child of the nineties, I just could never get into Blaze or Ketch. I liked Jason's Aaron's stuff, but I still felt disconnected. I gave Alejandra a try, and she did some pretty cool stuff with the locusts and fighting the devil, and turning into a Ghost Rider villain at the end, but this… THIS, this is my dude! This is my Ghost Rider right here! Just take my money, Marvel. TAKE IT and gimme this book!

@mr__kamikaze: She was never killed off, just left with new non-Ghost Rider powers. To be completely blunt here she was terrible, the character the personality, poor writing, every aspect of the character and book were terrible. They do need to focus more on Johnny, but he's in T-Bolts and he's getting a lot of time there at the moment, as a GR fan I like it and it'll keep me happy until a new series just for him shows up. This is just a new story, plus the way Aaron's Ghost rider run went there's room for a lot of Ghost Riders in the Marvel Universe.

@dark_guyver:

There already is, Blaze and Ketch both are both currently Ghost Riders. According to Aaron's run there can be a lot of people with the Ghost Rider power.

Comments on the book: eh, probably pass, I'm a Blaze fan and there's too many titles out there now and in the coming months. However if it turns out to be decent I might pick up a trade, because let's face it new Ghost Riders don't work really well since Ketch.

I was so excited for this........aaaaaaaaand now I'm not. Looks like crap. Hopefully Thunderbolts hangs on to Johnny.

@nick_hero22: There is no such thing as negative stereotypes because at the end of the day there all they do is try to classify a race. If people want to more past racism you have to eliminate all stereotypes the so called good and bad once.

But as I said earlier, there is nothing racist going on in this panel. There are other black characters in the group shot and there not as over the top as the "pimp". I will also reiterate my point from earlier Smith comes from a world of manga, which means over the top comedic characters, I think his guy is supposed to look silly he is a hype man like Flavor Flav.

@fodigg: You are buying way too much into a preview there is no context in these pages just art. We could learn this character is anything but a stereotype. This once again comes from people judging things before they see the context. To me this character looks like a silly larger than life hype man and they come in all shapes and colors. Smith just so happened to make this one black and the closer I look at this character the more I think he is a parody of the writer.

So, the portrayal of african american men as thug with baggy pants and grillz isn't a negative stereotype? No stereotype is good because people who don't fit the mold of that particular generalization feel inadequate or that they don't belong (they aren't black enough), and it eventually leads to people who do fit that mold to mock and ostracized the people who don't fit the mold which is pretty common in the black community i.e. you are trying to be white by talking proper. You can't classify race based off of a stereotype because race isn't a good representation of the personal qualities that each member of that particular race might possess. I even conceded that the portray wasn't intentionally racist, but it did rest upon a negative stereotype and it could have been handled much better.

I agree with your point about stereotypes, but once again all stereotypes are negative and need to be rid of to make it to a post racist world.

Once again, I do not even think this guy is a pimp he looks like T-pain or Flavor Flav a hype man he is supposed to be silly and if you look at one of my posts he looks similar to the writer of the book which makes me think this is a parody of himself.

@br_havoc: Do you agree that the portrayal could have been handled better, because if so, I don't see a point of contention anymore.

@nick_hero22: It all depends on the context for what we know ( since there is no word on the pages) this could be a tongue firmly in cheek spoof. If that is the case yes it could still of been handled better for those who are more sensitive on the matter. What people have to do is wait for context before they jump to conclusions or point the finger and cry a foul.

I'm not necessarily crying foul, but I'm just pointing out that this is an ugly stereotype which could have been circumvent. But, I do agree with mostly everything you said.

@br_havoc said:

@fodigg: You are buying way too much into a preview there is no context in these pages just art. We could learn this character is anything but a stereotype. This once again comes from people judging things before they see the context. To me this character looks like a silly larger than life hype man and they come in all shapes and colors. Smith just so happened to make this one black and the closer I look at this character the more I think he is a parody of the writer.

Again, the charge is "slightly racist". I don't think that's too much of a buy-in at all. That I am repeating and explaining my position does not mean I'm suddenly accusing the writer of being a KKK grand wizard.

And really, we can but judge from what we are given. Context in surrounding pages could certainly alter the portrayal but we have no reason to assume that will be the case and no obligation to withhold judgement when these pages were presented to us as a standalone preview.

As for the theory that it's a parody of the writer:

• The demographics of the character are not what's in contention, the stereotypical pose and props are. (And the pic you include isn't really at all the same pose.)
• The artist is white and chose to include this portrayal; the demographics of the writer don't necessarily matter in regards to that.
• Even if it is a parody of the writer—an inside joke between friends essentially—this is not made readily apparent to the reader and the final product must stand for consideration on its own. If it's a stereotype, it's a stereotype.

Well this racist thing escalated quickly

I think ghost rider is a unique circumstance though, as it's essentially a "team" and not a specific mantle. A new ghost rider is really more like a new green lantern than a new nick fury.

Then again, I'm a huge fan of mantle characters so this type of thing is more in my lane generally. Absolutely they should hype standalone minority characters though. DC especially are idiots for not pushing the Milestone properties more.

Well, this topic tends to.

Ghost Driver

@ccraft: It certainly isn't racist. It's just people having a fit and looking for something to cry about. It's hilarious that the users making these claims don't see that most of the observing crowd is made up of Caucasian males. That must be racist too, then, because it makes it seem like all Caucasian males enjoy witnessing illegal activities with no intention of reporting them.

@fodigg: Once again you have assumed what this is. Comics are writing and art working together you have no context here. So making the accusation that this is racist without all of the evidence. With no context how do we not know this character is an undercover cop?. Also with no context you can don't understand the tone of the scene it could be a tongue in cheek joke.

In regards to the picture of Smith I was showing you the strikingly similarities ( the facial hair and hair style) that him and this " pimp" have and showing you this could not be as sinister as you alluded to.

All I'm saying is do not judge a book on a preview because we have a small glimps with zero context.

my thoughts exactly

That's not Ghost Rider. I'm counting 18 issues before they cancel this series and bring back Blaze.

Am I the only one who while reading all the is/isn't racist posts got cracked up by the random MY STEP MOTHER MAKES $71hr ON THE INTERNET post? Completely killed the faux tension that was building up as I read. Pretty sure its the only time I'm been appreciative of spam.

The art intrigues me enough to make me at least take a look at it in my LCS but I doubt I'll pick it up.

Also, I DISAGREE WITH YOU! LET ME BE CONDESCENDING AND TELL YOU HOW WRONG YOU ARE!

NO YOU ARE WRONG! LET ME BE A LITTLE LESS CONDESCENDING BUT BRING THE ARGUMENT INTO A NEVER ENDING CIRCLE!

NO YOU ARE WRONG! BUT I WILL STILL CONTINUE THIS CIRCLE OF THE SAME ARGUMENT OVER AND OVER!

CIRCLE!

CIRCLE!

CIRCLE!

Whatever, dude I am so done. (condescending remark)
ANGRY REPLY!

Meh. The art style is ok, but not really a fan of how Ghost Rider actually looks

The new GH looks like a Hollow from Bleach.

The Bad: This series looks horrible and will probably be cancelled within 12 issues (fingers crossed).

The Good: The artist is mind blowingly talented and after this series gets cancelled he should be available to do some Amazing Spider-Man annuals and hopefully get on the Spider-Man B-team as a regular artist!

Can't decide if I like this or not, I think I will wait to see the reviews. This just didn't strike me the same way as moon knight and the iron fist previews, when I first saw those my immediate reaction was buying that! And I just don't get that reaction from this, but is will wait and see maybe pick up the first trade if it's getting good reviews

Love the car
Love the suite
Hate the mask
Hate the art

clean split

Looks really interesting. I know some people hate the new design, but I kinda like it and think it looks unique. I hope this series ends up being good, and with Alonso's comments I'm sure it will be. Also, I'm happy the comments on this page are way less negative and fanboyish than the IGN article.

I get they're going with the street-racing angle to make it current (i.e. drift cars and everything else), but someone in the house of ideas should have told them this was "current" 10 years ago.

#bringbackthebike

Your argument is essentially "how can a person really know anything?" And in the context of this discussion—on recognizing and acknowledging racist stereotypes when we see them—it's a form of gaslighting.

Racist portrayal is racist and I don't need to apologize to an imaginary context we have no evidence of. If the issue comes out and said imaginary context suddenly materializes, then I will reevaluate my perspective, but not before.

I don't see striking similarities other than dreadlocks. I certainly don't see any of the "bling/pimp/thug/etc" stereotypes we see in the pose and dress of the character in the preview.

You do realize that what I have attempted to tell you is that same your judgement for the full issue? Because we do not have all the facts yet. My argument was not " How can a person know anything" it's you should not judge something before you have read it, You are offended right now over a single panel of a full issue of a comic that has not come out yet.

Once again we have no context at all so you are offended for the sake of being offended. Comics are not just a visual medium the story plays a large part of it. Think of it this way, if you turned on a TV on mute and it was on Chapelle show and you had no knowledge that its a satirical comedy show, it is full of racist stuff. I'm not defending the use of racist stereotypes at all what I'm attempting to say is you cannot judge this preview when you do not know the tone or context of the book and it's characters.

They have the same hair and beard just because Smith is not dressed as a pimp does not mean the characters look very similar making me think it's a parody of himself.

Not a fan of the art, but I may pick up a copy.

Is it racist to portray white cowboy rough-necks in Dallas or Houston? What about Kentucky? Is it racist to portray white Hillbillies?

Since you threw out the race card, please inform all of us on here, how YOU would portray a street racing thug/pimp/whatever? Let us know, in your infinite wisdom, how this scene should have been handled? Don't tell me what you WOULDN'T do, I don't want that, I want to hear what you WOULD do.

EDIT: One last question: Are you black?

Tradd Moore can draw so much better than that but GR's car looks badass!

You are missing some key facts here, which is that the ghetto/thug stereotype is very prominent in society and many people believe that this is an accurate representation of the black community which leads to racial profiling and discrimination which have been pretty well documented.

That same scene could have been handle completely different, but instead it chose to rest on a very negative stereotype that many people believe in which translates to real world consequences i.e. the Jordan Davis trial.

I never could like Alejandra, especially since the Circle of Four story arc in Venom, but am happy to see a new Ghost Rider/Driver (whatever, he doesn't have to have a motorcycle all the time). I love Blaze and all, but I'm enjoying the different take on the character and the fact that they keep Blaze around (via Thunderbolts), so it's not a replacement. Glad I pre-ordered this, though I wish I knew about all those variants.

@fodigg said:

You're right! I'm totally offended by all this crazy racism and sexism in comic's now a day's. I'm offended because that pimp is a Black guy, but I'd be offended if he was White or Asian MAN!

Solution: So in order to appease ME an not offend me, ALL the characters in the book should be Racially Ambiguous!

But wait there is more...

HELL! I'm even offended because he is a Male! Why not a Female but that would offend me too!

Solution: All the characters in the book should be Gender Neutral! This way you can't tell if its a boy or a girl!

Don't even get me started on Sexual Orientation of comic book characters now a days! Why do they have to be Gay, Straight or Bisexual all the characters should be Asexual this way no one will be offended.

Just paint every page gray no one will be offended this way! Because no matter how YOU think you could FIX this comic book or any other comic book someone will be offended and call you out and start some sorta shit on the internet calling you an ignorant bigot.

or

Just in enjoy the comic book for what it is... a comic book!

PS: Imagine name change too, LoL "Superman" (SuperPerson) - "Cyclops" would be change also in case anyone with the rare congenital disorder of "Cyclopia" gets offended by his name).

Don't like the look of the character.

Having a car instead of a bike is a nice touch, but no need to change the flaming skull so much...