the_outsider's Ghost Rider #14 - Revelations Part 1 review

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    Something Different?

    Ghost Rider has always had it's up and downs when it comes to an ongoing series. Either the character was kept to simple, or a writer would complicate his origins to the point of it being impossible for future writers to keep anything straight. Daniel Way can't be accused of complicating anything. For over a year now the plot of this series has been Ghost Rider tracking down Lucifer's 666 parts that have possessed recently deceased humans on Earth. With that one phrase you have been caught up on over a year's worth of Ghost Rider comics. If that wasn't sad enough, Johnny Blaze as a character has been reduced to "that guy that turns into Ghost Rider". There is no supporting cast to speak of, and as a reader you have no idea what Blaze's frame of mind is now that he is the Ghost Rider again.

    This issue could possibly be a turn in the right direction. Incredibly the story opens up with Johnny Blaze interacting with another character. He claims to have a plan... what that plan is however isn't clearly told to the reader, but we're given a few hints as to what that could be. For some inexplicable reason however, it seems that the mortals inhabited by Lucifer can turn into werewolves. It is possible that I missed something in the last few issues... but this just seemed really odd to me. Daniel Way actually has some pretty good ideas for action sequences yet again in this issue, but Saltares and Texeira aren't up to the task to properly get these across. It's nice to have the original art team from the 90's Ghost Rider series on this book, but they sometimes have a hard time displaying what is asked of them in the script. The story itself is taking a risk for this story arc... and it's welcomed. It might end up being the worst arc since it's launch, but at least Way is going to try something different. We're introduced to some new characters at the very end of the story, and two of them in particular are what's risky. Very few writer's can pull off what Daniel Way is about to attempt in Ghost Rider and my hat's off to him for trying this. I have my doubts that he will be able to do something satisfactory with this, but I'm just happy he's trying something. This title has been on cruise control for too long.

    This series can still be saved, but it has to do a few things that should have been done from the start. This Ghost Rider seems to have a mix of powers from the Johnny Blaze version, and the Danny Ketch version... which is fine, but the character's powers should be defined for the reader. If this isn't done, then the writer can just put Ghost Rider in any situation and get him out of it any which way he feels like. Also it's always a good idea to define a character when relaunching a title for new readers that aren't that familiar with said character. Establish some sort of supporting cast. You can't have every single issue be "Ghost Rider Vs bad guy". If this title is going to survive it needs to give something more to the readers that are going to purchasing it. The easiest way to accomplish all this would be to have a totally new creative team on the book. Someone at Marvel could go beg Garth Ennis to write it. If that last statement didn't make any sense to you, just go read Ghost Rider: The Road to Damnation and Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears. It'll all make sense after that.

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