Broken Frontier

Johnny Blaze continues to battle Satan on Earth, but in Heaven another plan begins to take shape.

This series has been so uneven since its inception just a little more than a year ago, and it’s tiresome waiting for the continuity errors to be addressed. It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the character, but I am noticing how this new incarnation of GH seems stuck in first gear. Perhaps though, this will change now that we are supposedly beginning a six part arc that will ultimately tie up the loose ends regarding Satan’s escape from Hell.

In any case, this issue gets off to a rousing start as Blaze recounts to a woman truck driver that he’s bedded down with for the night of how he came up with an idea in dealing with Satan. Blaze goes on to explain how it went from being difficult to becoming easier in besting many of Satan’s avatars. Meanwhile, in Heaven, two renegade angels are formulating a plan of their own, but it’s really unclear as to how this will ultimately impact on Blaze/Ghost Rider.

Okay, so now that you’ve read through my synopsis regarding this issue, I have to say that it was incomprehensible from a reader’s standpoint. Daniel Way’s writing is muddled, and his scripts just lack dimension in terms of rounding out Blaze as a character. If this issue was meant to be a thrilling beginning to a memorable arc, then the people at Marvel must be smoking something potent to cloud their good taste in effective storytelling. My biggest complaint with reestablishing Blaze as the Rider is how it seems to keep missing the mark over and over again, and this issue is nothing more than one big cryptic mess.

The only redeeming factor this series has going for it is the outstanding art of Javier Saltares and Mark Texeira. Now these talents are indeed a dynamic duo when it comes to providing a one-two punch for breakdowns and finishes. Sometimes when artists work in this fashion the work tends to be uneven, but in this case it works to their advantage without any glitches. They have provided a look for this series that borders on being sketchy and drawn in a frenetic style to boost the nightmarish world that the Rider is meant to inhabit. I should also say that colorist Dan Brown’s painterly approach with his palette certainly lends to the overall atmosphere of smoking red hot excitement.

It’s just a shame though that writer Daniel Way is the true weak link to this series being more successful than it probably is at the moment. I keep thinking there’s going to be a plausible reason for Blaze becoming the Ghost Rider once more, and it’s a shame this series is shooting blanks every time out. Of course I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the film version earlier in the year either, but I have to give the filmmakers credit for at least carving out a reasonable origin for Blaze. Now if only the creative team behind his resurrection in comics can do the same thing, I will be one happy fan.