Broken Frontier

Johnny and the new Caretaker follow Danny’s trail to Tibet, where Johnny learns more about the role of the Ghost Rider.

Aaron has taken Ghost Rider from a boring direction. At first he ran with the new role for Blaze as agent of heaven that he inherited. It was an odd idea, but in some ways made perfect sense. Over his first few stories, Aaron made sure to inject the book full of B Horror film fun. For a while the book resembled Ghost Rider as part of Grindhouse and it is unsure whether Tarantino and Rodriguez could have topped demonic nurse bingo.

Now we see Aaron playing fan service and homage to the nineties by firmly establishing Ketch back into the mythos. Seems Danny may not be on the side of good though and with the new caretaker at his side, Johnny wants to see what his half brother is up to. No good is the answer as a murder in Tibet reveals previously unknown information about the nature of Blaze’s mission and shows how far Ketch may have gone. Can Johnny overcome his unconditional love and face the truth before Danny turns on him?

Aaron is playing to the fans who have whined about Ketch’s absence, but at the same time he is giving the first expansion on the world of Johnny Blaze since the epic nineties run featuring the Spirits of Vengeance. For those unaware of that phenomenal run on the concept, Michael Hoskin gives the whole era the Ghost Rider Saga treatment in the back of the book, which is part of the $3.99 price tag given here. It may seem a nuisance to the cost conscious, but the saga is a more effective way to catch up readers not in the know then some intrusive flashback that would take issues to do justice to the time period. In this case an editor’s box saying "read the 90's run... your marvelous editor" would not be enough to have the casual reader up to speed.

Given the abrupt reentry of Ketch and the Caretaker into Aaron’s story, the saga is pitch perfect allowing Aaron to get on with the story. No longer are the days where an issue will take you thirty seconds to read. Sure there is still action a plenty, but there has been dialogue added to the book since the hot writer du jour took over the book. With an introductory coda on why Ketch went to Tibet, this is as informative an issue as one could want and the cliffhanger makes the 30 days between issues seem a little unbearable. In short, the book is fun again. Yay!

The biggest problem with the current run of Ghost Rider is artist Tan Eng Huat and colorist Jose Villarrubia. While competent at story telling and panel clarity, there is a lacking in consistency of design. Huat’s unsure pencil and odd character design make for an ugly book. It may not be kosher to just call art unpleasant, but this book is seriously hampered by an unpleasing aesthetic. It should be remembered that a comic book is an illustrated story and when the illustration is unpleasant not in action or subject matter but in execution, it hinders even the best story. The problem is further exasperated by the odd coloring of the book. The back grounds and clothing are standard comic book fare, but the faces and skins of the characters seem to be more fluid then the flames that engulf both Blaze and his ride in their demonic inspired form. It is like seeing still shots of A Scanner Darkly and that may be the idea, but it brings out the inconsistencies in the lines of Huat even more. While attractiveness may not be the only purpose of the art in a comic, here the lack of it is a serious issue.

Aaron has done the almost impossible, he has taken a hokey idea and made it compelling. Now the fear is that this Blue Ghost Rider and Red Ghost Rider will be as bad as the nineties super books, this reader hopes that Aaron beats the odds and keeps up the quality and inventiveness that this run has shown thus far.