Broken Frontier

A gang of vicious killers returns from the grave to wreck havoc upon Travis Parham, but will the mysterious rider following along be his salvation or undoing?

Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain have reunited once again to give Marvel readers another chance at glimpsing the Ghost Rider, only this time the focus switches onto the western era incarnation of the character. Of course, this is an entirely new interpretation of the western era hero and it seems to be playing out as a muddled and somewhat misguided concept.

Now I say muddled because so far after four issues I have a hard time deciphering the true essence of what the western era spirit of vengeance is supposed to be. In a nutshell though, the first four issues centre up the efforts of former confederate soldier Travis Parham’s efforts to track down a gang of killers for the killing of a former slave. Travis of course is hell bent on dealing out his own brand of justice, and he succeeds in dispatching them all to hell, only they have mysteriously all returned from the dead. As we start this issue, the gang has tracked Travis down in order to tear him to shreds as payback for what he has done, but the mysterious rider shows up to throw his hat in the ring.

Okay, so now that you have the gist of the story, Garth Ennis has written another disappointing tale utilizing this character. Now I can’t say I was a fan of his "Road to Damnation" series because the plot was so muddled throughout, and it’s the same case here. My biggest disappointment is that it doesn’t make much sense and he’s had the audacity to keep the rider ambiguous throughout each issue. I just can’t make heads or tails of this thing, and it’s just a shame because the art of Clayton Crain is quite good.

Of course any series that has Clayton’s name attached to it should raise plenty of eyebrows. The guy certainly has talent and he often showcases a riveting palette of colorful transgressions for every single page he touches. In this issue alone, he employs dark hues of burnt umber and orange in a coalescing fashion to establish a creepy tone throughout. He also relied heavily upon a choice of close range shots to ensure a maximum effect for well paced action sequences, and it all blended well enough for my tastes. I think Clayton should really be given a monthly book, but that’s probably not likely going to happen since it takes him so long to work with a painter program on his computer.

At least for me, this book seems to be following that yin and yang mold of the last series. I mean I really like the work of Clayton Crain, but I just can’t seem to stomach the type of writing Ennis is handling these days. I am beginning to wonder if he really knows how to write a thought provoking story from start to finish, and it’s such a shame when you get right down to it. His work on Preacher was superb, but Ghost Rider is turning out to be one big dud and shooting blanks every time out. Now I don’t know about you, but aren’t western heroes supposed to be characterized by the size of their guns? Sadly, none of that is happening here.