(That's pretty much how the credits are listed, no first names or indication of who did what.
But c'mon. You know who some of these folks are...)
Review: Will Dubbeld
And I mean Johnny Blaze.
I'm a Blaze purist. It took years for me to not hate Danny Ketch simply, because he wasn't Johnny Blaze.
Also, he wasn't as well written a character...
Don't get me started on the kid with the muscle car.
Ghost Rider 2099 was alright I guess...
Aaaaaaanyway, the original and best Ghost Rider had an amazing run of supernatural hero/horror stories in the early '70s through the early '80s. I'm sure you're all familiar with the tragedy of Johnny Blaze and his Faustian pact with Mephisto.
No?
Well, it's pretty much that. Johnny makes a deal with the devil and is bound to a hellish spirit called Zarathos.
Zarathos is pissed off pretty much all the time, detests humanity, and tear-asses around on a motorcycle made from hellfire.
And he's a skeleton with a fiery head.
He's pretty much the most rad character ever.
A majority of Ghost Rider stories find Johnny in a supernatural pickle he stumbles upon whilst working as a carnival stunt rider.
This particular issue bucks that trend and instead pits the Ghost Rider against the natural enemy of the carnival:
The Circus.
The Circus of Crime, to be specific.
This premise is ridiculous. I love the circus, circus folk, sideshows, and all of that Golden Age of Americana business.
I'd not put money on a clown, a strongman, human cannonball, and their ilk against a hellfire-spewing vengeance demon.
Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of an evil circus, but when one of your seven gang members is wholly dependent on a giant cannon pointed in the correct direction you may want to rethink your strategy.
I mean, the Circus of Crime is led by an evil clown called The Clown, who bebops around on a unicycle and wields a goofy crook as a weapon. To be fair, he's not even really evil. Not like Pennywise or those Klowns from Outer Space.
His big plan is to extort money from the carnival to pay his fathers' medical bills.
Not exactly Red Skull over here...
As ludicrous as all of this is, the issue is great. It's well-written and illustrated, culminating with an epic circus vs. carny brawl. Ghost Rider actually does show up for the finale, though he serves the plot mostly as a deus ex machina.
Deus ex motorcycle...
I'll never not pick up an issue of the original Ghost Rider. I'm biased as hell for a couple reasons: he's one of my favorite characters and he's from the best era in mainstream comics. Every decade has great stories, but the '70s and '80s were king in my opinion.
Is this the best comic ever?
Hell, no. That's probably a Man-Thing comic or that issue of Batman where he invites Harold to live in the Batcave.
This comic is, however, extremely entertaining and representative of the eras that birthed Howard the Duck and X-Babies.
Which is to say it's amazing.
Granted, if you're not a fan of old comics or Ghost Rider this isn't the book for you.
Unless you perhaps are a big Circus of Crime fan.
Also understandable.
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