On Sale Date: October 2005
Title: "The Road to Damnation", Part 2
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Cover Artist: Clayton Crain
Back on Earth, Gustav chants in a profane language and begins to communicate with his "master", Kazaan. Gustav tells the demon to cross over, but Kazaan corrects his helper by saying not all has been prepared - and that if Gustav wishes to be free of his wheelchair, he will do one last thing for his master. Outside the chamber, Ms. Catmint is called on the intercom by Gustav, who tells her to recall the board and say "all is forgiven".
In Hell, Malachai and the Ghost Rider begin their conversation with a simple question posed to Johnny: "do you like being in Hell?". After Blaze's emphatic answer ends with "My head is on fire! Do you think I like being in Hell?!", Malachai begins to outline his plan for the Ghost Rider's escape. He tells Blaze that there is a powerful demon loose on Earth named Kazaan; if the Ghost Rider hunts him down and returns him to Hell, Blaze's sins will be considered redeemed. He tells Blaze that he can arrange for him to leave Hell for a short while, but he must be the first to reach Kazaan ahead of the agents dispatched by Heaven and Hell. Hoss and Ruth are also after Kazaan, and neither will care about slaughtering innocent beings to accomplish their mission. Malachai states that he represents a minor movement in Heaven against the violence of the archangels, but they cannot act directly for fear of being uncovered. The Ghost Rider questions the deal, but Malachai tells him that Kazaan is currently bodiless and will choose whatever form he has available when he comes to Earth. The horde of Hell finally notices that they were chasing an illusion and come back to find Blaze, meaning - as Malachai tells him - it's "now or never".
On Earth, specifically in Texas, a group of Ku Klux Klan members prepare to hang a young black boy despite the protestations of the Klan leader's daughter, who claims to love the boy about to be killed. A bright light appears in the middle of the lynching, and the Ghost Rider suddenly explodes back onto the Earthly plane. As he rides away, he burns through the Klan member, killing him while the freed black man runs for his life.
Back at Gustav Petroleum, Earl Gustav holds a party for his returned board members, claiming that the "misunderstanding" has now been cleared up. He leads his employees into his private chamber, trapping them within the pentagram engraved in the floor. Suddenly, as Gustav and Ms. Catmint observe, the board members are gruesomely torn apart by hurricane winds. While Ms. Catmint looks on in shock, wondering aloud about the legality of what's happening, the dismembered bodies of the board members fuse into a monstrous body...Kazaan has come to Earth.
CHAIN REACTION
At the issue's outset we're given our first look at one of the series' villains, the paraplegic Earl Gustav. A thoroughly unrepentant antagonist, Garth Ennis goes over the top in his portrayal of Gustav as a heartless sociopath that blames all of his problems on everyone but himself...and honestly, it's a bit TOO over the top. Yes, Gustav is a bad man, that much is established on the book's second page, but in what's become typical Ennis fashion, we're given a continued portrayal of a man with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever - so much so that Gustav comes across more as a joke character than a true menace. Knowing Ennis' previous track record with "villains", this is probably intentional, and is a technique that worked well in his more tongue-in-cheek works like The Punisher or Preacher. But in this series, which is trying hard to toe the line between black comedy (with Gustav and Ms. Catmint) and religious/supernatural drama (Malachai and the Ghost Rider in Hell), I can't help but get the feeling that Ennis is phoning this in with a selection of stock caricatures from books in his back catalogue.
Hammering this point home even further is the use of the angel, Malachai, and his trickery and lies when outlining his plan to Blaze. Yes, Garth, we all get that you hold disdain toward religious iconography, something that became obvious during your excellent runs on Hellblazer and Preacher. But Ghost Rider comes across as a retread of those better stories, sending out a message that says "Hell is bad, but Heaven is worse". It's frankly a little unoriginal and a bit disappointing from a writer that I KNOW is capable of more.
But with all that said, this issue is still far from being bad by any means. We're given a relatively straight-forward plot that this series desperately needed. "Road to Damnation" is the return of a character not seen for several years, and to drum interest back into the Ghost Rider mythos a simpler approach was needed. The script itself, also, has plenty of nice touches to it, several appearing during Malachai's speech to Blaze (particularly the bit about the archangels and Jesus, which brought a smile to my face).
It's still inescapable that this is now two issues in a row of set-up and plot explanation, regardless of how well the script has been written. By this point, as a reader, I just wanted to see the Ghost Rider tearing ass down the highway and delivering oodles of vengeance...and a plot as simple as this one didn't warrant 44 pages of set-up.
However, when you have an artist as uniquely talented as Clayton Crain working with you, the phonebook could become a gripping work of majesty. While Crain struggles to make the boardroom scenes with Gustav interesting on a visual level, his depictions of Hell and the Ghost Rider himself as simply staggering. Its certainly difficult to approach a character with such a visual dynamic as the Ghost Rider in a way not done before, but Crain steps up and sculpts his OWN vision of the character and his world, giving the readers a visual feast. The book drowns in darkness, giving the whole package a muted, depressing tone appropriate to the story; ironically, the only "bright" part of the colors reside in the approach taken to the unearthly blue glow of Malachai the angel.
All in all, despite the entertainment held in the many creative dialogue moments, we're still given nothing but a stock Heaven/Hell Garth Ennis story and a staggering amount of character clichés (manipulative angels, Evil with a capital E businessmen, ignorant rednecks, etc...). The artwork is still a beauty to behold, but the series really needs to pick up the pace in future installments.
In the penthouse office of Gustav Petroleum, located in Texas, millionaire Earl Gustav spews forth a bitter rant about his hatred of "little people" - or, as he calls them, "bastards". When he asks about the drunk driver responsible for making him a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, his secretary Ms. Catmint answers that he himself was the drunk driver that crashed his car into a school bus. Gustav and Ms. Catmint enter a meeting of the board of Gustav Petroleum, where Gustav immediately fires his entire board. When the employees react in shock and outrage, Gustav simply dismisses them and drives away in his chair. He tells Ms. Catmint that he is going to his private chamber and is not to be disturbed. The "private chamber" is adorned with gothic architecture and a large pentagram molded into the floor.
Meanwhile, in Hell, the Ghost Rider races once again toward the gates of his freedom. Praying that the demon horde chasing him will fail to stop him, Blaze crosses the threshold of the gates, but quickly realizes that despite this he is still in Hell. He hears a voice above him that explains that the gates he saw were an illusion, while the demon horde is now chasing an illusionary Ghost Rider toward the true gates - though that won't fool them for long. Blaze looks up at the increasingly bright light and asks the speaker who is. "My name is Malachai" the angel answers and he descends from above.
Meanwhile, in Hell, the Ghost Rider races once again toward the gates of his freedom. Praying that the demon horde chasing him will fail to stop him, Blaze crosses the threshold of the gates, but quickly realizes that despite this he is still in Hell. He hears a voice above him that explains that the gates he saw were an illusion, while the demon horde is now chasing an illusionary Ghost Rider toward the true gates - though that won't fool them for long. Blaze looks up at the increasingly bright light and asks the speaker who is. "My name is Malachai" the angel answers and he descends from above.
Back on Earth, Gustav chants in a profane language and begins to communicate with his "master", Kazaan. Gustav tells the demon to cross over, but Kazaan corrects his helper by saying not all has been prepared - and that if Gustav wishes to be free of his wheelchair, he will do one last thing for his master. Outside the chamber, Ms. Catmint is called on the intercom by Gustav, who tells her to recall the board and say "all is forgiven".
In Hell, Malachai and the Ghost Rider begin their conversation with a simple question posed to Johnny: "do you like being in Hell?". After Blaze's emphatic answer ends with "My head is on fire! Do you think I like being in Hell?!", Malachai begins to outline his plan for the Ghost Rider's escape. He tells Blaze that there is a powerful demon loose on Earth named Kazaan; if the Ghost Rider hunts him down and returns him to Hell, Blaze's sins will be considered redeemed. He tells Blaze that he can arrange for him to leave Hell for a short while, but he must be the first to reach Kazaan ahead of the agents dispatched by Heaven and Hell. Hoss and Ruth are also after Kazaan, and neither will care about slaughtering innocent beings to accomplish their mission. Malachai states that he represents a minor movement in Heaven against the violence of the archangels, but they cannot act directly for fear of being uncovered. The Ghost Rider questions the deal, but Malachai tells him that Kazaan is currently bodiless and will choose whatever form he has available when he comes to Earth. The horde of Hell finally notices that they were chasing an illusion and come back to find Blaze, meaning - as Malachai tells him - it's "now or never".
On Earth, specifically in Texas, a group of Ku Klux Klan members prepare to hang a young black boy despite the protestations of the Klan leader's daughter, who claims to love the boy about to be killed. A bright light appears in the middle of the lynching, and the Ghost Rider suddenly explodes back onto the Earthly plane. As he rides away, he burns through the Klan member, killing him while the freed black man runs for his life.
Back at Gustav Petroleum, Earl Gustav holds a party for his returned board members, claiming that the "misunderstanding" has now been cleared up. He leads his employees into his private chamber, trapping them within the pentagram engraved in the floor. Suddenly, as Gustav and Ms. Catmint observe, the board members are gruesomely torn apart by hurricane winds. While Ms. Catmint looks on in shock, wondering aloud about the legality of what's happening, the dismembered bodies of the board members fuse into a monstrous body...Kazaan has come to Earth.
 |
| "Some people might be into that sort of thing, you know?" |
THE ROADMAP
For the first time in many, many years, Johnny Blaze is once again in control of the Ghost Rider. This is possibly a result of Blaze accepting and embracing his fate as the Spirit of Vengeance at the end of Ghost Rider (2006) # 6. Regardless, the personality of the Ghost Rider - who was in control during "The Hammer Lane" mini-series - is nowhere to be seen. It is confirmed in Ghost Rider (2011) # 4 that Blaze is once again possessed by Zarathos.
CHAIN REACTION
"Road to Damnation" rides into its second issue, and its a marked improvement over the first issue, mainly because we finally get the Ghost Rider as a character in his own series. What's unfortunate is that we're still dealing with an issue that's here for nothing more than a continued set-up for the series' plot.
At the issue's outset we're given our first look at one of the series' villains, the paraplegic Earl Gustav. A thoroughly unrepentant antagonist, Garth Ennis goes over the top in his portrayal of Gustav as a heartless sociopath that blames all of his problems on everyone but himself...and honestly, it's a bit TOO over the top. Yes, Gustav is a bad man, that much is established on the book's second page, but in what's become typical Ennis fashion, we're given a continued portrayal of a man with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever - so much so that Gustav comes across more as a joke character than a true menace. Knowing Ennis' previous track record with "villains", this is probably intentional, and is a technique that worked well in his more tongue-in-cheek works like The Punisher or Preacher. But in this series, which is trying hard to toe the line between black comedy (with Gustav and Ms. Catmint) and religious/supernatural drama (Malachai and the Ghost Rider in Hell), I can't help but get the feeling that Ennis is phoning this in with a selection of stock caricatures from books in his back catalogue.
Hammering this point home even further is the use of the angel, Malachai, and his trickery and lies when outlining his plan to Blaze. Yes, Garth, we all get that you hold disdain toward religious iconography, something that became obvious during your excellent runs on Hellblazer and Preacher. But Ghost Rider comes across as a retread of those better stories, sending out a message that says "Hell is bad, but Heaven is worse". It's frankly a little unoriginal and a bit disappointing from a writer that I KNOW is capable of more.
But with all that said, this issue is still far from being bad by any means. We're given a relatively straight-forward plot that this series desperately needed. "Road to Damnation" is the return of a character not seen for several years, and to drum interest back into the Ghost Rider mythos a simpler approach was needed. The script itself, also, has plenty of nice touches to it, several appearing during Malachai's speech to Blaze (particularly the bit about the archangels and Jesus, which brought a smile to my face).
It's still inescapable that this is now two issues in a row of set-up and plot explanation, regardless of how well the script has been written. By this point, as a reader, I just wanted to see the Ghost Rider tearing ass down the highway and delivering oodles of vengeance...and a plot as simple as this one didn't warrant 44 pages of set-up.
However, when you have an artist as uniquely talented as Clayton Crain working with you, the phonebook could become a gripping work of majesty. While Crain struggles to make the boardroom scenes with Gustav interesting on a visual level, his depictions of Hell and the Ghost Rider himself as simply staggering. Its certainly difficult to approach a character with such a visual dynamic as the Ghost Rider in a way not done before, but Crain steps up and sculpts his OWN vision of the character and his world, giving the readers a visual feast. The book drowns in darkness, giving the whole package a muted, depressing tone appropriate to the story; ironically, the only "bright" part of the colors reside in the approach taken to the unearthly blue glow of Malachai the angel.
All in all, despite the entertainment held in the many creative dialogue moments, we're still given nothing but a stock Heaven/Hell Garth Ennis story and a staggering amount of character clichés (manipulative angels, Evil with a capital E businessmen, ignorant rednecks, etc...). The artwork is still a beauty to behold, but the series really needs to pick up the pace in future installments.
 |
| Someone needs a trip to the chiropractor. |
No comments:
Post a Comment