Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears (2007) # 2

"Trail of Tears, Part 2"

Cover Date: May 2007

On Sale Date: March 2007

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editors: Warren Simons & Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

Travis Parham, having returned to the land owned by his friend Caleb, instead encounters two brothers, Lem and Rufus Coulter. When the brothers insinuate that they claimed Caleb's property by less than legal means, Parham shoots Rufus dead. He then tells the surviving brother that he will know what has become of Caleb before the hour is out. Travis drags Coulter behind his horse to a place in the nearby woods, a small cave where Parham discovered a nest of skulls. He throws Coulter into the cave, and upon making contact both Travis and Lem relive the events that ended Caleb's life. A man named Reagan led a group of southerners to "take back what was theirs" after the conclusion of the Civil War - the Dragwell brothers, Holly and his Boy, Banjo, Nightshade, and Sergeant Billy. These men, dressed as Klansmen, overtook Caleb's farm and held the former slave and his family captive. Caleb was forced to watch while the men raped and murdered his wife then executed his two children. Reagan himself took a knife to Caleb, and as he died the last thing he saw was Reagan giving the Coulter brothers the land their grandfather once owned. After they've recovered from the flashback, Parham shoots Lem in the head and leaves him for dead.

 

Parham rides into the nearby town and asks the sheriff details of any arrests made in the murders of Caleb and his family. When the sheriff makes a racist comment about Caleb, Travis throws him through a window and demands to know the location of George Reagan. The sheriff's deputy, also his young nephew, tells Travis that Reagan was gone - he'd owned several slaves that he refused to set free after the war, and when a union patrol came through the area he shot all of the slaves out of spite before killing the lieutenant of the patrol. The boy explains that all of Reagan's band headed out that night except for the Dragwells, who weren't involved that day. The deputy then agrees to lead Parham to the Dragwells' home.

 

During the trip to the Dragwells' farm, the deputy tells Parham about George Reagan. Killing slaves was one thing, the boy explains, but killing a union officer was something different. They arrive soon after at the Dragwells' farm, but find it to be occupied by horribly mutilated corpses. The boy tells Parham that there were four Dragwells - two sons, the father, and an uncle. Parham had only counted three bodies, but the fourth Dragwell appears behind them, his neck broken and his body terribly disfigured. As he shambles towards them, his body bursts into flame, finally killing him. Shaken by what they've seen, Parham decides to head out to Wyoming, where Reagan owns land. As they leave the farm, they fail to notice a cloaked man in chains on a demonic horse watching them.

Yeah, I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Reagan.

THE ROADMAP

This series is a prequel to the Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation series by Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain.

 

Past incarnations of the Ghost Rider throughout history, including Caleb, were shown in detail in Ghost Rider (2006) # 33.

 

CHAIN REACTION

Okay, in my review for the previous issue of "Trail of Tears", I conveyed my opinion that Travis Parham was being set-up as the host for the Ghost Rider.

 

And, well, looks like I was wrong. Heh, let's move along now, shall we?

 

Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain continue their prequel (of sorts) to 2005's "Road to Damnation", and their slow-burn approach to telling the story is still in full effect in an almost infuriating way. Don't get me wrong, this is an incredibly well-written issue that further develops the building mystery now that the main chunk of set-up has been established. Travis Parham is an intriguing lead character - even if I was totally wrong about him being the Ghost Rider's host - and he's developed enough to logically anchor the story.

 

But c'mon guys, the Ghost Rider doesn't actually show up until the last page of the second issue? That's a bit like cheating, I think, considering "Ghost Rider" is right there in the book's title. I get it, I really do - this is not adhering to the normal comic rules where the title protagonist has to be up front and center at all times. This is a separate mini-series that is able to take more liberties, and that's all fine and good. But we're coming across with the same problem that marked the opening chapters of "Road to Damnation" where the book's selling point is mysteriously absent for most of the narrative. Naturally, it's looking like this will all change with the next issue, and it's lucky that Ennis is talented enough to make me overlook this considering how well he's writing this book (and story wise, so far, it's vastly superior to his last Ghost Rider story), because this could easily get pretty damn frustrating.

 

This issue does go so far as to set up the story's villains, namely Reagan and his murderous band, without actually introducing them other than via flashback. It works in this instance since it builds up their threat plausibly, especially during their flashback scenes detailing Caleb's murder, and I really felt the desire to see these villains get a nice heaping dose of vengeance in the coming issues.

 

A disappointment did come, I hate to say, in the work of Clayton Crain with this issue. His digitally painted artwork is normally breathtaking in its beauty and style, but this issue seemed, well, rushed is the only word coming to mind. It looks sloppy in places, with an almost blurry effect taking place in the issue's second half. He also confuses the narrative during the second half by combining two panels into one during several sequences without a panel border. I actually had to look back over the page a few times to get the flow right, because the split panels actually looked like one panel with the characters appearing in multiple places. Still, though, Crain gave his standard when it came to the issue's "shock" moments - the slaughter of the Dragwells and the spectacular last-page-reveal of the Ghost Rider.

 

So far, "Trail of Tears" is setting up to be a classic-in-the-making that could easily surpass "Road to Damnation" but isn't quite there yet. But things should only get better now that the Ghost Rider himself is actually being brought out to play.

 

He could maybe benefit from yoga?