Cover Date: July 2007
On Sale Date: May 2007Writer: 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
Riding through rain and mist, Reagan and his surviving men (Nightshade, Holly, and Boy) realize that they've circled back to where their friends died the night before, despite them having traveled in a straight line. They find Banjo still alive, his guts having been eaten by vultures, and Nightshade puts the man out of his misery. Then, they see the Ghost Rider sitting astride his horse down field, the crows having flocked to him as his servants. While Nightshade wants to stand and fight, Reagan advises them to flee, and so they do. Travis Parham sits a distance behind the Rider, realizing that his friend Caleb must have made a deal with the vengeance god from the place of skulls.
After nightfall, Reagan decides to stop and make a stand against the Rider after all, which Nightshade calls into question, wondering why his friend is acting so strange. Holly, who's Boy has taken ill from the cold rain, begs the men to help his son. Later, the men have made camp and fallen asleep, all but Reagan who wakes the others after he hears something moving in the darkness. Suddenly, the Ghost Rider and his steed have appeared directly behind the men, and with his chains he drags Boy off into the night. Holly starts running after them, but the Rider turns and catches him with the chains as well. Reagan and Nightshade can only stand and watch as the Ghost Rider slams Holly and Boy together with his chains, fusing them into a broken and twisted mass of flesh and limbs. Nightshade suddenly finds his arm blown off by a rifle shot fired by Parham, leaving only Reagan standing. The Rider, angered by Parham's interference, circles the outlaws in a ring of fire. Nightshade finds Reagan hunched over Holly's body, eating his heart. Reagan tells his friend that eating a man's heart before death will give him an audience with who he needs to talk to on the other side, that was what the Native American medicine man told him. Parham shoots Nightshade dead, then kills himself before the Rider can reach them. Travis confronts the Ghost Rider, who tells him that his friend Caleb is gone. He tells Parham to go, live his life, and forget the things he's seen there.
The next evening, at a settlement called Pike's Reach, a red fog comes down from the hills to envelop the town. Inside the fog are five demonic men on horseback, descending on the unsuspecting citizens.
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| They might be a tad bit sore in the morning. |
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
The plot thickens as the Ghost Rider seemingly gets his revenge, Reagan turns on his friends, and Travis Parham struggles to understand what's happening around him.
As with a lot of Ghost Rider stories, the main theme of this series is the cost and effect of seeking revenge and what it can do to a man. The four main characters - Parham, Caleb, the Ghost Rider, and even Reagan - are all out for revenge of some kind. Caleb/Ghost Rider wants revenge for the death of his family, Parham for the death of his friend, and Reagan for the injustice that he feels society has perpetrated on him by deeming an "inferior" race any kind of status akin to his own. This path of vengeance leads all of the characters into horrible situations, from physical death to mental scarring and eventual damnation of the soul. Parham balks at the idea of him having any kind of kinship with the demonic Ghost Rider, but it's obvious to everyone (even Parham himself, though he won't admit it) that though Travis says he's after justice he's really just wanting to get his own back for the death of Caleb, a man who saved his life.
While Travis is the most interesting character in the series by far, Reagan steps up his game in this issue to show just how ruthless and smart a bastard he truly is. He knew from the first encounter with the Rider that there was no surviving what was coming for them, so he bartered not only his own soul but those of his men as well, simply for an opportunity to seek revenge for their inevitable deaths. The Ghost Rider, who has never been one for tact nor subtlety, becomes enraged when he is cheated out of his rightful retribution against Reagan. It's not enough that Reagan and Nightshade are dead, they needed to die by HIS hands. Were this simply about justice, as Parham states, then the Ghost Rider would be satisfied with the fact that they're dead. Instead, the demon takes great effort to make the murders of each man as gruesome and horrific as possible. He can't even stand the idea of Parham assisting him; yes, part of the Rider wants Travis to stay away for the good of his own soul, but it's mostly because he doesn't want to share the vengeance.
Clayton Crain really steps up his game yet again with this issue, particularly in the book's colors. The opening splash page, which shows Reagan's gang riding through mist and rain, is absolutely beautiful to look at, like something that would be found hanging in a fine art gallery. He likewise does an incredible job illustrating the red mist that signals the return of Reagan and company as demonic riders, it just looks so damn ominous! Crain may do a great job with the carnage and stylized violence, but I don't think he gets enough credit as a character artist. These characters don't have stock faces or bodies, each of them are distinct from one another and each show genuine emotion in their expressions.
While the theme of this series is one that's been explored countless times in Ghost Rider stories over the years, Ennis and Crain are doing a great job making each issue better than the one before it.
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| Parham's figuring out the plot. |
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