Ghost Rider (2011) # 7

Cover Date: March 2012; On Sale Date: January 2012

Writer: Rob Williams; Artist: Lee Garbett; Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles; Colorist: Robert Schwager; Editor: Stephen Wacker; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Stefano Caselli

In Tokyo, Adam the first man stands in a cemetery with Steel Wind, an old enemy of Johnny Blaze.  In return for the resurrection of her sister, Steel Vengeance, Steel Wind will find the new Ghost Rider and deliver her to Adam.  He brings the cyborg corpse of Steel Vengeance out of her grave, but as a desiccated corpse powered by her robotic parts.

Elsewhere in America, Alejandra has tracked the Seeker down at a movie theater, where she asks him how she can return the souls to the people she wronged in Nicaragua.  The Seeker tells her that the souls are in the possession of Mephisto in Hell, and that she should find Johnny Blaze to help her get there.  Blaze, meanwhile, is riding his bike through a city when he's attacked by Hawkeye, who has been sent by the Avengers to find and capture the Ghost Rider for what happened in Nicaragua.  After a brief fight, Hawkeye learns that Blaze is no longer the Ghost Rider, just as Alejandra arrives to ask Johnny for help.  Suddenly, a vortex opens in the sky, which sucks Alejandra inside.  Blaze jumps in after her, followed by an aggravated Hawkeye.

The vortex deposits Alejandra and Blaze at a desert, where they are confronted by Steel Wind and Steel Vengeance.  Steel Wind attacks Alejandra, but quickly realizes that Adam has not truly resurrected her sister, merely reanimated her dead body.  She tells Alejandra to stay out of her way and she will let her live, deciding to take her revenge out on Blaze instead.  Before Alejandra can rescue Blaze, an arrow with an amulet wrapped around the shaft strikes her in the chest, turning her back into her human form.  Hawkeye stands over her, saying that the people in Central America have now been avenged.

I think she means it, Hawkeye.

THE ROADMAP

Both Adam and the Seeker last appeared in Ghost Rider (2011) # 4.

Alejandra was forced to obliterate the sin from the villagers in Nicaragua by Adam in Ghost Rider (2011) # 3.  She will get her opportunity to confront Mephisto on behalf of those souls in Ghost Rider (2011) # 9.

Steel Wind first appeared in Ghost Rider (1973) # 75 and her sister Steel Vengeance first appeared in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 2.  Steel Vengeance was killed by Centurious in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 9 and Steel Wind made her last appearance in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 23, where she sought revenge against Centurious and made her peace with Johnny Blaze.  She apparently changed her mind prior to this issue.

Hawkeye was one of the Avengers (along with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman) who witnessed the Ghost Rider's destruction of Nicaragua in Ghost Rider (2011) # 3.

Hawkeye and Johnny Blaze first met way back in The Champions (1973) # 11.

CHAIN REACTION

"You think you're funny, Blaze.  You're not."

Hawkeye says that line, but it's also what I think every time I read an issue of this series.  Rob Williams thinks he's hilarious, especially when he's writing Johnny Blaze, but he's actually writing some of the most painful dialogue I've ever read.  Blaze as written by Williams speaks and acts like a fucking idiot, and it just gets worse and worse with each new issue.  That, I think, is the biggest problem with this series.  Alejandra has finally developed a personality, and the last two issues that focused solely on her were good and great, respectively.  It's when Blaze reappears that the book comes screaming back to stupidity, because we also get Adam and the Seeker brought back to dumb things down even more.  Williams can write good comics, and he can specifically write good Ghost Rider comics, issue # 6 proved that.  If he would only stop using characters as comic relief in wildly inappropriate ways, maybe every issue could be as good as the last one?

But no, instead we get Johnny Blaze screaming like an asshole about David Bowie and American Idol.  This issue gave me a headache after all the times I slammed my head against my desk while reading it.  The most egregious error, though, comes with the reintroduction of Steel Wind and Steel Vengeance.  I love the nod to past continuity, because I seriously can't believe anyone else remembers Steel Vengeance or that she died, but Williams' writing tendencies completely overpower any goodwill that character usage might bring.  Williams seems to be trying to out-crazy Jason Aaron's run, but continues to fail miserably because Aaron did what Williams isn't, he grounded the weird and crazy with the deadly serious and scary.  Steel Wind was introduced as a horrifically tragic villain, a woman of peace molded (literally) into a force of destruction.  Even her 1990s appearances maintained some of that, allowing her to move past what was done to her in hopes of regaining her serenity.  Now she's screaming about "bike pain explosions" and pontificating like a madwoman.  This series sucks all humanity and nuance out of its characters and it's such a struggle to read through.

The artwork is by permanent fill-in artist Lee Garbett, who does a decent job working in the established Marvel superhero house style of the time.  I like how he draws Alejandra's flames in the shape of hair, accentuating her femininity without sexualizing her, but his artwork is just too clean and bright for a Ghost Rider series.  The artwork for Ghost Rider should be dark and ominous, which Garbett's work is not.  Still, solid enough job, I suppose.  The art is not the problem for this series, after all.

I had higher hopes for this series after the last two issues, but they were crushed by "death-spiked robo wheels".  Sigh.

Romantic comedy hijinks!