Writer: Brandon Montclare; Artist: Dominika "Domo" Stanton; Letterer: Travis Lanham; Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain; Editor: Chris Robinson; Senior Editor: Mark Paniccia; Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Natacha Bustos
Following the loss of Devil Dinosaur, the tween girl genius Moon Girl (real name Lunella Lafayette) is looking for a new partner. After a brief excursion to the Mojoverse to meet the X-Babies, she sets her sights on Johnny Blaze. She finds him about to start a race in New York City with two other Spirits of Vengeance who have been pulled from different times. This race, held once every Solstice, has dire consequences for the loser. Moon Girl hops on the back of Blaze's bike, but when the race starts he immediately hits a car in the intersection, which allows a little kid Ghost Rider on a flaming big wheel to race ahead. Moon Girl loans Blaze her roller skates and hops on his shoulders to give chase, eventually leading to all three of them crashing right before reaching the finish line. They're then passed by an Old Timey Ghost Rider on an old style bicycle, who wins the race. Moon Girl leaves as the three Spirits of Vengeance argue with one another about rematches, eventually turning into a brawl on the street.
 |
| The first Challenge of the Ghost Riders? |
THE ROADMAP
Johnny Blaze last appeared in Iceman (2017) # 7 and appears next in Spirits of Vengeance (2017) # 1.
CHAIN REACTION
Ghost Rider makes another oddball appearance, but this time the combination of charm and genuine humor makes it a winning comic.
The last time Ghost Rider appeared in one of Marvel's left-of-center titles it was in Unbelievable Gwenpool, which started out kind of interesting but settled into being a massive catastrophe. So, when I saw that Johnny Blaze was going to appear in an issue of Moon Girl, a series I had no interest whatsoever in reading, I was not expecting much. I will happily admit that my expectations should have been higher, because this is one cute and funny comic book.
Montclare and Stanton really lean in to how ridiculous the Ghost Rider concept can get, what with their highly imaginative Spirits of Vengeance that are racing against Blaze. It's naturally meant as a joke appearance for Ghost Rider, I mean no one really expected him to become Moon Girl's co-star, and I would hope that readers would accept it as a humorous interlude between the character's more serious appearances. Unlike Gwenpool, this comic is actually funny, and it embraces the outlandish idea of flaming skeletons on wheeled vehicles in a way that doesn't insult the character. The little kid SoV on the big wheel and the old time bicycle rider are great visual gags, and Moon Girl surprisingly has a lot of chemistry with Blaze during their few pages of interaction.
The artwork, too, helps to sell the tone and nature of the story. This was a jam comic, with several short stories drawn by different artists; the Ghost Rider section was drawn by Domo Stanton, and she does a really nice job. The lines are clean and fluid, she handles the motion of the race very well, and her panel layouts are imaginative. I'm not sure what other work the artist has done in the past, but her work here was highly enjoyable.
Overall, I can't believe how much I actually liked not only Ghost Rider's appearance here, bu the comic as a whole. I certainly wouldn't want to see Blaze (or Reyes) in a series like this on a regular basis, but as a nice little one-off it's certainly worth your time to read.
 |
| You and me both, Moon Girl. |
No comments:
Post a Comment