Ghost Rider 2099 (2019) # 1

Cover Date: February 2020; On Sale Date: December 2019

Writer: Ed Brisson; Artist: Damian Couciero; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorist: Dono Sanchez-Almara; Editor: Chris Robinson; Senior Editor: Jordan D. White; Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Valerio Giangiordano

In the year 2099, Transverse City is ruled by the evil D/Monix Corporation. A group of date pirates called the Hotwire Martyrs attack a D/Monix convoy truck that supposedly contains powercells that they can steal. When one of the members, Zero Cochrane, hacks in to the truck's security system via cyberspace, he opens the cargo door to reveal not powercells but a sophisticated robot. At D/Monix headquarters, the security breach is discovered, along with the identity of the thieves; Zero is the son of one of the D/Monix executives, Harrison Cochrane. Harrison makes the choice to self-destruct the truck, killing everyone inside.

Zero's consciousness wakes up in the Ghostworks, a digital version of Hell ruled by John Blaze, who shows Zero proof that it was his own father that sold him out to die. Blaze offers to send Zero back to Earth in a new body to exact revenge, which Zero accepts. He wakes up inside the robot body, which is now in the hands of SHIELD. Zero fights his way free and escapes via a hoverbike. Later, he shows up at the garage of his girlfriend, Kylie, and tries to convince her of his identity. They are interrupted by the Artificial Kidz, bounty hunters hired by D/Monix to retrieve the robot. Zero and Kylie kill the Kidz and Zero heads to D/Monix to finish things. He fights his way inside and confronts his father, who he kills out of revenge. Zero then flies away on his hoverbike, determined to fight D/Monix as the new Ghost Rider.

THE ROADMAP

This one-shot is a very condensed retelling of Ghost Rider 2099 (1994) # 1-5, though there are some marked differences.

John Blaze became the King of Hell in Damnation: Johnny Blaze - Ghost Rider (2018) # 1, but he abdicated the throne back to Mephisto in King in Black: Ghost Rider (2021) # 1. That means this issue takes place in an alternate future where Blaze remained the ruler of Hell, which eventually transformed into the Ghostworks.

Blaze's cybernetic look in this story is an homage to his character design from Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 15 through Blaze (1994) # 1.

CHAIN REACTION

Ed Brisson attempts to update Ghost Rider 2099 while remaining faithful to the original source material, producing a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality.

The original Ghost Rider 2099 series by Len Kaminski is a forgotten gem of 1990s Marvel, a fantastic series that was ahead of its time in many ways. Since the end of its brief run the character has made a few appearances in 2099 related revamps, but none of them managed to capture the magic that made the original series so unique. Ed Brisson was obviously also a fan of that series, as his rebooted origin story for the character so obviously demonstrates. The characters are essentially the same, even down to the supporting cast members like the Hotwire Martyrs and Kylie, and Zero undergoes a similar, if truncated, origin sequence. It checks off all the boxes for a faithful revamp of the concept, but does it hold up as an entity on its own?

Despite it being an obvious love-letter to a forgotten series, Brisson does manage to make some updates all his own to the concept. The idea of Transverse City is taken to the extreme, with the buildings literally on wheels driving around the freeways, and it's a cute way to revamp the idea of a "moving city" dependent on roadways. See also the changes to the idea of the Ghostworks, which is now a digital version of Hell still ruled by Johnny Blaze, which ties the character of Zero Cochrane back into the wider Ghost Rider mythos much more so than he was originally depicted.

What doesn't translate well is Brisson's characterization of Zero himself, who doesn't read anything like his original self. The established version of Zero Cochrane was a brash, rude anarchist who responded with aggression toward just about everything. The Zero who appears in this story is, well, he's weak and passive, whining his way through each page before finally showing some backbone at the very end. This version of Zero is more likeable, I'd agree with that. The original character wasn't likeable at all, but he was compelling, something this updated Zero lacks.

Damien Couciero is the artist for this story and he's not a creator I'm very familiar with. He does a solid job on the action bits, sells the futuristic setting of Transverse City, and handles all of the character interactions well. I mean, it can't have been an easy task to draw a city that's constantly in motion on the roadway, but Couciero does an admirable job making it seem plausible on the page. What I don't like is his design for the Ghost Rider, who lacks the hulking size of the original in favor of making him leaner and more stream-lined. It essentially de-ages the robot to look like a teen version, which while it does keep with the relative age of Zero in this story definitely makes the character less physically imposing.

As an update to a character that had been long missing, this is a valiant attempt at relevance. Unfortunately, the pieces just don't come together as much of a story on its own merits and works strictly as a nostalgia trip.