Ghost Rider (2005) # 6

"The Road to Damnation, Part 6"

Cover Date: April 2006
On Sale Date: February 2006

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Date: Clayton Crain

Ghost Rider and Kazaan are confronting one another atop the Gustav Petroleum building, which has been split down the middle by the portal to Hell below.  Kazaan claims that the Ghost Rider has been duped by Malachi, and the angel and demon are actually brothers.  Ghost Rider denounces him as a liar, and both he and Kazaan jump into the gulf between them, colliding in a burst of fire that destroys Kazaan's body.  They fall the length of the building and land hard, where Kazaan's true angelic form is revealed.  Back at the top of the building, Earl Gustav looks on at what he has helped Kazaan accomplish.  His assistant, Jemima Catmint, pushes Gustav's wheelchair to the edge and threatens to throw him off if he doesn't stop what he is doing.  Down below, Ghost Rider fires chains from his mouth to hold Kazaan from leaving, while above Gustav recites the spell that reverses the Hell portal.  All of the demons are sucked back down into Hell, including Kazaan who is held from escaping by Ghost Rider's chains.  When the portal closes, Ghost Rider cheers, thinking he has won his freedom.  He's then shot and killed by Father Adam, who then dies himself.  Gustav is dropped off the building when Ruth startles Miss Catmint, causing her to let go of the man's wheelchair as he dangled off the edge of the building.

Adam wakes up thinking he is in Heaven, but quickly realizes he is in Hell due to having sold his soul.  Ghost Rider also awakens in Hell, seeing a fiery-skulled Gustav race by in his wheelchair, and is immediately confronted by Malachi.  The angel tells him that he lied to him and cannot release him from Hell, he was simply using him as a weapon to keep Kazaan out of Heaven.  Ruth appears behind Malachi and rips his wings off, damning him to Hell.  Hoss appears and explains that he and Ruth partnered up to find out who had released the Ghost Rider to stop Kazaan, revealing that Kazaan had once been an angel.  Malachi and Kazaan had been receiving promotions from Heaven and Hell due to the information they passed back and forth to one another, but now that's all over.  Ghost Rider rages, furious that he was used as a pawn, so Hoss tells him to take his pleasures where he can.  Later, Ghost Rider is again taking his nightly ride through Hell to reach the gates before the demons catch him, only now he is dragging Malachi behind him as he rides.

Love that blue flame on the back tire!

THE ROADMAP

Ghost Rider appears next, still trapped in Hell, in Ghost Rider (2006) # 1.

CHAIN REACTION

"Road to Damnation" concludes with one of the most unsatisfying endings I've ever read.

As a story in and of itself, this one is very well-written.  Garth Ennis couldn't produce a badly-written comic if he tried, the man is just that great of a writer, and everything concludes appropriately here.  All of the characters reach a resolution to their roles in the story, the ultimate plot introduced in the first issue is wrapped up without any dangling threads, and as a story it all hangs together without incident.  The problem is that Ghost Rider, the title character, is completely incidental to the story, with all of the major resolutions being farmed out to the supporting characters.  Hoss, Ruth, and Miss fucking Catmint are the real heroes of "Road to Damnation", while Johnny Blaze is just kind of there to make the visuals look cool. 

When you have a story with an interchangeable lead character, whose actual presence does nothing to change or influence the climax, that's considered a failure.  I wanted a comic that actually involved Ghost Rider, not one where he is relegated to ineffectual stooge that's downplayed in favor of the writer's own creations.  I don't think Ennis gave a damn about Johnny Blaze, and hey, that's okay.  Ennis is a fantastic writer and one of my personal favorites, but if he didn't have anything interesting to say about the character he should have stayed away.  Especially considering the draught of original material featuring the character at this time, with only one short mini-series in nearly a decade, fans wanted GHOST RIDER.  "Road to Damnation" was trumpeted as a big damn deal by Marvel, getting the writer who reinvigorated the Punisher to do the same for Ghost Rider was a fantastic idea.  On the front, Ghost Rider and Garth Ennis looked like a perfect match, but this series was not what was advertised.  This was The Adventures of Hoss and Ruth, and I don't want to read that shit.

Another problem is that Ennis does nothing to get the character back into circulation, which I can imagine had to be a goal for Marvel.  Instead, we get a new status quo introduced in the first issue, with Johnny Blaze stuck in Hell, and that's awesome.  But when you have an entire mini-series devoted to reintroducing a character, sticking him back at that same closed loop status quo at story's end is extremely dissatisfying.  Daniel Way was the writer who eventually dragged Ghost Rider out of the mire left by "Road to Damnation's" ending, and we all know how that turned out.  I can see the appeal of the twist ending, but more so than taking the character back out of circulation, it emphasized the "Ghost Rider is nothing but a dumb pawn" trope that he's been stuck with ever since.

The one bright side to all of this is Clayton Crain, who turns in another beautifully horrific issue with his computer generated artwork.  Again, I feel cheated that we didn't get to see him actually draw Ghost Rider more than he does in this series, because the covers he produced showed so much promise for his interpretation.  I love so much of his work here, the chains from the mouth and the blue glow of Kazaan's angel form are inspired.  Crain's an artist I always love to see return to the character, because his style fits Ghost Rider perfectly.

So, I know a lot of people hold "Road to Damnation" up as a Top Ten Ghost Rider story, but I can't give high marks to a series that didn't have very much "Ghost Rider" in it.  Ennis and Crain will return for "Trail of Tears" a year later and produce a series that's better in almost every aspect than this one, so if you really want to see those creators turned loose on a quality Ghost Rider project, choose that one.

Premature declaration!

Ghost Rider (2005) # 5

"The Road to Damnation, Part 5"

Cover Date: March 2006
On Sale Date: January 2006

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

From their position on the moon, angels Daniel and Malachi see the portal to Hell that Kazaan has opened in Texas, allowing an army of demons to pour out onto the Earth.  They see that Hoss and the Ghost Rider are on site, which gives Malachi hope that they can reach Kazaan before the archangel Ruth.  They also note that Father Adam has arrived nearby, under orders from Hell to bring the Ghost Rider back.  Inside Earl Gustav's tower, which has been split in two by the escaping demons, Kazaan notes that the only two people who can reverse the portal spell now are the two of them.  Ruth enters the elevator, but is restrained by demons.  Hoss plows his Cadillac through the demon horde with the Ghost Rider providing defense.

Kazaan addresses the demons from the top of the building, telling them that it was time to declare war on man and take the Earth for themselves.  Gustav's assistant, Ms. Catmint, pleads with her boss to stop what they are doing; he tells her its all her fault for following his instructions, despite her belief that it was just a bizarre hobby.  Outside, at the building's entrance, Ghost Rider finds his motorcycle and reclaims it for himself.  Ruth is waiting on the steps, having destroyed the demons, and Blaze tells Hoss to keep her occupied while he goes for Kazaan.  Using the bodies of guards, Hoss and Ruth duel, with Hoss quickly becoming overpowered.  Meanwhile, at a large crane not far away, Father Adam sits and waits with his long-range rifle.

Ghost Rider arrives at the top of the tower, but realizes that he is on the opposite side of the chasm from Kazaan and Gustav.  Kazaan says that the Rider is a fool, who has been duped by Malachi.  Just then, Father Adam fires his rifle, but misses his shot.  Ghost Rider shoots a blast of hellfire from his mouth, which hits the crane that Adam is sitting in, making it explode.  While Ghost Rider and Kazaan go back to their discussion about Malachi, Adam, who is barely alive and badly burned, grabs his gun and asks for one more chance.

Such a great visual!

CHAIN REACTION

Ghost Rider has, at worst, taken a literal back seat to the other characters in a series named after him, and at charitable best is a small part of an ensemble cast.

There are just way too many damn characters in this mini-series, and the amount of time needed to not only introduce them but to do routine check-ins with them manages to successfully crowd poor Johnny Blaze off the page.  Malachi, Daniel, Ruth, Hoss, Father Adam, Earl Gustav, Ms. Catmint, Kazaan, fucking Buttview...why are all of these characters here?  Sadly, I think it's because Garth Ennis himself even admitted that he wasn't very interested in Ghost Rider as a character, so he filled the book with his own creations to try and disguise his creative malaise.  I'm a big Ennis fan, going all the way back to Hellblazer, and the thought of him writing Ghost Rider was a dream come true at the time.  But this series is lazy, and for someone who actually wants to read about Ghost Rider it's a big disappointment.

Blaze does at least get more to do this issue than he did in the last, where he spent the entirety of his screen time in the back seat of a Cadillac.  He gets his motorcycle back and finally confronts the main villain, Kazaan, and gets a really spectacular show of power when he spits hellfire at Father Adam in the crane.  It's still not enough, though, when the focus of the issue is on Ruth and Hoss.  I don't care anything about them, both are stereotypical Ennis characters there only to service the plot.  Service, hell, they've taken over the plot and become the nominal lead characters.

Clayton Crain, however, continues to impress with this series.  His work is textured, dark (though maybe a bit too dark, to the point where it gets muddled), and fascinating to look at from panel to panel.  For it to be completely computer generated art, there are no issues with characters looking stiff or posed, they emote appropriately and move believably across the page.  He draws a great Ghost Rider, and his touches with the fire effects are breathtaking.  I just wish he actually got to draw Ghost Rider more in this series, which is disappointing.

There's one issue left for Ennis and Crain to tie everything together, and anyone expecting Ghost Rider to step up and save the day is going to be let down big time.

Ghost Rider has better aim.

Ghost Rider (2005) # 4

"The Road to Damnation, Part 4"

Cover Date: February 2006
On Sale Date: December 2005

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

Ghost Rider and Hoss dig themselves free from the wreckage of the bus that had been thrown on them by the angel Ruth.  While Hoss calls for his minion Buttview to bring around his car, Blaze realizes that his motorcycle is gone.  It has, in fact, been stolen by Ruth, who is using it to reach Earl Gustav's oil refinery.  At the refinery, Gustav and Kazaan, who is using the dismembered bodies of Gustav's employees as a monstrous body of his own, have started up their mystical drill to bore into Hell itself, operated by Gustav's secretary Ms. Catmint.

Hoss offers to make a deal with Blaze, wanting to team-up to stop Kazaan before Ruth can reach him.  Blaze reluctantly accepts, warning Hoss not to betray him.  Meanwhile, on a train, Father Adam is on his way to find the Ghost Rider in Dallas, reminiscing about the deal he made with Hell that has forced him into their service.  On the way to Gustav's factory, Hoss explains to Blaze that Kazaan has no body of his own, so no one really knows what he looks like, just that he's been able to offer Hell insight into Heaven's plans, allowing them to counter with plans of their own.

Ruth arrives at Gustav Petroleum and arms herself with machine guns, taking on the refinery's entire security force.  Inside, the drill hits magma from the Earth's core, which activates the mystical sigils inscribed on it, allowing to pierce the dimensional wall and bore straight into Hell.  This opens a gateway, allowing a horde of demons to burst out of the refinery just as Hoss and Ghost Rider arrive, noting that they're too late.

Ruth's riding in style.

CHAIN REACTION

"Road to Damnation" stalls out as it hits the mid-point of the story, making the title character take a back-seat to the plot.

For a comic titled "Ghost Rider", that character doesn't really have very much to do in this series.  After being almost totally absent from the first issue, this fourth chapter pushes him to the side to allow all of the other characters space to dominate.  Ruth, Kazaan, and Hoss all get more to do than poor Johnny Blaze, who is left as the questioning straight-man to Hoss's info-dump about Hell and Kazaan.  Unfortunately, all of the dialogue given to Hoss about Hell and Kazaan is unnecessary other than to perhaps give Hell's perspective on what Kazaan has been doing.  We've known since issue # 1 that Kazaan has been getting his info from the angel Malachi and vice versa, so what's the point of giving another (incomplete, I might add) rehash of this information?  It all feels like page-filler, to be honest, especially since it makes Johnny Blaze a bystander in his own story.

The other aspect of this is that it allows Garth Ennis to philosophize about his favorite subject: religion and the states of Heaven and Hell.  While it's interesting to a point what Ennis has Hoss relate about the nature of Hell and what demons really want, it's nothing new to those of us who have read any of Ennis' other comics from the decade before.  Preacher was a series that made Ennis' views on these topics very clear, and seeing those same attitudes brought up here feels like he's not taking this story seriously.  If all he can do is deliver the same message he gave in Preacher (and Hellblazer and True Faith and numerous other books), what is it that made him interested in doing this series to begin with?  I don't think he's much interested in Ghost Rider himself, given how little work Ennis has actually done with the character so far.  I have to admit, I'm disappointed, because I expect so much more from Garth Ennis.  This man wrote some of the best Punisher stories of all time, and this just isn't anywhere near what I expected.

What certainly isn't disappointment is the artwork by Clayton Crain, who continues to make this series look immaculate.  Even with an issue dominated by conversations, Crain makes it interesting to experience visually.  The battle sequence with Ruth and the soldiers is exciting and dramatic, I just wish he had the opportunity to draw Ghost Rider do something other than sit in the back of a Cadillac. 

Perhaps I'm being overly harsh on this issue, but it's only because I know this creative team is capable of doing so much more.  There's still two issues left, things are going to improve.

Cue the info-dump!

Ghost Rider (2005) # 3

"The Road to Damnation, Part 3"

Cover Date: January 2006
On Sale Date: November 2005

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

At the site of the rover landing on the moon, the angels Daniel and Malachi have another meeting to discuss the coming return of Kazaan to Earth. The Ghost Rider has been freed from Hell and is on the trail, but so are Hoss and Ruth. While Daniel holds humanity up as wonderful creatures, Malachi looks down on them as inferior, wondering why they even bother.

In Texas, the demon Hoss drives his convertible down an empty highway with his sidekick Buttview riding shotgun. The Ghost Rider speeds past them, paying the car no mind, but Hoss recognizes him. He pulls up beside the Rider and asks him, "ain't you s'posed to be in Hell?". Meanwhile, Gustav and the monstrous Kazaan discuss their plans. Gustav has assembled a private security force of 500 men to protect them, but Kazaan brushes this away by declaring them mere fodder against the forces coming for them. Kazaan explains that there are some down in Hell who believe the cold war with Heaven is pointless and that it's time to start fresh somewhere new. Gustav asks for his reward for his service, and Kazaan grants his wish by healing him of the paralysis crippling his body. Overjoyed, Gustav shouts "I'm cured! I can walk!"...but then falls flat of his face, crippled once again. As Gustav yells for his secretary, Miss Catmint, to help him up, Kazaan explains that it was just a taste to spur him on.

Back on the highway, Hoss continues to question the Ghost Rider about why he's not in Hell. When Blaze finally recognizes Hoss as a demon, he attacks by breathing a blast of hellfire into the car beside him. The car runs off the road, but the already-healing Hoss is far from dead. Determined the finish the job and keep out of Hell, Blaze turns around to speed toward the advancing Hoss. Chains shoot from the Rider's mouth, entangling Hoss and pulling him from the car as he speeds by. Their battle passes by a commuter bus that's carrying the angel Ruth, who kills the bus driver and commandeers the vehicle. Back on the road, Hoss produces a tentacle of his own to pull Blaze off his bike, and the two fall onto the asphalt holding on to one another.

Elsewhere, in a church filled with parishioners, Father Adam is in the middle of a sermon when he hears a voice in his mind. The voice belongs to Satan, who tells Adam that he knew this day would come after his deal: his soul in return for his "indiscretion" staying under wraps. Satan has a job for Father Adam in Texas, to return Johnny Blaze to Hell. Adam walks into the church's basement, leaving his congregation confused. As he leaves, Adam activates the bombs hidden under the church, killing everyone inside.

Back in Texas, Hoss and Blaze continue their battle. Hoss tries to explain that he's not after him; but when Blaze says "you're in my way" Hoss starts to put two and two together. Their fight stops when they see the bus bearing down on them, both recognizing Ruth as the driver. The two struggle to untangle themselves from the chains and tentacles and pull free right as the bus roars past them. Ruth sends the bus off the road, jack-knifing it across the highway. Hoss asks the Rider if he's after the same thing as he and Ruth, having figured out what Blaze was back on Earth to do. But when Hoss mentions the name "Kazaan", Ruth picks the bus up and throws it at her two enemies.

Meanwhile, back at Gustav's factory, he, Kazaan, and Miss Catmint enter the large room that houses their "infernal machine", upon which Miss Catmint applied the mystical sigils to herself. The machine is a giant drill, about which Kazaan explains that it will be drilling a long way down, "a very long way down indeed".

You sure about that, Johnny?

CHAIN REACTION

Johnny Blaze continues down the "Road to Damnation", and we're finally given the one thing we all really wanted out of this series more than anything - the Ghost Rider dealing out some righteous vengeance. And after two issues of set-up, the fight sequence here couldn't have come too soon.

The three main antagonists - Hoss, Ruth, and Blaze - all start to converge on Kazaan and Gustav in Texas, turning a desert highway into a three-way battle royale. It's the personal touches that make the running fight scene so enjoyable, from the banter between Hoss and Blaze to the out-right ruthlessness (pun intended) of the angel Ruth. The thought of Ruth chucking a bus at her two enemies is wonderfully over-the-top and is honestly just pretty damn cool. For my money, "Road to Damnation" would make a great action movie (are you listening, Mark Steven Johnson?) with so many "wow!" moments. Sure it's light on the plot, but I've come to look at this series as the comic equivalent of a popcorn-flick. It's light and fun without much substance.

Of course, as usual with most Garth Ennis stories, things tend to get too over-the-top and tailspin into being plain ludicrous. And seriously, that's pretty hard to do when you're writing about redneck demons, killer angels, and a plan to drill a hole into Hell. But in the same vein as Buttview's appearance in the last issue, Ennis goes for the gutter humor with Hoss' tentacle "appendage" being a stand-in for his penis. Was that really necessary, Garth?

One talking point about this issue, which I believe kind of split the opinions of the Ghost Rider fanbase, was the new powers Blaze exhibits in the battle with Hoss. Personally, I've always felt that the Rider's powers should be fluid and in-the-moment. Yes, the hellfire and Penance Stare are staples, as are the chains, but what Ennis and Crain do here is add some unique upgrades. Now the Rider blows fire and shoots chains from his mouth. I like the blowing fire bit, especially the visual with the hellfire surrounding his skull being what's shooting out his mouth, but the chains were just a bit much. Yes, it's an amazing visual effect, but what use could those really be?

Speaking of Clayton Crain, he turns in an amazing job on the artwork front, surpassing what he'd accomplished in the previous issues. This is due, most likely, to their actually being some action and motion in the script instead of just talking heads reciting plot points, which seemed to have been the series' main staple until now. The money shot of the issue is easily the descending bus being tossed into the air above Hoss and Blaze. Sheer beauty.

So while no one can accuse this story of being a thinking-man's comic it's still quite a fan ride, especially now that we've got some much-needed action in among the stock-plot and straw man villains. Let's hope Ennis and Crain can keep it up.

Gross, y'all.

Ghost Rider (2005) # 2

"The Road to Damnation, Part 2"

Cover Date: December 2005
On Sale Date: October 2005

Title: "The Road to Damnation", Part 2
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

In the penthouse office of Gustav Petroleum, located in Texas, millionaire Earl Gustav spews forth a bitter rant about his hatred of "little people" - or, as he calls them, "bastards". When he asks about the drunk driver responsible for making him a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, his secretary Ms. Catmint answers that he himself was the drunk driver that crashed his car into a school bus. Gustav and Ms. Catmint enter a meeting of the board of Gustav Petroleum, where Gustav immediately fires his entire board. When the employees react in shock and outrage, Gustav simply dismisses them and drives away in his chair. He tells Ms. Catmint that he is going to his private chamber and is not to be disturbed. The "private chamber" is adorned with gothic architecture and a large pentagram molded into the floor.

Meanwhile, in Hell, the Ghost Rider races once again toward the gates of his freedom. Praying that the demon horde chasing him will fail to stop him, Blaze crosses the threshold of the gates, but quickly realizes that despite this he is still in Hell. He hears a voice above him that explains that the gates he saw were an illusion, while the demon horde is now chasing an illusionary Ghost Rider toward the true gates - though that won't fool them for long. Blaze looks up at the increasingly bright light and asks the speaker who is. "My name is Malachai" the angel answers and he descends from above.

Back on Earth, Gustav chants in a profane language and begins to communicate with his "master", Kazaan. Gustav tells the demon to cross over, but Kazaan corrects his helper by saying not all has been prepared - and that if Gustav wishes to be free of his wheelchair, he will do one last thing for his master. Outside the chamber, Ms. Catmint is called on the intercom by Gustav, who tells her to recall the board and say "all is forgiven".

In Hell, Malachai and the Ghost Rider begin their conversation with a simple question posed to Johnny: "do you like being in Hell?". After Blaze's emphatic answer ends with "My head is on fire! Do you think I like being in Hell?!", Malachai begins to outline his plan for the Ghost Rider's escape. He tells Blaze that there is a powerful demon loose on Earth named Kazaan; if the Ghost Rider hunts him down and returns him to Hell, Blaze's sins will be considered redeemed. He tells Blaze that he can arrange for him to leave Hell for a short while, but he must be the first to reach Kazaan ahead of the agents dispatched by Heaven and Hell. Hoss and Ruth are also after Kazaan, and neither will care about slaughtering innocent beings to accomplish their mission. Malachai states that he represents a minor movement in Heaven against the violence of the archangels, but they cannot act directly for fear of being uncovered. The Ghost Rider questions the deal, but Malachai tells him that Kazaan is currently bodiless and will choose whatever form he has available when he comes to Earth. The horde of Hell finally notices that they were chasing an illusion and come back to find Blaze, meaning - as Malachai tells him - it's "now or never".

On Earth, specifically in Texas, a group of Ku Klux Klan members prepare to hang a young black boy despite the protestations of the Klan leader's daughter, who claims to love the boy about to be killed. A bright light appears in the middle of the lynching, and the Ghost Rider suddenly explodes back onto the Earthly plane. As he rides away, he burns through the Klan member, killing him while the freed black man runs for his life.

Back at Gustav Petroleum, Earl Gustav holds a party for his returned board members, claiming that the "misunderstanding" has now been cleared up. He leads his employees into his private chamber, trapping them within the pentagram engraved in the floor. Suddenly, as Gustav and Ms. Catmint observe, the board members are gruesomely torn apart by hurricane winds. While Ms. Catmint looks on in shock, wondering aloud about the legality of what's happening, the dismembered bodies of the board members fuse into a monstrous body...Kazaan has come to Earth.

"Some people might be into that sort of thing, you know?"

THE ROADMAP

For the first time in many, many years, Johnny Blaze is once again in control of the Ghost Rider. This is possibly a result of Blaze accepting and embracing his fate as the Spirit of Vengeance at the end of Ghost Rider (2006) # 6. Regardless, the personality of the Ghost Rider - who was in control during "The Hammer Lane" mini-series - is nowhere to be seen. It is confirmed in Ghost Rider (2011) # 4 that Blaze is once again possessed by Zarathos.

CHAIN REACTION

"Road to Damnation" rides into its second issue, and its a marked improvement over the first issue, mainly because we finally get the Ghost Rider as a character in his own series. What's unfortunate is that we're still dealing with an issue that's here for nothing more than a continued set-up for the series' plot.

At the issue's outset we're given our first look at one of the series' villains, the paraplegic Earl Gustav. A thoroughly unrepentant antagonist, Garth Ennis goes over the top in his portrayal of Gustav as a heartless sociopath that blames all of his problems on everyone but himself...and honestly, it's a bit TOO over the top. Yes, Gustav is a bad man, that much is established on the book's second page, but in what's become typical Ennis fashion, we're given a continued portrayal of a man with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever - so much so that Gustav comes across more as a joke character than a true menace. Knowing Ennis' previous track record with "villains", this is probably intentional, and is a technique that worked well in his more tongue-in-cheek works like The Punisher or Preacher. But in this series, which is trying hard to toe the line between black comedy (with Gustav and Ms. Catmint) and religious/supernatural drama (Malachai and the Ghost Rider in Hell), I can't help but get the feeling that Ennis is phoning this in with a selection of stock caricatures from books in his back catalogue.

Hammering this point home even further is the use of the angel, Malachai, and his trickery and lies when outlining his plan to Blaze. Yes, Garth, we all get that you hold disdain toward religious iconography, something that became obvious during your excellent runs on Hellblazer and Preacher. But Ghost Rider comes across as a retread of those better stories, sending out a message that says "Hell is bad, but Heaven is worse". It's frankly a little unoriginal and a bit disappointing from a writer that I KNOW is capable of more.

But with all that said, this issue is still far from being bad by any means. We're given a relatively straight-forward plot that this series desperately needed. "Road to Damnation" is the return of a character not seen for several years, and to drum interest back into the Ghost Rider mythos a simpler approach was needed. The script itself, also, has plenty of nice touches to it, several appearing during Malachai's speech to Blaze (particularly the bit about the archangels and Jesus, which brought a smile to my face).

It's still inescapable that this is now two issues in a row of set-up and plot explanation, regardless of how well the script has been written. By this point, as a reader, I just wanted to see the Ghost Rider tearing ass down the highway and delivering oodles of vengeance...and a plot as simple as this one didn't warrant 44 pages of set-up.

However, when you have an artist as uniquely talented as Clayton Crain working with you, the phonebook could become a gripping work of majesty. While Crain struggles to make the boardroom scenes with Gustav interesting on a visual level, his depictions of Hell and the Ghost Rider himself as simply staggering. Its certainly difficult to approach a character with such a visual dynamic as the Ghost Rider in a way not done before, but Crain steps up and sculpts his OWN vision of the character and his world, giving the readers a visual feast. The book drowns in darkness, giving the whole package a muted, depressing tone appropriate to the story; ironically, the only "bright" part of the colors reside in the approach taken to the unearthly blue glow of Malachai the angel.

All in all, despite the entertainment held in the many creative dialogue moments, we're still given nothing but a stock Heaven/Hell Garth Ennis story and a staggering amount of character clichés (manipulative angels, Evil with a capital E businessmen, ignorant rednecks, etc...). The artwork is still a beauty to behold, but the series really needs to pick up the pace in future installments.

Someone needs a trip to the chiropractor.

Ghost Rider (2005) # 1

"The Road to Damnation, Part 1"

Cover Date: November 2005

On Sale Date: September 2005

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Clayton Crain
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada

Cover Artist: Clayton Crain

In the depths of Hell, the Ghost Rider rides through the flames, chased by all manner of demons in a desperate bid for freedom. Every night he makes the same ride, and this night - same as every night - just as he nears his destination...the demons take him down, destroying him utterly. When the dawn comes, the Ghost Rider will be whole again, the vicious cycle starting all over again.

On Earth, two angels - Daniel and Malachai - meet atop a skyscraper in New York City. Daniel asks his brother how he could have allowed the demon Kazaan to come to Earth, then says that there are hunters from both Heaven (the archangel Ruth) and Hell (the demon Hoss) after him. Kazaan has fed Malachai information over the centuries, allowing the angel to get promoted to higher classes - a debt to which Malachai feels he owes Kazaan. Malachai then notices that a woman in a neighboring building can see them, a rarity, and the angel causes her to pass out - and also to miscarry her pregnancy, to which Malachai responds "one less mouth to feed".

Meanwhile, in Texas, the demon Hoss drives down the road in his Cadillac. He soon picks up a motorcycle gang that starts harassing him. Hoss kills the gang instantly and causes the leader of the bikers to wreck his bike. The demon stops his car and approaches the dying biker, telling him that he could either lay there and bleed to death or sign up to help him. Taking the biker's choked response as a "yes", Hoss alters the man's body - by shoving his head up his ass and exposing his spine. Proud of his new creation, Hoss christens him "Buttview".

Back on the skyscraper, Daniel asks Malachai if he's ever heard of the Ghost Rider. When his brother claims ignorance, Daniel begins to tell the story of Johnny Blaze - a biker who found out his stepfather was dying of a disease and for a cure sold his soul to the Devil. The deal stated that at some unspecified point in the future Johnny would arrive in Hell for eternal torment while Crash Simpson would be spared from the cancer. Obviously, the Devil tricked Johnny and Crash died in a motorcycle wreck instead - a trick Malachai points out that humanity falls for every single time. Daniel then points out that Johnny was the exception. When they came for his soul, something went wrong and Johnny doesn't go to Hell. Instead, he becomes bonded with a super-powerful hellspawn - and from then on, Johnny Blaze is the Ghost Rider. Malachai moans that Blaze must not be very smart, but Daniel tells him that he's missing the point: Blaze is incredibly powerful and incredibly gullible. Malachai becomes convinced that Blaze would be the perfect agent, not attached to either Heaven or Hell - and with the angel's aid, he could have a head start to find Kazaan. But Daniel cuts him off, saying that there's a catch.

Elsewhere, in a diner bus-stop in Texas, the archangel Ruth finishes her meal - while a young boy across the restaurant tells his mother that the woman at the bar has wings. The mother can't see, and the boy's persistence goads Ruth to draw a sigil of fire in the air. The boy picks up his pencil and says to his mom that "the lady says I'm a sinner" - and he shoves the pencil into his eye. While the mother screams for her son, Ruth boards the bus.

Daniel continues the story of the Ghost Rider by telling Malachai that, a couple of years ago, the demons finally caught up with Blaze and carried him back to Hell. The Ghost Rider is now in Hell, and every night he tries to race the pack to the gates - and every night, he loses. Daniel finishes by telling Malachai that, unless he wants to wind up there himself, he's got to get the Ghost Rider out of Hell.

There's the tone of this series in a nutshell.

THE ROADMAP

This issue picks up "a couple of years" after Ghost Rider (2001) # 1/2.

This issue recounts the Ghost Rider's origin, which was first told in Marvel Spotlight (1972) # 5.

The events that led to John being dragged down to Hell were revealed in Ghost Rider (2006) # 7. Lucifer's plans for Johnny Blaze are revealed in Ghost Rider (2006) # 4 and Ghost Rider (2006) # 18.

Unbeknownst to Daniel and Malachi, the Ghost Rider comes not from Hell but from Heaven, as revealed in Ghost Rider (2006) # 18. Their ignorance is not contradictory; despite being angels, it was explained that their fellow angel Zadkiel kept all knowledge of the Spirits of Vengeance and its origin a secret from all but his followers and God.

This issue was produced with two variant covers: one by Essad Ribic and one by Clayton Crain. Marvel also released a Ghost Rider (2005) Director's Cut # 1 of this issue which featured the full script and series proposal by Garth Ennis and a look at the art production by Clayton Crain.

CHAIN REACTION

And here's the book every Ghost Rider fan was waiting for - the return of the Spirit of Vengeance for the first time in three years. Fans were understandably upset and underwhelmed at Marvel's last attempt to revive the Ghost Rider in 2001's "The Hammer Lane" mini-series by Devin Grayson and Trent Kaniuga, but hopes were high for this series. I mean, it's Garth fucking Ennis doing the writing, and while the man certainly has people that both love and hate him, none can argue that the guy can write a great story when he sets his mind to it and doesn't go overboard with the jokes. And regardless of the individual reader's opinion of his work, Ennis is a big name writer - and if anyone could bring Ghost Rider back to his glory days, it'd be someone like him.

So, with expectations fairly high, I opened the first issue of "Road to Damnation" with equal amounts of enthusiasm and trepidation. And right away I was hit with a stunning realization: this would be a great debut issue were it not for one big faux-pas. Other than the opening four pages, the Ghost Rider doesn't really make an appearance. And even in those four pages, he doesn't speak a word. I have to wonder about the effectiveness of a debut issue for a character who hadn't been seen in several years that doesn't actually feature said character. Sure, time is spent talking ABOUT Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider, helpfully recapping his history, but judging by this issue alone it almost seems that Blaze is being sidelined as a supporting device in his own series. The main characters of this issue are obviously Malachai and Daniel, the two angles, who spend their time setting up the plot through some witty exposition bits of dialogue.

Another problem was one that became evident early on after Ennis was announced as the writer. While it doesn't come out and say it in the series, it's obvious that Marvel would be happy to just claim that the Dan Ketch era never happened - which is ludicrous, since that period is what made the Ghost Rider a top seller. But regardless, Ennis admitted that he had only read the Blaze run from the 70's, and that's fine. At least the series didn't pretend that the second Ghost Rider didn't exist, but it's still glossed over fairly haphazardly. Ennis was already stuck with Blaze as the Ghost Rider again after the misfire that was "The Hammer Lane", but the writer takes it a big step in a different direction. Sometime after "Hammer Lane" ended, the Ghost Rider was dragged down to Hell to finally pay for that soul he sold in the origin story. It's certainly an interesting idea that hadn't been touched upon since the character's early days, and it also gives a logical explanation for why the Ghost Rider hasn't been seen in the Marvel Universe over the past few years.

As I mentioned above, Ennis can be an excellent writer when he skips over the bits of comedy that he attempts to put into his books. The Punisher became a much better series under his pen when he discarded the comedic tone and went at it with a deadly serious approach. Ennis managed to keep a serious tone for the majority of this issue, but finds himself slipping into bad habits with the character of Buttview...something that brings us to the biggest problem this book has. Anyone that's read Ennis' most fondly-recognized works - Preacher and Hellblazer - knows that he likes to write about Heaven and Hell. The same applies here for Ghost Rider, but fans of the previous two Ennis books will immediately get a sense of "been here, done that" deja vu in the conversation between the angels or the glimpses we're given of Hell.

Regardless of all of that, though, this is a good set-up for the story. The origin of Blaze is recanted with a modern sensibility, shining light on the slightly dodgy mechanics behind Johnny's deal with the Devil and the reasons behind it. But the absence of both the main character AND the villain does nothing to help the belief that this is an entire issue based around a conversation, hurting the momentum that a debut issue should have.

When it comes to the visuals for the series, we're given the digital artwork of Clayton Crain. Needless to say, the art here is absolutely stunning. Crain brings a heavy amount of darkness and atmosphere to the series, giving it a dream-like unreal quality that's appropriate for a book dealing with Heaven and Hell. Crain's design for the Ghost Rider is a sight to behold, and the scenes in Hell give the underworld a visceral appearance that I've never seen in the realm's prior representations in comics. There are drawbacks to Crain's work, though, due mainly to the fact that his action-oriented style is given nothing to work with in an issue that consists mainly of talking heads. Crain tries valiantly to liven up the many conversation scenes, helped by the fact that he handles the book's color processing as well, but still seems out of his element. Another criticism, one that will become more of a problem in later issues, is the overwhelming darkness that comes close to making some panels and sequences hard to follow.

Overall, this is a decent start for a series despite the many things working against it. This merely seems like a prelude to the real story that's starting in the second issue, but it's a necessary evil to get the plot established as quickly as possible. Still, it's hard to fight disappointment when the Ghost Rider barely takes a role in his own # 1 issue.

"I think I can wing it."

Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears (2007) # 6

"Trail of Tears, Part 6"

Cover Date: September 2007

On Sale Date: July 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

The Ghost Rider begins to destroy the members of Regan's band of outlaws, their threat of killing all of the townspeople seeming to not matter to the Spirit of Vengeance.  They start their slaughter of the people, but the Ghost Rider continues killing the demonically-powered villains until only Reagan and Nightshade remain.  Nightshade kills Jenny and threatens the now armless Travis Parham, which finally gives the Ghost Rider pause.  The Rider transforms back into his human form of Caleb, the former slave that had been murdered five years past by Reagan's gang.  As they shackle Caleb to take him to hell, he tells Parham to run; when Parham challenges Caleb's humanity, Caleb answers "I's the last scrap here IS human, else you'd be dead right now".  He again tells Parham to run as he transforms back into the Ghost Rider and engulfs the whole town in an explosion of hellfire. 

Parham, Reagan, and Nightshade find themselves transported to the dark dimension that Travis visited once years before, when he touched the skull of Caleb's ancestor, and the creatures in the realm tear Nightshade apart.  Reagan is confronted by the Ghost Rider, who kills him as revenge for Caleb's murder.  Travis is approached by the now-human Caleb, who tells him that while Parham isn't dead, he is damned and has now seen things no man should see.  Caleb tells Travis that both of them have been on the vengeance trail for years, starting for Caleb when he went to his ancestor's burial site and made a deal with the god of vengeance.  The god isn't from Africa like he first believed and isn't much for protecting people, offering only to right wrongs through vengeance.  Caleb gives Travis a glimpse of all the Ghost Riders, from the beginning of time through to the future, telling him that there will be more Riders bringing vengeance even though it means damnation.

Later, in a bar in another town, the locals talk about how the town of Snyder was now completely gone and all that was found still alive was a single man.  Travis Parham sits at the bar, aged like an old man, and while he drinks he asks the Lord why he gives them "so many ways to damn ourselves".

Should've listened, Travis.

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. 

 

Despite Reagan's statement that the Spirit of Vengeance "is no agent of Heaven above", the power of the Ghost Rider does in fact come from Heaven, as revealed in Ghost Rider (2006) # 18 and Ghost Rider (2006) # 33.  The Spirit's angelic origin was kept hidden by the angel Zadkiel, who fed misinformation about the Ghost Riders throughout history, which explains how not even the denizens of Hell (excluding Lucifer) knew the truth.

During the glimpse of Ghost Riders throughout time, both Johnny Blaze and a Rider who looks visually like 2099's Zero Cochrane are shown.  The original plan was for Ennis and Crain to produce a new Ghost Rider mini-series every year, focusing on Riders at different points in history, but for whatever reason this was the last series they produced.

 

CHAIN REACTION

"Trail of Tears" comes to an extremely satisfying ending that reunites Travis Parham with his murdered friend Caleb, who has become the Ghost Rider.

As much as I enjoyed "Road to Damnation", this mini-series by the same team of Ennis and Crain is superior in just about every respect.  While the former was more concerned with action and black comedy, "Trail of Tears" is all about drama and philosophy, particularly about the nature of vengeance as a force of evil.  Ennis has clearly been weaving along the parallels between Travis and Caleb as the story progressed (and we get the reveal here that Caleb is the Ghost Rider, but I think we all figured that one out in issue # 2), and it all comes to the fore during the fantastic final meeting between the two characters.  The climax of the action seems perfunctory, with Caleb easily destroying Reagan and his gang, even in their new demonic forms, and we don't even get to see what Reagan's final fate looks like due to a cut-away to a black panel at that moment.

No, the real dramatic conclusion lies in that final talk between Travis and Caleb about the meaning of vengeance and how it can drag a man down into darkness that he might never climb back out.  Ennis wisely allows both men to make their points equal, with both the self-righteousness of Travis and the justified anger of Caleb.  Both men are coming from the same place, both have been seeking vengeance for the wrongs committed to Caleb, and regardless of their points of view both men wind up damned as a consequence.  The final page, which shows the broken and aged Parham drinking and musing about God and vengeance is a sad, bitter end for the story's protagonist.

While I loved his artwork on the previous mini-series, this was where Clayton Crain jumped up to be one of my all-time favorite Ghost Rider artists.  He drowns this issue with darkness and shadow, which makes the few panels of bright light stand out even more, as with the Ghost Rider's destruction of the town of Snyder.  The most fantastic image, though, is the two-page spread of the Ghost Riders throughout time, which features some really interesting concepts (and even sneaks in Johnny Blaze).

That same spread was, I assume, Ennis and Crain's way to tease the subsequent mini-series that were suppose to come on the heels of "Trail of Tears".  Joe Quesada spoke about it at length on the special features of the first Ghost Rider DVD, that each year would see a new historical Ghost Rider series by Ennis and Crain that would detail the background of the Spirit of Vengeance.  I'm not sure why or how those plans changed, but it's a damn shame that we didn't get to see more of this team working together on Ghost Rider.  Perhaps it was decided the series wouldn't work with Jason Aaron's work on the regular Ghost Rider series, which was also dealing with the origin of the Spirits of Vengeance?  If I ever get to interview either Ennis or Crain, bet this will be one of the first questions I ask.

So, while "Trail of Tears" remains kind of an oddity in the Ghost Rider mythos, it's still a fantastic series told by a superb creative team.  I absolutely recommend reading it.
 

Catharsis!

Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears (2007) # 5

"Trail of Tears," Part 5

Cover Date: August 2007

On Sale Date: June 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

During a massive snowfall, Travis Parham arrives at the small town of Pike's Reach, where he finds all but one of the townspeople slaughtered.  The survivor tells Parham that five riders came out of a red mist and nothing could kill them.  Parham puts the survivor out of his misery and starts the two day ride to the next settlement, unaware that he's being watched by the demonic riders from a nearby hill.

 

When Parham reaches the town of Snyder he finds that the sheriff refuses to believe what he's seen in Pike's Reach, dismissing him as a crazy drunk.  Parham goes to the local bar and pays for the company of a prostitute named Jenny Sunderland.  After they have sex, Travis wonders aloud if his friend Caleb sold his soul to the Devil for vengeance, and wonders if revenge is so attractive it has a god of its own.  Jenny asks Travis to take her with him to California, both of them unaware that the red mist has descended upon the town.  The dark riders, revealed as George Reagan and his recently deceased men, attack the townspeople, while Nightshade goes to round up Parham.  He finds Parham and Jenny in their room, and Travis finds that Nightshade is indeed immune to his bullets.  Nightshade rips off Parham's arm at the shoulder and drags him and Jenny outside to face Reagan. 

Outside, Reagan explains to Travis that when they died they arrived in Hell, but due to what he learned from the Indian witch Reagan knew what to tell the creatures there.  Hell has a hatred for the Ghost Rider and all they had to do to be set free was to agree to deliver the Rider to the demons.  Their plan is to use Travis himself as bait for the Rider, who as expected arrives at the town border.  When Reagan threatens to kill the rounded up townspeople, starting with Parham, the Ghost Rider screams "do I look like the spirit of mercy to you" as he rips off his hood, revealing his flaming skull.  He says that if the people die they will be avenged, but if any do die "so be it".

That's some deep thought there, Travis.

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. 

 

Despite Reagan's statement that the Spirit of Vengeance "is no agent of Heaven above", the power of the Ghost Rider does in fact come from Heaven, as revealed in Ghost Rider (2006) # 18 and Ghost Rider (2006) # 33.  The Spirit's angelic origin was kept hidden by the angel Zadkiel, who fed misinformation about the Ghost Riders throughout history, which explains how not even the denizens of Hell (excluding Lucifer) knew the truth.

CHAIN REACTION

The Ghost Rider takes a back seat while Reagan and his gang show off their new demonic power in the penultimate chapter of "Trail of Tears".

Usually, when an issue of Ghost Rider doesn't feature Ghost Rider himself, I look down on it with a frown and sad heart.  That's not a problem here, though, mainly because throughout this series the Ghost Rider hasn't really been the protagonist.  Travis Parham is the lens through which the readers are viewing all of these events, while the Ghost Rider is just sort of this scary shadow that comes in to darken things up before vanishing again.  So allowing Travis to have the spotlight as someone trying to make sense of a world he can't understand is a welcome turn, because honestly this is Travis' story.  Ennis, who is always a writer who layers deeper meanings into his stories when he's not going for gross-out comedy, uses Travis' unique point-of-view to flag up some interesting notions regarding the Spirit of Vengeance.  Travis is obviously more intellectual than most, just look at his formal speech patterns in comparison to everyone around him, and even he has trouble coming to terms with the things he's seen.  His musings on vengeance and how it must come from Hell, despite being something which receives God's blessing is a great exploration of "the right thing done the wrong way", for lack of a better phrase. 

The real show-stopper for this issue, however, continues to be the artwork by Clayton Crain, who makes this one of the scariest Ghost Rider comics I think I've ever seen.  This is due to his fantastically grotesque depiction of Reagan and his gang, who have taken on the characteristics of their mortal deaths (such as Holly and his Boy becoming two men in one after being smashed together by the Ghost Rider's chains).  Not sure why Sargent Billy can now shoot hot oil or whatever that's supposed to be out of his mouth, but it's an amazingly disgusting visual.  Likewise, Crain's choice of color and shading remains impeccable, going from the frozen town of Pike's Reach to the warm colors of the bar in Snyder, not to mention the striking contrast of the red mist descending upon the town.  This continues to just be a beautifully illustrated series, and the muddiness in Crain's art that cropped up in issue # 2 has smoothed out nicely.

This was a great set-up for the final confrontation next issue, which promises to be something truly special. 

 

No sir, you do not.

Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears (2007) # 4

"Trail of Tears, Part 4"

Cover Date: July 2007

On Sale Date: May 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

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.

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.

 

Parham's figuring out the plot.

Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears (2007) # 3

"Trail of Tears, Part 3"

Cover Date: June 2007

On Sale Date: April 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

George Reagan and his crew of outlaws (Nightshade, Banjo, Holly, Boy, and Sergeant Billy) have paused in their flight from US Marshals to massacre a tribe of Native American women and children. One of the dead women comes back to life, naming each of the men in turn to deliver a message: "I's comin' soon. For the lives you took, for the evil you done." The outlaws shoot the woman until she is once again dead. Elsewhere, Travis Parham has stopped in a town in search of Reagan, and after getting information he purchases a buffalo rifle.

 

That night, Reagan and his band have stopped to make camp, their nerves on edge by the message delivered to them by the dead woman. When Sergeant Billy goes to check on their horses, the other men hear him screaming. He has been taken by a rider in a black cloak, who tramples through their camp as he drags Billy behind him in chains. Nightshade fires a bullet, which passes through the rider's head with no effect; in return, the rider shoots bolts of fire from his eyes that set aflame the tree that their horses are tied to. While the men free their horses, the Ghost Rider disappears with Billy.

 

That morning, Reagan leads his group to a nearby Native American tribe and requests to speak with their shaman. The holy man tells Reagan that he and his men are soon to die, and using whiskey to barter with Reagan asks the shaman for assistance. Later, the five men have again made camp at sunset, when a bullet fired from a nearby ridge blows a hole through Banjo. While they attempt to find cover from the shooter, Parham, they hear Sergeant Billy screaming from across the field. Billy has had each of his four limbs tied to horses; when the Ghost Rider appears, he shoots a blast of fire into the sky, scaring the horses into running. Sergeant Billy is drawn and quartered, literally pulled apart by the horses. Realizing that they're standing in a killing ground, the other four men get on their horses and ride away while both Parham and the Ghost Rider watch.

Merely a flesh wound!

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 third chapter of "Trail of Tears" finally introduces not only the villainous Reagan and his gang of killers but also the story's version of Ghost Rider.

 

With the first two issues being pure set-up for the plot, chapter three finally allows Ennis and Crain to get to some righteous Ghost Rider action against the story's bad guys. One thing (of many) that this series does well is that it gives each of the villains with just enough personality to make them distinct. These are some evil sons of bitches, but none of them are like one another (save for Holly and his Boy, which is just cringe-worthy by nature). Reagan and Nightshade are the natural leaders, and it would have been easy to just label the rest of the outlaws as "canon fodder" and leave it at that. Ennis is a much better writer than that, though, and he's always been solid when it comes to giving believable motivations and personalities to his characters, both good and bad.

 

Likewise, I've really taken to Travis Parham as the book's true protagonist. The Ghost Rider is more of a plot device at this point instead of a genuine character, so Travis is the stand-in for the reader. This puts Reagan and his crew in a crossfire of vengeance, with both Travis and the Rider out to get them, though they're actually working at cross purposes. The Rider wants to interference, while Travis can only stare dumb-founded at what he's seeing. I enjoy reading about Parham, I love the voice that Ennis has given to him, that of an educated man returned from a life of killing to avenge his friend. Ennis always excels when it comes to western stories, and this one is by far superior to his previous Ghost Rider mini-series, "The Road to Damnation".

 

Clayton Crain continues to produce some impressive artwork for the series as well, and a lot of the problems I had with his work in the second issue have gone away. His work no longer looks blurry in places, and he's stopped with the absent panel borders. The book looks sharper, crisper, and way more readable. The big selling point of this issue, though, is the full reveal of the era's Ghost Rider; we never see the flaming skull, of course, but all of the elements are there. The horse, with its skin flayed away to reveal flame seeping from the breaks in muscle, is grotesquely awesome, and the Rider's look is perfectly appropriate for the story that's being told. Crain pulls off a really strange fisheye perspective shot with the panel showing Billy tied to the horses, and it doesn't quite look right; but honestly, I can't think of a more dynamic way to draw such a panel, it had to have been tricky to get right.

 

I admit, I'm a sucker for a well-told Garth Ennis story, and this one has so far not been a disappointment.

Say it!  Say "vengeance"!