All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 5

"Engines of Vengeance, Part 5"

Cover Date: September 2014; On Sale Date: July 2014

Writer: Felipe Smith; Artist: Tradd Moore; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorist: Val Staples; Editor: Mark Paniccia; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

After taking his brother Gabe out for ice cream, Robbie Reyes is driving home and talking in his head with the spirit of Eli Morrow, who is attempting to convince Robbie to burn down all of the criminals and gangsters in his neighborhood. Robbie gets a phone call from the auto shop where he works and is asked to come in and work the next night. Robbie agrees and calls a friend to babysit Gabe, then when witnessing a fist-fight outside starts to agree with Eli's message of vengeance. Elsewhere in Hillrock Heights, the mutated gang leader Grumpy is murdered by Mr. Hyde, who tells his men that they will be executing the rest of Grumpy's gang at their other hideout the next day as a message to all other gangs in the area.

The next day, Guermo Valdez and his friends are being watched by the remnants of Grumpy's gang, who know that it was Guermo who sold them out to Zabo/Hyde. When the gangsters confront Guermo in the street, they are interrupted by Zabo's mercenary army, and a gunfight breaks out in the middle of the neighborhood. At Canelo's Auto and Body Shop, Robbie hears the news that a gang shootout is happening near his house, and realizes that Gabe's babysitter lives near there as well. The school bus from the development center, in which Gabe is riding, unknowingly drives straight into the massive firefight, causing the bus to crash onto its side. While Robbie races to the scene, Guermo's friends work to help the injured handicapped children off the bus. Guermo reluctantly helps rescue Gabe, but is attacked by the leader of Zabo's mercenaries. Gabe moves in front of Guermo to save him, but before the soldier can open fire Robbie arrives as the Ghost Rider and kills the merc with his chains. Robbie places Gabe in the trunk of his car, which transports him back to the Auto Shop for safe keeping.

Robbie watches the violence and destruction going on around him and hears both the voice of his teacher telling him to be a positive force and the voice of Eli telling him to burn everything down. The mercenaries attack Robbie, who manages to take them out easily. Then, from a helicopter overhead, Mr. Hyde jumps down and enters the fight. He thinks he recognizes Robbie, wondering why he's driving a car now, but after he quickly gets the upper hand Hyde comments that whoever he is, Robbie is “not the Ghost Rider”. Neither Robbie nor Eli know what Hyde is talking about, and before Hyde can kill him Robbie uses his car as a weapon to knock the villain off balance. Afraid of losing, Hyde takes a handful of the pink pills and shoves them in his mouth, mutating further into a monster. Zabo and Hyde fight for dominance as the mutation transforms them, with Zabo stating that Hyde has caused them to overdose. Hyde turns back into a helpless Zabo, and Robbie leaves as the police arrive at the scene.

At their hideout later, Guermo and his gang talk about how awesome the Ghost Rider was during the fight, and suddenly the Rider is standing in the room with them. Robbie sees Gabe's stolen wheelchair in the corner, beats up the gang, and takes the wheelchair back before driving away.

All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 4

"Engines of Vengeance, Part 4"

Cover Date: August 2014; On Sale Date: June 2014

Writer: Felipe Smith; Artist: Tradd Moore; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorist: Val Staples; Editor: Mark Paniccia; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

At his home, Robbie Reyes shaves his head and discovers a series of scars, which Eli tells him is a sign that the two of them are becoming one. The night before, the Ghost Rider fought the gangster Grumpy, who had ingested Dr. Zabo's strength-enhancing pills. Grumpy was far stronger than the Rider, who managed to get an upper hand against the drug dealer by using his car as a weapon. However, Grumpy mutated, growing an extra set of arms, and beat Robbie into submission before leaving.

The next day, Dr. Zabo argues with his other self, Mr. Hyde, about how to fix the problem with his mutagenic drug. He realizes that the problem is in the chemical compound, and that he must change it to make the pills work correctly, changing their color from pink to blue. At school, Robbie and his rival, thug Guermo Valdez, are asked by their teacher to help with a community outreach program, which Valdez laughs about before leaving. Meanwhile, Grumpy confers with his gang about getting more of the pink pills, his mind and body severely changed by the drug.

Robbie takes his little brother, Gabe, out for ice cream in his new car, while Guermo and his friends are approached by Zabo and his men about the whereabouts of Grumpy. Zabo offers Guermo both cash and a chance for great power by helping him, which Valdez accepts. Robbie sees Guermo on the street talking with Zabo, and despite Eli telling him to seek vengeance on his rival, Robbie resists the urge and continues on his way with Gabe. While Grumpy continues to consume the drug, Zabo comments that until he finds his pills all of Hillrock Heights will burn.

All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 3

"Engines of Vengeance, Part 3"

Cover Date: July 2014; On Sale Date: May 2014

Writer: Felipe Smith; Artist: Tradd Moore; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorist: Val Staples; Editor: Mark Paniccia; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

In an abandoned junkyard, Robbie Reyes has a conversation with the spirit responsible for transforming him into the Ghost Rider. The spirit scoffs at the idea of being an angel or demon, claiming to be a human that was killed. The spirit, who says its name is Eli, offers to help Robbie by giving him the power to fight back against the injustice in his life. Eli transforms Reyes into the Ghost Rider, and Robbie agrees to join with the supernatural entity.

The next day, Mr. Hyde's paramilitary team are on the hunt for the missing back of pink pills that were stolen by the drug dealer Grumpy. Hyde is furious, having come to Los Angeles to forge himself a criminal empire after the mercenaries broke him out of prison for his leadership. Elsewhere, Robbie attempts to buy a new wheelchair for his brother Gabe, but refuses to be swindled by the owner of the pawn shop. At school, Robbie is asked by his new teacher, Mr. Wakeford, to take a look at his car's broken window.

Later, at the auto shop where he works, Robbie finds his boss Canelo and the other employees dead from numerous gunshot wounds. Eli speaks to Robbie, offering to help him find the people responsible...but the car isn't in the garage. It was taken by Grumpy's men, whose house is attacked by Hyde's soldiers. During the ensuing gunfight, Grumpy ingests some of Hyde's pink pills. Back at the auto shop, Robbie transforms into Ghost Rider and walks through a wall, disappearing just as an ambulance arrives. Grumpy and two of his men have escaped in the haunted car, with Grumpy himself suffering from a gunshot wound. Reyes appears as part of the car, emerging from the roof just as the two gangsters talk about how they killed Canelo. Consumed by rage, Robbie stops the car and pulls the two men through the roof, beating them both savagely. Afterward, the car shakes as Grumpy fully transforms from the effects of the pills and rips his way out, determined to kill Robbie. 

All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 2

"Engines of Vengeance, Part 2"

Cover Date: June 2014; On Sale Date: April 2014

Writer: Felipe Smith; Artist: Tradd Moore; Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna; Colorists: Nelson Daniel & Val Staples; Editor: Mark Paniccia; Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

On the 101 Freeway in Downtown Los Angeles, the new Ghost Rider chases after the paramilitary team that shot him and left him for dead. They fire bullets at the flaming car with no effect, and when they fire a missile the explosion blows the car into the air, only for it to land back on its wheels to continue the chase. The Rider pulls up alongside the fourth of the soldiers' vans and drives straight through it, destroying it. The other three vans speed off as the Ghost Rider's car drives off the bridge and explodes in mid-air. Later, the soldiers are assembled in front of their employer, Dr. Calvin Zabo, who is happy to see his duffel bags filled with pills returned to him after they had been stolen by some gang members. He notices that one of the bags is still missing and transforms into Mr. Hyde, killing the leader of the mercenaries and appointing a new one in command to find the missing bag.

The next morning, Robbie Reyes wakes up in his bed, thinking the previous night's events had been a dream. He notices in the mirror that not only have all of his injuries from the previous day's beating have healed, but that his right eye is now colored orange. Robbie takes his brother Gabe to his special learning center, then goes to school, encountering the same three punks who had beat him up the day before. While the class goes wild around him, Robbie simply sits and stares quietly. Elsewhere in LA, at the house of a drug dealer named Grumpy, two teenagers buy one of Zabo's stolen pink pills to use as a date rape drug. While they slip the pill into the drink of a girl in the kitchen, another addict tells Grumpy that he saw someone driving his car the night before. Grumpy's underlings tell their boss that the other bags of pills were in the trunk of the car. In the kitchen, the woman dosed with Zabo's drug transforms into a Hyde creature and kills the boys who drugged her, destroying part of the house in the process.

That night, after Gabe has gone to bed, Robbie sneaks back into the auto shop and finds the car that had been destroyed has returned in perfect condition. As he's taking the car out of the shop, Grumpy's lieutenants pull up to steal the car back and open fire on Reyes. He transforms into Ghost Rider and brutally disarms the thugs, forcing them to flee in their car. Ghost Rider gives chase, but ultimately speeds past them on his way to an abandoned salvage yard. When they arrive, Reyes turns back into his normal form and looks at the car, asking "what are you?". To his surprise, the car answers with "the real question is, what are WE?" 

All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 1

"Engines of Vengeance, Part 1"

Cover Date: May 2014

On Sale Date: March 2014

Writer: Felipe Smith

Artist: Tradd Moore
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Colorists: Nelson Daniel & Val Staples
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Editor In Chief: Axel Alonso

Cover Artist: Tradd Moore

At an auto repair shop in East Los Angeles, teenager Robbie Reyes is working on a customized Dodge Charger. His boss pays him, attempting to cheat him out of part of his wages before being caught by the teen, and Robbie leaves. At the Patrick Wellman Development Center, three punks are hassling Robbie's mentally and physically handicapped younger brother Gabe. They steal the boy's wheelchair, and when Robbie intervenes and starts a fight, one of the punks pulls out a gun. They three boys beat Robbie viciously and leave with the wheelchair, forcing Robbie to take his brother home by carrying him on his back. On their way home they pass by a murder scene roped off by police, and while eating dinner that night they hear gunshots down the street.

Later that night, Robbie breaks into the auto shop and borrows the Charger, promising to return it before morning. When he puts on the racing helmet and starts the engine, he doesn't notice the flames surrounding his reflection in the window. He takes the car to an illegal street race, hoping to win $50,000 by using the car as his collateral. Robbie is easily winning the race, until he realizes he's being chased by the police. He thinks about what will happen to his brother if he's arrested and sent to prison, so Robbie attempts to outrun the police cars. However, he mistakenly pulls into a dead-end alley. When the police pull in behind him, he gets out of the car and attempts to explain, but the "cops" murder him in a hail of machine gun fire. They soak the car with gasoline, remove several duffel bags of pink pills out of the trunk, and then set the car on fire while Robbie bleeds to death. The soldiers leave Robbie and the burning car in the alley, but the flames reach out to the boy and he is transformed into the Ghost Rider. He gets inside the burning car and drives away while Gabe sleeps at home, blissfully unaware of what's happened to his brother.