Ghost Rider Collected Editions, or the Lack Thereof: Redux

Marvel recently let loose a preview book to retailers that details all of their trade paperback and hardcover/omnibus releases through April of 2018.  Naturally, I poured through the catalog in hopes of seeing some new Ghost Rider collections, because we're damn sure due a few, and lo and behold I found a whopping ONE listing, for the new SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE mini-series.

That pisses me right he hell off, people.

In that same catalog is listings for books like "Werewolf by Night Classic Volume 2" and "Ka-Zar Masterworks Volume 2".  Those are characters that I'm sure have fans of their own, and I'm not trying to knock any attempts to release Marvel's awesome back catalog of comics.  When Ghost Rider gets ignored in favor of those niche characters, though, I am simultaneously disappointed and surprised.  I had hoped that Marvel had more Ghost Rider collections coming, after the release of the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" and "Hearts of Darkness" trade paperbacks, but apparently they think fucking Ka-Zar has more of a chance at selling copies than Ghost Rider.

So, for my own benefit more than anything else, I've put together a list of Ghost Rider collections that Marvel NEEDS to make happen.  How can they expect the character to catch on with a wider audience if there's nothing printed for them to read?  I'm going to break this down into a couple of different categories, and you're going to see some repeats in material.

OMNIBUS EDITIONS - The Omnibus is honestly my favorite way to see comics collected, because they look awesome on a bookshelf and they can pack in a LOT of material in one volume.  However, the price point for most of these, usually $100 or more per book, can turn away anyone other than the most die-hard collectors.  So far, Ghost Rider has had only one Omnibus edition published, which collected the Jason Aaron run.  That should be rectified with the following:

Ghost Rider: Johnny Blaze Omnibus (Volume 1)
Collects: Marvel Spotlight on Ghost Rider (1972) # 5-11, Ghost Rider (1973) # 1-9 & 11-20, Marvel Spotlight on the Son of Satan (1972) # 12, Marvel Team-Up (1972) # 15, Marvel Two-In-One (1973) # 8, Daredevil (1964) # 138
Written by: Gary Friedrich, Tony Isabella, Len Wein, Steve Gerber, and Marv Wolfman
Illustrated by: Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton, Jim Mooney, Ross Andru, George Tuska, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, Herb Trimpe, and John Byrne

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Omnibus (Volume 1)
Collects: Ghost Rider (1990) # 1-24, Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 64-71, Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme (1988) # 28
Written by: Howard Mackie and Roy Thomas
Illustrated by: Javier Saltares, Mark Texeira, John Romita Jr., Ron Wagner, Larry Stroman, and Chris Marrinan

Ghost Rider: Robbie Reyes Omnibus
Collects: All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 1-12, Ghost Racers (2015) # 1-4, Ghost Rider (2016) # 1-5, Ghost Rider X-Mas Special # 1, Secret Wars: Secret Love # 1
Written by: Felipe Smith and Method Man
Illustrated by: Tradd Moore, Damion Scott, Juan Gedeon, Danilo Beyruth, Felipe Smith, and Anthony Piper

MARVEL MASTERWORK EDITIONS - These are the really high-end collections of Marvel's Silver and Bronze Age comics.  These hardcover editions usually come with restored pages and in some cases touch ups on color and print quality.  The only Masterwork collection to feature Ghost Rider to date has been last year's Champions collection, and it's a shame that such a seminal character of the 1970s has been neglected in this format.

Marvel Masterworks: The Western Ghost Rider
Collects: The Ghost Rider (1967) # 1-7, Western Gunfighters (1971) # 1-7, and the back-up stories from The Original Ghost Rider (1992) # 3-5, 7-13, & 15-20
Written by: Gary Friedrich, Len Wein, Dan Slott, Tom Brevoort, and Mike Kanterovich
Illustrated by: Dick Ayers

Marvel Masterworks: Ghost Rider (Volume 1)
Collects: Marvel Spotlight on Ghost Rider (1972) # 5-11, Ghost Rider (1973) # 1-9, and Marvel Spotlight on Son of Satan (1972) # 12
Written by: Gary Friedrich and Tony Isabella
Illustrated by: Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton, Jim Mooney, and Herb Trimpe

OVERSIZED HARDCOVERS - These are the same size dimensions as the Omnibus editions, but generally collect a much smaller amount of comics.  These can fit side by side with the Omnibus volumes on a bookshelf, though, and would be the perfect format for the following books:

Ghost Rider by Garth Ennis & Clayton Crain HC
Collects: Ghost Rider (2005) # 1-6, Ghost Rider (2005) Director's Cut # 1, Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears (2007) # 1-6, and Shadowland: Ghost Rider # 1
Written by: Garth Ennis and Rob Williams
Illustrated by: Clayton Crain

All-New Ghost Rider HC
Collects: All-New Ghost Rider (2014) # 1-12
Written by: Felipe Smith
Illustrated by: Tradd Moore, Damion Scott, and Felipe Smith

EPIC COLLECTIONS - These are high-end trade paperbacks, which collect a LOT of comics in chronological order, printed out of sequence (so you could have a "volume 4" of the back catalog printed first, for example).  These have the goal of printing all of Marvel's evergreen/tent-pole titles in a recognizable numbered order, sort of like color versions of the Essential books from years ago.  Naturally, a Volume 1 of Ghost Rider would include the same material as the first Masterworks volume I listed above, so I'm going to go another route:

Ghost Rider Epic Collection: The Curse of Jonathan Blaze (Volume 5)
Collects: Ghost Rider (1973) # 63-81
Written by: Michael Fleisher, Roger Stern, and J.M. DeMatteis
Illustrated by: Luke McDonnell, Jack Sparling, Tom Sutton, Don Perlin, and Bob Budiansky

TRADE PAPERBACKS - Naturally, there are some comics that need to be collected, but either a) don't warrant an expensive hardcover or omnibus or b) wouldn't fit within the confines of the Epic Collections.

Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Classic Volume 3
Collects: Ghost Rider (1990) # 21-27, X-Men (1992) # 8-9, and Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness
Written by: Howard Mackie and Scott Lobdell
Illustrated by: Mark Texeira, Ron Wagner, Jim Lee, and John Romita Jr.

Spirits of Vengeance: Midnight Massacre
Collects: Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 7-13, Ghost Rider (1990) # 39-40, Nightstalkers (1992) # 10, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins (1992) # 11, and Morbius: The Living Vampire (1992) # 12
Written by: Howard Mackie, Dan Chichester, Chris Cooper, Larry Hama, and Gregory Wright
Illustrated by: Adam Kubert, Joe Kubert, Ron Garney, Vince Giarrano, Kirk Van Wormer, Rurik Tyler, and Ron Wagner

Ghost Rider: In Chains
Collects: Ghost Rider (1990) # 56-66
Written by: Howard Mackie
Illustrated by: Salvador Larroca

Ghost Rider 2099 Volume 1
Collects: Ghost Rider 2099 (1994) # 1-12
Written by: Len Kaminski
Illustrated by: Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham, Peter Gross, and Kyle Hotz

Ghost Rider: The Last Temptation
Collects: Ghost Rider (1990) # 87-93, Ghost Rider (1990) # -1, Venom: Sign of the Boss # 1-2, and Ghost Rider: Finale
Written by: Ivan Velez Jr.
Illustrated by: Javier Saltares, Karl Kerschl, Josh Hood, and Tom Derenick

Ghost Rider by Rob Williams: The Complete Collection (New Printing)
Collects: Ghost Rider (2011) # 0.1 & 1-9, Shadowland: Ghost Rider # 1, Amazing Spider-Man/Ghost Rider: Motorstorm # 1, and Venom # 13, 13.1-13.4, & 14
Written by: Rob Williams, Rick Remender, and Jeff Parker
Illustrated by: Matthew Clark, Clayton Crain, Lee Garbett, Sana Takeda, Tony Moore, Emanuella Luppachino, Dalibor Talajic, Brian Ching, Lan Medina, and Julio Totino Tedesco

There you go, Marvel, there's your marching orders.  Seriously though, I realize that many of these are longshots, especially stuff like "In Chains" and "The Last Temptation", but it sure would be nice to see those get collected for new readers to discover.  I'm telling you, Marvel Collections Department, you are underestimating how many fans there are of Danny Ketch and Ghost Rider 2099, you might just be surprised by how well some of these would actually sell.

Rant over!

Inner Demons Episode 9: "The Self-Righteous Spider-Man!"

E-Mail the Body Banks and get 'em ready for rush hour, Inner Demons is back with a new episode!  Brian and Chris talk about the Marvel Legacy announcements and what it means for future Ghost Rider comics by giving an impromptu math lesson!  On the review docket this episode are Ghost Rider (1973) # 2, Spider-Man (1990) # 6 & 7, Ghost Rider (2005) # 1, and Ghost Rider 2099 # 4!

You can listen to the episode at the Vengeance Unbound page on blogspot, or you can download it from either Stitcher or iTunes .  You can also find us on Facebook, just search  for "Vengeance Unbound" and feel free to send us a message.  Thanks for listening!

Spirits of Vengeance and the Champions Reunited for Marvel Legacy

So, lots of information has been released this week about the two Ghost Rider related titles that are part of Marvel's fall "Legacy" relaunch.  ICEMAN, by writer Sina Grace and artist Robert Gill, are reuniting the Champions, including Johnny Blaze, for a two-issue storyline!  Meanwhile, what everyone assumed was a new ongoing SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE series is actually a 5-issue mini-series by writer Victor Gischler and artist David Baldeon.  Huh, didn't see the mini-series news coming, but I think I prefer that over it being launched as an ongoing series and then get cancelled 5 issues in like the last GHOST RIDER series.  Anyway, here's the solicitation artwork and text for both books!

SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE #1 (of 5)
VICTOR GISCHLER (W), DAVID BALDEON (A)
COVER BY DAN MORA
WAR AT THE GATES OF HELL Part 1
A dead angel. A silver bullet. A kept promise. For ages, the war between Heaven and Hell raged in the unseen corners of society, both sides in delicate balance that could topple if the right weapons were in the wrong hands… When an undercover angel is murdered, Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider, must find the killers and punish them…But this time he won’t do it alone: A deadly team must rise from the darkest depths of the Marvel Universe to form an unholy alliance – HELLSTORM! SATANA! BLADE! They are the SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE!

ICEMAN #6
SINA GRACE (W), ROBERT GILL (A)
COVER BY KEVIN WADA
CHAMPIONS REASSEMBLED
ICEMAN, one of the most powerful mutants within the Marvel Universe, discovers his powers and his outlook on life evolving. He needs to lead the charge with a team who stand proudly by his side in the war to “protect those who can’t protect themselves.” Hercules, Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Darkstar, and Angel re-unite with Marvel’s fearless frozen fighter setting ICEMAN on an all-new path. As more unexpected enemies emerge, can Bobby mature into the warrior he’s destined to become? Hope he survives the experience!

Inner Demons Episode 8: "Ninja Clown Machine"

Inner Demons is back with the 8th episode and there are ninjas EVERYWHERE.  Brian and Chris take a critical look back at Ghost Rider (1973) # 1, Marvel Comics Presents # 64-71, Marvel Mangaverse: Ghost Riders # 1, and Ghost Rider 2099 # 3.  We also teach some valuable life lessons, such as: only perform a motorcycle jump over a canyon in the daytime, throwing people through walls is a perfectly acceptable solution to all of life's problems, and never trust a smiling manga werewolf.

You can listen to the episode at the Vengeance Unbound page on blogspot, or you can download it from either Stitcher or iTunes .  You can also find us on Facebook, just search  for "Vengeance Unbound" and feel free to send us a message.  Thanks for listening!

Marvel Legacy Math Quiz

So, going by all the information that's been made available so far, it looks like SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE will be the only Ghost Rider related series getting launched as part of Marvel Legacy.  What I think, though, is that another Ghost Rider series focused on Robbie Reyes has to be in the pipeline for a future launch.  Marvel has invested way too much in Robbie as an intellectual property to leave him out in the cold, so I'm predicting that the first quarter of 2018 is going to see a new GHOST RIDER series focused on Robbie.

Now, even though SPIRITS is launching with a new # 1 issue, Marvel's whole deal with this Legacy initiative is returning titles to their original pre-relaunch numbering.  For a lot of the titles getting pre-numbered that means Marvel is adding up all the issues of various volumes of comics.  A title like MOON KNIGHT, for example, gets launched with issue # 188 after you add up all of the relaunched Moon Knight comics from the past 30 years.  That got me thinking about Ghost Rider.

If the series does get relaunched as another Robbie Reyes series, which I predict is going to happen sooner rather than later, there are two ways Marvel can do the Legacy pre-numbering.  The series would start with either issue # 22 or issue # 248; follow along with me as I do the math.  If they decide to only count the comics which featured Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider, here's what they'd be adding up:

ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER (2014) # 1-12
+ GHOST RACERS (2015) # 1-4
+ GHOST RIDER (2016) # 1-5

That equals 21 issues of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider comics, all written by Felipe Smith (and who I assume would be the one writing a new Reyes series, despite the failure of the most recent series).  However, if they decide to add up EVERY issue of Ghost Rider, including all of the comics that featured Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch, they'd reach a much higher number, as shown here:

GHOST RIDER (1973) # 1-81
+ GHOST RIDER (1990) # 1-93
+ GHOST RIDER (2001) # 1-6
+ GHOST RIDER (2005) # 1-6
+ GHOST RIDER (2006) # 1-35
+ GHOST RIDER (2011) # 1-9
+ ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER (2014) # 1-12
+ GHOST RIDER (2016) # 1-5

That brings the tally up to 247 issues, which would naturally start a new Ghost Rider series right before the 250th issue (and we all know how much Marvel loves anniversary issues, almost as much as they love relaunching titles!).  You'll notice that I left GHOST RACERS off this count, since that would punt the pre-numbering past issue 250.  If they actually don't care about hitting issue 250 they could do some wacky stuff, like counting the 7 issue Carter Slade series from 1967 or the "Heaven's On Fire" mini-series that concluded the 2006 volume.  My money is on the list above, though, so they can hit that sweet, sweet anniversary number just three issues into the new series.

Which do you think would be more likely, that we'll see ROBBIE REYES: GHOST RIDER # 22 or straight-up GHOST RIDER # 248 in 2018?

Aw, one can hope, right?

Ghost Rider (1990) # 48

Cover Artist: Ron Garney

Published: April 1994
Original Price: $1.75

Title: "Under Fire", Part 2
Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Ron Garney
Inker: Chris Ivy
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: John Kalisz
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor In Chief: Tom DeFalco

SYNOPSIS

In a special holding cell at the police station house, Michael Badilino is interrogating the injured Dread, who had been responsible for murdering members of Badilino's old team.  Badilino wants Dread to give up information on his employer, Hellgate, but has to be restrained from beating on the villain by his fellow cops.  Badilino is ordered by Captain Dolan to go outside and talk to reporters, who have labeled him a "hero" for bringing in the cop-killer, and he reluctantly does so.  In the crowd of reporters is Peter Parker, Spider-Man, taking pictures for the Daily Bugle.

Inside the station, Dread's injuries heal rapidly.  Outside, another of Hellgate's minions, a monster named Rak that Vengeance fought not long ago, jumps from a nearby building and makes his way to the station to rescue Dread.  While Parker runs off to change into his costume, Badilino attempts to stop Rak with bullets, which only results in the monster swatting him aside as he enters the building.  Badilino transforms into Vengeance, and the frightened crowd is calmed by the entrance of Spider-Man, who assumes that Vengeance is a good guy due to his resemblance to Ghost Rider.  They enter the station house and find Rak and Dread killing more cops before they turn their attention toward the heroes.  The villains manage to escape, but Spider-Man is able to track them via a spider-tracer to an abandoned warehouse.  Vengeance and Spider-Man find the two villains hooked up to machines, which Vengeance destroys.  After a brief fight, Spider-Man stops Vengeance from killing Dread, saying that they have to be better than the villains they fight.  They're interrupted by Hellgate, appearing as a hologram, who says that he has become interested in Ghost Rider and now that attention turns to Vengeance.  He uses his power to punish Rak and Dread, killing them for their failure, before he disappears.  Vengeance explains to Spider-Man that Rak and Dread weren't actually alive, Hellgate reanimates the dead to do his bidding.  Vengeance thanks Spider-Man for his help, then tells him to stay out of his way.

ANNOTATIONS 

Vengeance makes his next appearance in Midnight Sons Unlimited (1993) # 5.

Vengeance became the “new” Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider (1990) # 46 following Dan Ketch's death at the hands of Zarathos in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance (1992) # 18.

Hellgate will make his full first appearance in Ghost Rider (1990) # 50.  It is revealed in this issue that he was responsible for sending Rak to find Ghost Rider's skull in Ghost Rider (1990) # 46.

REVIEW

Vengeance continues his brief run as the "new" Ghost Rider and meets Spider-Man along the way.

Mackie and Garney are now three issues into Vengeance's time as the book's headliner, and I'm still not sold on it.  As an antagonist, Vengeance was frankly more interesting than as this reluctant anti-hero, the latest in the line of villains Marvel was determined to turn into protagonists (see Venom and Sabretooth for other examples).  Vengeance simply doesn't have anything original about him when moved from the bad guy score card to the good guys.  He was created to be Ghost Rider's antithesis, which as a hero simply makes him a pale imitation of Ghost Rider.  His human side, renegade cop Michael Badilino, isn't any better, because from his attitude all the way down to his physical appearance he's merely a watered down version of the Punisher.

It could probably be argued that Mackie knew the Vengeance run would be a brief hold over merely meant to kill time until issue # 50, but I think had it proven to be the hit that Marvel was banking on we would have had Vengeance in the driver's seat of this series for a lot longer than four issues.  I don't so much mind the experimentation, a change in the book's status quo and point of view can be refreshing if handled right, and lord knows Ghost Rider needed something to change after the creative mire it had been drowning in for the last year, but Vengeance was not the solution to that problem.

This issue flags up the problems with Vengeance as the book's leading man by contrasting him with Spider-Man, which dredges up the exact same "killing is wrong/ends justify the means" debate that Spidey has with the Punisher every time they team up.  The interactions between Spider-Man and Ghost Rider are usually interesting, more so because of Ghost Rider's strict stance on violence and murder that's not so much opposite to Spider-Man's but more just slightly adjacent.  It makes them unlikely allies, Todd McFarlane not withstanding when he's the creator handling their team-up, and Mackie usually handled the two characters well.  Here it's all just cliche after cliche, with Vengeance coming off once again as a "more EXTREME dude!" alternative to a character that didn't need to be replaced at all.

Now, all of that said, this isn't a terrible comic, because Mackie and Garney are still able to craft a semi-interesting story involving the cop murders and the introduction of Hellgate.  It's nice to see Mackie taking the time to introduce a new villain with a slow burn, instead of just throwing out new concepts to bounce off the wall.  Garney, too, turns in his usual solid performance on art, and though his work isn't bad by any means I'm starting to get the itch to see someone new take over the art chores.  Plus, Garney's Spider-Man just doesn't look right to me, maybe he packs too much muscle onto Peter Parker or doesn't shade him without blacks, I'm not sure what it is.

The Vengeance Road Show continues for a few more issues of this series, Marvel Comics Presents, and even Spirits of Vengeance before Ghost Rider's expected resurrection.  I, for one, was more than ready for Vengeance to be given his pink slip so this book might have a chance at being interesting again.

Grade: C