This was another great week for comic book readers. As a publisher, Image Comics had the strongest week overall (surprise, surprise), but Marvel had the best single issue of the final New Comic Book Day of February.
Marvel Comics
Written by: Benjamin Percy
Art by: Cory Smith
Colors by: Bryan Valenza
Letters by: VC’s Trais Lanham
Now, as cool as Ghost Rider looks, he’s an easy character to overlook. Marvel hasn’t used him a whole lot since the five-issue Spirits of Vengeance run a while back — a pretty cool team, I might add. So, there’s a challenge to taking on this character, which Benjamin Percy expressed when on GWW Radio’s TLDR. He and Cory Smith need to make some noise out of the gates.
Clearly, they did (which explains why I’m digging into this book more after reviewing it earlier in the week).
This is supposed to be a horror book, but this is still Marvel. And we’re dealing with a character who isn’t in the MCU yet. So as much as Percy had his vision, there’s reason for doubt about how far he and Smith can push the limits. But this entire issue feels off — in the way a horror story should. Readers also get the right mix of badass and scary-looking characters, and you don’t know who to trust. On top of that, Smith provides quite a few gross images.
Ghost Rider #1 checks off all the boxes the opening issue of a horror series should. But given the character’s popularity issues in the past and the fact he’s a legacy character, there are different challenges that don’t pop up with creating an independent story from scratch.
Percy and Smith not only gave me reason to come back for Ghost Rider #2, they made me raise my expectations for the series moving forward.
Honorable Mention: Saga #56, Step By Bloody Step #1, Supermassive #1, Black Widow #14, X Deaths of Wolverine #3
Looking for more comic book content? Go check out the latest episode of Geeks WorldWide Radio‘s TLDR podcast, where Joseph Gilmore and Nick Friar discuss comics weekly and talk to creators from the industry — available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts and Spotify!For more on Ghost Rider, check out TLDR’s interview with series writer Benjamin Percy. Be sure to subscribe to TLDR wherever you listen to the show to get every episode and future interviews delivered right to your device!