“All New Ghost Rider” races towards the finish line as series writer Felipe Smith takes over art duties for this first issue in what appears to be the series’ final arc. As Eli continues to wreck havoc with Robbie Reyes’ life, what will become of Hillrock Heights’ guardian angel as his whole world is turned upside down? Find out below in our spoiler free review of “All New Ghost Rider” #11.
Written & illustrated by Felipe Smith
L.A. NIGHTS BURN BRIGHT WITH THE FLAMES OF VENGEANCE!• Having tamed satanic serial killer ELI MORROW’S Spirit, ROBBIE REYES boldly enforces justice on the streets of LA…but can’t seem to keep things in order at home.
• Little brother GABE’S medical condition is improving by leaps and bounds but something’s causing his relationship with Robbie to deteriorate just as quickly.
• As ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER’S powers continue to evolve, Robbie finds out a shocking truth about his long lost parents.
For those of you who haven’t kept up with the series (and, honestly, it might be a little late to start catching up now, but whatever), “All New Ghost Rider” follows Robbie Reyes as he was gunned down by a gang and subsequently resurrected by the spirit of Eli Morrow, who had been haunting a car that Robbie had stolen in order to win a street race. The series recently revealed that Morrow is no Spirit Of Vengeance and was actually a satanic serial killer looking to use Robbie’s body for revenge against those who killed him. Because, y’know, as you do. That’s where we find Robbie this issue, having to deal with the fact that Eli Morrow is actively trying to destroy his life whilst trying to utilise his power as Ghost Rider to clean up the city of LA.
This issue, Felipe Smith follows two fantastic, stylistic artists, Tradd Moore and Damion Scott, to contribute artwork to the series he has written for ten issues so far. This should come as little surprise for anyone familiar with Smith’s manga work on titles like “Peepo Choo”. In fact, it’s a moment I’ve been waiting for for a while now. After Tradd Moore left, Damion Scott took over as artist for an arc and, while his artwork was good and in keeping with the style of the series set by Moore, it never really clicked with me. Now, however, we get to see Smith’s artistic take on the characters he has written throughout the series.
It should be no surprise, then, the Smith’s artwork fits right in with the series. He is, after all, writing to his own strengths as an artist here. The name of the game is high intensity action befitting a character like Ghost Rider, and Smith achieves that. Unlike Moore or Scott, whose style during action scenes often involved intricate full sized splash pages where the speed of the action would be conveyed by destroying panel borders and creating an intricate tapestry of mayhem, Smith instead uses plenty of small panels that convey the action through snapshots. By layering the action with these inset panels, the payoff of, say, Ghost Rider beating the crap out of a group of bad guys is that much richer because of the layering of smaller moments leading up to it. It reminds me of how Edgar Wright’s visual comedy layers a succession of quickly cut together shots to create a comedic payoff by having the last shot be a mundane action like drinking a pint of lager. Except, you know, flaming skulls and crowbars aren’t exactly mundane.
However, as much as Smith nails the action and style of the art, he does himself a disservice this issue by only writing in one action scene that opens the issue. The rest of the issue slows down to focus on the characters and revelations of this issue. On the plus side, his artwork fares better in those scenes than Moore or Scott ever did as their hyper-stylistic styles often required the momentum of action scenes to really shine. Smith brings in his manga influence to the characters during the down time and uses his layered panel style to play out comedy, drama and even sexual tension between the characters. The problem is that when the realisation kicks in that the opening was the only real action scene, that’s a bit of a bummer.
Continued below“All New Ghost Rider” has so far parsed out action scenes with character focused drama rather evenly so far, so it’s a shame that this one loads on the character drama at the expense of the action. The only real saving grace is that Smith ensures that the character focused scenes have a purpose and weight by dropping not one, but too series changing revelations this issue. The problem seems to be that, with the next issue being touted as the finale to the series, this issue is a condensed version of a story that was meant to play out as a larger arc.
The writing is still up to par with what Felipe Smith has written in the series so far as he juggles very interesting characters and the drama of their lives, but it feels like this was meant to play out over a larger arc. Which is a shame because the revelations dropped here make for a very interesting story dynamic that could fuel many more stories as the dynamic between Robbie and Eli changes entirely in this issue. Instead of simply following the Ghost Rider formula we’ve come to know where the host must co-exist with a demon inside them, Smith introduces an element that actively makes the two hate each other. If this is leading to the end of the series, then I really wish we could have gotten more even if it was just to explore this story element as it’s perhaps the most interesting element the series has introduced so far.
This issue was one that, despite how good the writing is and despite how great the artwork is, felt like a condensed version of a story arc that was meant to play out over multiple issues and once that feeling settled in, I couldn’t shake it off. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it as, after an arc with Damion Scott whose artwork never really clicked with me, I ate Smith’s artwork up from the first page. This is still a very underrated series as Felipe Smith continues to introduce interesting twists to the Ghost Rider mythos with respect to the previous incarnations of the character in order to make Robbie Reyes feel like a completely different entity. Despite my grievances, this was an enjoyable issue that dropped a few bombs on established readers and, while it isn’t exactly what I’d call a jumping on point, was enjoyable overall. I only wish the story had had more room to breath.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – An enjoyable issue that could have been a major turning point for the series, but seems cut short in order to wrap up before the publisher’s next big event.
