Review- THE ORIGINAL GHOST RIDER VOL. 1

THE ORIGINAL GHOST RIDER VOL. 1 (Canton Street Press, First Printing, 2015; Hardcover)

Collects Ghost Rider #1-5 and the Ghost Rider stories from Tim Holt #11-14 (cover dates December, 1949- 1951)

Writers: Raymond Krank and Gardner Fox

Artists: Dick Ayers, Frank Frazetta (covers), C.W. Winter (The Saga Of Sage Brush Sam gag strip in #1), and Howard Larson (one page back-up strip in #1)

I have dreamed of seeing this run collected for years, and it's finally a reality. While this has a macabre appearing hero and has occasional Horror-esque overtones this is by and large not a Horror comic at all. It instead plays like an amped up Western with a superhero in a cool costume taking center stage.

Gardner Fox writes all of the stories except for the character's first appearance in Tim Holt #11 and the two back-up strips in the first issue of the series proper. Dick Ayers does all of the interior art and some of the covers, arguably doing the best work of his career. He seriously cooks here!

This being sixty five years ago, there are some things that may offend the more politically correct modern day reader, such as Ghost Rider's partner (while in his civilian identity as Rex Fury) Sing-Song, an Asian stereotype, from the broken English, buck teeth, right on down to his vocation (doing laundry). People have to understand that things were different back when these comic books were originally published, and that while the portrayal of the character isn't the best he is treated respectfully and not as the comic relief that many stereotype sidekicks were during this era of comic books. Native Americans are also depicted in all of their “savage” glory, although it should be noted that it is nearly always the white man who is the villain in these stories.

While there is no real continuity from one story to the next and they are at times formulaic and predictable they are also all highly enjoyable. There are many times where I prefer escapist comic books like this to any “cerebral” comic books published today. If anything they seem more believable to me because they are not trying so hard to be smart. I hope that this book sells well enough to get future volumes collecting the full run of this title as well as his appearances as a back up strip in other 1950s comics. Fingers crossed!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The stories from the Tim Holt issues are collected in the back even though they came out first. They are presented here as extras since the core series had a different vibe. I read them first because I am all about completism and chronological publishing order.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans of original comic books, cleaned up with Photoshop. The pros of this method of restoration is that you see the comic books as they were originally published. The cons of this method are that you see the comic books as they were originally published, warts and all. Off register colors, line bleed, murky printing due to the primitive four color printing presses of the day.

Collected edition fans seem to be split into three camps: One who want to see everything mentioned above, warts and all scans. The second want to see this material properly remastered, with the material recolored using the original color palette while fixing errors like off register printing. The third camp is the undecided one, those who can appreciate both methods.

Paper stock: Incredibly thick coated stock with a slight sheen. This paper stock is thicker than anything found in any Archive-style book by Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, etc.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding with a rounded casing. This book lays completely flat from the first page to the last.

Hardback cover notes: Laminated casewrap. This is some thick lamination and is resistant to scuffs. If you handle your books like the Samsonite gorilla then you might have some problems with it. The other 99.9% of readers will enjoy a lifetime of durable reading with this book. 

Review- Blade No. 9, Blaze No. 4, Nightstalkers No. 8, and Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 28-32

Blade No. 9, Blaze No. 4, Nightstalkers No. 8, and Morbius: The Living Vampire Nos. 28-32 (cover dates June, 1993- April, 1995)

Names of creators withheld to protect the families of the incompetent.

Consider this an exercise in masochism. I saw this series through to the end. It started out strong, with the first 8 or 9 issues being very enjoyable, and the things quickly went downhill. The main culprits were an abundance of crossovers between titles and a revolving door of substandard creators. So many '90s comic creators were and are a complete joke, offering self absorbed, self important drivel without having a clue as to what makes a good comic book.

I wish that I had bothered going through some of the boxes of floppies that people had given me in the last year or two, as I had several of the earlier crossover issues in there and didn't even know it. 

Morbius' series ends with a thud. I suspect that this title was given the ax without a lot of notice, because it seems like there was a mad dash to get all of the dangling plotlines resolved before the last panel. It was not an effective ending to the series, nor was there any indication in the letters page that this was the last issue. Truly bizarre.

Some of the artwork is passable, and some of the writing is occasionally decent, but getting through these issues was like chewing chalk. Do you want to know what the truly sick thing is? I would gladly re-buy all of this stuff in trade paperback or, better yet, an Omnibus hardcover. I am truly ill and/or I hate my money.

Sorry, but there is no OCD zone for floppies.

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Review- Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Columbia, 2012)

You just know that a movie is going to suck when you have a half dozen production companies slap their stupid logos in the beginning of the opening credits. I have yet to see a good movie that starts out like this. With my expectations already set low, this film shatters the bar on the suck-scale, surpassing The Spirit and even G.I. Joe as the worst comic book movie ever made. Even 2007's mildly enjoyable Ghost Rider is head and shoulders above this film.

It's hard for me to nail what made this movie suck harder, so I will list the suckiness in no particular order. I will start with the editing and production. Horrible, herky jerky, out of focus, overly bright computer treated camera work is the order of the day here. I think that they do this so that no one will notice how bad the dialogue and story are. I still have an attention span since I never watched MTV growing up or played video games in the last 20 years, so I loathe this aspect of modern film making. I concede to the fact that they make and market these comic book films to the lowest common denominator with all of the explosions and stuff, but this can still be employed tastefully. The stop and drag, super sped up editing is equally annoying.

Nicolas Cage is a terrible actor, and is not a good Johnny Blaze. He behaves nothing like the character in any of the Ghost Rider comic books that I've read, at least. A comic book adaptation film should have a character that at least resembles the source material. Iron Man is the gold standard for all comic book movies to beat. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is the booby prize.

I am glad that my wife got the times wrong and that we saw it in 2D. While disappointed at first, within 5 minutes I was glad that we didn't pay the extra $3.00 each for this turd. I was so put off by this movie that I wanted to leave. I even got up and got a popcorn refill during it. When I got back several minutes later, I don't believe that I missed anything. Indeed, it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Gary Friedrich has been involved in litigation with Marvel/Disney over ownership of the character, which has made headlines recently. If I were Gary Friedrich, I would sue Marvel to keep my name off of this movie.

If you dislike someone, tell them to go and see this movie. Tell them awesome it is, especially in 3D. This is the best form of revenge that you can legally have.

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