Essential Ghost Rider, Vol. 2

Essential Ghost Rider #2

by Gerry Conway, Donald F. Glut, Roger McKenzie (Text)

Demons, vampires, cults and actors - nothing is too intense for the legendary Ghost Rider! Guest starring Doctor Strange, Professor X and more, this volume collects 'Ghost Rider', issues 21-50.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes, Marvel, Horror

568 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 1980

About the author

Gerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seeing the title all laid out horizontally on Goodreads, as opposed to the book's cover where "Essential" is vertical, I keep misreading this as, "Existential Ghost Rider, Vol. 2." I picture Camus muttering to himself, "Mon dieu! My head appears to have turned into a flaming skull. Life is absurd ..." So this is a thick tome of 70's Marvel goodness. I've always had a certain fondness for Ghost Rider. Despite the gimmicky nature of the character, he managed to catch on and become a lasting player in the Marvel universe. Once Roger McKenzie comes in as a writer, the series starts to get interesting. We start seeing touches of humor in the stories and it just generally seems to come alive. I did notice a sizeable printing error in my copy of this book. In issue 36, about a dozen pages in, it suddenly slips into pages from issue 34. There's a chunk from about two thirds of the way through 34 through 35, and into 36 again, up to the point where the cut happened, and then we come in on a story already in progress, presumably isue 39, since the next cover that appears is issue 40. So we're missing a couple of issues and change in the upper 30's. I know these are supposed to be cheap reprints and all, but, geez, Marvel, really?

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ghost Rider essential volume 2 offers a Johnny Blaze who is in essence a good guy who can change to blazing skull kind of demon on a demonic bicycle. This collection contains Ghost Rider 21-50 and is in glorious b/w.
Johnny Blaze is outed as the Ghostrider and starts his journey across the inner states. Here he is confronted by demons, strange cults, criminals competing motor cyclists and all the time there is the goodness of Blaze and supernatural antics of the Ghost Rider.
These adventures from the seventies are quite a lot of fun even if on occasion they feel repetitive, so read this book in small bits. That is perhaps the biggest trouble with this title but it does pass the time .

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 constitutes a fine "middle act" that tends to weary one from time to time with its somewhat repetitive storylines. Much of the arcs here are standalones and follow a standard formula: Johnny Blaze wanders the Midwest, depressed and alone, finds local trouble, often a local biker gang, turns into the Ghost Rider, saves the girl, torments bad guys.
If you simply took these stories as representing links in a longer hellfire-chain, you'd miss the pretty awesome hellfire-chain itself, as a whole. What comes out here is something rather mature for a 70s-era Marvel comic, and can be tied to similar themes explored in Iron Man. Blaze is miserable, saddled with an increasingly psychotic other self that he can barely control. He starts drinking to stifle the Ghost Rider at one point, pushes away anyone who might mean anything to him, and goes slowly insane to the point where the Ghost Rider itself splits away from and gleefully continues its vengeful rampage.
A few points to note:
1) The Ghost Rider is nuts! In one issue it goes through Denver basically burning everything and everyone it sees. Blaze can't cope. thus: booze.
2) We slowly get glimpses of what's going on writ large. Yes, they ret-conned a lot of this later, but it works. When Dr Strange splits GR and Blaze to fend off Dormammu, or the Crimson Mage appears, or Dr Druid--you begin to see that something wacky is going on behind the scenes.
3) Red-state Avenger. Blaze wanders the Midwest, encountering folksy countryfolk. There is often little more at stake than the local hicks, and this is unusual. This culminates nicely in "Wrath of the Manitou" when GR helps Native Americans stop The Man from flooding sacred ground.

[Woody Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once more, a series of books that I did not own as a kid & which have greater merit in adulthood.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice 1970s Horror/supernatural comic. Great main character. Recommended

[Tim Rooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some goofy charm in these early stories but it doesn't actually start getting good until McKenzie and Perlin take over. The McKenzie/Perlin stuff is the first time I'd consider this book as more than just a goofy diversion. McKenzie, Perlin, and Starlin are the first to really go broad with the character's potential and the concept. The Starlin race with Death is the first REALLY good Ghost Rider story Shooter adds some interesting wrinkles--introducing the "Spirit of Vengeance" concept. The general concept of Ghost Rider for the longterm starts coming together here, but is still a long way to most of the character's lore.

[J.R. Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these tales aged pretty well. Definitely better than the 70s run of the thing

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. While marginally better than the first volume, I still can't figure out how this series survived. It starts out as an awkward superhero comic, but at least that gives it some direction. Numerous creative shuffles don't help, and the book is aimless. Ironically, when the regular creative team of Michael Fleisher and Don Perlin do show up, they seem to have no interest in giving the book a direction either, treating it like the Incredible Hulk TV show. Ugh.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

50/50 reading experience.
The first half with Johnny Blaze working in hollywood and the move away from the demon aspect and treating him more like a novice super hero was my favorite.
They built up a fun and odd rogues gallery that kind of reminded me of Silver age Flash with the Water Wizard and the Enforcer and we had not so much angst, as soap opera.
Good mix of genres, operating on the fringe of the marvel universe.

Then Micheal Fleischer takes over as writer and things get dark and the stories are that mix of supernatural with some social message that Steve Gerber did so much better on Man-Thing and it started to lose me.

Did like Johnny being on the road, but I wish they'd used more aspects of the MU rather than everything feeling like a weak episode of supernatural with generic vampires, ghosts and demons.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Ghost Rider #21-50. Johnny gives up Hollywood for the road and travels around the West trying to contain the evil inside. This book might be a little better than the first one (a little). The writers have a little more direction and interesting uses in the duality of the character, but it pretty much evolves into an Incredible Hulk set up with a demon.

[Alanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My childhood favorite, don't mind at all that it's in b/w.