Ghost Rider: Espíritu de Venganza

Ghost Rider (1990) #1-7

by Howard Mackie

Contiene Ghost Rider vol. 2, 1-7 USA.
El Motorista Fantasma fue uno de los personajes más populares de la Marvel de los setenta, pero pasado el tiempo cayó en el olvido. En 1990, La Casa de las Ideas se atrevió a renovar por completo al Espíritu de la Venganza, que incluso cambio de identidad. Así fue como nació Danny Ketch, un Motorista Fantasma para una nueva época, en la que le esperaba misterio, terror y electrizantes aventuras.

Guión: Howard Mackie
Dibujo: Javier Saltares y Mark Texeira

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

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 1991

About the author

Howard Mackie is an American comic book editor and writer. He has worked almost exclusively for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories but I have the same problem with it that I do a lot of these comics that trend darker...it goes dark but only halfway. We're supposed to buy that a flaming demon bent on vengeance against people who harm the innocent has a problem with killing? Instead he has the "penance stare" which is stupid and ill explained. Why does it stop them, what does it accomplish...great you made them feel the pain of their crimes...now what? Is the implication that they feel bad so they turn away from their life of crime? If so they get off free there was no vengeance no punishment. Is it physical torture? if so that's more messed up than just killing them. Does it destroy their mind...make them catatonic or effect their mental well being in some way...if so again more messed up than just killing them. And it's not that the comic shies away from killing altogether because there's a part where a mother and her child are murdered...so we're supposed to believe that's ok to see but a hero killing a murderer who killed a mother and her child...that's a no no. The morality in these comics is all twisted.

And as always of course there's an anarchist character who's ideas are correct and whose goals are noble but is the bad guy for no reason other than he decides to just kill random innocent people for no reason. almost like it's pro government propaganda where the only way they can make anarchy seem unreasonable is to make every anarchist character a mass murdering maniac even though it has nothing to do with anarchy.

That being said the art was good, and the punisher crossover was nice and it was a much better reboot than most 90's era comics.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel collected the first seven issues of the 1990's take on the Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider was visually impressive title. The main character has a flaming skull, a nigh unbeatable visual on the coolness meter. It also had a talented art team that was able to give its signature gritty atmosphere that fit a supernatural crime and horror book.

This is an early Marvel graphic novel. Though the publisher had much to learn about giving their books a unifying trade dress motif, I think it got printing them on paper with a matted texture.

[Pedro Espada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le voy a dar 5 estrellas porque sin haber leído nada de el no estaba condicionado,y me ha resultado una pasada noventera, gustándome más que Johnny Blaze, como me pasó con Wally West y Barry Allen. Tanto el guión de Mackie como sobre todo el dibujazo de Saltares son increíbles. Y el cruce con Punisher es cojonudo.A ver cómo continúa en el siguiente tomo.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost Rider, the black sheep of the Marvel Universe.
Phenomenal cosmic power.... itty bitty living space. LOL
Seriously, whether you are talking Johnny Blaze, Dan Ketch, or any of the others who have rode as the "Spirit of Vengeance", Ghost Rider is a powerful character. Near invulnerable, scary, to be feared... that chain... the bike... the Penance Stare...it is very difficult to pin down this character, as anything you throw at him won't take him down.
I'm enjoying the current resurgence the character is experiencing with Robbie Reyes, and hopefully his time on Agents of SHIELD will help bring him back into the limelight, but this Volume features the 90's era GH, Dan Ketch.
Origin story contained within; fights with Deathwatch, Blackout, Kingpin, Punisher; all stories from an era in my life where comics could never be too dark or sexy or I wouldn't be allowed to read them. Yes, it has a VERY 90's comics feel, but I love the character. I'm going to go through and read a bunch of Ghost Rider, with the hopes that his time is about to come.
Recommend to anyone who loves early 90's comics, or someone who appreciates the dark world of Ghost Rider.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghost Rider is one of those fringe Marvel characters who truly appeals to me in every way. My introduction to him was with the titles original run back in the '70s when his alter-ego (or human host) was Johnny Blaze--the original Ghost Rider--stunt man turned demon. My first Ghost Rider comic came from a 7-ll, straight off the spinner rack, with its cover showing the leather clad demon taking on Dr. Strange. From then on, I was a fan.

I liked everything about him--the tortured soul, the hellfire which he shaped into his flaming chopper, the countless biker gangs who regretted picking a fight to the run ins with the oddball villains who populated the western lands. He lived in a strange world in which Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, an early, very young Jack Nicholson, along with every character actor from an AIP biker flick would have felt right at home. Ghost Rider put the "Death" in Valley.

& then it all came to an end in 1982. Ghost Rider went off into the vanishing point--he had done the impossible & reached the infinite horizon line. Johnny Blaze was no more.

Then along comes a new rider. This time it's a kid from Cypress Hill who finds a mysterious bike which possesses a strange medallion that turns Danny Ketch into the new Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance. Howard Mackie designed the new Ghost Rider to have a true purpose & gave his path more of a focus which was lacking in the original series--less of a wanderer & more of a demonic agent of justice. I still prefer the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider over the Dan Ketch version but Ketch's Ghost Rider is still a lot of fun.

This book collects the first seven issues & introduces the reader to Dan, Deathwatch & Blackout--characters who will be regular villains for the new Ghost Rider to take on. You will also get a team-up with The Punisher, fights with Mr. Hyde, Flag-Smasher & Scarecrow along with an appearance of The Kingpin. The stories are okay & this is forgivable because the character is trying out it's new legs while the story is gathering its focus. It shows it has potential & this becomes a fact with later issues.

One of my main problems with the book is the artwork--it's not Marvel's best & I'm sure a lot of fanboys would disagree with me. Javier Saltares' pencils are a little too loose for me & Mark Texeira's inking looks very rough to the point of feeling like it was rushed. But then again, I was spoiled with the original series' first artist, Mike Ploog (Werewolf By Night), who is a favorite of mine. Nevertheless, Saltares & Texeira should have invested in an issue of Guns & Ammo for weapons references because none of the hardware the villains or The Punisher are packing look like the real deal--none. I've always hated this with comics--get a reference point to what you don't know about so you can draw it accurately. The city backdrop looks like it was rushed when drawn as well--you guys are in New York so you have plenty of reference points to use. Mackie claims in his Afterward that he took plenty of pictures of Cypress Hill for his artists to use as models but by looking at the comics panels, you wouldn't believe it.

In the end, what's important is that it's Ghost Rider. He will always be one of my favorite characters who lives on the edges of the Marvel Universe.

[Colin Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is sheer nostalgia for me. It's interesting to read these again, and the hokey nature of the early issues; near the end of these seven, the dark, sinister nature of the volume comes out and Ghost Rider becomes a horror story instead of the run-of-the-mill 1990 super-hero books, a tone that made it last a lot longer than a lot of the new books that started that year; the threads that start here continue even past this volume until even the current volume, where we see (for a brief moment) both Blackout and Deathwatch, who were major characters in this first chunk of the volume.

[Matt Mazenauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly childish origin that drags on for too long. There's an interesting 2 issue Punisher arc, whose "hmm, is this hero evil maybe I should kill him" schtick is as fun as it usually is.