Ghost Rider, Vol. 2: Shadow Country

Ghost Rider (2022)

by Benjamin Percy, Cory Smith (Artist), Juan José Ryp (Artist)

Ghost Rider vs. Wolverine! 'Nuff said! There's somebody else out there like Johnny Blaze, somebody who knows what it means to suffer - to feel sickened by the pain they've inflicted on the world. His name is Logan. After the motorcycle rally at Hell's Backbone, Wolverine and Ghost Rider are brought together - but are they enemies or allies in the war against the shadow country? Meanwhile, there's a new splinter group within the F.B.I. charged with quelling the rise in supernatural activity, helmed by Agent Talia Warroad. And she's aiming to enlist the dangerous power of the Spirit of Vengeance! Still reeling from his time in Hayden's Falls, Blaze seeks the counsel of a seer named Necro the Tattooist, who uses his needle to bring dark truths to the surface about the legacy of the Ghost Rider! Collecting GHOST RIDER (2022) #6-10 and GHOST VENGEANCE FOREVER.

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

160 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2023

About the author

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.

Reviews

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

More brutal horror tinged action and adventure. This time we get Wolverine guest starring to up the brutality as only he can.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot more than the first volume. I am glad that things are starting to come together from the other storylines as well. However, if you are getting this for a fight between Wolverine and Ghost Rider, don't bother. This is not really even a fight.

I was not a fan of the artwork, but it has grown on my Wolverine must deal with the parasite overwhelming Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider. However, the divide between Blaze and Ghost Rider goes much deeper. In the Vengeance Forever annual, I see how Blaze will go to know about the Ghost Rider. Now Blaze and Ghost Rider must find their new purpose and allies.

The book was good, but I did feel it was a bit rushed towards the end, and I do like where the series is going even if Percy is leaving. The book finishes with a varient cover gallery.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More thoroughly adequate, horror-tinged, blood-spattered adventures for our man Johnny Blaze. To start, Wolverine rips the Hell parasite from Blaze's skull in a pretty brutal sequence. The parasite mysteriously turns into Exhaust, a... car-man hybrid (?) who hunts down the Ghost Rider. Blaze receives assistance from Agent Warroad (FBI gal and professional goth) who helps round out the story in this volume (more tag-team fun, less "Ghost Rider wakes up somewhere new every day")

This all builds up to a confrontation with Blackheart who is obviously meaningful to those who have been following Johnny Blaze's arc from previous series. I have not! So the conclusion of this volume was basically a damp fart for me. The ultimate villain (?) is quickly dispatched and Blaze is free to... go be Ghost Rider, I guess? Feels like a big conclusion to the series way too soon, though there are teases of yet another former Ghost Rider being used in nefarious ways...

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eu já não tinha ido muito como a cara do primeiro encadernado do Motoqueiro Fantasma do Benjamin Percy, mas achei que as coisas tinham chance de melhorar bastante neste segundo encadernado. Só que estava redondamente enganado, as coisas pioram. Percy traz um tipo de história em que você vai lendo, lendo, lendo e não depreende nada, nada fica na peneira, tudo escoa para o ralo. É dificil até dizer do que se trata a trama que ele estabelece aqui. Pra não dizer que tudo é uma meleca, pelo menos as duas primeiras histórias, um especial com todos os principais Motoqueiros Fantasma que já existiram e um encontro com Wolverine, que é vendido como luta, são bastante, uhmm, bastante ok. Mas, realmente e sinceramente, acredito que Johnny Blaze e o Motoqueiro Fantasma já viram dias e histórias muito melhores.

[Shane Stanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

So. Much. Fire.

[Alex Sarll]

This still feels like a run that should be better than it is. The underlying ideas sing - America's haunted highways, the shadows pooling across the nation - but then in clunks the sort of impedimenta that's making superhero comics feel so exhausted lately: oh look, it's another dark(er) double of the title character! There's also a bit of a Garth Marenghi approach to subtext; do you need to say out loud that, given the state of the nation, nobody even registered the number of people in high places possessed by demons? Or make outright reference to the regulator of the balance between light and dark being stripped of power?

[Adam Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

OOOOHHHH so dark and perfect for Ghost Rider....
Starting the Volume infected with a demonic parasite, Johnny Blaze is brought into a bar by Wolverine. Seeking to help his friend, Logan does what he does best and removes the parasite, causing extreme pain for Johnny, while also creating the morbid and gross being known as Exhaust. Exhaust is a version of Ghost Rider, made of shadow, gore, and motorcycle metal, and would be a great repeat villain!
Teaming up with FBI Agent Talia Warroad (from the last Volume), she helps Johnny discover the plot by Blackheart to take control of hell. What unfolds is pure gore, fire, and chaos.... just as a Ghost Rider comic should be....
....but what experiments are about to be run on Dan Ketch?

I have strong hopes for this run of Ghost Rider and would really love to see this title continue for a long time. You should absolutely be checking this one out.
Strong recommend.

[Jennifer Juffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this volume. I also got a real kick out of the extremely subtle “tip of the hat” to the DOORS’ Morrison Hotel.

[Roman · Rating 4 out of 5]

​​Події другої арки Примарного Вершника відбуваються одразу після подій першої. Паразит якого вирізав Росомаха з Примарного Вершника трансформувався в окреме створіння й почав сіяти хаос, сам Джонні нарешті зустрівся та об'єднався з Талією і разом вони вирішили зупинити жахіття які відбуваються в світі. Паралельно цьому нам нарешті розкрили, що відповідальним за усі жахи і за ілюзію в якій був Джонні є Блекгарт.

Загалом Персі продовжив досить непогано писати серію, друга арка відчувається вже не настільки забитою філерами. Спілка магів тут навіть не відчувається лишньої як було в минулих номерах. З мінусів я можу виділити лише те, що Блекгарта якось задуже швидко перемогли від чого залишаються досить змішані враження. Ну і автор тут намагається розпочати любовну лінію між героями, але поки що це виглядає ніяк.

А от до малюноку Корі Сміта у мене жодних претензій. Він продовжує ідеально справлятися з місцевим горором і якщо вам не сподобається сюжет то хоча б заради малюнку на цю серію вартує звернути увагу.

В результаті онґоїнґ Примарного Вершника продовжує приємно дивувати. Далі у нас сюжет про те як Джонні Блейз буде змушений зіштовхнутися з Денні Кетчем і я заінтригований. 

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
This book is great at times. But the way things wrap up can be confusing.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much Ghost Rider (and when he was around he looked really fat for some reason) and the ending was anti-climactic.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more hit and miss than the first but still having alot of fun with this series.

[Scott Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continues Percy's brief, but so far excellent run on Ghost Rider. Johnny and the Ghost Rider are still at odds to certain extent in this one, with a Hulk-like tendency for Ghost Rider to forcibly appear, shunt Johnny aside, do what needs doing then leave him (Johnny) to wake up naked or mostly naked, sometimes covered in blood and wondering what exactly he'd done to wind up there. We experience this from Johnny's point of view a few times--demonstrating the disorientation and loss of control etc. that Johnny is experiencing--and we ride along with the Rider a few times seeing exactly what's happening.

This volume brings the book back toward a more standard Ghost Rider character configuration, leveling the field between the Rider as separate spirit and Johnny as host so that they're functionally one to a greater extent the way they're generally portrayed. In the process we see how it is they came to be so divided, why it happened, and how and it works beautifully. Wolverine appears in a book that really has nothing to do with him and doesn't demand his presence (because of course he does, this is Marvel and it's Wolverine) but Percy knows his Wolverine and makes Logan a part of the story in a believable way that doesn't feel like an excuse to toss in the most popular or at least one of the most popular Marvel characters for a sales kick. By the end of the volume Johnny and the Rider are back in balance, we learn who the big-bad who's been messing with them is, and their larger plan, and we've seen some really cool character work on Blaze/Ghost Rider that really allows Percy to put his stamp on the character and demonstrate his understanding of who he/they are and what they're about. And I love it.

The art continues to be consistently stellar--dark without being foggy or unclear, and always, always adding to the story in emotion, color, detail, etc. that moves far beyond a mere representation of the script.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost Rider's latest adventures continue in another set of one and done stories that build to a greater conflict in the final issue of the volume.

Ben Percy manages to capture the horror aspect of this title really well, with a creeping dread and sense of unease pervading basically every page. We get some backstory for Talia Warroad at last as her story collides with Johnny's, and just when you think the parasite plot from the last volume is over and done with, it comes back with a vengeance and a sick side of body horror too.

Speaking of Vengeance, we also get the Vengeance Forever one-shot in this volume to celebrate fifty years of Ghost Rider. This is a neat little look back at the history of the Ghost Riders, as well as a tantalising hint as to what might be in store in the future.

Artwork wise, Corey Smith manages to draw four of the five issues here, with Brent Peeples nabbing the first one, and Juan Jose Ryp on the one-shot. I'm glad Smith's managed to work out his style in such a way that he can be consistent, because the first volume was a little more all over the place if I remember right.

Ghost Rider's blazing along nicely, and given the cliffhanger for this volume, I'm very excited to see what we're doing next.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably one of the best ongoings atm from Marvel and omg it just gets better with every volume feels like.

The first one sees the return of Wolverine in the book and he is helping Johnny exorcise that demon out of him and I love how brutal it is and what becomes of that thing aka EXHAUST, the dark reflection of Johnny and the design is so cool giving the gothic/feral biker look really well and then fighting against that thing and how Johnny and Talia sort of team up vs it and that one was awesome, like how they go to Chicago and all and have to then fight this being. Its like one of those movies where its the character vs its inner darker desires given form before accepting his true nature, and its kinda liked that and I loved it!

The best part is showing the romance b/w Talia and Johnny which was the highlight for me as I am a sucker for romances and that was great! I hope she sticks around for a long time!

The thing with Black heart felt rushed or maybe its a subplot within the larger arc, and it will be interesting to follow this run! And Vengeance!

Overall fun arc with great middle and end and seems like this is gonna be an exciting yet bumpy ride!

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I'm burned out on Marvel horror stories? I'm not feeling engaged at ALL.

Maybe I'm just over the Mephisto, Blackheart, Ghost Rider trifecta that was all over the 90s. I don't know what else you can do with Blaze. I miss the other iterations of Ghost Rider and it feels like they should be focused on more. I don't know how much nostalgia we need to bump into in this series.

Some things should just stay buried, IMHO.
--------------
Ranting aside, I get where they're trying to go with this series, but it feels like they're taking HUGE leaps in the story with no explanation...and then filling in the spaces later. This is starting to feel like a really BAD episode of 'Supernatural' or 'The Winchesters'. Still readable and if you like the darker side of Marvel, then this is a series for you.

Bonus: Exhaust?! Seriously? Looking like a tailpipe wielding Terminator with meat slapped on.
Bonus Bonus: Including the anniversary one-shot was great. The tattoo artist was a great idea.

[Thomas Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

If volume one was the setup, this sure as hell was the payoff. Really my only note for the book is that the Talia Warroad payoff in Issue 10 didn't really feel earned. I mean yeah Johnny and Talia are together the whole book but it's really only one mission they're on and I don't feel like their relationship is established to the point that we're told it's at in issue 10.

But other than that this book is solid. I love everything about Exhaust, I can't wait for more Zebediah, I was devastated when Wurm bit the dust. The arts even better this time than in volume one. I could see the alternating story lines between Johnny and The Night Magicians not working for some but it didn't bother me.

All in all a good book, definitely would recommend.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh damn this is far more my liking. Well the first volume had this but petered out, this one all the way was brutal and fun.

We have Wolverine to the rescue as he starts working on Blaze, taking out the disgusting demon deep in him. The shadow who is EXHUST is unleashed once out of Johnny and into the world. This is basically a cat and mouse game where Johnny is on the run and his shadow is hunting him while he works with this badass sexy chick to get answers.

Overall, a good time with an exciting ending. Check this one out!

[Mik Cope · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty cool. The supernatural threat ramps up across America with all sorts of scary monsters crawling out of the woodwork. Johnny has some help from unlikely allies, including a magick-wielding goth F.B.I. agent. I think The Goodreads description is wrong btw: at the end of Vengeance Forever the next issue is advertised as GR# 6, so I guess the special is part of the volume 1 collection. I read these as individual issues, so not sure.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Benjamin Percy's second volume of Ghost Rider starts to find its footing but its still lacking. The horror element is solid but Johnny's dilemma is still kind of generic. The antagonists seem to be random and a book billed as Wolverine vs Ghost Rider is oversold. I liked the Talia/Johnny partnership but the connection to the FBI doesn't hold water. The cliffhanger does give me more hope. I really enjoyed Smith's art. Overall, a better book for sure but still just okay.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story seems to be coming together in vol. 2. I liked this quite a bit better. It's got something of a Vertigo feel to it, right down to very graphic and disgusting horror scenes. Cory Smith does most of the art. It's fine. Juan Jose Ryp handles the 50th anniversary issue, Vengeance Forever, and I do prefer his art.

[Tyler Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a high three stars for me (would be nice if we had a ten-point scale here). Anyway, the arts great, the writing is great. As far as the story is concerned, I think it’s mostly fine, but the moments with Ghost Rider feel abrupt. I also found myself rereading some panels because of how particular the writing is. Not a bad book by any means, but I think one with some caveats.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good enough. This is a weird conclusion. A bit rushed, and oversized despite that. Felt like the book was cancelled, and then they changed their mind at the last minute. As with previous entries in the series, this volume is just as moody and dark as the rest and this creative team is at the top of their game throughout.

[Jourdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of this run is a bit 80’s action movie cheesy I still find it interesting and it keeps my attention. I like the parallels to the intrinsic corruption of the willing/unwilling in this country and the sins committed in a crimes against humanity way. Dislike anything that gets Talia and Johnny too close bc I think it should be more like a Nick/Truble thing from Grimm

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of a mess, storywise. Events happen too quickly, without enough connection for the story to make sense (takedown of Blackheart at the end). The art is kind of a mess, too. If you want your Ghost Rider steeped in blood and gore, this is for you.

[Derrick O'Rourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid Ghost Rider story

This was a good read and moved along at a good pace. It is very gruesome and violent which is how this type of story should be. It wraps up a bit too quickly for my liking. Could be done with an extra chapter. I'll be back for the next volume.

[Ryan Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is rushed threw nothing is fleshed out so you have no idea why anything is happening and the relationship between rider and this new girl is forced and makes no sense.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very gritty. I feel bad for Johnny Blaze. Good charcter development. Foul magic.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very confusing to me because I read volume 3 and thought it was volume 1.

All the set up here was good enough, but the resolution felt sudden.

[Brandon Mendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool to have Wolverine with, I would've liked to have him stay a bit longer. But it was still pretty good.