Ghost Rider, Vol. 1: Vicious Cycle by Daniel Way
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Book Reviews of Ghost Rider, Vol. 1: Vicious Cycle
Book Review: Viscous Cycle. . .
Summary: 2 Stars
With the GHOST RIDER movie coming out, Marvel's decided to give the character a new ongoing series. This collection, VICIOUS CYCLE, collects the first five issues of the series, written by Daniel Way with art by Javier Saltares and Mark Texeira.
Ghost Rider's a problematic character to write because, while he looks cool, he's stupid, gullible, and (given my admittedly limited familiarity with the character) doesn't seem to fit in all that well with the rest of the Marvel Universe. In this book, the lack of any foreseeable growth for the character is made up for by giving him a quest that it will probably take him a good many issues of the series to complete. (Though his decision to embark on that quest seems at odds with his character in the recently released series GHOST RIDER: THE ROAD TO DAMNATION, in which his key motivation was not altruism but an overriding desire to get out of Hell.) It doesn't help that the primary villain for this book comes off as more annoying than unnerving. (I'd have been very interested to see Mike Carey's take on this story.)
This series is written by Daniel Way. Marvel has, for four or five years now, been touting Mr. Way as one of their up-and-coming greats, keep giving him relatively high-level assignments, and . . . well, I don't see it. He managed to make Venom so boring the title was cancelled, he's managed to make Wolvering boring, and now he fails to inject GHOST RIDER with the energy that such an insubstantial character needs to survive.
The art here is good but nothing to write home about.
This book manages to be silly when it needs gravitas, characters behave nonsensically too often, and the threat propelling the plot seems either inconsequential or contrived enough that I just don't care all that much. As other reviewers have noted, Ghost Rider is far more about style than substance, and, unfortunately, this book lacks the style to make up for its other deficiencies. The reason is book gets two stars instead of one is that I recently read a comic by Chuck Austen.
Book Review: Duped again
Summary: 2 Stars
How's that old saying go again? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me multiple times for the sake of starting a new series? Shame on Marvel and all of us readers who will check it out regardless. Either way, Ghost Rider: Vicious Cycle marks the beginning of a new ongoing Ghost Rider series, premiering just in time for the big budget movie starring Nicolas Cage and coming hot off the heels of Garth Ennis' Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation TPB. Vicious Cycle features Daniel Way (Venom, Wolverine, Punisher VS Bullseye) using a similar plot device that Ennis used in Road to Damnation: Johnny Blaze is trapped in Hell and offered a way out in return for his services. Naturally, Johnny is once again tricked to be someone's pawn, which you'd figure that he would smarten up and be leary of any offers to come his way. Then again, if I was trapped in Hell with no way out, I'd probably be an easy sucker too, but I disgress. Way's script isn't anything we haven't seen before with Ghost Rider, and there's no new or relatively good ideas here either. Not to mention that the storyline itself is quite boring compared to what's come from Ennis with Road to Damnation, and even older Ghost Rider stories before it (except Hammer Lane). The saving grace of Vicious Cycle is the art by veterans Mark Texeira and Javier Saltares, who worked with writer Howard Mackie in creating the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider of the early 90's. All in all, Vicious Cycle is worth a look, and maybe the series will get better the longer it goes, but for now this volume is best left on the shelf.
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