Happy Ending

"That's a lot of [fucking] ghost riders." -Johnny Blaze

A couple of years back, Jason Aaron took over Ghost Rider and probably gave the character the best two years he's ever seen. Despite being one of the coolest characters ever designed, Ghost Rider has a pretty mediocre bibliography.

Aaron had a very unique take on Ghost Rider. Combining elements from exploitation movies gave the book more of Roger Corman or Russ Meyer feeling than that of a typical superhero comic. He took wild, over the top characters and scenarios (such as nuns with guns) and played it totally straight.

Now, let's talk about the pinnacle of the run, Ghost Rider 34. This is not only one of my favorite comics that I bought last year, but one of the best single-issues stories I've ever read. It seems that Tony Moore was born to draw Ghost Rider. This issue contains the coolest (Ketch) Ghost Rider transformation ever drawn. Its a shame that he only did three issues. This is a really cool highway killer/ghost story that brought the return of the Highwayman. A ghost trucker from the 80's book, US-1.

After the Tony Moore issues, I think in order to boost sales, Marvel canceled Ghost Rider to culminate Aaron's story in a miniseries. Entitled Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire, it featured both Ghost Riders in the lead, just about every character Aaron used since beginning his run, and just about every Marvel supernatural Marvel character you can think of. With this, it elevated from over the top to (I guess) over over the top.

I'm really sad to see it go, but it was a great run that played out until the end. I can't recommend it enough. If you missed it, check out:

Ghost Rider 20-35
Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire 1-6

or (in trade form)
Ghost Rider: Hell Bent and Heaven Bound
Ghost Rider: The Last Stand
Ghost Rider: Trials and Tribulations
Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire