What I’ve Been Reading: Ghost Rider. No, seriously.

Ghost Rider: Hell Bent and Heaven Bound
Marvel Comics • $16.99 ($11.55 on Amazon)
Jason Aaron writes an enjoyably loud, stupidly entertaining pair of stories that treats Ghost Rider with the reverence to the source material he so obviously deserves. It’s hard to figure out if my favorite part of the first 2/3rds of the book is the cannibalism, the haunted highway, or the army of psychopathic nurses serving a rogue angel. Frequently very funny, Aaron’s script thunders along nicely (even if I wonder why Ghost Rider doesn’t just explodo the bad guys on the first encounter like he does in subsequent conflicts) and the art by Roland Boschi in the main arc is some of the most interesting I’ve seen in a “Big Two” book of late, joining a small group of Europeans (like Goran Parlov) in making books from Marvel easier on my eyes. Dan Brown’s colors also deserve some mention, as they’ve a painterly quality that ads tone and augments Boschi’s art instead of burying it under too many gradients. I can’t be the only one who’s growing weary of overcolored, too-”detailed” sequentials that lack any sort of soul while ensuring that a majority of books from a publisher look nearly-identical.

After Boschi’s work, the combination of Tang Eng Huat and colorist Jose Villarubia in the second storyline, “God Don’t Live In Cell Block D” takes a bit of getting used to, but thanks to lines like “You may have beaten our master, litte whore of heaven, but rest assured, hell will rise again,” and “And on that day, you will be nothing but a fleck of excrement on the boot heal of the great red dragon. Hail Satan!,” the transition was downright painless. A bit more focused than the first story, this two-parter ups the blasphemy stakes quite a bit, particularly in the conflict with the main villain of the piece and is a fun romp despite the Double Dragon / Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja plot of small-fights-leading-to-a-boss-battle. Aaron’s definitely onto something with one of those characters I’ve never thought much of, so I’ll be checking out future installments.