I’ll be honest, I had no intention of picking up this book. I thought the car looked great in the previews, but I just wasn’t that interested in Ghost Rider. Then I actually started flipping through it. It didn’t take two seconds for me to realize this one was coming home with me.
Every once in a while I pick up a book that just blows me away. I see tons of previews and first looks, but sometimes a book slips through. This is one of those books. It is front to back full of style, attitude and just pure awesome. It starts with a two page title spread that makes you feel like you are about to watch a movie. Then you get your first taste of Tradd Moore’s pencils and, whoa, they jump off the page. His character designs are different, somewhat elongated, but they work perfectly. His backgrounds are amazing and so are his cars, especially the Charger, which is about as sexy as a car can be. Almost every single page is full of motion and Moore uses every inch of the panels to portray speed. It is just 100% pure style. I’m gushing a little, but it is just that damn good.
The star of the book is Robbie Reyes, he is a mechanic in a tough neighborhood. His brother is in a wheelchair and Robbie seems like he is the sole caregiver. No explanation is given as to why, but the writer, Felipe Smith, does a great job of telling us who he is without it. He’s a tough kid, but cares about his brother and wants to get him out of the place they call home. Events take place that end up with Robbie in a race and this is another section where Moore shows off. You go several pages with little dialog and you hardly realize it because you are engrossed in the story being told visually.
You already know that Reyes becomes Ghost Rider, but the sequence that shows the transformation is painful. You feel, through the visuals, what Reyes is feeling and it adds so much weight to the final few pages that it really sticks with you. Smith and Moore have absolutely blasted this book and hit a home run. I am 100% sold on it and cannot wait to see issue #2.
Writer: Felipe Smith
Artist: Tradd Moore
Colorist: Nelson Daniel & Val Staples
