Mass Movement Magazine

Ghost Rider: Fear Itself – Rob Williams & Matthew Clark (Marvel / Panini)
With the world going to Hel thanks to The Serpent and Sin, what better time could there possibly be to choose a new Ghost Rider and thus continue the legacy of the Spirit Of Vengeance? Approached by a mysterious (aren’t they all in comics based around the supernatural?) stranger called Adam who tell him that he can free him of the curse of the Rider, Johnny Blaze, although reluctant at first, accepts the offer and is finally free of the demon that’s been a part of his life for so long. But with a little “gentle” persuasion from Mephisto, Johnny gradually has to accept that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and his freedom has come at much too high a price, even for him. After all, what’s freedom if the rest of the world is dammed to an eternity of existence without free will? You guessed it folks, Adam, is the first man, determined to wipe away Sin (as in biblical sin, not the daughter of the Red Skull, who’s happily laying waste to the world as the prime avatar of Norse mythological destruction), the original mistake made by Adam, the one that cast him out of paradise, the one that endlessly propagates itself, shaping humanities destiny. With the Ghost Rider under his control, he believes that he can finally repent his mistake by casting it out of every living being on Earth, but like all the best laid plans of madmen and villains, there’s a problem. No sin means no free will as both are inseparably linked, and no free will means no imagination or progress, meaning mankind will come to a zombified, eternal stand still. Unless Johnny Blaze can step into the breach and once again save the world and humanity from its own worst enemy, itself. Which is sort of true, as Adam was, and is the first man (let’s not get into any religious discussions here, okay? Politics and religion get left at the door) and as such is part of each and every person on the planet, which in turn means he represents part of everyone and as he’s become the enemy, everyone is the enemy. Or something like that. Anyway, Johnny sets out to take back what he gave away, or at least to guide the new Rider down a better path than the one he originally rode down. It’s good to see the Rider back and as reinventions and rebirths go, it’s a pretty good way of bringing the character back to the fore front, I just hope that Rob Williams can build on this impressive start, and that hopefully, the book is given the green light, as based on this new origin tale, it’s definitely got potential, and I hope it’s not just a one off. Yeah, I’ll be keeping an eye out for this one… Tim Mass Movement