Writer: Felipe Smith

Artist: Danilo Beyruth, Tradd Moore, Val Staples
Cover: Marco Checchetto
$4.99
Marvel Comics

While I can’t profess to liking Agents of Shield, I am forever grateful to it for bringing back one of the best recent Marvel series in Ghost Rider.  The book doesn’t pick up directly on the ending of the previous volume with Robbie Reyes being forced into killing people at the behest of his Satan-worshipping uncle Eli, but it does give you a clear picture of who Robbie is and what he cares about.

That being said, the book does lapse a bit in giving a bit more time than necessary to the book’s legacy hero guest star: Amadeus Cho. While it’s always nice to see more Hulk in the wings, it ends up taking more time than necessary and has precious little to do with Robbie’s story. Thankfully though, Smith does go to a great deal of effort reestablishing Robbie’s dynamic with Eli, and his little brother Gabriel. That goes a long way toward grounding the book back into reality despite the guest star detraction.

Danilo Beyruth does an admirable job of continuing the tone set by Tradd Moore in the initial debut of Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider. However, as the backup story by Smith and Moore shows, he’s still the king when it comes to gonzo and kinetic action with flaming Dodge Chargers. Overall, it’s a great book, while this first issue doesn’t match up to the initial one for All-New Ghost Rider, it’s still worth the shot.

3 out of 5 Hell Chargers