J-Max was challenged to review 30 issues of Ghost Rider in (roughly) 30 days.
Should J-Max succeed he shall earn his freedom (probably not). However
should he fail in this task then he shall be subjected to an attack by
Bees...DEADLY BEES.
So let's join him for his review of...Spider-man #7?
Featuring Ghost Rider!
Credits: Todd Mcfarlane (writer), Todd Mcfarlane (artist), Gregory Wright (colourist)
Overview: The final showdown from the Spider-man, Ghost Rider and Hobgoblin arc
Review: Spider-man seven, a tale of three characters and a child in fifty seven panels.
Ghost Rider drives through a warehouse after following Hobgoblin's evil scent "beacon" and shouts "Evil!" really loudly. He declares that he is the Ghost Rider and that Hobgoblin must pay. He shows off to Spider-man and informs him to stay out of the fight. The fight is so large it takes up all the panel space in the comic and the building collapses. Spider-man tells Ghost Rider to stop doing that as he is now endangering the child they should be rescuing. Ghost Rider states he is "here to protect the innocent" He states Hobgoblin is insane, and decides to pummel him.. He pummels him until he is unconscious then pummels him some more. Spider-man tells him to stop. He leaves.
Ghost Rider is the dead beat father of the three. He has no regard for anyone or anything other than his work. He arrives, informs 'Goblin that he is going to be punished, gets mad, trashes the place and leaves.
Spider-man tries to save the child while Ghost Rider is smashing things. The child is wounded when Ghost Rider ignorantly drives directly into Hobgoblins who is still holding the child. Spider-man tries to inform Ghost Rider that innocent victims should bare some consideration. Ghost Rider leaves.
Spider-man is the concerned mother. Here she stands up to the father "You still need to learn the responsibilities that have been given to you" and protects the child from harm. Eventually, the father heads off leaving a horrible mess that Spider-man needs to clean up but the child is safe.
Hobgoblin scars the child's face with "the mark of truth" He thinks Ghost Rider is Satan and the monsters apperance in this issue a test which only reafirms his own madness. He discovers the young boy's name; Adam and decides to leave the building before it collapses. Unfortunatly, he is too busy being pummeled by Ghost Rider to do so.
Hobgoblin is the child. The fantasist and aggressive personality who spends the entire issue trapped inside a nightmare fighting Ghost Rider (his father) who is evil. Everytime he commits a morally ambguous or wrong action, having no rational explanation behind it, he blames his dad (Ghost Rider) who is in fact Satan.
I suppose this leaves the young boy as the older brother figure. He defends Hobgoblin and shows concern for him being hurt when Ghost Rider arrives and spends the majoity of the time trying to calm Hobgoblin down.
And if it sounds like I'm going into the deep end here, it's because I am. This issue is one big, stupid fight - played out like an opera - and it goes on and on, and on with dialogue that is too corny and annoying to be written, but there it is right on paper. "To me my sled." says Hobgoblin as he summons his glider and flies across the building towards Ghost Rider only to crash directly into the wall on the opposite side and explode. "Your insanity wont save you!" bellow Rider as he punches whatever it is that the art is trying to show me it is
Everything is either ripped or exploding or on fire or shattering. The art is truly something to behold and filled with energy. And, to Todd Mcfarlane credit, it is magnificantly illustrated chaos in comic form; all the while you feel the young boy is in trouble and when he is hurt later it comes as quite a punch. The problem is the over the top hammy dialogue, the fleeting nature of the story at the expense of such a glossy huge show down, and all the story really comes down to anyway is the message - wacky religious people are wacky. No, perhaps the message is: if you are going to destroy a large building with a motorbike in order to take out Jim Jones; ensure you take all the children outside first.
Obviously, any reasonable reader has empathy for this child but it's hard to care about Ghost Rider, Spiderman or anything else happening at all. Instead, you just want it all to end to ensure the young boy is safe. There is tension because of this, but who really wants to flick through a boring fight with great artwork as quickly as possible? Especially when this issue is a lot more fun to look at than it is to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment