The Ghost Rider Omnibus

Halloween is less than a week away, so I hope you guys are close to having your costumes finished. If you already do have one finished you should email me a photo of it. That way you'll be entered into our Halloween Costume Contest. We'll pick our favorite and the winner will receive a $25 gift card!

Around this time last year, I posted an article about why I thought Ghost Rider was the most brutal guy on the planet. This year, I decided to write a review for the Ghost Rider omnibus that came out a couple of weeks ago. Flaming skulls, vengeance, demons, and motorcycles... it doesn't get any more Halloween than that.

Ghost Rider Omnibus

Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance, dishes out the pain to a number of scumbags, murderers, and cultists in this book. His path of destruction eventually leading him to his final encounter with the angel Zadkiel, who has thrown Ghost Rider's life into the proverbial blender. Think of it as a wild cross country trip full of flaming skulls and Armageddon like visuals.

The writer responsible for all of this chaos is Jason Aaron. You may know him as the guy who recently sent Wolverine to Hell. The horrors of the afterlife seem to be Aaron's bread and butter. His writing makes you feel for Ghost Rider, as he searches for his own vengeance. He's a very human character at his core, and that's what makes this such an enjoyable read. It didn't get so wrapped up in the mythology, that I would have felt distanced from the story. No matter how crazy it became, it never wasn't a story about a guy trying to get someone who wronged him. Aaron's Ghost Rider is down-to-earth while doing things that are otherworldly. He also references "Vengeance", a horrible knock-off of Ghost Rider from the 90's. It's nods to those oh-so-bad Ghost Rider books of the 90's that made me smile, as I grew up on them. Thanks for that flaming motorcycle drive down memory lane.


Aaron also used an idea that Iron Fist did a couple of years ago. They made Ghost Rider a legacy character. By that, I mean that there have been tons of Ghost Riders throughout the ages. They've been in different countries, and date pretty far back. It gave the artists of this book a chance to have fun, and create some really interesting characters. My personal favorite was the Smokey and the Bandit Ghost Riders. I love those movies! It's a great idea, and really opens up the field for what types of Ghost Rider stories can be told in the future.

The art in this collection is handled by Roland Boschi, Tan Eng Huat, and Tony Moore. Each of these artists handled their stories beautifully. They really captured the dark tone of the book, but also captured the more human moments of the story as well. Overall, it's a great collection of artists that are showcasing some of their best work.

The other thing should mention is the price of this book. It's only $50.00! Marvel omnibus collections typically go for $80 - $100, so this is more than a bargain. It's probably the best deal you're going to get when comparing the awesomeness to cost ratio. I'd make some crack about how crappy the economy is, but to hell with it. You already know that.

The Ghost Rider omnibus by Jason Aaron is a well written, good looking, and well priced collection of awesome comics. I can't imagine a better book to sit down with on Halloween.