Ghost Rider #15 Review

 

Writer: Benjamin Percy

Pencilers: Cory Smith & Brent Peeples

Inkers: Oren Junior & Brent Peeples

Colorist: Bryan Valenza

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Cover Artists: Bjorn Barends; Juann Cabal & Jesus Aburtov; Kyle Hotz & Mike Spicer

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 28, 2023

 

Danny Ketch made a deal with the devilish Infernal Labs. Dr. Diyu promised to extricate Danny's Spirit, but the researcher had another plan. Years ago, a demon possessed her brother and dragged him down to Hell. Binding Danny’s Spirit to a suit of armor, she leaves him while she marches through a portal. Can Danny survive without his Ghost Rider? Can Dr. Diyu free her brother? And where are Johnny Blaze and former F.B.I. agent Talia Warroad amid all this? Let's hop on our motorcycles, roar into Ghost Rider #15, and find out!

 

Story

Johnny and Talia reach Infernal Labs as spirits explode from the building. Talia uses her powers to learn what happened from a dying man. She helps Danny start breathing. But with his Ghost Rider, Danny's body is just a shell.

 

Johnny calls on his Ghost Rider and rides through a burning portal, past skulls intertwined with thorny plants. Demons inhabit this realm, while the souls of the dead hang impaled on spears or fight not to drown in a Lake Of Fire.

 

Dr. Diyu locates her brother but struggles to control Danny's Spirit. Unwittingly, she's placed Johnny in the same position she was in many years ago. While Ghost Rider #15 unreels too quickly, I enjoyed the symmetry of two people risking their lives to save their brothers. I'm left wondering about the freed spirits that burst out of Infernal Labs in the explosion. What trouble might they cause in our world?

 

 

 

 

Art

Johnny’s ride through Hell is an exhilarating journey. The fallen bodies and heads on spikes are reminiscent of a battlefield. Dr. Diyu’s robotic body strides through the smoky air. Flames rise from the armored exoskeleton to sheath the ghostly skull that hovers above. Tactical readouts appear on her windshield. Then she stands on a precipice and gazes down upon a misty field punctuated with impaled bodies.

 

Danny's Spirit burns green against the red sky in Ghost Rider #15. It looks cold compared to Johnny's yellow and orange fire. But then, Johnny's angry at what's happened to his brother. He screams at black-and-gray bats that swarm around him. He spews fire at those who come too near. Yet when Johnny locates Danny's Spirit, it dwarfs his own. Does a fire that looks colder burn hotter? 

 

 

 

 

Black uppercase letters possess white dialogue balloons in Ghost Rider #15. Those living receive spherical ones, while the dead get an edgy font and cloudy balloons. Much of the story unfolds in narrative boxes as Talia relates what she learned from the dying researcher and Johnny monologues along the Highway Through Hell. Abrasive and inflammatory sound effects ensure readers make amends in this world to avoid eternal suffering.

 

Final Thoughts

Good intentions transform a mourning, obsessed woman into what she despises in Ghost Rider #15.

 

Rating 8.2/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.