Rough Trade Friday: Ghost Rider The Road To Damnation

In honor of the fact that Nicholas Cage's cinematic stillborn of a movie, Ghost Rider, hit shelves this past week (and my personal belief that no one should ever have to watch that piece of schlock unless they're playing drinking games based around Cage's hairpiece) I've decided that this weekend's reading assignment should have readers enjoying the rich mythology surrounding Johnny Blaze instead of cringing at it. As a result, I decree that you should go out and read the superb Ghost Rider: The Road To Damnation by Garth Ennis (of Preacher fame) and Clayton Crain (Venom vs. Carnage).

The Road To Damnation doesn't make any effort to retcon Ghost Rider or reinvent the character. Instead, it picks up pretty much where the last ongoing comic series left off: Johnny Blaze is still in Hell, trying to outrace the demonic hordes who chase him down and dismember him every night before he reaches the realm's gates and the freedom they promise. However, when an Angel aids Blaze's escape attempts in exchange for a promise to help prevent a powerful demon's attempts to create a permanent gateway to the netherworld, Ghost Rider suddenly finds himself back on Earth and a powerful inclination to stay there. Along the way, he finds himself allied with some powerful agents of both Heaven and Hell; the former isn't as benevolent and the latter isn't as awful as one would expect them to be, either.

Ennis's Preacher roots are in full swing here, particularly with the warped Biblical themes that are largely set in the middle of Texas's vast open spaces. A theme of double-dealing and betrayal, something which was rampant in Preacher, dominates The Road To Damnation, as well, and Ennis seems to be writing a fable which warns against dealing with anything angelic... fallen or otherwise. As always, there's a lot of obscenity and mature situations, so this is clearly not a book for the faint of heart. Beautifully complimenting Ennis's literary style is Crain's art, which still makes fantastic use of the man's digital painting techniques. Everything in this book looks epic: angels look inhumanly beautiful, demons are alien and frightening all at once, Ghost Rider himself looks amazing, and Texas looks... well, more like Texas than it does in real life.

Ultimately, though, this is not a happy-go-lucky title in any way, shape, or form. Hell, it wouldn't be one of Garth Ennis's projects if things ended up in a neatly-wrapped package. But things do wind up well, overall, in the end, and it's hard not to smile at some of the just desserts dealt to a number of the mini-series protagonists. More importantly, though, this collected book will provide readers with everything the movie wasn't: a creation of intelligence, beauty, dark humor, and just enough fanboy enthusiasm to give die-hard fans a rush of nostalgia.