golden age greats spotlight volume 17 by Bill BlackMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a collection of original Ghost Rider tales from the 1950s published by Magazine Enterprises before they went tits up and Marvel scooped up the Ghost Rider trademark. Sure, the stories get repetitive after a while but they weren't meant to be read in three long sittings by someone in their mid-40s. The stories remind me of Scooby-Doo in a way. Whatever the threat is frequently looks supernatural but it's always some more mundane criminal that would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that pesky Rex Fury, aka The Ghost Rider.
While I find the Ghost Rider character interesting, Dick Ayers' art is the star of the show. Many people know him as Jack Kirby's inker in Silver Age Marvel books but he could draw the fuck out of things in the 1950s. He's on par with some of the EC guys and it's a shame westerns comics died out because Dastardly Dick was one of the best in the west.
My only gripe about this collection is that it's pricey at $30 for what amounts to a 200 page magazine, thought the paper is pretty sturdy compared to what a lot of comics are printed on today. Also, a master list of where the stories came from would have been nice, although most of the stories list where they are from at the bottom of the page.
It looks like PS Artbooks is going to start reprinting the Magazine Enterprises Ghost Rider comics soon so this whets my appetite for more. Four out of five stars.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment