As Kael Ngu (what up dude, we need to extend that convo we had at NYCC for a full blown interview)’s main cover betrays, Johnny Blaze just got drafted into the FBI and not since Vegeta earned a badge in last year’s Dragon Ball Super has an anti-hero becoming a law enforcement official looked so good on panel. For those who haven’t read Percy’s current run of Ghost Rider, “Shadow Hunters”, the two hundred fiftieth issue is an excellent checkpoint to jump in on this hell ride. Reader’s get introduced to a new villain in the form of Exhaust, who is teased to be manipulated by the son of Mephisto himself (and I’m not talking Hellstrom), my personal go-to whenever I got a quarter for Marvel vs. Street Fighter : Blackheart !
The melding of the past and present does not stop there, as the girl who could give Punk Mambo a run for her money, appears to have wrested herself from the clutches of death when reader’s last saw her and is now responsible for doing the recruiting by casting Marvel Knight’s resident bonehead into the feds ! The scene of this character, Talia Warroad, nonchalantly eating a bag of chips after performing some form of scrying to glean information from an unconscious Blaze, while scattered beer bottles and a box of dumplings are lying on the floor, humanize this character of Percy’s creation that will be sure to go down as a fan favorite in Marvel history for years to come.
The previous issues since my last CVReview of an installment in this series have been laden with cameo’s and guest stars, thankfully Percy decides to taper back on that plot device, but still allows reader’s a chance to catch glimpses of Elektra, Dr. Doom, and Wolverine – without relying on these guests too heavily, but selecting these three with an understanding to his readership that if Blaze didn’t sell the previous issues, those three will be enough to get new reader’s to retroactively buy. Percy knows his audience. And Smith has a crystal ball in his back pocket too.
Cory Smith’s art here in “Shadow Hunters”, is what any Ghost Rider book should be about – pure horror. The way that Exhaust is designed makes Ghost Rider’s “shadow” look like what would happen if the Terminator machine had a human being grafted to it, and why subsequently, that should never happen. The big reveal as to how the parasite that was in Blaze’s brain in previous issues is found here in “Shadow Hunters” as Blaze is ambushed by a demon posing as Roxanne. The art here is executed with a degree of grotesque that is usually more commonly seen in a Black Label release by the other half of the Big Two. Smith really went to work here, and Valenza’s colors of the pink sinew along with the burnt flesh of heads of demonic entities is enough to provide a dose of shock panel after panel. As a gorehound who loved Damien Leone’s recent “Terrifier II” and went down the path to see all the preceding films to catch up in between my journey to this years NYCC, I have to say that the panels found here in “Shadowhunters” had a similar effect on my imagination leading to a mixed feeling of awe and revulsion that can only be achieved in the genre of horror, but as Smith and Percy drive home – is not reserved to a single medium.
With Blackheart in the background, Exhaust as the new bad, and the femme fatale Talia Warroad sticking around front and center, it’s no wonder that Percy has cornered a monopoly on the horror section of the Marvel Universe. Though it would be nice to see Man-Thing, Blade, and a host of others come back around for a dedicated one-shot or two for the Hallow’s Eve season, “Shadowhunters” comes a few weeks early for Devil’s Night, but even though a good scare carries a somewhat orgasmic sensation, in no way does this premature release kill the momentum of Percy and Smith’s sinisterly salacious run.
Score : 5/5