The Fractal Hall Journal

Halloween’s a-coming, and it’s getting a little creepy here at the Hall. So today’s subject is appropriate to the season.

Core Genre: Horror

In some ways, Ghost Rider represents one part of a triumvirate that emerged from Marvel’s horror titles in the 70s. The most enduring, maybe, iconic enough to see interest in him renewed every few years before it ebbs once more. Ghost Rider’s tales were based around themes of hellfire and damnation, an overtly religious (or, perhaps, Christian mythological) approach also seen in companion titles such as Son of Satan. While still under the horror banner, Tomb of Dracula took a more classic, Gothic approach, overlapping with Werewolf by Night and other traditional monsters, while the final corner held the archetypical shambling nightmare of Man-Thing.

The hell-based Marvel titles were edgy by the standards of the time. In some ways, they’re still controversial today; after all, Essential Son of Satan was marketed as Essential Marvel Horror, presumably from fear of offending people’s delicate sensibilities with the smallest mention of Old Scratch.

Well, I say edgy. They really aren’t. The liberal use of satanism and satanic imagery is perhaps a little jarring to see in a (for want of a better word) ‘mainstream’ comic book, particularly a 70s superhero title, but overall it does come across as tame after the video horror boom of the 80s. The 70s Ghost Rider really hasn’t aged well, with his origin as a daredevil biker dating him badly. There’s a lot here that’s cheesy as hell. While other comic book films can be criticised for straying too far from the original material, the biggest mistake in Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider was in staying too close to a story that just didn’t hold a lot of water.

That said, there are still some fantastic ideas here, and an iconography far stronger than the stories that initially delineated them. There’s something intriguing about supernatural Westerns (just look at Ennis and Dillon’s Preacher), in the image of a modern-day cowboy with a flaming skull and a motorbike. Or maybe I’m mixing up ’story-worthy imagery’ with ‘makes a cool belt buckle’.

Let’s not discount the elements that came later, during the 90s revamp. We can disparage the Image era for a lot (a whoooooooole lot) of crap, but the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider had a far better design than the somewhat odd jumpsuit they stuck Johnny Blaze in, even if it was a little overly spikey. And having said that, it wasn’t until Garth Ennis and Clayton Crane’s recent miniseries that they finally gave him a decent bike. Even so, we should remember that 90s Ghost Rider was hugely popular.

We can see how the Rider is a constantly updated, imperfect character. A title with a hell of a lot of unfulfilled potential, a protagonist who gets dragged to viability by a series of increments over a long period of time.

The nuts and bolts:

A) The Spirit of Vengeance
B) Supernatural powers (hellfire/chain weapon/penance stare)
C) Flaming skull
D) A bike with flaming tyres

A bit of explanation may be required here, the character’s popularity being what it is. For a character with a relatively simple initial origin (son sells his soul to save his adoptive father, father dies anyway and he’s stuck with the curse), Ghost Rider’s story arc has become enormously convoluted over the various series. The reasons for his transformation have changed, the specific demon that empowered him has changed, the specific spirit his soul was bonded to has changed; he’s even had more than one host, and seen more than one host die. And with a supporting cast that includes Johnny Blaze, Noble Kale, Crash and Roxanne Simpson, the book has some of the stupidest names devised for a Marvel comic. I hope the purists will pardon me if I generalise a little here, because while (despite everything) I’m quite a big fan of the guy I don’t quite understand all the ins and outs myself. It’s probably best to highlight all the best bits from the various incarnations.

Factor A is important to understand, in particular should we chose to differentiate between vengeance and revenge. An odd thing to do, maybe, if we consider them synonyms, but in general usage (and feel free to argue against if you think I’m barking up the wrong tree) ‘revenge’ suggests spite and vindictiveness, which isn’t quite right as applied to the Rider. By the same token, he isn’t the Spirit of Justice, either, as that suggests a more balanced approach. To see justice done does not mean someone has to be punished, and Ghost Rider is most certainly all about the punishment.

Take the penance stare, one of the best ideas to come out of the 90s run. A way of inflicting the pain of innocent victims on those who prey on them. A perfect way to contextualise villains by their own actions. The theme of fire, of burning, but also of cleansing, is obvious in Factor C and D, with C also a mark of death and mortality. As far as locating his enemies goes, it’s interesting to see in the original series how the transformation was initially governed by the arbitrary change of day into night and back, but later became triggered by the presence of evil.

Personally, I prefer Danny Ketch as the Rider’s host rather than Johnny Blaze. The teenager-with-secret-powers is a little derivative, certainly, but it’s hard to see what there is left to do with the original host. His history has become a little tangled, and God knows what’s happening in the current run. And speaking of God, while I enjoyed Ennis’ miniseries, the ongoing took its lead from his brand of Heaven-bashing, full of corrupt angels and both sides being as bad as each other. Which is all very well, but it’s a tired angle these days. It’s one thing to be a pale imitation of Ennis, another to be a pale imitation of Spawn. I don’t know, maybe I’m just a little tired with comics writers working out their Magic Invisible Sky Daddy upbringing in print.

Short version: angels are boring. If anything, Ghost Rider is more interesting in a corrupt kind of world where heaven is irrelevant if non-existent, as he’s better defined by demons and hellfire. A little bleak, perhaps, but more faithful to the few decent elements of his 70s origins. One approach he may well benefit from would be an ongoing theme to tie him to Lovecraftian horror. That was one of the best angles taken in Ennis’ series, and come on, who doesn’t want to read a story where Ghost Rider comes to Arkham? Not as a complete redefinition of the title, but certainly a limited run that owes something to Boom! Studios’ Fall of Cthulhu.

Click here for the Delineation Archive.

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A lot of fragmentary thought round these parts this week.

Popping back to the Doctor again, how random was it that Mike from the Young Ones is playing the Sontaran commander? Weird. I wonder who they’ll get to play Davros.

It shouldn’t really be a surprise that it appears to be the Dalek’s creator who’s the major bad guy in Series 4. He’s really the only major one left to show up again, after the Master. I’m not too sure how I feel about it, outside the fact that it’s Russell T., so it’s bound to be awesome. Rose showing up seems a bit of a shame, as her character arc finished so perfectly, and her return’s a bit of a gimmicky.

I think the problem with Davros is something that’s been mentioned a number of times in Who fandom: before him, the Daleks were a threat all on their own, but after he turned up they just sort of ended up being Evil Henchmen. The new series has put so much into making the Daleks deadly once again it’s a damned pity they’re going to get relegated. I’d rather have had the Cult of Skaro developed a bit more as Dalek leaders, but then the last Dalek two-parter turned Sec into a tentacle-headed American and it all fell a bit flat. Maybe they do need the old guy back again, although I have to say I’d rather have seen a modern spin on the Sea Devils.

I’m in a bit of a quandry about continuing to get Morrison’s Batman monthly, too. I recently picked up Brubaker’s X-Men: Deadly Genesis in hardback (more on that soon), and it’s  a really great format to read the story in. With the Batman delays, plus the fact that the story so far reads so much better in one go rather than month by month (or longer, lets face it), I’m enclined to switch to the trades for Batman RIP. The same kind of goes for Final Crisis, or its tie-ins. I suppose the question is whether month-to-month delays and a fragmented story line will be better or worse than having all the good bits spoiled in advance.

And finally, I picked up this month’s Empire with the coverage of the Summer superhero films, and I have to say the more I see of The Incredible Hulk the more I like the look of it. Sure, it’s going to suck, but if I could make room in my heart for Ghost Rider then this one shouldn’t be too much of a leap. Despite enjoying the first Hulk, I do think they fumbled the ball a bit by largely ignoring the TV series.

The thing is, that’s the touchstone for most people and the character, and stuff like the pre-transformation green contact lenses generate the kind of pleasant memory the film-makers should be taking advantage of. Plus, part of the “hero’s journey” this time is Banner’s acceptance that, by the end of the film, the world needs a monster like the Hulk to save it (or, at least, New York), and isn’t that the kind of thing we read comics for?

Oh, and just so no one thinks I’ve forgotten, I’ll do a round-up at some point of all the Changaround posts, if not next week then the week after. Cheers to everyone who’s taken part so far.

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Superheroes aside, is there any genre more prevalent in comics than horror? Or for that matter, is there any other genre with as many key works from the most gifted comics writers?

I like most horror comics in retrospect. I was too young to appreciate Sandman, Swamp Thing, or Hellblazer on their original runs. I remember seriously disliking them, though I love them all now in my own fickle way. But as much as I wasn’t keen on the grown-up stuff, I did like Marvel horror.

Ok, that was a bit mean, but you catch my drift. I liked the ’90s Ghost Rider, and I got to read some of the Johnny Blaze stuff (along with a couple of Son of Satan titles) that belonged to the father of one of my dearest buddies. But it wasn’t until the Tomb of Dracula Essential volumes that I realised quite how good Marvel’s material could be.

Tomb of Dracula benefitted from a consistent creative team for the bulk of its run. Any success the series has should really be credited to Gene Colan, an incredible penciller who brought a high standard to every issue, raising the overall quality even on the ropier scripts.

In all honesty, if the comic lets itself down anywhere, it’s the writing. The first few issues were written by a good few different people, giving the series an oddly disjointed tone, where it couldn’t decide if it was a straight sequel to the movie Draculas, the novel, or something else. The series continuity was somewhat fluid, and it took Marv Wolfman a number of years to tie down what exactly the relationship was between Dracula and his antagonists.

But despite the overwrought dialogue, occasional crap comedy relief and contradictions in the plot, the series gained a uniquely creepy atmosphere, not so much a take-off of other Dracula films, or an integrated part of the Marvel Universe (despite the odd dischordant crossover), as a sinister creature all of its own.

The key to the series is something that only comics can really pull off: a character study that evolves over many years. No television series could really delve into a central character the way Tomb of Dracula could, and no production team could really work on the one thing for so long- and it’s rare even in comics today. Because of this, and because the vampire hunters could never truly win, as it would mean killing off the title character, the series’ horror became based entirely around one man’s deeds, in both the past and the present, and examined his limits, motives and justifications.

In short, the length of the work combined with the consistency of vision created something intriguing and engaging, even through the occasional duff issue. It was the overall arc that held it together, as thematically complete as a Bowie album.

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