The Good
Not to take anything away from writer Felipe Smith, but the artwork of Tradd Moore, along with the colors of Val Staples, is the coolest part of this book. Moore's art is gorgeous and Staples' colors are the perfect fit and feel to the art. Not only does this style give GHOST RIDER it's own look and feel, it also gives this book a creepily sinister tone. A more cartoonish style, which Moore is known for, featured in a story about coming back from the dead and bringing justice back to the streets feels so wrong, as fans are more accustomed to a darker/grittier style for a story like this.
However, that animated style is unsettling, when compared to the story, and the book becomes so much creepier because of it. His art is phenomenal throughout the issue, but the last two pages are awesome. It's 5 panels, spread out across the two pages, of the 5 storylines, and their characters, going on in this book. It's not a huge cliffhanger or reveal though. It's just a perfect way to end the issue.
In this issue, Smith is planting the seeds that Eli Morrow, the spirit inside of Robbie, which turns him into the Ghost Rider, and Robbie are becoming more connected and bonding and it's changing Robbie. This is a very cool idea to slowly have the Rider influence how Robbie looks when he's not out hot rodding around town.
Smith covers Robbie's home life pretty well here as well. Robbie is still deciding things like whether or not he's going to college, helping out his brother, and flat-out trying to be the good person he actually is. Robbie is easily one of the cooler new characters in the ALL-NEW Era of Marvel and one that has a ton of heart, which is shown each issue.
The Bad
The second evolution, or third, depending on how you look at it, of Grumpy is a bit too out there. While Tradd Moore's art lends to things within this book being a bit "bigger" and more cartoony, the four-armed, overly-muscular Grumpy is just a bit too much for this book and comes off as a tad silly.
There's a lot going on in this issue and it's not poorly written by any means, but it feels like the focus should be a bit more Robbie and Eli Morrow (the spirit inside of Robbie) and how all of that happened, rather than the scientist creating these drugs, which isn't as interesting of a story line, mainly because this new character and his powers are so new.
The Verdict
ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER continues to be an incredibly fun book that has some brilliant art in it. Robbie Reyes is a very compelling character and the only real downside of the issue is that I wish they spent a little more time on Reyes and Morrow rather than going through the Grumpy and scientist story. Overall, though, this is still a top book and continues to impress me. I highly recommend it because it's a wild ride... pun intended.
