Ghost Rider #2 & New Avengers #15

And I've reached the bottom of this week's comic pile, meaning these were the two comics I was least looking forward to reading. Expect low scores... Very low scores...

Ghost Rider #2(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This issue gets underway with Mephisto telling Johnny Blaze that by allowing the mysterious Adam to take the Ghost Rider curse off of him he had doomed humanity. Johnny is rather skeptical of anything that Mephisto says, since Mephisto IS the devil and all, so Mephisto reveals that if Adam's plans come to fruition(and with his own Ghost Rider, he's well on his way), Adam will save all of humanity from sin. Johnny figures Mephisto is only bitching because if there was no sin, there'd be no need for the devil, but Mephisto tells Johnny that without sin humanity becomes stagnant, uncreative and emotionless, basically a civilization of mindless zombies. Johnny asks exactly what Mephisto wants from him, and Mephisto tells Johnny that he had to rescue the new BAD-ASS Ghost Rider from Adam and get her as far away from Adam as possible. Speaking of BAD-ASS Ghost Rider and Adam, Adam demands that BAD-ASS Ghost Rider kill the people she had been living with in her secluded little temple, since they were full of sin or something. BAD-ASS Ghost Rider won't do it(because as I've established already, she's a BAD-ADD), so Adam attacks her with some weird magic. As for Johnny, Mephisto teleports him to Adam's temple and Johnny enters, shooting Adam in the arm with what looks to be his old hellfire-shooting shotgun(!). One of Adam's disgruntled henchmen, Seeker, decides to help Johnny, shielding him from Adam's more fanatical followers and their automatic rifles. The Seeker tells Johnny to get him near BAD-ASS Ghost Rider since he could power her down. Johnny approaches BAD-ASS Ghost Rider and offers to help her, but she goes all crazy on him and decides that she would wipe the earth clean of sin, starting with Johnny.

Thoughts: Okay, here's the thing. This comic wasn't that bad. Rob Williams did a good job of laying out the story, as well as giving us the motivations of the two major players(Mephisto and Adam). Johnny wasn't written as some sort of brain-dead hick this time around(thank god...), and the art was solid. However, I'm still not sold on the new Ghost Rider... Yes, it pisses me off that Marvel decided to change Ghost Rider's sex as opposed to simply crating a new female character. Yes, I am still pissed that my favorite Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch, hasn't even been mentioned yet. But more importantly, the lead character here, Ghost Rider, just doesn't do anything for me. Her background story isn't particularly interesting(she was raised by Adam in a cult for the express purpose of one of the cult members becoming Ghost Rider one day), and thus far, SHE isn't particularly interesting. And that right there is a pretty major problem... The story can be good, the co-starring characters can be great, the art can be solid, but if you can't connect with the main character, what's the point in reading? So this'll be the last issue of this series I pick up for the foreseeable future. If this series lasts past a dozen issues, and I hear some good things about it, I'll give it another shot. But with me picking up between 50-70 comics every month, I think I'll be able to get by minus this series.

Score: 6 out of 10.See, she IS a BAD-ASS! I told you!!


New Avengers #15(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This comic was all about Squirrel Girl. Yes really. After she defeated Wolverine, probably the greatest fighter in ALL of Marvel Comics, in hand-to-hand combat, that was all I could stand.

Thoughts: Yeah, this comic sucked. It sucked to the point where I felt like stabbing myself in the brain repeatedly with an icepick to make the pain end. I don't know if Bendis is completely oblivious to the fact, but let me explain something about Squirrel Girl... She's a comedy character. She's always been a comedy character. Trying to write her as a serious character? In a serious comic book? With her fighting(and beating!!!) one of the most serious characters in ALL of comics? No. No, no, no. This was one of the most painful Marvel comic book reading experiences I've had since Secret Invasion. If you value your sanity, please, DO NOT read this comic book!!! I'd have given this comic the full 0 out of 10 imperfect score, but that wouldn't be fair to Mike Deodato, who did a good job on art. So instead, I'll give this one a...

Score: 1 out of 10.I have nothing non-profane to say here, so let's just move on...