Comic Info
Comic Name: Ghost Racers/Secret Wars: Secret Love/Ghost Rider (Volume 1)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Felipe Smith/Jim Starlin
Artist: Juan Gedeon/Felipe Smith/Steve Leialoha
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2015
Ghost Racers #3
Reprints Ghost Racers #1-4, Secret Wars: Secret Love #1, and Ghost Rider (1) #35 (April 1979-November 2015). Robbie Reyes is the best Ghost Racer at the Killiseum, and the Killiseum’s owner Arcade is starting not to like his popularity. With an Igniter Spark that seems to be different than the other Ghost Racers, Robbie seems to have an edge in his car that the others don’t possess. Robbie is destine for the finish line, but Arcade might make sure that never happens!
Written by Felipe Smith, Battleworld: Ghost Racers is a Secret Wars spin-off title based off of the Ghost Rider title and features art by Juan Gedeon. The collection also contains a short Ms. Marvel team-up story from Secret Wars: Secret Love #1 (October 2015) with art by Felipe Smith and reprints Ghost Rider (1) #35 (April 1979) by Jim Starlin and Steve Leialoha from the original Marvel superhero series.
I can’t say that I was too involved with Secret Wars…in fact I’ve yet to trudge through the whole series at the writing of this review. However, I will say that I find some of the spin-off titles from the Secret Wars series interesting, and with reasonably cheap collection, I have picked up a number of them. Battleworld: Ghost Racers isn’t the best (but it is fast).
Ghost Racers #4
Ghost Rider was fun in the ’90s (as I read much of it and the Midnight Sons titles when they were released). The older Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) also had his moment, but both the ’90s and ’70s Ghost Riders seemed like products of their times. I never really got into the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider so I’m not that familiar with the character or the set-up before Secret Wars, but I enjoy the ties to the older series including the Western Ghost Rider Slade as a member of the Ghost Racers.
The spirit of the Battleworld books is essentially a bunch of What If? titles in my opinion. I enjoy What If? and that is why I can tolerate something like Ghost Racers. It is quick and too the point, but since I have little connection to the characters, the twists on the character are pretty minimal. Racing titles (since they generally have a hero) are for the most part predictable…the hero will win in the end. It is true of Ghost Racers and makes the comic not very suspenseful in that sense (I was guessing they wouldn’t kill the kid).
Ghost Racers is an ok read if you get it for cheap and you want something not too deep. It is a rather generic title in a series that was full of generic spin-off titles. I preferred the more extreme Battleworld and Secret War spin-off titles to Ghost Racers, but at least there was a fun Ms. Marvel team-up and Francesco Francavilla covers. Following Secret Wars, Ghost Rider returned in Ghost Rider: Four on the Floor.
Related Links:
Battleworld: Master of Kung Fu
Warzones!: Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars
Warzones!: M.O.D.O.K. Assassin
