Just like the lyrics from the ’80s super group Hall & Oates hit, “You Make my Dreams Come True,†the Marvel Comics character the Ghost Rider has historically possessed the qualities that comic fans want.
He’s always been hard to handle, treading the back roads of the comic universe and has happily been a loner ever since his creation over 40 years ago. The flame of passion that burns the candle of this character has always been an intense and immense one, making him quite different from the other heroes the company has. That candle in return has fed the flame that has kept the character around for so long and created a more than loyal fan base. Through several incarnations, he’s scattered thoughts and dreams of baddies and fans worldwide and in the process has always been a favorite.
Nevertheless, his stories haven’t always been the deepest and have relied on the character’s emotions to fuel a tale of revenge than a truly memorable and original story. Most of the time though, this act of recklessness alone has often been enough in the traditional “Ghost Rider” story.
Garth Ennis has challenged that theory in “Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears,†a six-issue mini-series that attempts to erase the misconceptions of the character and does its best to give GR a story of huge proportions that still has enough of the grit and blood that makes him what he is.
The end result however is a mixed one, as the story behind the character is intense, but it takes way too long to get where it needs to before delivering the goods and lacks the overall depth needed to make this a truly memorable tale. Nevertheless, with fantastic at times and muddy at others art work by Clayton Crain and solid enough story from Ennis, this trade isn’t entirely passable.
It’s just not the breathtaking series it could have been.
Following the exploits of Travis Parham, a confederate soldier who is saved by a free black man named Caleb and given a second chance at life, “Trail of Tears†has an instant cool factor and immediately forces the reader to separate the hero from his motorcycle. The fact that the main villain in the story is named “Reagan†and bears a shocking resemblance to the former American President with the same surname is bizarre enough to get your attention, especially with the white supremacy and slavery angle, making you want to read a bit more. Despite not learning nearly as much about this character as you’d like, his evilness is apparent right away, making him a worthy foe.
Parham is an enjoyable character as well, as his quest to find out who was responsible for his best friend and savior’s death is blood-spilled and equally as demonic as Reagan’s. While Parham kills in the name of justice, Reagan and his crew spill blood for sport, making the battle lines easy to see. By the end of the story though, it’s obvious that as far as The Spirit of Vengeance is concerned, none of that means a thing, as he’s got souls to collect.
That kind of takes the fun out of the story as Parham’s fate is not fitting a man who has dedicated his life to the retribution of a sinner for the deaths of countless innocent people. However, considering the character’s MO over the years, it’s spot on.
Who said being Ghost Rider was supposed to be fun?
It also feels as if Ennis has thrown a small commentary about war and race relations into the pot as well, making for an interesting twist to the proven-formula. In spite of that, with all the character has endured, you end up praying for a happy ending that just never comes. Instead, he ends up much worse than when he started. This essentially is the way most Ghost Rider tales finish, but this time around, you think Ennis will make the book different by giving Parham a pass.
Doesn’t happen.
Because of that, the book is too predictable and one that hardcore fans will be disappointed in. If you are going to set the series during the Civil War and have all these cool battles in the West, effectively changing so many of the other familiar elements of the series, why not go all the way?
In the end, the pacing and lack of innovation hamper what could have been a sleeper hit, making the trade feel like a B-Movie with no real charisma and soul.
The ideas are there, all of them. The execution however, is mediocre at best.
The art work of Crain does little to stop these problems and actually exacerbates them with sometimes overly dark and hard to see images that make it difficult to understand the motives of the characters. At times, you’ll have problems knowing who’s who, while connecting the words with the images is an even bigger problem. Easily nullifying the excellent full page spreads and brilliant covers, Crain has proven here that he still has some work to do before he reaches the elite group of artists in the company.
All this considered, it’s a god darn shame when two talented and creative minds such as Ennis and Crain come together and fail to deliver the goods. Nevertheless, when the last humble weed crosses the prairie,“Trail of Tears†is a hodgepodge of missed opportunities that is overwrought with small failures that diminish the excellent visuals that are scattered throughout and the creative story telling that could have been a benchmark in the series.
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