“All-New Ghost Rider” came to be when Marvel editor Mark Paniccia reached out to Felipe Smith and asked whether the writer/artist would be interested in writing a new take on Ghost Rider. There were, however, stipulations: The series would feature a younger protagonist who wouldn’t ride a motorcycle like the Ghost Riders before him, but would instead drive a flamed-out muscle car.
Smith was instantly attracted to the new approach.
Robbie Reyes “is a completely new character not associated with any previous incarnations of” Ghost Rider, Smith told The Post’s Comic Riffs from his home in Los Angeles.
“It would make sense, if you were going to introduce a new character into the Marvel universe as a Ghost Rider, that he would actually be new in more than one way,” Smith says. “I was given freedom to determine what the background of the character was, the location, which until now had been more of the East Coast and the Midwest. I was in Los Angeles and I wanted to have the story take place here, and make it even more of a different character.”
As with so many classic Marvel characters before him, Robbie Reyes is far from living it up in the California sun. For every Tony Stark, there’s a Marvel hero who is very much wrapped in the real world. When the flames of this new Ghost Rider extinguish, they reveal a young man trying to raise his disabled younger brother in a neighborhood stuck in the crossfire of gangs, all while he tries to juggle a job and school.
Reyes is determined to get his brother the expensive medical attention he needs, as well as to move them to a better neighborhood — a tall task for a high-schooler with a part-time job at an auto shop.
In “All-New Ghost Rider’s” first issue (the first volume of the series’ first five issues, titled “Engines of Vengeance,” is now available) Reyes is convinced that street racing at night can help get the money he and his brother need. Yet Robbie is unaware that the car he just “borrowed” from his job is loaded with some very illegal items. Reyes is slain before he can finish the race, but is brought back to life by the spirit of the Ghost Rider — giving one of Marvel’s classic characters a modern makeover in the mold of a “Fast and Furious” style.
But: Ghost Rider driving around in a car? That potentially could not sit well with readers not fond of all types of changes going on at Marvel. Readers are reminded on the last page of “All-New Ghost Rider’s” first issue, however, that when Ghost Rider made his debut in 1949, he was riding a horse. The message: Don’t get too bent out of shape.
And what is the ride of choice when hitting fifth gear and seeking vengeance on a California highway? Smith says there was only one option in his mind: A ‘69 Dodge Charger.
“In terms of the muscle car, I really liked the ‘69 Dodge Charger for many reasons,” Smith told Comic Riffs. “It’s a car that’s been tried and true — it’s a classic design. It’s a little more timeless than any current car you would see.”
Artist Tradd Moore, who drew the first five issues of “All-New Ghost Rider”(issues No. 6 and 7 have been drawn by Damion Scott), was also fond of the idea of Ghost Rider in a car. Smith says that Moore’s art was a major part of the title’s successful debut.
Tradd’s “art is really expressive. It’s dynamic. It’s kinetic,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of movement to it. His facial expressions are great. He really knows how to set up an action scene. Part of the job of writing a script is that if you have something very specific in mind — you dictate where the camera is, and what kind of shot it is … and sometimes he’ll draw stuff and it’s exactly what I had in mind.
“I think in a way, in the writing and in the art, if you pick up ‘All-New Ghost Rider,’ you’ll see that there are a lot of things that are taken from other mediums,” Smith continued, “and I think because of that, we’re able to bring [something different] to the table when it comes to mainstream hero books.”
A new, young antihero in a literally hot car might seem like a good-enough idea. But if you’re going to place a young Ghost Rider in East L.A. and give him a flaming muscle car, the book had better sound as cool as it looks. Smith was more than up to task, giving the characters of “All New Ghost Rider” a lingo that comes off as realistic, unforced.
“I think it’s necessary to have characters sound authentic,” Smith told Comic Riffs. “It’s another way to bring the reader into the story. Obviously living in Los Angeles, I’m very much aware of how people talk in general, depending on what area of town they’re in or what their background is. So I try to always put that in my stories.
“For the most part, they say, ‘Write about what you know,’ and it does make things a little easier,” Smith continued. “Maybe that’s why it might sound a little more authentic — because I try to write characters who sound like people I’ve interacted with or I know. It’s a good way to not have it seem forced.”
The fact that Marvel again took the mantle of a well-known character and passed it on to a person of color (Miles Morales/Spider-Man, Sam Wilson/Captain America, Kamala Khan/Miss Marvel) could also have come across as forced. But Smith says the move felt natural for him.
“I think diversity is very important,” said Smith, whose father is from Jamaica and whose mother is from Argentina. “I kind of grew up in a situation where diversity was kind of a norm, and being able to write about a Hispanic character, and maybe bring a little bit of that culture into the story, is pretty important.
“Also, one of the things about the U.S., especially a city like Los Angeles — there’s so many different backgrounds within the city; there’s pockets of different cultures that you can visit on a daily basis,” said Smith, who was born in Akron, Ohio, and who moved with his famil to Buenos Aires when he was 5. “I think it’d be a shame not to reflect that in the story, if it’s a story taking place in the city of L.A. So yeah, I’m pretty excited to do that.”
Smith says he’s also pleased that Marvel is on board. “They seem to really like all the ideas we’ve been giving them so far,” he said. “The reception from the readers has been encouraging, so I’m really glad to bring a little bit of variety to the Marvel universe, and hopefully a story that’s within the margins of a superhero story and still has heart to it, and definitely a personal side to it.”
Smith says that with certain stories, he readily gets to a point where he’s done everything he can do with a character. With his new Ghost Rider, however, he sees no such abbreviated future.
“I think [Robbie Reyes] is very grounded in reality,” Smith said. “He has every day chores he has to take care of. He’s relatable in terms of what his motivations are. Family is a part of the story. With a set-up like that, I think it’s a little bit easier to keep the story going for a pretty long time, at least for me personally.
“As long as readers enjoy the story and we’re doing something fresh and original, something that’s got a little kick to it … I think we can probably do this for a long time.”