Ghost Racers

Ghost Racers #1-4

by Felipe Smith, Juan Gedeon (Illustrations), Juan Pablo Cuello Villanueva (Illustrator)

Dare you brave the hellish arena that provides the ultimate in adrenaline-fueled entertainment on Battleworld -- Arcade's Killiseum? It's the scorching-hot track where cursed souls race at the speed of sin, everything goes, and the only rule is: don't even think there are any rules! As Ghost Riders both fiendishly familiar and blazingly bizarre go skull-to-flaming-skull, first is first and anywhere else is nowhere. Robbie Reyes, Johnny Blaze, Dan Ketch, Carter Slade, Alejandra Blaze and Zero Cochrane assemble on the starting line! Choose your favorite, and watch them go to war! But on this track of treachery, can anyone truly emerge victorious? Plus: Johnny faces a classic Deathrace! And will Robbie Reyes fall in love with Ms. Marvel herself, Kamala Khan? Collecting GHOST RACERS #1-4, GHOST RIDER (1973) #35 and material from SECRET WARS: SECRET LOVE #1.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fantasy, Horror, Fiction

113 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 2016

About the author

Felipe Smith (フェリーペ・スミス)

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

In one battle world any person shown to have the power of ignition is sentenced to race in the Killiseum.

It's a life sentence.

Those who win get to go free until the next race,

those who don't get tortured or killed.

It seems Robbie Reyes and his spirit of ignition Eli plan to change that.

Ghost Racers is the story for fans of Ghost Rider and Death Race because it is without a doubt a mashup of the two stories. Arrested individuals forced into racing for their lives while in actuality they will never truly be free. The story was OK. Robbie Reyes and his brother Gabe were easy to sympathize with. The good guys were good and the bad were clearly bad. I liked seeing Ghost Riders face against one another.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the outskirts of Doomstadt, the capital city of Battleworld, the public enjoys death races featuring the Ghost Riders in the Killiseum! That’s all! Who’s gonna win? Who cares?

Ghost Racers is the kind of miniseries that would work best not as a miniseries but as a side note in a larger story. If I saw it mentioned in Secret Wars over a couple pages I’d think it was a cool detail but I wouldn’t need to know more about them. You know why? Because these guys just race. Race and fight each other. But they can’t die. No tension, no interest. But you instantly get the concept and, yes, it’s as shallow as it seems.

Writer Felipe Smith half-heartedly comes up with something about Arcade treating the losing Ghost Riders poorly but it’s so boring to read and utterly pointless, it’s impossible to give a damn. Juan Gedeon’s art is very, very weak. I kinda liked the design of Carter Slade whose Spirit of Vengeance turns him into a flaming centaur with miniguns strapped to his side (and how does that work exactly – can Ghost Riders merge with their steeds?!) but that’s about it.

I laughed when I read Gedeon’s artist’s notes at the back of the book. He’s very frank with the reader: he doesn’t like superheroes very much and knows nothing at all about any of the Ghost Riders - in fact he thought there was only one! You sure can pick ‘em, Marvel.

Also included was a short story from Secret Love #1 starring Robbie Reyes and Ms Marvel herself, Kamala Khan, that was kinda cute. Ghost Rider #35 from 1973 is also included so readers can experience Jim Starlin’s classic version of the characters - that lunatic should’ve really been scripting Ghost Racers, then we’d see some real carnage on the page!

Ghost Racers: flaming unnecessary.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid stuff by Felipe Smith and team. I really liked All-New GR and now with Ghost Racers tying up for the Secret Wars event, I just hope there's more stories to tell after the event.

Arcade has an arena with a bunch of familiar face from the past and some new, all Ghost Riders racing each other while an archangel of death by the side of Arcade, is "controlling" them to race and try to kill each other.

With Robbie always winning, Arcade just wants to completely kill him for once to raise the ratings for his tv show. And Robbie wants to escape (along with Eli ofc) and... things happen!

Great story and just an amazing colorful artwork. Action scenes are just awesome, fire, everywhere. Fun reading overall with a twist in the end and a satisfying ending.

If you like Ghost Rider, you'll like it!

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really much of fan of Marvel's company-wide mega-event cross-overs. They have a tendency to be all hype and publicity that rarely, if ever, actually deliver the goods. So for me to find myself interested in the spin-off tie-ins is even rarer and as I don't really count myself as a fan of Ghost Rider I was surprised when I found myself picking this series up. And Enjoying it.

I did enjoy the first arc of the latest incarnation of Ghost Rider and the covers by the phenomenal artist Francesco Francavilla was the final straw for me. Ok, this story isn't really for anyone except fans of Ghost Rider, pick your incarnation, or fans of the Secret Wars/Battleworld but it was fun. No real character development as in a couple months Marvel will reboot all their titles back to the old continuity much the way it was handled after every other universe-shaking company-wide mega-event cross-over before.

Am I jaded by all the loud-mouthed, jaw-flapping empty hype that the former House of Ideas has succumbed to? Yes. Most definitely. But that doesn't mean I don't still enjoy a free-wheeling, ride-like-the-devil comic book and that's exactly what Ghost Racers. Is this a great comic book? No. Is this a fun comic book? Hell yes, and the devil can have my soul if I'm lying.

[Sonic · Rating 1 out of 5]

No sir, I didn't like it.

[Alex Sarll]

On the world the divinely empowered Doctor Doom assembled from the last fragments of the multiverse, like any decent dystopia, the masses need a gory and explosive sport to keep them placated. So Arcade presides over unfair and incendiary races between various Ghost Riders, with Robbie Reyes the reigning champion and the losers horribly tortured. Artist Juan Gedeon is not someone I know well, but his name sounding close enough to Armageddon that it could pass for a 2000AD or superhero secret identity pun is not misleading: there are precious few people who can draw car (or motorbike, or zombie centaur) chases such that they work on a comics page, but he's got the knack. Also some nifty new designs – did I mention that zombie centaur has Gatling guns on his sides? And let's face it, the look of Ghost Rider(s) has generally been the best thing about the character(s): never mind all that am I an angel, am I a demon, angst bullshit, these are dudes with flaming skull heads, so why not just lean into that? "Live fast. Die hard. Race forever!"

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects Ghost Racers issues #1-4, material from Secret Wars: Secret Love issue #1, and Ghost Rider (1973) issue #35

This story is set during the events of "Secret Wars," however it doesn't tie into "Secret Wars" in such a way that makes it required reading for that series. With that being said, the story in this collection could only take place within the Battleworld of the 2015 "Secret Wars." With some significant tweaks, this could have also acted as its own "What If..." story.

I didn't love this, but I didn't hate it. My friend Daniel's review is so similar to my own thoughts on the book that, rather than rephrasing his statement here, I'm going to quote him:

"...I liked this mashup of all the (Ghost) Riders in a Death Race which gives us insight into the Bread and Circuses of Battleworld." -Daniel Butcher

Final rating = 2.5 stars

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 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.

[Emma Gear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly disappointed at how many people didn't seem to like this story cause I absolutely adored it. In 2015 Marvel ran the Secret Wars event and published a whole boatload of tie-in issues in the form of Battle World stories. In this any character who's ever been a Ghost Rider has to compete in the Ghost Races at the Killiseum run by Arcade and assisted by Zadkiel, who has the power to disable the spirits of vengeance and uses it to keep them in check.

And I loved it. Of course, I also absolutely adored Robbie's first series, All-New Ghost Rider and I'd recommend that one as well for a great introduction on the character and what makes him different from the other Ghost Riders, a plot point that is important in Ghost Racers. Zadkiel's powers only appear to work on the spirits of vengeance being housed in the others so it's up to Robbie to use his abilities to lead the other Ghost Riders to victory.

It's just great. The relationship between Robbie and Gabe takes top priority as any Ghost Racer who loses a race is tortured until the next one. It's also just nice to see Eli work with Robbie instead of against him, as the place he's in mentally and emotionally in Battle World is so radically different from the relatively happy, mundane life he lead in the normal universe. The end of each issue also has a fun bit of character design discussion from the lead artist, and while everyone's using the fact he admits to not being a huge follower of comics I think he still does a fantastic job on art and does a great bit of redesigning to fit the story.

My biggest complaint is honestly that it's only 4 issues long. I'd have loved to see a followup or something else after it ends, but for what it is it's definitely fun and one I whole heartedly recommend to any fans of Robbie Reyes.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book might have made a decent animated episode of a longer series. A one-off where we got to see various Ghost Riders competing for survival or rock star status or something. It's certianly not worth four issues of stories. Particularly when the first issue is almost exclusively a race but with uninteresting panel layouts, and character designs which the artist admits in the back matter he had no idea who he was drawing, why he was drawing them, or what their back stories where.

That's fine. I don't expect every writer and/or artist to be an expert in every series they work on, but this whole series felt empty. A big disappointment after All New Ghost Rider, which I had been enjoying.

There is no reason to read this book unless you really love all of the Ghost Riders but don't care if their actions make any sense in comparison to any of their previous experiences. It's a perfectly acceptable form of fandom, and I hope all of those people find this book and love it to pieces.

It wasn't for me.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sam pomysł - bomba. Naprawdę. Zebrać wszystkich Ghostriderów z historii Marvela i dać im się ścigać. Tyle, że wykonanie całości jest takie sobie i ustanowienia głównych bohaterem Robbie'go Reyes'a też chyba nie było dobrym pomysłem. A to dlatego, że łatwo domyśliłem się, jak potoczy się całość.

I tak było. Robbie się buntuje, jego brat jest zagrożony, a na koniec ten zły ginie z wyssaną duszą. Tyle, że to było nawet satysfakcjonujące. I za to ten plusik, bo lwia część komiksu jednak mnie troszeczkę nudziła, mimo że akcji dzieje się tutaj naprawdę dużo. Więc nie jestem w stanie określić, co się tu u licha zadziało.

Całość wygląda całkiem spoko, tyle że to nieco za mało, żeby była to nawet dobra lektura. Szczęśliwie na tym nie koniec. Mamy tu jeszcze team-up z Ms. Marvel oraz stareńki zeszycik z serii Ghost Rider, datowany na 1979 rok. Praktycznie kawałek historii, gdzie duch zemsty ściga się z samą śmiercią...

I tacy są Ghost Racers. Sporo bezsensownej akcji, która donikąd nie prowadzi plus wartościowa stara historia sprzed prawie 50 lat. Dla absolutnych fanatyków tego motywu.

[sia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i might be biased while writing this because this is one of my best friend's favorite character (robbie). the story was well written and while there isn't much a point of the story itself, like so, they race over and over again, they get tortured if they don't win, but they can't die... so it's basically the same thing all the time, the story was in fact interesting and while the plot wasn't necessarily strong it wasn't weak. it was an enjoyable read and felt very on point for secret wars, definitely a fun and interesting read. great action scenes and amazing colorful artwork, very compelling to the story.

this gave mario kart and hunger games major vibes, and in the best ways possible.

honestly something i didn't quite enjoy was how much gabe cried, but i can't judge too much because i would probably be crying too...

[Hogfather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess your interest in Ghost Racers will depend on whether you Robbie Reyes is your favorite Ghost Rider. I've always prefered Johnny Blaze because his origin story - that he is compelled to be the Ghost Rider by an ancient curse that he chose to accept - is more interesting to me than Reyes's story of accidentally becoming the Ghost Rider because he wants to help his brother. I'm just not compelled by the Reyes story because it's the same story we've seen over and over again going back to Spider-Man. And the story isn't particularly interesting either; it plays out like a cartoon. I think Reyes is the perfect incarnation of Ghost Rider for a younger audience; that's probably why he was created in the first place.

[Jean-Pierre Vidrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might not be the ideal story for bringing together multiple Ghost Riders, but it is fun. The story flies by as super fast as the title suggests. Juan Gedeon's art has plenty of energy, though sometimes during the chaotic action it is hard to tell what's going on. His "behind the scenes" pages show just how much thought and creativity he puts into character designs.
As usual with collections like these, the best part for me was the reprint of the older comic tossed in because of a similar theme and to give the book a longer page count.

[Jack Bumby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main story itself is pretty average - with some cool moments but art that makes it difficult to tell what's going on. But the book earns the extra star for a standout classic Ghost Rider story by Jim Starlin that's included as an extra. This excellent single issue sees Johnny Blaze in a race against death, literally. And it's almost worth the price of admission on its own (assuming the price is heavily discounted, as it was in my case).

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow! Who is this for? Marvel and Felipe Smith take everything cool about Ghost Rider and throw it in the trash. The Battleworlds storylines coming out of Secret Wars have been hit or miss and this was an enormous miss. The plot has little that makes sense and what does is insanely juvenile. The art was kinetic but too undefined. Overall, this big was just plain bad.

[Benja Calderon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las carreras de los Ghost Racers son una de las tantas entretenciones en Doomstadt, pero detrás de estas carreras solo hay explotación frente aquellos que tienen la mutación que los transforma en Ghost Racers y la actual figura, Robbie Reyes, no esta completamente dispuesto a ceder su puesto a la nueva novedad

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was pretty fun. It seemed to be just an excuse to show off different designs of flaming demon bikers -- essentially Twisted Metal if it were mostly trying to be all ages and a little more consistent in theme, right?

It's just a fluffy little diversion.

[Jon Scanlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, quick read. It, like most tie-ins to a major comic event, expects you to at least have some familiarity with the characters and backstory, but it does a good job filling in readers and a decent job standing on its own

[Justine Cucchi-Dietlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man Secret Wars sucked...interrupting my stories with apocalyptic events...

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. A little lackluster plotwise, but it's got cool action

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghost riders are used by Arcade to race in an arena in a area of Battleworld. Decent story.

[Jonny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you like the Fast/Furious movies? Do you wish all their rides were also on fire? Well, buddy, there is a comic book for that.

[Freyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo INTENTÉ ponerme al día con Marvel

[Kamen Rider Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yo como fan de Robbie reyes leyendo esto: Mmmmm mmmmmm migajas!

[James madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it. Like twisted metal meets death race but with ghost riders

[Simone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se volete leggere la mia recensione, cliccate qui! http://ascwblog.blogspot.it/2017/07/g...

[James Lawner · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5*

By far, the best Ghost Rider story I've ever read. And to think I wasn't going to read this!

This was so badass and so epic, I feel like this should be a movie (animated or live action, I don't mind either way). The artwork was pretty good, the writing was also good, but the best thing about this miniseries is seeing all the different Ghost Riders (There's even a gorilla and T-Rex Ghost Riders!) and the action scenes are just so fucking awesome! But one thing you have to understand is that this miniseries is a tie-in to Secret Wars (2015), and it doesn't follow directly after All-New Ghost Rider, because it kinda rewrites Robbie Reyes as living in Doomstadt instead of East LA and the kids that bullied his younger brother are now his friends :/ and that was kind of odd for me. Also, the synopsis mentions Johnny Blaze, but he wasn't actually in the story as far as I can tell.

Overall, A stellar miniseries with elements of Mad Max and Death Race. If you were left wanting more from All-New Ghost Rider, than this one you should definitely check out for more kick-assery and bad-assery.

[SmokingMirror · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like the Ghost Riders, this probably merits more than three stars. I'm surprised at the overall low rating for this title, because if you're really into this subsection of the Marvel Universe this is a solid four stars.

Robbie Reyes is a fun new character, seemingly created to appeal to adolescents or the equivalent. Give him a try if you want to see a new Ghost Rider with his own torments. He seems to have a dreamy appeal to young women.

It's nice to see that Arcade, one of my least favorite characters in all of comics, has updated his clothes and hair from the 1970s. Ugh, that leisure suit.

[Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon opening the first issue, I was reminded of two car films: Death Race and Death Proof, which both show violence in wheels.

This is the same feeling evoked by this Secret Wars spin off, and it is satisfying to see Ghost Rider-ish characters engaged in this kind of race. Plus, the Ignition Spirits.