In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Marvel’s motorcycle-riding, flame-haired hero, Ghost Rider, Benjamin Percy and Cory Smith will be bringing back the original hot rod himself, Johnny Blaze, this February in a brand new ongoing series.
In the new series, Johnny Blaze is now a man with a wife and two kids, and a job at an auto repair shop in a quiet small-town community. While everything on the surface seems fine, Blaze is still haunted by nightmares from his past, leading to a reunion with a familiar spirit of vengeance.
Percy considers himself a big horror fan, and certainly a fan of Ghost Rider. The writer “…grew up reading Stephen King, watching John Carpenter, and listening to Black Sabbath, and when it came to comics, I always reached first for the dark and weird which means I read a hell of a lot of Ghost Rider. That flaming skull. That spiked leather jacket. That monstrous bike coughing out clouds of sulfurous exhaust. To this day, the sight of the character blazing along a midnight highway makes my heart rev like a four-stroke engine.”
Percy always believes that “Ghost Rider is arguably the best designed, but inarguably, the most heavy metal character in all of comics. It would be badass to write this series at any point in my life, but launching on the 50th anniversary feels especially (un)holy.”
Artist Smith is “incredibly excited to be riding shotgun with Ben Percy as we bring Ghost Rider screaming into his 50th anniversary. As a comic nerd and a horror nerd, Ghost Rider has always been a favorite of mine so this project is a dream come true. Johnny Blaze, the Spirit of Vengeance is BACK. We’re firing on all cylinders and I can’t wait for everyone to see the hellfire we’re bringing! It’s about to get crazy!”
Look for Ghost Rider #1 on February 23 and check out our recent interview with Percy here.
