Ghost Rider is one of those characters who never quite reached his true potential in my mind. A couple of writers have come close, most notably the always-excellent J.M. DeMatteis in the mid-80s, but most have found themselves hampered by the damned motorcycle, since high speed chases (even when they feature flaming-skulled stunt riders) are never quite as exciting on the comics page as they would be on the big screen. (Ironically, in a true tribute to the comics, Nicolas Cage and co. went out of their way to reflect this lack of excitement in their lamentable movie adaptation.)

The character was revived in the 90s as part of the grim 'n' gritty nadir of mainstream comics, steered to oblivion by Howard Mackie, the man responsible for some of the worst excesses of superhero dross in that woeful, must-be-forgotten decade.

There have been a couple of attempts to revive the title since, but nothing that particularly stuck until writer Daniel Way was given the character to relaunch a few years back. Way's approach brought a couple of intriguing hooks, most notably (and controversially) that Zadkiel, the demon behind Johnny Blaze's powers, was actually a renegade angel, making Ghost Rider a servant of heaven, not hell. However, though Way's book was fun in places, it was also quite a light and fast read. I never felt he nailed it. Enter Jason Aaron... and let the madness begin.

Using Way's renegade angel concept as a springboard, Aaron let's his imagination run wild, throwing in sexy kung fu nuns, demonic truck drivers, serial killers, chain gang thugs and a whole host of alternate religion Ghost Riders (since Blaze works for the Christian version of the deity, wouldn't it be cool if there was also be a Hindu Ghost Rider and a Buddhist Ghost Rider etc.?) He re-introduces a clutch of "classic" GR villains too, giving them an amusing, irreverent spin - most notably The Orb, who I always loved as a kid because his head is one giant eyeball, and who, under Aaron's watch, becomes a hyperactive chatterbox heading towards for a painful splinter...

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