Ghost Rider #7 Review

Written by: Peter David
Art by: Juanan Ramírez
Colors by: Federico Blee
Letters by: VC’s Ariana Maher
Cover art by: Mike McKone, Antonio Fabela
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 12, 2022

Ghost Rider #7 finds Johnny Blaze free of the entity that infected his mind. Now, Blackheart summons an echo of the entity’s remains to spew smoky hatred across the land. Meanwhile, Talia Warroad finds a new partner.

Is It Good?

Ghost Rider #7 is a middling issue that uses Johnny Blaze’s newfound freedom as an excuse to create a new enemy and pair Blaze up with Warroad for the coming conflict. Technically, all the pieces are falling into place, and the stakes should feel bigger than they do, but the issue is largely a thin setup chapter that aligns the characters in anticipation of a future conflict.

The issue is broken up into two threads. Thread number one centers on Johnny Blaze considering his newfound freedom from the demon taking up residence in his head when he runs afoul of Talia Warroad. She spikes Johnny’s coffee and uses his nap time to root around in his mind to find out where he’s been and what he’s done to decide if he’s a worthy partner.

Meanwhile, the excised entity reconstitutes itself into an exhaust-spewing echo that looks like a cross between Ghost Rider and Lord Zedd from the Power Rangers. The echo can infect civilians who infect others to form an army of echoes in service to Blackheart.

Individually, the pieces could be interesting when assembled in compelling ways. Unfortunately, the pieces aren’t assembled into anything resembling a compelling narrative. It’s all just moving the game pieces around on the board to prepare for the big fight.

Smith, Junior, and Valenza don’t have much to do in this issue as there isn’t a drop of action present, but they deliver an interesting character design in the Ghost Rider/Lord Zedd mashup named Exhaust. As a bonus, the montage flashbacks use creative panel layouts for a few gorgeous splash pages.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Final Thoughts:

Ghost Rider #7 is a serviceable issue that’s more setup than story. Blaze and Warroad are simply moved into place as partners to face what’s coming while Blackheart creates a new lieutenant that may or may not look cool, depending on your affinity for the Power Rangers. But for these two plot points, you could skip this issue and not miss anything.