Spirits of Vengeance #1: Review

      This is a pretty disappointing #1, seeming a little littered with cliches. The issue kicks off with a group of teenagers, acting young and dumb, encountering a scarecrow in the middle of a corn field. Seems like a case of some small town teens looking to find fun and themselves in the warm Midwest (I assume) weather. After a dare leading to one of the female characters kissing the scarecrow, it is knocked off of it's post left resting on the dirt. Quickly, seemingly randomly, that female character alongside a male character dart off towards a jeep they presumably drove into the field with, leaving the other couple, Kayla and Tyler, behind. After an awkward back and forth the remaining two characters establish that their friends are attempting to set them up as a couple, or possibly something with less commitment, with the woman, Kayla, not being interested. At this point in the issue the set up seems very cliché, a late teen/early college age group of friends out in the woods, or field, messing with something they shouldn't. As time as the remaining couple wait for their friends to return to retrieve them Kayla is frightened and jumps into Tyler's arms. At this point there is a very strange interaction that is embarrassingly sexual while also leading to an unnecessarily aggressive conclusion. This entire sequence struck me as a little out of place and only happening for the sake of bringing the story to where the writer wants it to be rather than where it would lead to naturally. The result is the scarecrow coming to life filled with some admittedly sick purple flames. After this reawakening Tyler is left injured, he and Kayla sprint out of the corn field, and the flaming scarecrow, Vengeance, crawls away only to be found by an ominous figure.

Cut to Johnny Blaze. He finds himself with the Sirens of Kronos bound by the chains. He questions them in search of a shell as the sirens attempt to seduce him. After a back and forth Zarathos is summoned leading to an enjoyable fight sequence that slightly suffers from the art of the issue. After Zarathos receives the shell the issue cuts back to Vengeance. 

Here we learn that Vengeance has a curious case of memory loss after being separated from Michael Badilino, a previous host. At this point Tyler's family ambush Vengeance and another fight sequence is initiated. The purple flames lead to some great colors in this sequence but the main attraction, in my opinion, is the random inclusion of.. a dinosaur. While initially I thought it was strange a group of rednecks and ol country boys would not be intimidated by a purple flaming skeleton, my attention was completely stolen by the question "Why would they have a dinosaur?" At this point the issue just felt.. goofy. It concludes with a run to Michael, also bound by chains, who hopefully tries to telepathically warn Vengeance not to save him as his captor's intentions are to use him as bait to capture Vengeance. 

I went into this issue with a pretty good feeling, Ben Percy's Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Final Vengeance weren't perfect but they were still fun to read. This series, however, starts on the wrong foot in my opinion. The art does not do this story any favors even if the colors were pretty enjoyable. The story itself seemed a little convoluted at the conclusion. It didn't feel cohesive but instead that the writer knew what things he wanted to happen and forced his hand a little to make the characters get to where they needed to be. I remain hopeful for this series to get better momentum as it continues but the next couple of issues will have to be a lot better to really win me over.