Because it doesn't matter what book comes out the same week as this. It could be a book about me getting superpowers and saving the world while getting to enjoy all of my sexual fantasies and win the lottery and it all could come true, and it still wouldn't hold a candle to this book. Every week it is BOOK OF THE WEEK. And this week is no different.

So this fine issue deals with the return of Danny Ketch. It doesn't sugar coat it, there it is, on the cover, on the front page, and the name of the issue. It's his Second Coming, and he's brought a few friends to the party. May I suggest busting out your wikipedia and getting to reading, because these characters haven't been around for awhile.

Doghead: A dog-headed man that looks more dog than man. The Orb: The all-new Orb. Dressed all in Evel Knievel stylings with a giant Eye for a head. Death Ninja: Pure badass. Such a cool name. Blackout: Super-vampire with really awesome abilities and very strange hair

That's your primer kiddies, and if I wasn't mistaken, I thought they were all killed previously, but do I care? Hell no, this is Ghost Rider. He's a fucking skull-headed demon killing people due to a deal with the devil/ Zadkiel (which is it? I still need to know) and people die in X-Men every issue and come back in the next, why the hell can't they come back in a universe like this?

Explain that to me, fanboy.

Anyways, so Zadkiel has dispatched Danny and his gang of Misfit Toys to find Caretaker and take him out, without killing him. That of course, leads to some badass moments that bring Sam Elliot's voice into my head every time Caretaker shoots at someone or says anything, and it makes think that this is how the
story goes. We get a little insight into the brain of Danny, and he doesn't know what he is. He used to be a hero, but now he's conflicted. He's not sure what he is or why he's doing what he's doing, but he thinks it's to save the world.

Doghead is the first one taken out by the Hellfire-Shotgun blasting badass that is Caretaker and that leads to a knock-down dragout inside Caretaker's cabin, with Death Ninja and the Orb the first inside. The way Caretaker takes Orb down is hilarious and just plain cool, and the booby traps make perfect sense. The
trophy room with the motorcycles and helmets and all the touches to continuity made me want to giggle like a schoolgirl (and I do believe one of the three bikes looks like Vengeance's, which I hope means something with Michael is coming up as well).

Death Ninja is taken out and is happy with the sweet release and then Blackout gets to turn the lights out and attack Caretaker. And a great moment happens between these two men which involves Caretaker questioning Blackout's lack of balls and then finding out, he really doesn't have any. Hilarious. That of course leads to Danny making his way inside and stopping Blackout from doing expressly what he was sent not to do and then Danny gets to screaming at Caretaker. Learns he was a mistake and never the real Ghost Rider. That he shouldn't have ever been Ghost Rider.

The whole cabin is burnt down, seemingly with Caretaker inside, and Danny leaves while mentioning that he feels the presence of Johnny. He's close.

Also, the bit with the nun looking for her grandfather leads me to believe that she will find Caretaker, learn he really is her grandfather, and then have to take over as the Caretaker. Which saddens me a little, but at least if that Caretaker is dead, I won't be confused and keep hearing the voice of Sam Elliot in my head every time I read this comic. Though her road trip and almost rape was a good touch. It puts her in touch with the awful world of the Ghost Rider and puts her in the path of Johnny, who warns her to leave as she wants no part in what he's about to do.

And the next issue name? The Nunchuk Nun Meets the Biker from Hell in: Vampire Terror in the Tennessee Hills is too perfect. It completely takes Aaron's promise to make Ghost Rider the craziest and most exciting book that Marvel publishes and pushes it into another category. This book is up there with some of the best runs of any artist/writer team on any comic. It's up there with Lee/Ditko on Spidey. It's up there with all the comics that get pulled out and mentioned as the books that defined a character.

This is that arc. This is that creative team. Aaron and Tan Eng Huat have taken this book so far out of the standard superhero fare while keeping it tethered to the old continuity and blessing it, proclaiming it alive and well, trying to make sense out of it, and making this book something so completely off-the-walls bananas that my brain wants to hurt if it didn't gush pride and honor for having met the writer recently and being completely taken back by his interest in the character.

I didn't think that there was another person in the world with the same devotion to Ghost Rider as me, but I was mistaken. Jason Aaron has made this a character that I can finally be happy to proclaim that I am a fan of. It's funny. He's the one character so vastly different from all the rest that has always been one of my favorites. I mean, how can you not like him? He's a flaming skull on a motorcycle that doles out vengeance and fights vampires and crazy zombie ninja. That is what makes for fine storytelling kids. This is the book that people should be reading and talking about. Not the big event comics. Not some new Crisis. Not some new bullshit that proclaims it will change everything ever.

This is the book that is changing it and making it better.

So Aaron, I salute you. Tan Eng Huat's artwork gets better with each and every page that pops out at your face. It takes a lot to make a character like the Orb look halfway realistic and I nearly believed a character like that could exist.

Goddammit I love this book. I could go on and on about how great it is. But take it from anyone you know who enjoys this book. It takes all the bad from the first ill-received and ill-conceived first 19 issues, washes it away in blood and sweat, and makes you wish that this was the team on every comic you read. They'd probably still consistently comically kick your balls in every issue and slap the taste of Bruce Jones comics right out of your mouth. This is the comic that regularly performs a Liu Kang bicycle kick into your face and never lets up until the fatality rolls across the screen.

READ THIS BOOK NOW! Or the Spirits of Vengeance will not be happy with you.