To get some context for today’s comic here is an interesting read.
EXCLUSIVE: Marvel’s Buckley & Quesada Speak On Gary Friedrich & Ghost Rider
Here is the original meme that this comic is based on.
There is a lesson to be learned in all this. If you are a creative type, read the legalese in your contract when someone is paying for your talent. We live in a day in age where we must agree to ‘terms’ on a regular basis that we typically scroll past or skip all together. When you are getting paid, triple and quadruple check the fine print, or pay a lawyer to do it for you. Look at how little the cast of the original Star Wars was paid in comparison to the amount of money that it made, except of course for Obi-Wan.
In the event you glaze over your contract and are shafted by your employer do what Todd McFarlane did, when you leave, reinvent your material. In McFarlane’s case he took Venom, changed it by about 40% or more, into what we know as Spawn, and started his own company. I pity Friedrich, not on how Marvel/Disney is treating him, c’mon throw him a bone, but that he stopped creating and found himself in a financial situation that he must win a lawsuit in order to pay the bills.
With all of this drama aside, Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengance is fun. Bear in mind that it is a B movie, relying on visuals and action. And, that Nicolas Cage is crazy, which is entertaining in its own way. It is enjoyable and much better than the first Ghost Rider.