Fantastic Four #13 – The Spirit of Vengence*

Fear the Fantastic Four!!! Wait, that’s not right. No one fears the Fantastic Four, but many fear the Spirit of Vengeance. Bothered by ole Scratch, Johnny Storm hatches an idea. The idea, a. unique mix of his and his sister’s powers, will let him imitate The Ghost Rider. Using this false Ghost Rider, he will strike fear into the folks like Ole Scratch, who just won’t let the Fantastic Four be. What happens, though, if one of their biggest enemies sees through the facade?

This review is brought to you by Nerd Initiative’s Shawn!

Creative Team

Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Color Artist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Writing

Ryan North continues to surprise me. This was yet another fun self-contained Fantastic Four story. I really enjoyed the sibling adventures of Johnny and Sue. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Fantastic Four without Reed taking something meant for fun and making it a challenge. This issue had a little bit of everything. North gave us some family time, some tension, and even some love.

I don’t know where North came up with the idea of Johnny and Sue Storm teaming up to cosplay as the Ghost Rider, but it was such a fun thing to see. Despite how crazy it sounds as an idea, it also feels perfectly like what Johnny Storm would come up with in his free time. Some people have hobbies for their free time, and Johnny Storm thinks about new ways to get the gang into trouble. It was nice to see that with Doom occupied in hell, North is making use of some of the other Fantastic Four villains to bide the time.

Art

Andrea Sorrentino, Edgar Delgado, and Joe Caramagna did a really good job with this issue. Sorrentino had a tall task ahead of him as Ghost Rider is not often someone you expect to pop up in a Fantastic Four comic. Still, Sorrentino gave us a beautiful rendering of the Spirit of Vengeance in this issue. He manages to capture all of the Fantastic Four perfectly, keeping the small unique details imparted to the characters on this run by Ramos but making sure to put his own unique spin on it.

This issue works in part as well as it does because Edgar Delgado does such an amazing job on colors. He manages to capture not only the aura of Ghost Rider, but does so with just enough to distinguish it and make sure you know you’re not seeing the real Ghost Rider but a very carefully planned replica. Delgado does his best work this issue coloring the Wizard making him look more terrifying and as significant a foe as I can ever remember him looking in a Fantastic Four comic. Joe Caramagna does a great job helping the story move along and perfectly capturing the sibling banter between Sue and Johnny. You can almost feel the mom in Sue coming out sometimes through Caramagna’s word bubbles.

Final Thoughts

I wasn’t sure how these self-contained issues would work in a world where we’ve gotten used to 3-5 issue arcs, but man, have they been fun. Last issue, it was Reed and Johnny sent back to Rome, now we’ve got sibling hijinks. This issue was fun, entertaining, and just an all around great Fantastic Four story.

Overall Grade: 10 / 10

What did you think of Ghost Rider Johnny Storm? Let me know in the comments