Yippee-ai-oh, Yippee-ai-yay

They made a movie out of Ghost Rider.

Starring Nicolas Cage.

I am baffled.

Why Ghost Rider? Well, I guess because Nic Cage and Mark Steven Johnson, director of the truly wretched Daredevil movie, are fans. But beyond that, Marvel Comics will not rest until every character right down to Darkhawk and Power Pack has a movie of their own.* And they're definitely working their way down. I mean, Ghost Rider, for the love of Pete... I dug Ghost Rider when I was fourteen, but, well, I was fourteen. What could be cooler than a demon with a flaming skull for a head who rides a cool motorcycle when you're fourteen? But of all the interesting, quirky, fun characters they could be making a movie of...Ghost Rider?

Obviously, they've already got their all-stars out there in Spider-man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. After that, you've got a rock-solid B-list with characters like Captain America, Iron Man, the Mighty Thor, the Incredible Hulk and Daredevil. The C-list gives you some pretty good stuff, too: Dr. Strange, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Punisher. Any one of these could (and in some cases have) make a good movie. As two different versions of the Punisher illustrate, they can easily be made into bad movies, too.

But Ghost Rider? Think of it this way - if Spider-man is Elvis Presley, the Fantastic Four are the Beatles and the X-Men are the Rolling Stones, Ghost Rider is, at best, Zager and Evans. Of course, this makes the aforementioned Darkhawk (whose book I also read when I was fourteen, mind you) a bad Limp Bizkit cover band.


*Actually, I think Power Pack, if done right, could make a reasonably entertaining movie.