rokhal

One of many reasons I love this character is that the design is SO WEIRD. Like all good art, the comic takes a while to get used to, and this Ghost Rider is part of that. Look at this thing. Just.

Ok, since Danny Ketch/Noble Kale hit the comic scene in the nineties with the black leather and spikes, that’s become the Iconic Ghost Rider Design. Completely supplanting Johnny Blaze’s old black-or-blue racing jumpsuit, which wasn’t really Ghost Rider’s gear so much as Johnny clinging to his glory days; after transforming, Ghost Rider was just a burning skeleton that wore whatever Johnny was wearing–though it would find and put on the racing leathers because it thought they were the only cool thing Johnny owned. But now since the 2000's Johnny has spikes. He never used to have spikes. Everybody has spikes. What?

Anyway, this is new and old at the same time. This is a return to Ghost Rider’s costume being a functional piece of gear -- protective clothing designed for use with the vehicle. And it’s a different look. It’s sleek. Robbie’s a young man, he’s not bulky. For a Ghost Rider, he’s sneaky. It fits. There’s nothing extra on here.

And the skull. The most obvious piece of weirdness.

This looks like what you’d get if you asked THE CAR to design the next Ghost Rider. Like,

“Okay, here we go. Humans have teeth, there’s the teeth. Then–exposed parts! There’s the human’s front bumper! There’s the rims! Chrome everything, except the back of the skull–paint it black!
“Fire! We can’t have fire coming out every which way, that’s not healthy. We need dedicated vents! A front blower! Exhaust vents in the back! When he’s really running hot, occasionally fire might leak out the mouth-hole!
“Oh, and the clothing. Gotta be real special. A racing jumpsuit! Leather! Kevlar! Steel! What’s a zipper? We don’t need those!
“Oh, boy, this is gonna be badass! That’s how you make a Ghost Rider!”

Like, okay, Car. You do you.

(I headcanon, and the comic strongly implies, that since Robbie died, he came back as an extension of the car. He is the car. His ghost form looks like it’s made out of the car. Is his human body even real? When he’s threatened, we haven’t seen the car teleport to him, but when the car gets jacked, he burns up out of a sound sleep and teleports literally into the metal of the car. I think the car has the most weight in this symbiosis.)