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Marvel’s Ghost Rider is a character inexplicably tied to the 1970’s. The best treatments of the character have embraced this silly premise of a dude with a fire-laced whip riding a motorcycle beating up dudes. The upcoming Ghost Racers storyline is mixing the character up with a few friends, but keeping in tune with the psychedelic 70’s roots of the hero. The tale is one of those wackier Secret Wars tie-ins along the tune of Where Monsters Dwell – a previously announced Secret Wars comic with dinosaurs and World War I. The upcoming Ghost Racers comic book see’s a horde of Ghost Riders from several different eras teaming up together to kick butt.

The relatively new Ghost Rider Robbie Reyes is confirmed to play a role in the story alongside author Felipe Smith. Juan Gedeon is tackling pencils for the series that’s launching in June. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fantastic cover for the comic illustrated by Francesco Francavilla. While the details on plot for the series are limited as of this moment, Smith went to Newsarama where the story was announced for a fantastic quote on how to depict the visuals of racing when writing for another artist in a static medium. This advice will really come in handy for authors looking to write excellent craft and fans interested in taking a peek behind the curtain of the process within comics.

I see this a lot in articles; people commenting on how hard it is to depict motion (and racing) in comics as a medium. I can’t say that I really agree with that statement [laughs].

But I guess the key to doing it correctly is the pacing of your panels, the sizing and distribution of them across the page, and what moment of the described action you chose to depict visually.

The amount of things you choose to show and not show in a sequence is what determines how quickly the reader’s eye moves through the page and goes to the next one.

Races (and successful action) are fast-paced, and the key is guiding the reader’s eye quickly through the sequence, and then slowing his eye down during certain moments for visual payoffs.

Ghost Riders launches in June.

Felipe Smith/Darryl Makes Comics

Hip-hop pioneer Darryl McDaniels, a founding member of Run-DMC, who turned to comics for courage as a kid facing bullies in Hollis, Queens, has created a new superhero who takes the stage in DMC No. 1, the first in a new series of comic books from Darryl Makes Comics.

McDaniels told George Gene Gustines of the New York Times:

“I was a kid who had my lunch money taken away. …To get to my house was terror. Spider-Man took me to a place where everything was great. …Comic books were educational — they were empowering but also inspiring.

“I always wanted to do something with integrity. I didn’t want to be another rapper messing up another genre just because he has a hit record.”

Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, editor in chief of Darryl Makes Comics, noted the attention from a diverse fan base the comic book DMC was garnering at conventions like the recent Comic Con in Manhattan. “It’s Asian, it’s white, it’s Latino, it’s black, it’s 13-year-olds, it’s 63-year-olds.”

Bringing his vision DMC to the page, McDaniels worked with a team including Miranda-Rodriquez, Atlantic Records executive Riggs Morales, and story consultants Damion Scott and Ron Wimberly. The artists who bring DMC to life are Sal Buscema, Carlos Rodriquez aka Mare 139, Chase Conley, Jeff Stokely, Felipe Smith, Mark and Mike Davis aka The Madtwiinz, Shawn Crytal, Chris Sotomayor, and Deron Bennett.

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