I’m feeling so negative toward Marvel right now because of the Fantastic Four 2 debacle. As the opening credits of Ghost Rider were running, I was thinking, “I really don’t want to hate this. I want to like it, even just a little bit.” This time, that wasn’t too tall of an order: I liked Ghost Rider a little bit. I didn’t have those same thoughts during Hellboy: Blood and Iron, I guess because Hellboy has never disappointed me.
Ghost Rider was really good up until Johnny Blaze became the Ghost Rider. Then it came to a screeching halt and got really silly and kinda boring. There were still some cool moments, such as Johnny’s first transformation into the Ghost Rider, riding down the side of the building, and the two Ghost Riders tearing down the highway side by side.
Blackheart, the villain, was the bastard child of Veruka Salt and Draco Malfoy and was about as threatening as the goth kids hanging out at the mall. Ghost Rider’s battles with Blackheart’s earth, wind and water goons were anti-climactic. It’s just watching a firey guy slap around some whiny, entitled goth kids.
Ghost Rider has the same problems as most comic book origin stories: too much time with background and boring set up, not enough time actually fighting evil. It wasn’t as bad as Fantasic Four 2 or Catwoman, but nowhere near as good as Batman Begins.
Or as good as Hellboy: Blood and Iron. This animated movie has a haunted house, a vampire, werewolves, a witch goddess, all while the BPRD hazes a new agent and frets over Professor Broom’s health.
It’s also not a simple, one dimensional story. The main story of the BPRD’s hunt for vampire Erzsebet Ondrushko, is layered with Professor Broom’s original hunt for the vampire in 1939 The main story starts at the beginning, while the Young Broom’s story starts at the end and works its way back. Both stories support each other equally without getting confusing or tedious. That’s more complex storytelling than we see in most movies, especially movies based on comic books.
The only real problem I saw with Hellboy: Blood and Iron is the sudden appearance of Hecate, which seemed to come out of nowhere. She acts more like a monster than a goddess, but she and Hellboy put up an good fight and lots of stuff gets smashed.
However, the animated characters still managed to have more of an emotional range than Nick Cage and the goth posse in Ghost Rider. Also, Marvel doesn’t seem to realize it, but stories matter. Hellboy has a good story; all Ghost Rider has is a flaming chopper. Hellboy: Blood and Iron wins this match.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
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