By Faith Orcino
Arts and Entertainment Editor

Marvel once again shakes up its main universe with the All-New Marvel NOW! line of titles. Earlier this year, the publisher released a number of familiar titles such as She-Hulk, X-Force and Amazing Spider-Man but with new twists and creative teams in the helm.  In March, the Spirit of Vengeance returned to the shelves with a new vessel and a very sweet ride.

Writer Felipe Smith teamed up with artist Tradd Moore and colorist Val Staples to create action-packed stories in All-New Ghost Rider. The first issue brings readers to East Los Angeles, home of 18-year-old Robbie Reyes. Reyes works at one of the local auto shops, making what he can to take care of himself and his wheelchair-bound brother, Gabe. After a street race goes wrong, he becomes the new Ghost Rider when his mysterious killers abandon his body. Now he roams the street with his 1969 black Dodge Charger as his choice of transportation.

The combination of Moore and Staple’s art with Smith’s storytelling is perfect for the thrilling scenes in each issue. Tradd Moore has a lot of bold lines and motion in his illustrations, and Val Staples’s coloring gives it the perfect touch of texturing. The duo is a pair of Marvel veterans having worked on previous publications in the company, but Felipe Smith, the newcomer, has a lot of experience under his belt. In 2005 and 2010 he released two manga series that he wrote and illustrated. In a 2013 interview with Marvel.com during New York Comic-Con, Smith mentioned that his main focus of this comic will be on the character-development of Robbie, and putting readers in “the passenger seat of Ghost Rider‘s roaring, flaming super-charged racer.” Issue Seven will be out on Wednesday, Sept. 17, but new readers can catch up on the story with the first collected volume available now. For more information, visit Marvel.com.