Writer: Jason Aaron
Illustrator: Tony Moore
Genre: Superhero
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The Caretaker is dead, his granddaughter has taken up his mantle, and Johnny Blaze has had a revelation: he is not a weapon of Hell, but of Heaven. He is an agent of the rogue angel Zadkiel, as are his brother Danny Ketch and the other Spirits of Vengeance. Despite their intervention, Zadkiel and his host have sieged Heaven, sending reverberations felt throughout the world. Following their battle with the Divine, Blaze, Ketch, and the new Caretaker have parted ways, and the stories in Ghost Rider: Trials and Tribulations follows each of them as they try to find their way alone.

It’s rare that I buy the collected edition of any story arc, much less one from a main-universe on-going book from Marvel or DC, but Trials and Tribulations includes Ghost Rider #35, my favorite single issue of 2009. I have all of the issues, but the collected edition makes it easier to revisit Tony Moore’s twisted art and the brash swagger of Jason Aaron’s writing.