wow. it seems nicholas cage is set to star in the film adaptation of my 2nd favorite superhero - the 1st is ol' peter parker - ghost rider. finally, hollywood has come around to it. to say i was obsessed with johnny blaze is an understatement. there was something sinister in blaze, unholy, that was thrilling, that sharpened the senses. an antihero, like clint eastwood's harry callahan, a bad guy who worked for good. i responded to blaze's desire for loneliness, his keening mission. that sort of thing was rather metaphysical, even, dare i say it [i can hear cleavon little whisper, dare! dare!] mystical, crazy as it sounds. i was one fucked up kid who loved comic books. even tho my favorite superhero was, and is, spiderman [because parker was ordinary, because he had to use his intellect - such as building a webshooter - because he had such a fine girlfriend] blaze was that other part of the human psyche: aloof, lonely as it covets loneliness, rapacious, with a touch of evil. if superheroes were poets parker would be dr. williams, blaze would be rimbaud.

now to the film itself. i've seen the teaser trailer some months ago. i don't know what to think, since the teaser was neither good nor bad. that it got my pulse racing was because the reality of seeing ghost rider on the screen in the flesh - or cgi - or whatever, seemed miraculous. nicholas cage is a good, charismatic lead. he's picked some turkeys to star in, esp. the recent, godawful national treasure, but for the most part, even in crap he, to this viewer, shines. now that hollywood is trawling thru the the back catalogs of the great publisher marvel comics is another lonely soul the silver surfer too far off.