Felipe Smith Interview On Ghost Rider In LA

Though it says Tom Bryski behind him, it's really Felipe Smith

"I've only watched Drive once, on an airplane," that's what Felipe Smith said when we talked a bit about his high speed version of Ghost Rider at his booth at WonderCon. The dreaded terror, he has dreaded hair, not only writes the current Ghost Rider series set in LA, he's a character designer on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show on Nick.

With flames coming out of Robbie Reyes head this new Ghost Rider will be driving a 69' Dodge Charger around LA both real and fictional. Not to squash any toes, Robbie Reyes comes out of a fictional part of East LA, Hillrock Heights. "Definitely parts of LA will be real, other parts of LA will be fictional, " Felipe added.

On the topic of TMNT we high-fived over the in-jokes of Star Trek: The Animated series, Voltron and Star Wars hidden throughout the series. Felipe told of how everyone working on the show grew up with the turtles and wanted to make it special. When I brought up the upcoming live-action movie, "We've all seen turtles we haven't been a fan of, "Felipe said, which I couldn't agree more on with Mr. Smith.

When asked why he put the new Punisher in LA, Felipe answered, "I live in LA and I want to write about things I know." He lived in LA since 2001, left for Japan in 2008 and came back in 2012.

Felipe said Marvel asked only two things about the new Ghost Rider when got the series, that he would be younger and drive a car. Everything else was thought up by Felipe. So the location and ethnicity was all up to him.

He didn't even see changing the Ghost Rider's ethnicity to be so controversial, but he does see the posts online by people who do think it's a big change.

Felipe made it clear that this Ghost Rider is not Spirit of Vengeance. Johnny Blaze is alive and fighting on the Thunderbolts. Funny enough, he just left Hollywood after breaking character too much and going after to many corrupt execs. 

This is a new Ghost Rider. He mentioned new powers, which he wouldn't reveal, but it's not to fast to say this character will be very different from the Ghost Rider we know. 

After TTDILA mentioned the film Drive, we delved into Fast and the Furious, which Felipe has seen and said it has some inkling into the comic, it's more that it brought drag racing so foreword out in our society than it being a big part of thought in the comic.

Without any big spoilers Felipe left TTDILA with Robbie Reyes having a meet-up, "He'll be meeting a predecessor."

Check out the kinetic, high octane, LA based series as it comes out from Marvel and the brain-smashed-out-action, Mr. Hyde did it to some poor henchmen in issue # 2, of Felipe Smith.