Of all of the footage I saw at this year's San Diego Comic Con, I don't think anything impressed me more than Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Before the convention I could think of few things worse than sitting through a direct sequel to Mark Steven Johnson's 2007 film, but it turns out that I underestimated the raucous insanity of directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Even with The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man and more set to come out next year, the new superhero film has successfully piqued my interest and today we have our first look at the new film.

The Film Stage has received three scans from the upcoming issue of Empire Magazine, and the photos give audiences their first look at not only the Rider and Johnny Blaze, but also new addition Idris Elba, who made his comic book debut earlier this summer in Thor. For me the highlight of these pictures is the flaming skull, which finally looks natural and photorealistic, something you definitely can't say about the first film. Basically, it doesn't look like a skull that has been Photoshopped onto an image of fire.

Check out two of the shots below and the third over on The Film Stage.