The Original Ghost Rider (1992) # 3

"Die, Die, My Daughter!"

Cover Date: September 1992; On Sale Date: July 1992

 

Writer: Gary Friedrich; Artist: Mike Ploog; Inker: Frank Monte; Letterer: Herb Cooper; Editor: Roy Thomas; Cover Artist: Andy Kubert

In the dressing room at Madison Square Garden, Curly (the deceased Crash Simpson reincarnated in a different body) prepares to kill his unconscious daughter with a large knife. Suddenly, Satan appears and tells his servant that Roxanne must be sacrificed in his temple, and only then will Crash regain his rightful body. Curly hides Roxanne in a large barrel and wheels her outside, where he catches a cab.

 

Elsewhere, the Ghost Rider tears down a deserted highway on his motorcycle, attempting to collect his thoughts. He is quickly spotted by a parked police car, who give chase after Blaze. Johnny weighs his options of either stopping and letting the police see him or running. He decides to try and escape, and speeds off into the night. After a harrowing chase, Blaze realizes that he won't easily lose the officers. He races toward a destroyed bridge, which he jumps on his cycle. The police, unable to pursue, state their disbelief at what they just witnessed. Later, the Ghost Rider seeks refuge in a cemetery, where he decides to stop and rest. Meanwhile, Curly arrives at the temple, where he tells his satanic followers to prepare a black mass. He takes Roxanne into the basement and lays her on a large altar, where she will be sacrificed at midnight.

 

Having fallen asleep in the cemetery, Blaze is awaken at dawn by his transformation back into his human form. Realizing what time it is, he races back to Madison Square Garden, where he is scheduled to perform another cycle show. An hour before the show, Johnny is told by his road manager, Bart Slade, that Roxanne has been missing since the night before. Blaze flies into a rage, threatening Bart that if he doesn't find Roxanne soon, he'll be fired. An hour later, at the start of the show, Johnny apologizes to Slade, unaware that the manager has plans to steal Roxanne away from him. After the show, Slade tells Blaze that one of the guards saw a curly-haired individual leaving the locker rooms the night before. Johnny realizes that it was Curly who took Roxanne, and decides to go find him as soon as it gets dark.

 

That night, the Ghost Rider busts into the hangout of Satan's Servants, Curly's cycle gang. The demonic biker traps the hoodlums in a ring of fire and commands that they tell him where to find Curly. They tell him that he hangs out at a strange church a few blocks away. At that moment, Curly and his followers prepare the altar for the black mass. They bring out Roxanne, who is dressed in ceremonial garb, and chain her to the altar. Curly snaps his fingers, and Roxanne awakens from her trance. As Curly begins to bear down on her with a large knife, Johnny rides down the stairs of the church on his motorcycle, melting the knife with a blast of hellfire. The cult members quickly scatter, but Johnny is quickly stopped in tracks by the appearance of Satan, who tells Johnny that only the death of his servant can stop her sacrifice. Both Blaze and Curly agree to a duel, but Satan then reveals his pawn's true form, that of Crash Simpson, and gives him a weapon: the flaming blade of Hell itself. Roxanne screams for Johnny not to hurt her father, but as Blaze says: "Either he dies -- or we do!"

 

"Secrets From Beyond the Grave"

Writer: Dan Slott; Artist: Dick Ayers; Letterer: Dick Ayers; Colorist: Ariane Lenshoek; Editor: Evan Skolnick

Cletus Brown digs his own grave until the Phantom Rider stops him. Cletus explains that he only has a few months to live and asks Phantom Rider what it's like to be dead. Phantom Rider reveals he's not actually a phantom and demonstrates his tricks to prove it. He tells Cletus to spend his last days with his family.

Hot pursuit!

THE ROADMAP

This issue is a reprint of Marvel Spotlight on Ghost Rider # 7.

 

This issue also included an all-new back-up story featuring the old western Ghost Rider, Carter Slade, now re-named the Phantom Rider as of West Coast Avengers # 19. Slade's last chronological appearance was in The Ghost Rider (1967) # 1.

 

Cletus records the Phantom Rider's secrets into a journal, and after he dies the new undertaker finds the journal and gives it to Sheriff Brown in The Original Ghost Rider (1992) # 6.

 

The synopsis for the Phantom Rider story comes from Ghost Rider: The Official Index to the Marvel Universe.

 

CHAIN REACTION

While the main story is a reprint, this issue also begins the regular series of back-up stories featuring the very first Ghost Rider, Carter Slade, now re-named the Phantom Rider to avoid confusion. 

 

If the series was to have new content, I'm not sure why Marvel didn't just go for a continuity implant series that featured "untold tales" of Johnny Blaze.  Anyone picking this series up because they were a 90s Ghost Rider fan was likely mighty perplexed by the cowboy story in the back, because without the characters sharing the Ghost Rider name there's really no connection between Blaze and Slade.  What does a guy on a horse in a ghost costume have to do with early 1970s Ghost Rider?  Absolutely nothing, which makes this a really bizarre choice.

 

Still, the Phantom Rider strips had art by the character's co-creator, Dick Ayers, who still does a great job on the strip 25 years after the original series.  Future Marvel superstar, Dan Slott (of Amazing Spider-Man fame these days) gives us a by-the-numbers introduction to Slade that kind of saps the character of anything remotely mysterious or interesting.  "I'm the Phantom Rider and this is how I pretend to be a ghost" doesn't really make for compelling storytelling, but I guess Slott did what he could with the 8 pages allotted to him.

"You're a g-g-g-ghost!"