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| Cover Artist: Dick Ayers |
Original Price: $.12
Title: "The Macabre Menace of the Tarantula!"
Writer: Gary Friedrich
Artist: Dick Ayers
Inker: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Artie Simek
Colorist: None Credited
Editor: Stan Lee
SYNOPSIS
The Ghost Rider halts a group of rustlers from stealing a herd of cattle from some ranchers, then returns to his mountain hideout. Waiting for him is young Jamie Jacobs, the only person that knows the Ghost Rider is really school teacher Carter Slade. The Rider takes the opportunity to show Jacobs how he accomplishes his "supernatural" feats, using his blackout cape and a lantern that projects a ghostly image of himself. Meanwhile, the cattle rustlers return to their shack to find a masked man with a bullwhip named the Tarantula waiting for them. He shows off his prowess with the whip and declares himself the gang's leader, determined to prove that the Ghost Rider is merely a man and not a spirit.
The next morning, Slade and Jacobs are supervising the construction of the new schoolhouse. Ben Brooks and his sister Natalie talk to Slade about the Ghost Rider, with Ben convinced that the vigilante is really a villain that should be stopped. Natalie introduces Slade to her fiance, Clay Rider. That night, the Tarantula and his men ride into town and demand $100 a month from each settler, for "protection". Slade watches from the crowd while Tarantula leaves, saying he'll be back at sundown tomorrow. Ben Brooks is the only man who disagrees with paying the Tarantula, the other townspeople all afraid of their families being harmed. The following day, Slade falls from the roof of the schoolhouse and winds up in a hospital bed, though not seriously harmed (and given a good alibi for when the Ghost Rider shows up that night).
The Tarantula and his men return that night, and only Ben Brooks stands up to him. Before they can seriously harm Brooks the Ghost Rider appears and frightens away the gang of outlaws. The Tarantula is still convinced that the Rider is merely a man, not falling for any of the faux supernatural tricks the hero employs. When the Ghost Rider breaks the villain's bullwhip, however, the Tarantula grabs Natalie and threatens her life. Slade uses his black lariat to snare Natalie and lift her to safety, making it appear that he is using ghostly powers to make her fly into the air. While the Ghost Rider rescues Natalie, a frightened Tarantula escapes into the night. Ghost Rider leaves as well, returning to his hideout, while the townspeople convince Ben Brooks to become the sheriff of Bison Bend. Ben accepts and declares that he will bring the Ghost Rider in to face justice.
ANNOTATIONS
The Tarantula is revealed to be Clay Riley, Natalie's fiancé introduced this issue (as Clay "Rider"), in Western Gunfighters # 2. Riley appears as the Tarantula next in Ghost Rider (1973) # 50.
Carter Slade last appeared (as the Phantom Rider) in The Original Ghost Rider (1992) # 20.
This issue was reprinted in Night Rider # 2, where all instances of Ghost Rider's name were changed to "Night Rider" following the debut of Johnny Blaze.
REVIEW
The Ghost Rider fights his first proper villain in a second issue that's far superior to the previous debut.
With the origin story mercifully out of the way, the only exposition left for Friedrich and Ayers to give concerns the Ghost Rider's "powers" and how they work. They really hammer home that Slade's spook act is just that, an act, and it likely informed a lot of how Friedrich wrote the early Blaze stories where Johnny was pretending to be a for-real demon to scare his enemies. Of course, Johnny actually WAS a for-real demon with for-real demonic powers, and ol' Carter Slade is just a cowboy with spooky gimmicks.
This issue's plot is much tighter and works so much better than the mess from the first issue. We start off with the explanation of Slade's tricks, then get to see him implement each of them in turn when he fights the Tarantula. Sure, the Ghost Rider's "blackout cape" and "lantern projector" don't make a lick of scientific sense, and it definitely smacks of more stuff liberally stolen from the Rex Fury version, but it all works out in the end. The ghost shtick was the one thing Slade had to set him apart from all of the other Western heroes with books during this time, and gives the book a unique feel.
The Tarantula pretty much became Slade's default nemesis, as he's the only antagonist to make multiple appearances in the series and is the villain that appears during Johnny Blaze's trip to the past in the early 1980s. He's not much more than a "master criminal" with a mask, a gimmick, and a horrible Spanish accent, but I don't know. I kinda dig the Tarantula, if only for the fact that he's SO DEAD CERTAIN that the Ghost Rider is actually a man instead of a ghost. Granted, he's absolutely right, but with all of the evidence mounting against his theory while Carter uses every trick in his repertoire his maddening determination is actually endearing. Of course, the Tarantula is just Marvel trying to inject its superhero/supervillain formula onto a Western series, and most of the time that ended with failure (see all of the costumed nutbags that showed up in the pages of Kid Colt and Two-Gun Kid's comics around this time).
Dick Ayers turns in another yeoman art job that's once again marred by Vince Colletta's rough finishes. Still, the art looks miles better than it did in the first issue, perhaps Colletta had more time to work on this one than he did the one before? The Tarantula doesn't have the most gracious outfit, considering its colored plum purple, but Ayers works wonders with the Ghost Rider himself. That stark white outfit played against the black background is striking, and it really helps to sell the "vanishing body part" tricks.
I actually really enjoyed this issue, though keep in mind that it's definitely a product of its time.
Grade: B+
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