Cover Date: March 1993; Publication Date: January 1993
Writer: Gary Friedrich; Artist: Jim Mooney; Inker: Syd Shores; Letterer: C. Jetter; Colorist: L. Lessmann; Editor: Roy Thomas; Cover Artist: Klaus Janson
Still on the road after fleeing from Copperhead Canyon, Johnny keeps experiencing visions of Slade's fiery crash. Roxanne attempts to help him, but Blaze instead loses all hope in their situation. Stopping the truck, Johnny gets out and screams for Satan to come claim his soul, that he's tired of running. As if on command, Linda Littletrees, the Witch Woman, appears in the sky.
Back at the Apache reservation, Daimon Hellstrom has arrived to try and help Linda. Realizing that night would soon be upon them, Daimon asks Sam to bind him and lock him in a room. They are not to release him until morning, no matter how he may plead later on.
In the desert, Linda agrees to take Johnny to Satan, but also decides to take Roxanne as well. Before anything can happen, the scene is interrupted by the roar of motorcycle engines. A biker gang, led by Big Daddy Dawson, surround the three. Linda snaps her fingers and teleports herself and Johnny away, leaving Roxanne in the hands of Dawson.
At the reservation, a hysterical Hellstrom demands that they unlock his door, for if they don't then Linda shall surely die. When Sam opens the door, he sees that Daimon has changed into something horrific. Linda and Johnny, meanwhile, arrive in Hell, where the woman reveals herself to actually be Satan in disguise. His demons hold Johnny down, but the netherlord is interrupted by some unseen person before he can take Blaze's soul.
"Who is the Phantom Rider?, Part 2"
Writer: Dan Slott; Artist: Dick Ayers; Letterer: Dave Sharpe; Colorist: Mike Worley; Editor: Evan Skolnick
Father Fulton fails to talk the Phantom Rider out of quitting. Sheriff Brown tells Jamie Jacobs and William that they're entitled to the reward on Angus O'Donnel. Jamie notices Cletus' journal in the sheriff's office and steals it, so the sheriff doesn't find out who the Phantom Rider is. Doc Peters announces that Angus wasn't murdered; he died of fright. Jamie and William go to the Phantom Rider's secret Cave to tell him he's not a killer, but he's not there.
THE ROADMAP
This issue is a reprint of Ghost Rider (1973) # 2.
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.
Phantom Rider told the dying Cletus Brown his secrets in The Original Ghost Rider (1992) # 3, and Sheriff Brown was given Cletus' journal 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
The Phantom Rider undergoes a crisis of conscience, echoing the storytelling of the 1960s perfectly.
Seriously, this is a story that could have easily been an issue of the Carter Slade Ghost Rider series way back in 1967. Slott and Ayers capture the charm of the Silver Age, which can't have been easy given that they only had 4 pages per installment to tell their story. Having Ayers on artwork helps considerably to recapture the tone of the classic Ghost Rider series, the man can draw a horse like nobody's business.
The truncated page count doesn't do the story any favors, though, as the characters have little time to develop outside of broad strokes. The Phantom Rider thinks he killed a man so he quits the hero game and disappears, that's a decision that seems to come really quickly for the character without much angst or hand wringing involved. The creators have to get to the point as quickly as possible, so there's no room for nuance.
I don't quite understand why the editors of this reprint series saw fit to put this serial in as a back-up, as it doesn't match with the tone of the reprinted stories at all. That doesn't make it a bad read, just a perplexing one.
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