Cover Date: January 1981
On Sale Date: October 1980
Writer: Michael Fleisher
Artist: Don Perlin
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: Rob Carosella
Editor: Denny O'Neil
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky
On a mountainside road in New Mexico, an armored military convoy transporting the new Kronos missile finds itself in a perverse game of "chicken" with the Ghost Rider. With nowhere to swerve to but open air or a rocky cliff, the demon biker instead jumps the entire hundred-yard length of the convoy, clearing it completely and leaving the startled army men behind. Moments later, the Ghost Rider relinquishes his body back to Johnny Blaze, who returns to his abandoned motorcycle and heads toward the hundred-mile-enduro-race in nearby Shelbyville. While his bike isn't customized for off-road racing, Blaze hopes the race will at least give him the chance to practice for a comeback against Flagg Fargo.
Meanwhile, on a cliff side road outside of town, a demolitions crew blow up a large boulder that had rolled down onto the road. Having used too much dynamite, the two workers fail to realize that they've disturbed a hidden tomb, and the blast has uncovered one of three sarcophaguses. A beautiful young woman emerges from the crypt, thankful that she's finally free from the prison of stone that she and her sisters had been sealed in by Lord Kronos for their evil transgressions. Unable to free her sisters, Leucosia the siren steps onto the road and begins to sing - while the departing workers hear her song and become enchanted, wrecking their truck, and leaving it behind to follow the music.
In Shelbyville, the 100-mile Enduro-Classic kicks off, and Blaze arrives a mere sixty seconds after the race starts, forcing him to ride even faster to catch up to the riders ahead of him. The rest of the pack, now a mile and a half outside the town, approach the cavern of the Sirens, and Leucosia hears the engines. Needing more help to free her two sisters, the Siren sings again, causing the bikers to stop (and some to wreck) in order to follow the music. Moments later, Blaze rounds a corner and discovers a pile of abandoned bikes, causing him to go into a skid to stop from hitting them. Hitting an oil spill, Johnny and his bike fly off the steep cliff - and though he successfully rights the bike to land it, he hits his head on a rock, knocking him unconscious. Back in the cavern, Leucosia uses the mesmerized bikers to free her sisters from their tombs.
Later, Johnny finally wakes up, surprised to find both himself and his bike in decent shape. He rides back up the mountain to find out what happened to the other bikers and is spotted by the three Sirens, Leucosia now joined by Ligea and the younger Parthenope. The Sirens sing once again, intending to seduce Johnny, but before he succumbs to the spell, he triggers the transformation into the Ghost Rider, who is immune to the song. As the demon creates his flame cycle to ride toward them, the Sirens decide that he is a demon sent by Lord Kronos to destroy them, causing them to transform into bird-like harpies and flee. As he watches the women fly away, the Ghost Rider is attacked by the mesmerized bikers, who are easily evaded by the demon's supernatural bike.
A short while later, the Sirens come across the military convoy carrying the Kronos missile, and - believing the missile to be a weapon of Lord Kronos - bring the convoy to a stop with their song. The soldiers tell them that the missile is capable of destroying a target radius of 250 miles, so the Sirens decide to use it to destroy a city with Kronos' own weapon as a fitting act of vengeance for imprisoning them. Later, Johnny finds one of the jeeps attached to the convoy and questions the two men left inside, who tell him that the last thing they remember are three women signing before everything went blank. Blaze gets a bad feeling and heads off toward the San Jethro missile range. When he gets there, he finds all of the soldiers hypnotized while the Sirens launch the Kronos missile - its destination: Albuquerque. Blaze transforms into the Ghost Rider and rides after the Sirens, who again turn into their harpy forms. While the mesmerized soldiers attempt to stop the demon, the Ghost Rider simply ignores them and rides up the side of the launching tower. When he reaches the top, he leaps off his bike into the air, blasting the three Sirens with his hellfire, causing them to fall to the ground. As the Rider falls, he creates his flame cycle beneath him and lands safely. Inside the missile control station, the men awaken and realize that the missile's been fired. In order to save the city, they push the "abort" button, which causes it to explode in the air.
Later, back in the cavern crypt, the Ghost Rider reseals the Sirens within their tomb sarcophaguses. He then places another large sheet of rock in front of the entrance before riding off, vowing that the Sirens will never again be free to use their song against mankind.
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| How I look when I hear trap rap. |
CHAIN REACTION
To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 52 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!
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