On Sale Date: October 1991
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Kevin Dzubin
Letterer: Joe Rosen/Diana Albers
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter/Tom DeFalco
From their position in Nightmare's dream dimension, the Lord of Dreams shows Zarathos, the Ghost Rider, an image from Earth. Johnny Blaze is strapped down and unconscious, ready to be operated on by Renaldo's surgeons. The Ghost Rider asks why Nightmare has agreed to help rid him of Blaze, to which the demon replies that he has come across several mortals that were driven to nightmare by Zarathos. If the Ghost Rider were to ride unfettered through Earth, then he would be able to cause enough terror to feed Nightmare for all time.
Meanwhile, though his body lay unconscious on the operating table, Johnny's mind is trapped in the dream dimension, riding a motorcycle across a winding road of unreality. He hears a voice calling his name and decides to seek it out, eventually finding his deceased step-mother, Mona Simpson. Mona rejects Johnny's attempt to hug her, saying that he has broken the promise he made to her on her deathbed, that he would never ride in a cycle show again. Before Johnny can reply, he is interrupted by Elliot, the criminal formerly known as the Clown, whose mind was destroyed by the Ghost Rider. In the dream realm, Elliot has returned to his rightful mental state, but says that in the real world, he may never recover from what the Rider did to him. Suddenly, the two are startled by Zarathos, who races by on his hellcycle and grabs Mona, riding away with her deeper into the Dream Dimension. Johnny and Elliot get on Blaze's cycle to follow, with the former Clown acting as a guide to the realm. He takes Johnny to a cemetery, where he encounters the ghost of his father, Barton Blaze. The two race off on their cycles, where Barton calls his son a whining wash-out. When Blaze lays the blame on the demon inside him, Barton simply laughs, his skin burning away to reveal the skeletal face of Zarathos, and zooms off on the hellcycle.
Elliot calms down the distraught Johnny, who is desperately trying to make himself wake up. He takes Blaze to the top of a large mountain, to three men that can possibly help him. Dr. Strange, Daimon Hellstrom, and Dr. Druid offer no help at all, going so far as to call Johnny a coward and a disappointment. Blaze then finds himself in the hospital room of Crash Simpson, who is dying from cancer. When Blaze protests that he saved Crash from the cancer, he is then forced to relive Simpson's fatal motorcycle crash. As Simpson dies in his arms, he tells Johnny that he would have preferred the cancer. Crash then transforms into the Ghost Rider, still holding the screaming Mona Simpson, and disappears in a flash of hellfire.
Johnny and Elliot once again chase after Zarathos, but are again stopped by a person from Blaze's past. Johnny finds Roxanne Simpson, who fails to recognize him as the man she fell in love with. Another Blaze then appears, one that's well-dressed and wealthy, to whom Roxanne runs. This second Blaze transforms into Mephisto, devours Roxanne, and fades away. Elliot then points out the Ghost Rider, who is frying Mona with his hellfire. Swirling around the two are the souls of every person that Zarathos has punished, which Elliot blames on Johnny, saying that the Ghost Rider is directed by his own guilt and failures. Johnny leaps at Zarathos, determined to save Mona, but is instead burned by the hellfire himself. Strangely, Blaze does not resist the hellfire, but instead embraces it as punishment for all the souls he's damned in his life. Elliot then transforms into Nightmare and tells Zarathos that the mental wall between he and Blaze is gone, broken down along with Johnny's own sense of self-worth. Zarathos races out of the Dream Dimension, leaving Johnny to fry in a never-ending cycle of hellfire.
On Earth, just as the surgeons prepare to cut into Blaze's body, the Ghost Rider emerges and breaks free. Zarathos, uninhibited by Johnny's will, quickly slaughters the medical crew and Renaldo's small band of freaks. The demon then finds Renaldo himself hiding in the corner, afraid that Zarathos will burn him with hellfire again. The demon approaches and says that tearing Renaldo limb from limb would be much more interesting. Back in the Dream Dimension, Johnny writhes in the hellfire, completely defeated. Suddenly, the true spirit of Mona Simpson rises from the flames and tells Johnny that his ability to keep the demon restrained all these years has saved countless numbers of people, and that if he gives up now then Zarathos will have a free reign on Earth. Unwilling to let that happen, Johnny regains his will and dives through the hellfire, making it back to his motorcycle. As he rides toward the exit of the Dream Dimension, Nightmare attempts to block his path, but is unsuccessful. Johnny escapes, determined to wrest back control over his body. At that moment, back on Earth, the Ghost Rider prepares to deal Renaldo the death blow. Before he can, however, Johnny manages to fight his way back into possession of their form, stopping Zarathos spree of terror. Renaldo cowers on the floor, saying that he knows the demon will come back. Johnny simply replies "Not if I can help it."
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| Yep, dream logic! |
Johnny returns to the Quentin Carnival with the rambling Vincenzo in tow. Immediately, the two go to Ralph Quentin's trailer to warn him of what Renaldo told them, that his boss was coming to the Carnival. When he enters, Ralph is already in the presence of Renaldo's master, a small little man named the Freakmaster. Blaze confronts the man, demanding to know why he had Renaldo experiment on Vincenzo. The Freakmaster expresses deep regret and concern for what's happened, saying that Renaldo was working on his own without consent. He tells Blaze his story, about how he was born from two freakish parents who were mistreated by the Carnival owner they worked for, eventually perishing from the abuse. Deciding nobody should go through the same treatment, he has set up an island retreat for the freakish, so they can experience love amongst their own kind. After sending Renaldo to "rescue" Jeremy, he learned of the Carnival's money problems. The agent he sent to help Quentin, Steel Wind, was discovered to be just as imbalanced as Renaldo. Blaze leaves, though still suspicious of the man.
The next night, Vincenzo has a nightmare about what's going on in the Freakmaster's new freak tent in the center of the Carnival. Blaze sneaks inside, only to find a large room with schematics detailing how the Freakmaster plans to turn all the Carnival workers into man-made freaks. The villain enters the room, saying that he's glad he has the chance to get rid of Blaze so soon after his arrival. Four motorcycles roar into the room, half-man/half-machines like Renaldo wanted to turn Blaze into. When they attack, the Ghost Rider manages to force himself into control of Blaze's body. After a brief battle, Zarathos defeats the cycle-men, and then turns his attention to the Freakmaster. Ralph Quentin enters, telling the demon to take him instead. He was the owner of the Carnival where the Freakmaster's parents died, and that he deserves to suffer for what he did. The Ghost Rider pauses, unsure of which men deserves punishment more. In this moment of doubt, Blaze manages to wrest control from the demon. Johnny tells the Freakmaster to take his people and leave immediately, before Zarathos again regains control. The Freakmaster agrees to leave, happy that he's finally broke Ralph Quentin into never knowing peace.
The next day, as the freaks depart, Johnny attempts to talk to Quentin, but is ignored by the man. Before Blaze can follow, a voice from the past interrupts him. He turns to find Roxanne Simpson, his former love, standing behind him.
THE ROADMAP
This issue reprints Ghost Rider (1973) # 78 and Ghost Rider (1973) # 79.
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| Freakmaster freak out! |
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