The New Defenders (1972) # 145-146

"Five Women" & "Fun!"

Cover Date: July & August 1985
On Sale Date: May & June 1985

Title: "Five Women"
Writer: Peter B. Gillis
Artist: Don Perlin
Inker: Art Nichols
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Colorist: Michelle Wrightson
Editor: Carl Potts
Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Mark Badger

A man and woman on a motorcycle drive through the New Mexico desert, diverting briefly from the highway to carve the word "Defenders" in the dirt with their bike.  They come across a military roadblock on the highway, but instead of stopping it they simply jump the bike over the barricade and continue on their way. 

At their hillside headquarters, the Defenders are reeling following a tragic battle with their former teammate, Moondragon.  The Angel has been blinded and Cloud severely injured, leaving only Iceman, the Beast, and the Gargoyle to assist the army with cleaning up the mess from the battle.  The military have been altered about the biker, claiming that whoever it is isn't human due to the way he was handling the motorcycle.  Later, while the Beast is attempting to provide medical treatment to Angel and Cloud, the holographic intruder alert system alerts him to the biker's approach.  While the couple on the motorcycle drive up the stone stairway to the Defenders' home, the military are attempting to make them stop by firing on them.  The holographic projections of various heroes with assault rifles causes the biker to drive straight through them, but a bullet hits the bike's tire, spilling the couple onto the stairway.  The Defenders come out ready to fight, but Iceman tells them to stop because he recognizes the biker: it's Johnny Blaze, the former Ghost Rider, with his girlfriend Roxanne.  Blaze tells him that since being freed from Zarathos he and Roxanne had just been driving across the country, but when she had a vision regarding his former teammates in the Champions being in danger they made their way to New Mexico. 

Days later, the Angel talks to Johnny and Roxanne while he convalesces, offering them both a job with the Defenders as a mechanic.  Johnny declines, saying that going back to the superhero lifestyle won't make him happy, but that the Defenders should continue on despite the tragedy of their last battle.  Roxanne mentions that they are in need of money, and Angels happily agrees to loan them money.  Not long after, Johnny and Roxanne decide to leave, with Iceman giving Blaze a t-shirt that reads "The New Defenders Weirdos Auxiliary".

That mountain lion is reading the hell out of that.

THE ROADMAP

Johnny Blaze and Roxanne Simpson last appeared in Ghost Rider (1973) # 81, where Johnny was freed from the demon Zarathos.

Johnny first met Angel and Iceman in The Champions (1974) # 1 and served on the short-lived superhero team with them, during the time he was in control of his Ghost Rider form.  He later attacked and nearly killed the Angel in Avengers (1963) # 214 during a fit of rage.

Using the money loaned to him by Warren Worthington III, Johnny will buy the Quentin Carnival, marry Roxanne and have two children, Craig and Emma.  Johnny will appear next in Ghost Rider (1990) # 10, where he sees news reports about a new Ghost Rider in New York City.

CHAIN REACTION

Two years after the end of his series, Johnny Blaze makes a return appearance courtesy of Peter Gillis and old friend Don Perlin.

The Defenders, the traditional "non-team" of superheroes consisting of characters like the Hulk and Dr. Strange, had gone through some pretty significant changes in the mid 1980s.  The team had become populated with former X-Men and Avengers while casting off all of its regular cast, maintaining only the Gargoyle and Valkyrie as the connecting tissue between the two eras.  They were more of a standard superhero team, but they still had a strangeness to them that other Marvel teams lacked.  For instance, the last two issues prior to this had seen the team facing off against their own teammate, Moondragon, who was possessed by the demonic "Dragon of the Moon".  The team was decimated, with most of the members believed dead or gravely injured, and that's where we pick up at the start of "Five Women". 

Ghost Rider had ended three years before this issue, and seeing Johnny Blaze (and Roxanne!) dusted off for a status check and guest-appearance was very, very cool.  This was the character's only appearance between Ghost Rider ending in 1983 and relaunching in 1990, and having him as just a motorcycle nomad that's living life for the first time is a great approach to the character.  Gillis really sells Blaze as this mysterious force that's riding a bike in a way that "he can't be human!"; the opening splash page with Johnny carving out "Defenders" in the dirt with his tires is a bit hokey, but the narration and art sell it without much difficulty.

Speaking of artwork, I wonder if Don Perlin didn't have a hand in bringing Blaze back for this appearance, since he had spent so many years as the artist on Ghost Rider.  Perlin's artwork is like an old blanket, every time I see it - especially his interpretation of Blaze, here bearded for the first time - I immediately feel comfortable.  Perlin's not quite the right artist for a straight-forward superhero series, but the Defenders is so dark and weird that Perlin fits right in naturally.  The second issue, which I included with the review for "Five Women" due to Blaze only appearing for two pages before shuffling off stage, is drawn by another Ghost Rider alumnus, Luke McDonnell.  His work compliments Perlin's perfectly, and I'd say it was down to Art Nichols keeping the artists' work similar to one another.

This story is such an odd curio of the time, but well worth tracking down for the rare Blaze appearance after the end of his series.

Johnny's last on-panel moment of happiness!