On Sale Date: May 1991
Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Josef Rubinstein & Dave Simons
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky
The next morning, a drunk Harry drives his truck into the Carnival and attacks Blaze, who he thinks must have kidnapped Shirley. Mr. Quentin is able to drive the drunkard away at gunpoint and Harry leaves in his truck. Afterward, Corky is given a telegram that's from his son, saying he is coming to the Carnival. That night, Johnny Blaze goes out for his cycle show, and Shirley and Burt are again in the stands watching as a couple. Harry, still drunk, drives onto the hilltop overlooking the carnival with a rifle, intending to shoot Blaze. When he pulls the trigger, however, he realizes that the gun has no bullets. He sees the construction equipment on the hill and walks toward it, an idea coming to his drunken mind.
Down below, Blaze is performing when Harry busts through the carnival stands in a giant earthmover. Blaze attempts to ride around the machine, keeping it from hurting any innocent people, but soon finds himself boxed in. He attempts to jump the earthmover on his bike, but is unable to clear it and finds himself hanging for his life on the front of the machine. Harry drives the earthmover out of the carnival and into the desert, followed by Shirley and Burt in their car, having recognized Harry as the driver. To save himself, Blaze has no choice but to transform into the Ghost Rider, who attacks Harry in the cockpit of the machine. In pursuit, Burt's car hits a rock, which causes Shirley to be thrown from the vehicle. The Ghost Rider takes control of the earthmover and spins it around, this time with Harry hanging on the side, and they see Burt and an unconscious Shirley directly in their path. While Burt runs away, leaving Shirley behind, Harry fights back against the Ghost Rider to save the girl's life. Ghost Rider rips the steering wheel out of the machine while simultaneously slamming on the brake, stopping the earthmover right before it reaches Shirley. Harry is thrown from the vehicle to the ground below, and he's immediately grabbed by the Ghost Rider, who fries him with hellfire. His desire for vengeance sated, Ghost Rider returns control to Johnny Blaze, who is faced with the cowering Harry. While Johnny is guilt-ridden over what has happened, he doesn't realize that the Ghost Rider's hellfire will have had a positive impact on Harry's life, causing him to think twice before drinking or losing his temper, in effect driving out his own personal demon.
In a rare moment of perfect synchronicity, Marvel was really jumping on the Ghost Rider bandwagon once the Howard Mackie/Javier Saltares/Mark Texeira series proved to be a financial juggernaut. The book's success allowed Mackie more creative control over the series, and he was quickly preparing to bring Johnny Blaze into the series as a supporting character. To bring new readers (of which there were many at the time, this was the early 1990s when kids were still reading comics) up to speed, Marvel published this series, and it worked perfectly to help reintroduce Blaze.
The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again (here-after referred to as TOGRRA for brevity's sake) was a 7-issue mini-series that reprinted the last 14 issues of the original Blaze Ghost Rider series, with two classic issues being reprinted per new issue's release. They chose to start with the absolute perfect place, namely the origin retelling by Roger Stern and Bob Budiansky, whose run would kickstart the series finale and undoubtedly the best run of comics the character has ever seen. Mackie was playing off of and reintroducing so much of the mythology introduced in these 14 issues, and it allowed new Ghost Rider fans the opportunity to read those comics each month while Blaze was becoming a viable character once again.
I've said so many times on the blog that every Ghost Rider fan needs to read the 14 issue run that began with the comics in this issue. Due to the book's slip in sales in the early 1980s, some of these comics were increasingly difficult to find in the back issue market, so having a mass-produced reprint series makes it a whole lot easier to track them down. I'd even say that tracking these down in place of the black-and-white Essential Ghost Rider vol. 4, which reprints the same run, is a smart bet due to the presentation of the comics and the colors (which had to have been touched up prior to the reprint's release, because they look so much better than the originals).
During a late night thunderstorm, a priest walks through his church with candle in hand. He hears the doors creak open, and when he turns he finds a lone man standing in the archway. The priest asks who is there, unable to see him with the power out due to the storm. Johnny Blaze walks in an apologizes for startling him, then says that he guesses he's looking for sanctuary. He was out on his bike when the storm took him by surprise. The priest, still shaken, invites Johnny inside and provides more light with some candles. Johnny notices that the ornaments in the church are all made from solid gold, but the priest dodges the statement by asking if Johnny needs any guidance. Johnny reluctantly acquiesces and says he'd like to make a confession. The priest agrees and leads Blaze into the confessional booth, the two men separated by a steel gate.
Johnny, unsure of how to begin, goes back to the beginning for his confession. He tells the priest about his father dying and him then being adopted by Crash and Mona Simpson. As he grew older, he began to practice for inclusion in his foster parents' cycle show...until one day, when a bike accident killed Mona. On her deathbed, Mona asks Johnny never to ride in the show, to which her agrees. Johnny then explains that after Mona's death he began to go in weird directions. Taking a heavy interest in the occult, he was disgusted by most of what he read and went back to simple mechanic work for the cycle show, keeping his promise. He told neither Crash nor Roxanne Simpson, their daughter and the woman that Blaze loved, making them think he was a coward. It hit Johnny that while he vowed never to ride in the show, that didn't mean he couldn't ride for the sheer thrill of it...so he began to practice at night until finally being discovered by Roxanne. While the cycle show grew in popularity, Crash was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Blaze tells the priest that there was nothing anyone could do...anyone except him.
Going back to the occult books, Blaze contacted Satan himself and offered the demon his soul in exchange for Crash's life being spared from the cancer. The next night, however, Crash died anyway - not from the disease but from a motorcycle accident. The next night, Satan came calling for Johnny's soul, but was interrupted by Roxanne, who chants a spell read from Blaze's books that drove Satan away. In the confessional, Johnny breaks down, saying that Roxanne saved his soul and he doesn't even know now if she's alive or dead.
The priest tries to calm Blaze by saying the devil was merely a delusion, to which Johnny snaps back that he wishes he was crazy. He tells the priest about the Ghost Rider, a demon taken from Hell and bonded to his soul, and about the hellfire at the demon's command. Johnny is locked in a constant struggle against the Ghost Rider, but he admits that there are times he wants to set the demon loose to give the guilty what they deserve. He then tells the priest that tonight he came across a man laying in a ditch. A man left for dead...a man that was a priest. Before the man died, he told Johnny that his murderer had stolen his clothing, which had puzzled him until he saw all of the gold in the church. As the "priest" removes a gun from his jacket, an intense light begins to glow through the grate separating the confessional booths...and suddenly a flaming skeletal hand comes ripping through the grate.
The murderer runs from the confessional, chased by the Ghost Rider. As he runs out the front door, the "priest" steals Blaze's motorcycle and rides off, only to see the Ghost Rider - on his hellfire cycle - right behind him. After a frantic chase across the countryside, the killer is eventually knocked off the road and falls onto train tracks, his arm painfully lodged between the steel rails. As a train bears down on him, the Ghost Rider appears and frees his arm. The demon says that "death is too good for you"...and then fries the man with hellfire.
The next morning, paramedics and police pull the man up to the road on a stretcher. He is paralyzed by fear, his mouth wide open but no sound coming out. Johnny Blaze talks with one of the police, who tells Johnny that while normally he'd hold him for questioning they just found out that the victim is wanted for a string of thefts and the murder of a priest. The cop asks what would possess a man to do such a thing, to which Johnny replies "a man can have a lot of demons locked up inside of him".
Johnny, unsure of how to begin, goes back to the beginning for his confession. He tells the priest about his father dying and him then being adopted by Crash and Mona Simpson. As he grew older, he began to practice for inclusion in his foster parents' cycle show...until one day, when a bike accident killed Mona. On her deathbed, Mona asks Johnny never to ride in the show, to which her agrees. Johnny then explains that after Mona's death he began to go in weird directions. Taking a heavy interest in the occult, he was disgusted by most of what he read and went back to simple mechanic work for the cycle show, keeping his promise. He told neither Crash nor Roxanne Simpson, their daughter and the woman that Blaze loved, making them think he was a coward. It hit Johnny that while he vowed never to ride in the show, that didn't mean he couldn't ride for the sheer thrill of it...so he began to practice at night until finally being discovered by Roxanne. While the cycle show grew in popularity, Crash was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Blaze tells the priest that there was nothing anyone could do...anyone except him.
Going back to the occult books, Blaze contacted Satan himself and offered the demon his soul in exchange for Crash's life being spared from the cancer. The next night, however, Crash died anyway - not from the disease but from a motorcycle accident. The next night, Satan came calling for Johnny's soul, but was interrupted by Roxanne, who chants a spell read from Blaze's books that drove Satan away. In the confessional, Johnny breaks down, saying that Roxanne saved his soul and he doesn't even know now if she's alive or dead.
The priest tries to calm Blaze by saying the devil was merely a delusion, to which Johnny snaps back that he wishes he was crazy. He tells the priest about the Ghost Rider, a demon taken from Hell and bonded to his soul, and about the hellfire at the demon's command. Johnny is locked in a constant struggle against the Ghost Rider, but he admits that there are times he wants to set the demon loose to give the guilty what they deserve. He then tells the priest that tonight he came across a man laying in a ditch. A man left for dead...a man that was a priest. Before the man died, he told Johnny that his murderer had stolen his clothing, which had puzzled him until he saw all of the gold in the church. As the "priest" removes a gun from his jacket, an intense light begins to glow through the grate separating the confessional booths...and suddenly a flaming skeletal hand comes ripping through the grate.
The murderer runs from the confessional, chased by the Ghost Rider. As he runs out the front door, the "priest" steals Blaze's motorcycle and rides off, only to see the Ghost Rider - on his hellfire cycle - right behind him. After a frantic chase across the countryside, the killer is eventually knocked off the road and falls onto train tracks, his arm painfully lodged between the steel rails. As a train bears down on him, the Ghost Rider appears and frees his arm. The demon says that "death is too good for you"...and then fries the man with hellfire.
The next morning, paramedics and police pull the man up to the road on a stretcher. He is paralyzed by fear, his mouth wide open but no sound coming out. Johnny Blaze talks with one of the police, who tells Johnny that while normally he'd hold him for questioning they just found out that the victim is wanted for a string of thefts and the murder of a priest. The cop asks what would possess a man to do such a thing, to which Johnny replies "a man can have a lot of demons locked up inside of him".
 |
| Mirror scenes are the best scenes! |
While on a nighttime ride through the countryside, the Ghost Rider is seen and pursued by a motorcycle policeman. After causing the officer to crash, the Ghost Rider tells him that not everyone that has raced against him has walked away with their soul intact. The Ghost Rider returns to the Quentin Carnival, stopping on a hilltop overlook that is filled with construction equipment. The demon briefly entertains the idea of attacking the Carnival, but Johnny Blaze is able to wrest control of his body back. He goes down to the Carnival and changes into his costume just in time for his set to start, fielding questions from Corky the clown about a telegram Johnny had agreed to mail to his "famous circus clown" son. Red Fowler assists Johnny with his bike before Blaze goes out to perform, and Red thinks to himself about Johnny being the Ghost Rider, though Blaze is unaware that Red knows. In the crowd watching Johnny's performance are three people: Harry Donovon, his girlfriend Shirley, and their mutual friend Burt. After the show, Harry decides to hit up a local bar, while Shirley stays with Burt to get Blaze's autograph. Burt and Shirley decide not to join Harry at the bar, deciding that they would rather spend time with one another at the Carnival.
The next morning, a drunk Harry drives his truck into the Carnival and attacks Blaze, who he thinks must have kidnapped Shirley. Mr. Quentin is able to drive the drunkard away at gunpoint and Harry leaves in his truck. Afterward, Corky is given a telegram that's from his son, saying he is coming to the Carnival. That night, Johnny Blaze goes out for his cycle show, and Shirley and Burt are again in the stands watching as a couple. Harry, still drunk, drives onto the hilltop overlooking the carnival with a rifle, intending to shoot Blaze. When he pulls the trigger, however, he realizes that the gun has no bullets. He sees the construction equipment on the hill and walks toward it, an idea coming to his drunken mind.
Down below, Blaze is performing when Harry busts through the carnival stands in a giant earthmover. Blaze attempts to ride around the machine, keeping it from hurting any innocent people, but soon finds himself boxed in. He attempts to jump the earthmover on his bike, but is unable to clear it and finds himself hanging for his life on the front of the machine. Harry drives the earthmover out of the carnival and into the desert, followed by Shirley and Burt in their car, having recognized Harry as the driver. To save himself, Blaze has no choice but to transform into the Ghost Rider, who attacks Harry in the cockpit of the machine. In pursuit, Burt's car hits a rock, which causes Shirley to be thrown from the vehicle. The Ghost Rider takes control of the earthmover and spins it around, this time with Harry hanging on the side, and they see Burt and an unconscious Shirley directly in their path. While Burt runs away, leaving Shirley behind, Harry fights back against the Ghost Rider to save the girl's life. Ghost Rider rips the steering wheel out of the machine while simultaneously slamming on the brake, stopping the earthmover right before it reaches Shirley. Harry is thrown from the vehicle to the ground below, and he's immediately grabbed by the Ghost Rider, who fries him with hellfire. His desire for vengeance sated, Ghost Rider returns control to Johnny Blaze, who is faced with the cowering Harry. While Johnny is guilt-ridden over what has happened, he doesn't realize that the Ghost Rider's hellfire will have had a positive impact on Harry's life, causing him to think twice before drinking or losing his temper, in effect driving out his own personal demon.
THE ROADMAP
This issue reprints Ghost Rider (1973) # 68 and Ghost Rider (1973) # 69.
CHAIN REACTION
As the 1990s relaunch of Ghost Rider soars in popularity and sales, Marvel reaches back into its back catalogue to expose new readers to the very best of Johnny Blaze.
In a rare moment of perfect synchronicity, Marvel was really jumping on the Ghost Rider bandwagon once the Howard Mackie/Javier Saltares/Mark Texeira series proved to be a financial juggernaut. The book's success allowed Mackie more creative control over the series, and he was quickly preparing to bring Johnny Blaze into the series as a supporting character. To bring new readers (of which there were many at the time, this was the early 1990s when kids were still reading comics) up to speed, Marvel published this series, and it worked perfectly to help reintroduce Blaze.
The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again (here-after referred to as TOGRRA for brevity's sake) was a 7-issue mini-series that reprinted the last 14 issues of the original Blaze Ghost Rider series, with two classic issues being reprinted per new issue's release. They chose to start with the absolute perfect place, namely the origin retelling by Roger Stern and Bob Budiansky, whose run would kickstart the series finale and undoubtedly the best run of comics the character has ever seen. Mackie was playing off of and reintroducing so much of the mythology introduced in these 14 issues, and it allowed new Ghost Rider fans the opportunity to read those comics each month while Blaze was becoming a viable character once again.
I've said so many times on the blog that every Ghost Rider fan needs to read the 14 issue run that began with the comics in this issue. Due to the book's slip in sales in the early 1980s, some of these comics were increasingly difficult to find in the back issue market, so having a mass-produced reprint series makes it a whole lot easier to track them down. I'd even say that tracking these down in place of the black-and-white Essential Ghost Rider vol. 4, which reprints the same run, is a smart bet due to the presentation of the comics and the colors (which had to have been touched up prior to the reprint's release, because they look so much better than the originals).
 |
| Better the Devil you know than the one you don't! |
No comments:
Post a Comment