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| Cover Artist: Dick Ayers |
Original Price: $.25
Title: "The Man Called Hurricane"
Writer: Gary Friedrich
Artist: Dick Ayers
Inker: Vince Colletta & Dick Ayers
Letterer: Artie Simek & Dick Ayers
Colorist: None Credited
Editor: Stan Lee
SYNOPSIS
Hurricane, a criminal gunfighter that possesses super-speed due to a potion he drank, trains in the desert to make sure he has recovered from a recent injury. Nearby, Carter Slade passes by in his wagon, which is transporting the injured Natalie Brooks on their way to see a doctor in Denver. Hurricane sees them pass and rushes forward to stop the wagon, finding Carter and the unconscious Natalie. He also discovers Carter's mask and realizes that he's actually the Ghost Rider, who he decides to kill. He ties Carter up and throws him off a nearby cliff. Natalie awakens and screams, but before Hurricane can kill her the Ghost Rider arrives. Hurricane finds that his speed is unable to overcome the Ghost Rider's "supernatural" powers, and rushes at the vigilante. He passes straight through the Rider and goes sailing off the edge of the cliff, plummeting to his death. The Ghost Rider is shocked, not realizing that his lantern projection would cause the villain to leap off the cliff by mistake. Carter returns to the again-unconscious Natalie and continues on their way to Denver.
ANNOTATIONS
Carter Slade made his last chronological appearance in The Ghost Rider (1967) # 7. He makes his next appearance in Western Gunfighters (1970) # 1. This story fills in the gap between those two issues.
The story in this issue was originally planned for The Ghost Rider (1967) # 8, but the series was cancelled halfway into the issue's completion. Dick Ayers completed the story, including the inks and letters, and truncated it to 10 pages for its inclusion in this series.
This issue of Western Gunfighters also contained stories featuring the Apache Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Black Mask.
The story in this issue was originally planned for The Ghost Rider (1967) # 8, but the series was cancelled halfway into the issue's completion. Dick Ayers completed the story, including the inks and letters, and truncated it to 10 pages for its inclusion in this series.
This issue of Western Gunfighters also contained stories featuring the Apache Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Black Mask.
REVIEW
Ayers and Friedrich tie up their cliffhanger loose end with a bizarre villain and a fairly shocking ending.
When the original Ghost Rider series was cancelled after issue # 7, issue # 8 was already under production with half of the issue already drawn by Dick Ayers. Western Gunfighters debuted a few years later, and with the Ghost Rider serial picking up from the end of the original series (with the same creative team, even), Marvel decided to dust off and complete the "Hurricane" story for use. I'm not sure why they didn't just lead with this story in issue # 1, probably some behind-the-scenes reasoning, because it's not like Ayers wasn't still working on the character. Maybe he completed this issue out of a love for the character after the anthology series started, since the second half of the story was inked and even lettered by him instead of by Colletta and Simek.
Whatever the reason, the Hurricane story is pretty strange in its own right, mainly because the villain is ridiculously out of place. Apparently, Hurricane first appeared as a villain for the Two-Gun Kid before he was brought back here, and I don't know if the super-speed aspect of his character was as prominent there as it is here. Essentially, though, Carter Slade fights Wild West Flash in this story, and I really hate how the superhero stuff infected every other genre in comics during this era. Instead of going the supernatural route, which would make the most sense if you're not wanting to do just straight cowboy stuff, we get superpowers and costumes to try and boost sales. Instead, it just comes off as a clash of genres instead of a suitable mixture of the two.
The story was truncated down from 18 pages to 10, which is the length it would have been had it actually been published as Ghost Rider # 8. I can't see how this would have possibly stretched out to fill an entire issue, because 10 pages is appropriately adequate for what happens. Hurricane is such a one-note villain and the plot is so coincidental and simple, it works as an anthology inventory story but not as anything else. There's no plot developments that necessitated the flashback, Western Gunfighters # 1 opened with Natalie having made it to Denver for the operation, so this story really serves no purpose other than completion's sake. The one positive thing I have to say about the story is that I did not see that ending coming, and having the guts to have the villain commit accidental suicide due to the hero's ghost gimmick was pretty inventive.
Ayers is of course the best artist for this material, but he does the art no favors by rushing through the comic to get it completed. The first half, with inks by Colletta, are much more favorable to look at than what Ayers did in the second half, and that's a shame because Ayers inking himself usually leads to much better work than his collaborations. Even with that, though, Ayers never produced anything other than a rock solid job on the artwork for the Ghost Rider and this story was no exception.
So this is a story that's not really necessary to the ongoing plot of the series, it doesn't explain what happened when Natalie and Carter got to Denver, it's just "oh yeah, this happened on the way". Not very interesting, even for filler.
When the original Ghost Rider series was cancelled after issue # 7, issue # 8 was already under production with half of the issue already drawn by Dick Ayers. Western Gunfighters debuted a few years later, and with the Ghost Rider serial picking up from the end of the original series (with the same creative team, even), Marvel decided to dust off and complete the "Hurricane" story for use. I'm not sure why they didn't just lead with this story in issue # 1, probably some behind-the-scenes reasoning, because it's not like Ayers wasn't still working on the character. Maybe he completed this issue out of a love for the character after the anthology series started, since the second half of the story was inked and even lettered by him instead of by Colletta and Simek.
Whatever the reason, the Hurricane story is pretty strange in its own right, mainly because the villain is ridiculously out of place. Apparently, Hurricane first appeared as a villain for the Two-Gun Kid before he was brought back here, and I don't know if the super-speed aspect of his character was as prominent there as it is here. Essentially, though, Carter Slade fights Wild West Flash in this story, and I really hate how the superhero stuff infected every other genre in comics during this era. Instead of going the supernatural route, which would make the most sense if you're not wanting to do just straight cowboy stuff, we get superpowers and costumes to try and boost sales. Instead, it just comes off as a clash of genres instead of a suitable mixture of the two.
The story was truncated down from 18 pages to 10, which is the length it would have been had it actually been published as Ghost Rider # 8. I can't see how this would have possibly stretched out to fill an entire issue, because 10 pages is appropriately adequate for what happens. Hurricane is such a one-note villain and the plot is so coincidental and simple, it works as an anthology inventory story but not as anything else. There's no plot developments that necessitated the flashback, Western Gunfighters # 1 opened with Natalie having made it to Denver for the operation, so this story really serves no purpose other than completion's sake. The one positive thing I have to say about the story is that I did not see that ending coming, and having the guts to have the villain commit accidental suicide due to the hero's ghost gimmick was pretty inventive.
Ayers is of course the best artist for this material, but he does the art no favors by rushing through the comic to get it completed. The first half, with inks by Colletta, are much more favorable to look at than what Ayers did in the second half, and that's a shame because Ayers inking himself usually leads to much better work than his collaborations. Even with that, though, Ayers never produced anything other than a rock solid job on the artwork for the Ghost Rider and this story was no exception.
So this is a story that's not really necessary to the ongoing plot of the series, it doesn't explain what happened when Natalie and Carter got to Denver, it's just "oh yeah, this happened on the way". Not very interesting, even for filler.
Grade: D
Man this site is amazing! Very helpful and insightfuI too! I recently started going through the entirety of Ghost Rider history with my boyfriend, from the 1950 Magazine Enterprises era till now so far. This is a treat, I've always been a fan of GR but I wanted to know more, and start waaay back at his roots I've never read before. Also show my bf why I love the character as much as I do lol. Thank you!
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