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| Cover Artist: Frank Frazetta |
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Title: "This is the Tale of the Ghost Rider"
Title: "The Fire Ghost!"
Title: "Spook Justice"
Title: "A Trap For Nemesis"
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artist: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Dick Ayers
Colorist: Unknown
SYNOPSIS
Title: "Spook Justice"
Title: "A Trap For Nemesis"
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artist: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Dick Ayers
Colorist: Unknown
SYNOPSIS
"This is the Tale of the Ghost Rider"
US Marshall Rex Fury and his companion Sing Song are ambushed on the prairie by a group of Apaches, led by a white man disguised as one of the indians. They throw Fury and Sing Song into a watery cave to die, and after they wash into the cave a dying Fury is approached by the ghost of Wild Bill Hickock. Wild Bill tells Fury that he and his comrades attempted to bring law to the west but find that work still needs to be done, so they have chosen Fury to act in their place. Trained by Hickock, Calamity Jane, Bill Tilghman, Pat Garrett, and Kit Carson, Fury becomes the Ghost Rider. He awakens in the cave along with Sing Song and sees his new horse, Spectre, waiting for him. He soon creates the Ghost Rider costume and rides out to bring justice to the west.
"The Fire Ghost!"
The Osage medicine man Many Feathers has called forth the spirit of Wakonda, a Native American god, and roused the tribes of the west to attack settlers. After rescuing a group of cavalrymen, the Ghost Rider travels to Many Feathers' tribe, where the chiefs of the assembled nations have met for council with Wakonda. Realizing that the ghost indian is a trick played by Many Feathers and his sub-chief Hunting Horse, the Ghost Rider descends into the hut and fights the mortal "god". He exits the hut and proves that Many Feathers has tricked them, causing the chiefs to end their attacks.
"Spook Justice"
Rex Fury's friend Sam Harberg and his family have set up a settlement with Fury's help, but local rancher Jeb Cole is angry about the newcomer taking the land. He and his men ride out to scare Harberg away, but they are stopped by the Ghost Rider. The next night Cole's men attack the Harberg ranch again, but the Ghost Rider is able to apprehend them all using his ghost tricks and a new lantern projector created by Sing Song.
"A Trap For Nemesis"
A gang of bank robbers gloat about their secret hideout that contains all of their stolen loot, and even an attack by the Ghost Rider doesn't dissuade them from robbing another bank. They set a trap for the Ghost Rider by covering up a dug hole, which the vigilante and his horse fall into when they ride over it. However, they both fall through the bottom of the hole into an abandoned mine, the same mine that the robbers are using as their hideout. They seal themselves into the mine, but the Ghost Rider finds them. After subduing them, he forces the men to dig their way back out of the mine before they go to jail.
ANNOTATIONS
US Marshall Rex Fury and his companion Sing Song are ambushed on the prairie by a group of Apaches, led by a white man disguised as one of the indians. They throw Fury and Sing Song into a watery cave to die, and after they wash into the cave a dying Fury is approached by the ghost of Wild Bill Hickock. Wild Bill tells Fury that he and his comrades attempted to bring law to the west but find that work still needs to be done, so they have chosen Fury to act in their place. Trained by Hickock, Calamity Jane, Bill Tilghman, Pat Garrett, and Kit Carson, Fury becomes the Ghost Rider. He awakens in the cave along with Sing Song and sees his new horse, Spectre, waiting for him. He soon creates the Ghost Rider costume and rides out to bring justice to the west.
"The Fire Ghost!"
The Osage medicine man Many Feathers has called forth the spirit of Wakonda, a Native American god, and roused the tribes of the west to attack settlers. After rescuing a group of cavalrymen, the Ghost Rider travels to Many Feathers' tribe, where the chiefs of the assembled nations have met for council with Wakonda. Realizing that the ghost indian is a trick played by Many Feathers and his sub-chief Hunting Horse, the Ghost Rider descends into the hut and fights the mortal "god". He exits the hut and proves that Many Feathers has tricked them, causing the chiefs to end their attacks.
"Spook Justice"
Rex Fury's friend Sam Harberg and his family have set up a settlement with Fury's help, but local rancher Jeb Cole is angry about the newcomer taking the land. He and his men ride out to scare Harberg away, but they are stopped by the Ghost Rider. The next night Cole's men attack the Harberg ranch again, but the Ghost Rider is able to apprehend them all using his ghost tricks and a new lantern projector created by Sing Song.
"A Trap For Nemesis"
A gang of bank robbers gloat about their secret hideout that contains all of their stolen loot, and even an attack by the Ghost Rider doesn't dissuade them from robbing another bank. They set a trap for the Ghost Rider by covering up a dug hole, which the vigilante and his horse fall into when they ride over it. However, they both fall through the bottom of the hole into an abandoned mine, the same mine that the robbers are using as their hideout. They seal themselves into the mine, but the Ghost Rider finds them. After subduing them, he forces the men to dig their way back out of the mine before they go to jail.
ANNOTATIONS
Rex Fury was created by Raymond Krank and Dick Ayers in Tom Holt # 6 as the Calico Kid, and he became the Ghost Rider in Tim Holt # 11.
The Ghost Rider last appeared in Tim Holt # 14 and appears next in Tim Holt # 15.
Creator credits were not included in the comic other than the artist's signature, but it has been verified that "This is the Tale of the Ghost Rider" was written by Gardner Fox. It has been assumed that he was the writer for the rest of the stories in this issue as well.
The Rex Fury Ghost Rider is not part of Marvel continuity and is unrelated to the Carter Slade Ghost Rider, outside of inspiration of course.
REVIEW
The very first Ghost Rider, Rex Fury from Magazine Enterprises, gets his own series after appearing in a few Tim Holt back-up stories.
I'd imagine that most readers are completely unfamiliar with the 1950 Ghost Rider, perhaps just peripherally aware that Carter Slade wasn't the first white-costumed western hero. He's pretty much just a footnote in comic history now, way overshadowed first by Marvel's (more or less stolen) iteration and then even more so by the introduction of Johnny Blaze. These comics did exist, though, and despite not being connected to Marvel's Ghost Rider outside of adopted inspiration and a shared name, I would be remiss as a Ghost Rider historian NOT to feature the series in some capacity. So, here are are with the first issue of the adventures of Rex Fury, and I'm happy to report that these stories hold up much better than I assumed they would.
Most Golden Age comics do not read well today, they're anachronistic and the style of storytelling is generally dull and simplistic in comparison to comics from not only today, but even from the Silver and Bronze Ages. This comic, however, does not read like it was from 1950...okay, well, YES, it definitely DOES read like it came from 1950, but it's so much better than other comics from that time period. The stories aren't much to dwell on, they're fairly run-of-the-mill cowboy stuff, so that's not what sets the comic apart. No, that comes down to the details and the artwork, the latter of which I'll talk about later. For the former, what I mean about "details" is the amount of imagination that went into the character to separate it from its western comics brethren. It would have been pretty easy to just make the Ghost Rider a standard cowboy vigilante, but Fox (and creator Ray Krank) at least put in the attempt to give the character something distinct. The origin story, with the ghosts of the frontier heroes, is pretty inspired stuff for its time. There are problems, too, of course, such as the stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans that was so prevalent in comics around this time. And then there's Sing Song, who is a conundrum of a character. He's an obviously racist caricature of frontier Asians, with the Oriental dress, buck teeth, and horrendous dialect; but then he's also the most intelligent and personable character in the book. He definitely shines in comparison to Rex Fury himself, who outside of his Ghost Rider identity is about as interesting as burnt toast.
It's also funny (well, not really funny so much as dastardly) just how much Marvel lifted from this series when they debuted Carter Slade. The "ghost tricks" like the disappearing cape and the lantern projector were lifted right along with the character's design, but there's more to it than that. While they discarded the origin story with Wild Bill Hickock's ghost, they kept the specific plot point about the white man disguised as an indian bandit. That's such an odd element to include in this issue, since the origin story doesn't bother to address it again. Where's the conclusion to that story? Where's the fucking VENGEANCE? I suppose with only 7 pages to work with the creators did what they could, but it's so glaring in its omission that I'm perplexed. I guess stopping two murderous prospectors was more important than stopping the man who killed you, Rex?
The main reason, and if I'm being honest the ONLY reason outside of historical curiosity, to read this series is for Dick Ayers' artwork. This guy is the reason this series looks like it's several decades ahead of its publication date, because while he's still rough around the edges his work has more dynamism and excitement to it than most other artists of the time. His design for the Ghost Rider is instantly iconic and is intrinsically tied to the artist, so much so that when Marvel stole the concept in 1967 they at least got Ayers to draw the series for them. This issue also has a cover by a very young Frank Frazetta, so artistically the Ghost Rider had a whole lot going for it.
You can find this comic, and the 14 issues series as a whole, archived to read online due it now being in the public domain. I'd recommend reading through them, if only to see where the Ghost Rider truly originated from.
Grade: B-
I'd imagine that most readers are completely unfamiliar with the 1950 Ghost Rider, perhaps just peripherally aware that Carter Slade wasn't the first white-costumed western hero. He's pretty much just a footnote in comic history now, way overshadowed first by Marvel's (more or less stolen) iteration and then even more so by the introduction of Johnny Blaze. These comics did exist, though, and despite not being connected to Marvel's Ghost Rider outside of adopted inspiration and a shared name, I would be remiss as a Ghost Rider historian NOT to feature the series in some capacity. So, here are are with the first issue of the adventures of Rex Fury, and I'm happy to report that these stories hold up much better than I assumed they would.
Most Golden Age comics do not read well today, they're anachronistic and the style of storytelling is generally dull and simplistic in comparison to comics from not only today, but even from the Silver and Bronze Ages. This comic, however, does not read like it was from 1950...okay, well, YES, it definitely DOES read like it came from 1950, but it's so much better than other comics from that time period. The stories aren't much to dwell on, they're fairly run-of-the-mill cowboy stuff, so that's not what sets the comic apart. No, that comes down to the details and the artwork, the latter of which I'll talk about later. For the former, what I mean about "details" is the amount of imagination that went into the character to separate it from its western comics brethren. It would have been pretty easy to just make the Ghost Rider a standard cowboy vigilante, but Fox (and creator Ray Krank) at least put in the attempt to give the character something distinct. The origin story, with the ghosts of the frontier heroes, is pretty inspired stuff for its time. There are problems, too, of course, such as the stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans that was so prevalent in comics around this time. And then there's Sing Song, who is a conundrum of a character. He's an obviously racist caricature of frontier Asians, with the Oriental dress, buck teeth, and horrendous dialect; but then he's also the most intelligent and personable character in the book. He definitely shines in comparison to Rex Fury himself, who outside of his Ghost Rider identity is about as interesting as burnt toast.
It's also funny (well, not really funny so much as dastardly) just how much Marvel lifted from this series when they debuted Carter Slade. The "ghost tricks" like the disappearing cape and the lantern projector were lifted right along with the character's design, but there's more to it than that. While they discarded the origin story with Wild Bill Hickock's ghost, they kept the specific plot point about the white man disguised as an indian bandit. That's such an odd element to include in this issue, since the origin story doesn't bother to address it again. Where's the conclusion to that story? Where's the fucking VENGEANCE? I suppose with only 7 pages to work with the creators did what they could, but it's so glaring in its omission that I'm perplexed. I guess stopping two murderous prospectors was more important than stopping the man who killed you, Rex?
The main reason, and if I'm being honest the ONLY reason outside of historical curiosity, to read this series is for Dick Ayers' artwork. This guy is the reason this series looks like it's several decades ahead of its publication date, because while he's still rough around the edges his work has more dynamism and excitement to it than most other artists of the time. His design for the Ghost Rider is instantly iconic and is intrinsically tied to the artist, so much so that when Marvel stole the concept in 1967 they at least got Ayers to draw the series for them. This issue also has a cover by a very young Frank Frazetta, so artistically the Ghost Rider had a whole lot going for it.
You can find this comic, and the 14 issues series as a whole, archived to read online due it now being in the public domain. I'd recommend reading through them, if only to see where the Ghost Rider truly originated from.
Grade: B-
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