On Sale Date: September 1991
Title: "Half A Demon...Half A Man!"
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Artist: Don Perlin/Bob Budiansky
Inker: Dave Simons
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter/Tom DeFalco
Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky
Blaze and Zarathos begin their race through Hell, but Asmodeus immediately sends his minions out to stop them from reaching their destination. The two riders reach a bridge, where they encounter a giant named Saturnyne, a demon with an immense hatred toward the Ghost Rider. Blaze rescues Zarathos from the giant, and the two then trick Saturnyne into impaling himself on a piece of the broken bridge. The two continue down the Road of Lost Souls, where Johnny encounters what he believes to be the ghosts of his parents. Zarathos loses his temper and blasts the two shades with hellfire, forcing them to reveal their true demonic forms.
The two continue farther, but their path is soon blocked by a twisted mass of flesh called Mount Avarice. Zarathos explains that the Mount is made of the souls of men that were concerned only with themselves, and must spend eternity entwined with each other. If the souls sense a kinship with them, then they will drag them down among them. Blaze soon experiences a feeling of self-doubt, and begins to sink into the mass of limbs. Zarathos reluctantly turns back and saves Johnny from his fate, pulling him through the entwinement of souls. The two continue their journey on foot through a narrow tunnel, only to see two of Asmodeus' demons cut the rope tying down a large boulder that takes up the entire space of the corridor. Zarathos uses his hellfire to stop the boulder's descent toward them, but finds that their path is now blocked. Blaze turns, only to find that the souls of Mount Avarice are coming up the tunnel after them. Zarathos turns to the boulder and uses all the hellfire at his command to shatter the blockade, though it knocks him unconscious in the process. Blaze drags the Ghost Rider through the tunnel, but is unable to get away from Mount Avarice. Zarathos then awakens and blasts the souls with his hellfire, forcing them to retreat. The two run the rest of the way, finally coming to the portal that will take them back to Hell. Both of them then decide, however, that only one must step through the portal, in order to ensure that they will never be bonded together again. The two struggle, and during their fight they fall through the portal together.
Johnny awakens on Earth, at the place where he was attacked and taken. Realizing that Zarathos is inside him once again, Johnny pounds on the rock furiously, and in the process transforms into the Ghost Rider, who swears vengeance on Mephisto. Back in Hell, Mephisto explains to Asmodeus that had Blaze and Zarathos simply walked through the portal together, they truly would have been freed from each other and the curse of the Ghost Rider would have been lifted. Mephisto then decides to take his prize for besting Asmodeus, destroying the demon with a bolt of hellfire. As the netherruler watches the Ghost Rider through a scrying glass, he states that as long as he rules, the Ghost Rider will never be free.
Johnny Blaze wakes up in a desert cave, having stopped to rest on his way back to the Quentin Carnival. He receives a vision in his mind of his friend The Great Vincenzo, the Carnival's magician who had disappeared weeks before. He follows Vincenzo's voice for hours, finally coming to a rundown house in the middle of nowhere. He sneaks into the house and finds Vincenzo cowering in the corner of the attic. His friend is barely able to speak, saying that things were done to his brain, which Blaze surmises must have given him telepathic abilities. The lights of the attic come on and Blaze finds himself surrounded by an army of grotesque freaks, the same ones that had worked for Renaldo not long ago. Johnny fights the freaks, refusing to let Zarathos out, but is quickly knocked unconscious.
Back in the mindscape, the mysterious voice resumes telling his story to Zarathos. The prince makes his way to the City of Ten Thousand Souls, where the giant Zarathos is preparing to devour the soul of the princess. The prince jumps between them and offers his own soul in her place, but when Zarathos grabs him he does not burn, instead it is the demon that bellows in pain. This causes the cult members to feel doubt in their master, which allows Mephisto to appear on Earth to challenge his rival. The prince and princess flee, but the prince explains that he cannot stay with her; in order to save her, he had to give Mephisto his soul, cursing him with emotionless immortality. Mephisto swiftly defeats Zarathos and destroys the city, along with all of its inhabitants, then transforms Zarathos' body back into stone. Mephisto then removes the living flame that was Zarathos' essence and power, enslaving it to his own will, and leaves the stone body to be covered by the desert sands. Zarathos howls in pain, finally remembering his own past, and is led through the mindscape by the voice to the dimension of dreams. There he meets his aide, the demon Nightmare.
Meanwhile, a young woman has stopped in a diner to ask about the Quentin Carnival, and is told she just missed them a few weeks before. Johnny Blaze wakes up in an operating room surrounded by doctors, Renaldo and his freaks standing by. Renaldo explains that the Ghost Rider's hellfire has given him unrelenting nightmares and now his master has decided to deal with him once and for all. The doctors, having used drugs to hinder his ability to transform, will be transforming Blaze into a cybernetic half-man, half-motorcycle freak. In the dream dimension, Nightmare finishes his story by revealing that Mephisto has used Zarathos as a pawn for centuries before erasing his memory and placing him within Blaze. Nightmare offers Zarathos his freedom with a plan to forever trap Blaze in the dream dimension, giving the Ghost Rider full access to the mortal realm. Zarathos agrees, then feels the call to transform; for the first time, Blaze is begging him to come out. Nightmare, though, tells Zarathos to hold and resist the call so they can plan their trap. Blaze frees himself from the operating table and lunges at Renaldo, but when he's grabbed by the freaks decides he needs to unleash the Ghost Rider. To his surprise, the transformation doesn't happen, and he's soon knocked unconscious again. He's strapped back onto the table, with a triumphant Renaldo gloating over him.
THE ROADMAP
In the nether-regions of Hell, the demon Asmodeus travels to the realm of Mephisto and offers the demon-lord a "suggestion" concerning Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider. Mephisto comments that the Ghost Rider's true name is Zarathos, but allows Asmodeus to continue. The lesser demon offers to lift the burden of Blaze from Mephisto, to which the Hell ruler replies that Zarathos would be crucial to Asmodeus' attempt to rule Earth. Mephisto decides to turn the "suggestion" into a contest, where Zarathos shall run a gauntlet in Hell, with his freedom as the goal. If he fails, he will belong to Asmodeus.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Johnny confronts Ralph Quentin about the incident with Steel Wind. During the argument, Blaze suddenly feels faint, so he excuses himself to go get some air. Riding on his motorcycle into a secluded area, Johnny is jumped by a pack of demons, who knock him unconscious and carry him through a shimmering gate. Blaze wakes up and is surprised to see both Mephisto and Asmodeus standing before him, as he is chained to an upright altar of sorts. Mephisto brings forth the Sword of Demonicus, which he uses to cleave the true form of Zarathos out of Blaze's body. Mephisto tells Zarathos that both he and Johnny must race through Hell to a mystic portal back to Earth. If both of them reach the portal together, they will forever be separated and free from one another.
Blaze and Zarathos begin their race through Hell, but Asmodeus immediately sends his minions out to stop them from reaching their destination. The two riders reach a bridge, where they encounter a giant named Saturnyne, a demon with an immense hatred toward the Ghost Rider. Blaze rescues Zarathos from the giant, and the two then trick Saturnyne into impaling himself on a piece of the broken bridge. The two continue down the Road of Lost Souls, where Johnny encounters what he believes to be the ghosts of his parents. Zarathos loses his temper and blasts the two shades with hellfire, forcing them to reveal their true demonic forms.
The two continue farther, but their path is soon blocked by a twisted mass of flesh called Mount Avarice. Zarathos explains that the Mount is made of the souls of men that were concerned only with themselves, and must spend eternity entwined with each other. If the souls sense a kinship with them, then they will drag them down among them. Blaze soon experiences a feeling of self-doubt, and begins to sink into the mass of limbs. Zarathos reluctantly turns back and saves Johnny from his fate, pulling him through the entwinement of souls. The two continue their journey on foot through a narrow tunnel, only to see two of Asmodeus' demons cut the rope tying down a large boulder that takes up the entire space of the corridor. Zarathos uses his hellfire to stop the boulder's descent toward them, but finds that their path is now blocked. Blaze turns, only to find that the souls of Mount Avarice are coming up the tunnel after them. Zarathos turns to the boulder and uses all the hellfire at his command to shatter the blockade, though it knocks him unconscious in the process. Blaze drags the Ghost Rider through the tunnel, but is unable to get away from Mount Avarice. Zarathos then awakens and blasts the souls with his hellfire, forcing them to retreat. The two run the rest of the way, finally coming to the portal that will take them back to Hell. Both of them then decide, however, that only one must step through the portal, in order to ensure that they will never be bonded together again. The two struggle, and during their fight they fall through the portal together.
Johnny awakens on Earth, at the place where he was attacked and taken. Realizing that Zarathos is inside him once again, Johnny pounds on the rock furiously, and in the process transforms into the Ghost Rider, who swears vengeance on Mephisto. Back in Hell, Mephisto explains to Asmodeus that had Blaze and Zarathos simply walked through the portal together, they truly would have been freed from each other and the curse of the Ghost Rider would have been lifted. Mephisto then decides to take his prize for besting Asmodeus, destroying the demon with a bolt of hellfire. As the netherruler watches the Ghost Rider through a scrying glass, he states that as long as he rules, the Ghost Rider will never be free.
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| Say his name, FOOL! |
Deep within the subconscious of Johnny Blaze, the Ghost Rider rages at his human host. The demon has learned that his true name is Zarathos and is furious that he lost his chance to be free from Blaze during their recent race through Hell. He is addressed by a mysterious voice who offers to return his lost memories and a vision of the ancient past appears for Zarathos to see. A beleaguered tribe of nomads go deep within the caverns of the earth, led by their high priest K'Nutu to find the dormant stone body of Zarathos. K'Nutu recites the spells to reanimate the demon, then offers up the tribe's chieftain to the demon as a sacrifice. The tribe rally around Zarathos, whose hunger for souls is fed by the human sacrifice of their enemies, causing the power of both the demon and the tribe to grow. This is eventually noticed by Mephisto, lord of Hell, who realizes that Zarathos is destroying souls that should rightly belong to him. He enacts a plan involving a prince and princess of a neighboring tribe that is soon attacked by the Cult of Zarathos, the princess taken captive and the prince left for dead. When the dying prince begs for the ability to rescue his beloved, Mephisto appears before him to make a deal. Inside Blaze's mind Zarathos seethes with pain and newly awakened memories.
Johnny Blaze wakes up in a desert cave, having stopped to rest on his way back to the Quentin Carnival. He receives a vision in his mind of his friend The Great Vincenzo, the Carnival's magician who had disappeared weeks before. He follows Vincenzo's voice for hours, finally coming to a rundown house in the middle of nowhere. He sneaks into the house and finds Vincenzo cowering in the corner of the attic. His friend is barely able to speak, saying that things were done to his brain, which Blaze surmises must have given him telepathic abilities. The lights of the attic come on and Blaze finds himself surrounded by an army of grotesque freaks, the same ones that had worked for Renaldo not long ago. Johnny fights the freaks, refusing to let Zarathos out, but is quickly knocked unconscious.
Back in the mindscape, the mysterious voice resumes telling his story to Zarathos. The prince makes his way to the City of Ten Thousand Souls, where the giant Zarathos is preparing to devour the soul of the princess. The prince jumps between them and offers his own soul in her place, but when Zarathos grabs him he does not burn, instead it is the demon that bellows in pain. This causes the cult members to feel doubt in their master, which allows Mephisto to appear on Earth to challenge his rival. The prince and princess flee, but the prince explains that he cannot stay with her; in order to save her, he had to give Mephisto his soul, cursing him with emotionless immortality. Mephisto swiftly defeats Zarathos and destroys the city, along with all of its inhabitants, then transforms Zarathos' body back into stone. Mephisto then removes the living flame that was Zarathos' essence and power, enslaving it to his own will, and leaves the stone body to be covered by the desert sands. Zarathos howls in pain, finally remembering his own past, and is led through the mindscape by the voice to the dimension of dreams. There he meets his aide, the demon Nightmare.
Meanwhile, a young woman has stopped in a diner to ask about the Quentin Carnival, and is told she just missed them a few weeks before. Johnny Blaze wakes up in an operating room surrounded by doctors, Renaldo and his freaks standing by. Renaldo explains that the Ghost Rider's hellfire has given him unrelenting nightmares and now his master has decided to deal with him once and for all. The doctors, having used drugs to hinder his ability to transform, will be transforming Blaze into a cybernetic half-man, half-motorcycle freak. In the dream dimension, Nightmare finishes his story by revealing that Mephisto has used Zarathos as a pawn for centuries before erasing his memory and placing him within Blaze. Nightmare offers Zarathos his freedom with a plan to forever trap Blaze in the dream dimension, giving the Ghost Rider full access to the mortal realm. Zarathos agrees, then feels the call to transform; for the first time, Blaze is begging him to come out. Nightmare, though, tells Zarathos to hold and resist the call so they can plan their trap. Blaze frees himself from the operating table and lunges at Renaldo, but when he's grabbed by the freaks decides he needs to unleash the Ghost Rider. To his surprise, the transformation doesn't happen, and he's soon knocked unconscious again. He's strapped back onto the table, with a triumphant Renaldo gloating over him.
THE ROADMAP
This issue reprints Ghost Rider (1973) # 76 and Ghost Rider (1973) # 77.
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| As if Johnny needed yet another voice in his head. |
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