Stranded in a deserted ghost town in the middle of nowhere, Johnny Blaze succumbs to self-pity and transforms into the Ghost Rider. After setting fire to the town, he’s attacked by an invisible force controlled by an old prospector named Woody Guthers, who believed the Ghost Rider was after him. Blaze calms down and transforms back into his human form before joining Woody for a drink. The old man claims that he found his “power” by stealing it by accident several weeks before. Suddenly the shack begins to shake and the roof collapses along with the rest of the town’s buildings. When they free themselves from the remnants, Blaze and Woody see a massive steel hovercraft coming toward them. Six masked motorcycle riders emerge from a hatch on the belly of the ship, having come to capture Woody for their master. Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider and sets the bikers aflame with his hellfire, only to discover that they are robots with the brains of men contained within glass domes. The dark riders capture Woody and take aboard the ship, so the Ghost Rider follows them inside. He immediately succumbs to a trap when the floor opens up beneath his motorcycle, plunging him into darkness. When Johnny wakes up, he’s the prisoner of an evil looking child sitting inside a clear bubble while the boy’s father and a captive Woody watch helplessly.
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| Legit freaky! |
CHAIN REACTION
To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 33 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!
Great write-up! I really wish McKenzie had stuck around on this title. To me, Fleischer made the seperate personality schtick too pronounced and the title quickly got quite boring. McKenzie was setting up something pretty fascinating here - I wonder what he could have done with it? Do you think there's anything left of Blaze's personality left in GR by the end of the issue?
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I really love a lot of Fleischer's work on the title, but I'd have loved to see where McKenzie was going.
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