Cover Date: October 1980
On Sale Date: July 1980
Writer: Michael Fleisher
Artist: Don Perlin
Letterer: Jean Simek
Colorist: Rob Carosella
Editor: Dennis O’Neil
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky
While riding through the desolate midwestern plains, Johnny Blaze finds himself transforming to Ghost Rider and back again against his will. Before he can figure out what happened he sees a man changing a flat tire about to be crushed by an avalanche. Johnny races down and rescues the man, who introduces himself as Ed Pollard, the chief engineer on the Little Thunderbird Dam project. Ed explains that the dam they have constructed will stop the river’s annual flooding and create artificial lakes but will also inundate some ancient Comanche burial grounds. When Johnny gives Ed a ride back to the trailer headquarters for the damn project, they are met by an old Native American woman, who demands they repent their scheme to destroy the burial caves and the town beyond. When Ed says to ignore her, she warns Johnny that not even he can stand against the wrath of Wisa’Ka the Manitou spirit.
Johnny rides back out to the spot where he was forced to transform and once again becomes the Ghost Rider against his will. The demon forms his fiery motorcycle and rides on until he encounters a Comanche spirit riding toward him on a horse. The Manitou shoots the Ghost Rider with a spirit arrow that forces him to change back into Johnny Blaze, who again is warned by the old woman to not incur the wrath of the Manitou before she disappears. Johnny rides back to the construction site and overhears Ed and his men, who plan to blow up the dam and flood the town, which they then plan to loot with their scuba gear. Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider and rushes toward the dam, where he finds Ed’s men setting the explosives. He catches the men as they try to escape, ignoring their pleas to let them leave the dam before the explosives go off. The dam explodes and the Ghost Rider attempts to outrun the rushing wall of water to try and warn the town ahead. He’s blocked by the Manitou, who attempts to destroy the demon with a trio of massive thunderbirds. In the time it takes the Ghost Rider to defeat the thunderbirds the water catches up to him and washes him away.
Johnny Blaze wakes up soaking wet inside a cave with the old Comanche woman. She undergoes a transformation, turning into a young woman, as she tells him that the Manitou has instructed her to open Johnny’s eyes to the world that used to be. She leads Johnny outside, where he sees a field of roaming buffalo, signaling that he has traveled back in time.
 |
| Ouch! |
CHAIN REACTION
To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 49 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!
 |
| Ghost Rider on Splash Mountain! |
No comments:
Post a Comment