Cover Date: June 1981
On Sale Date: March 1981
Writer: Michael Fleisher
Layouts: Jim Shooter
Artist: Don Perlin
Colorist: Rob Carosella
Letterer: Diana Albers
Editor: Dave Kraft
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky
In preparation for his upcoming rematch with Flagg Fargo, Johnny Blaze has joined the Sonny Tremont Auto Show. He goes out for a dinner meal with Sonny, Nora, and Pete, who all work for the auto show, and Pete reminds them that it’s the night “Shocks” Marley is due to be executed. At the nearby prison, “Shocks” is escorted to the electric chair while wearing his stunt racing costume, which he claims was made for him by a voodoo priestess and will bring him back from death. Right before the executioner’s switch is thrown, he swears to come back as an apparition to exact revenge. When the electric chair comes to life, Marley becomes a ghostly entity and escapes from the prison.
Back at the diner, Johnny asks to borrow Pete’s car to go check on some engine parts. While en route, Johnny is attacked by the Apparition, who believes that Pete is driving the car. With blasts of mystical energy Marley destroys the car, and only a quick transformation into the Ghost Rider saves Johnny’s life. As Marley departs, believing he’s killed Pete, he claims that “now two must die”. Johnny returns to the Tremont property and tells his three new friends what happened, shocking them all with the knowledge of Marley’s return. Pete flees in terror and Sonny fills Johnny in on their story. “Shocks” Marley was a stunt racer for the auto show and had an unrequited crush on Nora, who was dating another racer. “Shocks” sabotaged the other man’s brakes, causing him to die in an auto crash, and the testimony provided to the courts by Sonny and Pete gave Marley a death sentence. The Apparition appears above them and blasts at Sonny and Nora, with only the quick intervention of the Ghost Rider saving them. Weakened by the Ghost Rider’s hellfire, the Apparition departs, leaving Blaze behind to explain himself. Nora doesn’t care about the Ghost Rider and kisses Johnny passionately while Sonny leaves.
The next day at the Auto Show, Nora announces a stock car stunt being performed by Sonny. However, the car is instead being driven by Johnny in an attempt to flush out the Apparition. Marley indeed appears at the top of the ramp and blasts the car, thinking he’s killed Sonny. Johnny and Nora believe that Marley is no longer a threat now that his two victims are thought dead, and the two go to their trailers to get ready for a date. Blaze realizes that he overheard Marley say “two must die” after Pete was believed to be dead, and that Nora must be on Marley’s revenge list as well. He arrives too late at Nora’s trailer, finding her dead at the Apparition’s hands, and transforms into the Ghost Rider to exact vengeance. Using his hellfire to weaken the ghostly killer, the Ghost Rider finally disperses Marley’s spirit by running through him with his hellcycle. That leaves Johnny Blaze alone with Nora’s body to mourn yet another lost love.
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| Uncharacteristically self-sacrificing. |
CHAIN REACTION
To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 57 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!
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