Ghost Rider # 250...maybe?

UPDATE: As of the release of Ghost Rider (2022) # 3, the Legacy Numbering has been decreased to # 246, which corrects things to pick up after the end of the 2019 series without the inclusion of the three one-shots. Maybe someone at Marvel read my article? Ha!

I once did an article about Marvel's "Legacy Numbering" for the Ghost Rider series and how back in 2017 it was only about a year away from reaching the milestone 250th issue. For those of you not in the know, the Legacy Numbering is when you take all the title's reboots and relaunches out of the equation and just count the number of Ghost Rider comics. Unfortunately, Marvel's math doesn't make any sense.

ARTICLE: MARVEL LEGACY MATH QUIZ

My original calculation would have had the third issue of the Brisson/Kuder series locked in as being issue # 250, and even though I was off by about 12 issues for reasons I'll get in to below, you can't tell me that the creative team wasn't counting down to that anniversary had their run/series not been chopped off at the knees due to COVID-19.

So, here's what Marvel seems to have calculated as the add-up of Ghost Rider for the Legacy Numbering:

GHOST RIDER (1973) # 1-81

Simple enough start.

GHOST RIDER (1990) # 1-94

That's IF they included the final issue of that series, # 94 (or Ghost Rider: Finale), since it was published years after the series ended.

GHOST RIDER (2001) # 1-6
GHOST RIDER (2005) # 1-6
GHOST RIDER (2006) # 1-35

All straight-forward, no maybes in that bunch.

GHOST RIDER (2011) # 0.1 & 1-9

Okay, do they count the 0.1 issue? The Minus 1 issue from the 90s series got a pass, so did this one?

GHOST RIDER (2016) # 1-5

Why the hell didn't they count ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER in this? No idea, despite how blindingly obvious it is that it was the ongoing Ghost Rider title at the time and not a spin-off. Anyway, that brings the count to 238 issues before the launch of the 2019 series. However, the first issue of that series is the first to have the Legacy Numbering on the cover, and it labeled # 1 and # 237. So, my guess is that the 0.1 issue from 2011 was left off the count.

GHOST RIDER (2019) # 1-7

That brings the count to 243 issues, which is the Legacy Number that the 7th and final issue of the series had on the cover. It stands to reason, then, that the next Ghost Rider series that launched earlier this year would have the number 244 on the cover, right?  Actually, it was published as issue 247, which leaves a 3-issue gap between Ghost Rider titles. Three one-shots were published in 2021 (Ghost Rider: Return of Vengeance, King in Black: Ghost Rider, and Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider) and are the only logical explanation for the three missing Legacy issues. See, Marvel's math is wonky.  Anyway, that means that June's 4th issue of the current series will be issue # 250.  Will they celebrate it? According to the solicitations it doesn't appear to be the case...

"They are all small towns. The kinds of places you'd never stop at except to get gas. Cars are abandoned. The houses and shops empty, the people seemingly vanished. Where did they go? The park might offer some clues. Among the peanut shells and abandoned stuffed animals, you can almost hear the music of the midway, the laughter — and the screams. Here is a blood-soaked flyer advertising a circus...of crime? Johnny Blaze is on their trail, just as Talia Warroad and the FBI close in on him, as a larger supernatural conspiracy begins to reveal itself."

So does all this mean anything? Not really, I just find it fascinating.