Ghost Rider (1973) # 3

"Wheels On Fire"

Cover Date: December 1973

On Sale Date: September 1973

Writer: Gary Friedrich
Artist: Jim Mooney
Inker: John Tartag
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Roy Thomas

Cover Artist: John Romita

Following their rescue from Satan, the Ghost Rider and the unconscious Witch Woman are dropped off in the desert by Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. Johnny protests that Hellstrom is leaving them to die a hundred miles from civilization, but the Son of Satan leaves them stranded regardless. Linda Littletrees awakens, her soul now free from Satan's influence, and Blaze tells her that they're stranded in the desert. Linda attempts to use her powers to save them, but finds them gone now that her soul has been freed. Johnny tells her that he'll die once the sun comes up, due to the injuries he endured in his human form. Linda tells him that he still has his powers, and with her help he can learn to harness them. Under Linda's guidance, Johnny concentrates and creates a flaming motorcycle from a stream of hellfire. Linda tells him that he must hurry, for the cycle will only exist until he reverts back to Blaze's form, and that she can't ride the bike because she no longer has her Satanic powers - to her, the bike wouldn't exist. So Blaze rides off into the desert, promising to make it to a town and find help for her.

Johnny rides for hours through the desert, desperately looking for signs of civilization. Finally he sees a freeway, with a city just beyond, and he increases his speed to reach it in time. As Blaze rides onto the freeway, however, dawn rises behind him - triggering his transformation back into his injured normal body. As he transforms, the hellfire cycle disappears beneath him, causing him to tumble viciously onto the highway, causing a massive wreck of cars in his wake. As police approach the scene of the accident, Johnny lays unconscious on the concrete. A few miles distant, Roxanne Simpson runs for her life after she, too, had been abandoned in the desert. She sees a light coming down the road, and her heart jumps with hope that she's been rescued - but instead she finds Big Daddy Dawson, her pursuer, bearing down on her. Roxanne attempts to run again, but her legs are caught by Dawson's chain. He captures her again and takes her back to his hideout.

The next evening, Johnny awakens from a nightmare and finds himself in a hospital, watched over by doctors and the police. Dawson reads about Johnny's hospitalization in the newspaper and decides to ransom off the kidnapped Roxanne to him. As night falls, Johnny finds himself transforming once again into the Ghost Rider, and he easily escapes the hospital. He leaves the entrance to the building just as Dawson pulls up with Roxanne, catching the biker by surprise. When Dawson realizes that his bullets are ineffectual against the demonic Ghost Rider, he leaves Roxanne behind and flees on his motorcycle. Blaze again creates his flaming cycle and takes chase, following Dawson onto a crowded highway. Johnny blasts Dawson with hellfire, but accidentally sends his enemy crashing into a truck, killing Dawson and causing another massive wreck that injures countless innocent drivers. In shock, Johnny hears the approaching police sirens and decides to run - to where, he doesn't know.

Vehicular fatality!

THE ROADMAP

This story is continued from Marvel Spotlight (1973) # 12.

After Linda Littletrees shows Blaze how to form his flaming motorcycle, he realizes that he can create any object out of hellfire, just as she did when she possessed satanic powers in Marvel Spotlight (1973) # 11. Curiously, Johnny never follows up on this observation, and opts only to make a cycle with his powers for the rest of his time as the Ghost Rider.

CHAIN REACTION

When one thinks of the 70s incarnation of the Ghost Rider, one of the most iconic images is the red hellfire motorcycle, capable of performing inhuman stunts and feats beyond the capabilities of normal bikes. We get our first introduction to Johnny Blaze’s most well-known means of transportation here, which is only part of an issue that’s packed pretty nicely with suspense, action, and good characterization.

Blaze and Linda Littletrees, the former Witch Woman, have been abandoned in the desert by Daimon Hellstrom following the end of the Son of Satan storyline, and writer Gary Friedrich presents a pretty unique and threatening scenario for the characters. When dawn breaks, Johnny will turn back to his normal self, which at the moment is severely injured after being shot by police a few issues back…and this is on top of the fact that the two could very well die of thirst or exposure due to their remote location. This is certainly not a threat to most superhuman heroes, most of whom can fly, teleport, or have other such means of rapid transportation. Without his motorcycle, however, the Ghost Rider is just as doomed as you or I would be in a similar situation. Thankfully, we’re given a unique solution to this danger with the revelation that Johnny can create objects with his mystical hellfire: in this instance, a motorcycle.

While it might seem a bit silly for our hero to ride a chopper formed of nothing but fire, no one can deny the great visuals that such a concept demands. Whereas before this Johnny was simply a normal stunt biker with a few supernatural tricks, this idea forces both the readers and Blaze himself to recognize just how powerful the Ghost Rider can really be. However, there is a catch to this, as it is heavily implied that Johnny can create ANY object out of hellfire, not just a cycle. Unfortunately, this is something that will never be brought up again by subsequent writers…but, this is actually probably a good thing. If the Ghost Rider were able to create any kind of object with hellflame, I can only imagine the deus ex machina potential: Johnny’s stuck in a bad situation, enter Flame Object # 219 to save the day. Using just the motorcycle gives the character a dynamic visual gimmick without making it the crux of his powers.

The story itself for this issue is rather good as well, even if we are still being subjected to Big Daddy Dawson as the villain and another Roxanne-in-Distress plot. Johnny’s race against daybreak to reach medical attention holds its suspense well, coming to a great climax when Johnny loses his race and crashes violently and destructively into a major freeway. Dawson also gets a particularly nasty death at Blaze’s hands, showing that the Ghost Rider really isn’t a traditional superhero: he’s not afraid to use lethal means when he has to. This same scene also displays Johnny’s inexperience when it comes to a battle/race through crowded streets, as his actions against Dawson most likely results in the death of at least one innocent truck driver, if not more when you consider the major traffic accidents he causes when he wrecks earlier in the issue.

Jim Mooney’s artwork is still falling short, and it appears that he’s much more comfortable on superhero slugfests than the supernatural horror that Ghost Rider is still displaying. He does turn out a very good page when the hellfire cycle first appears, though, and he also does a good job conveying the destruction of the traffic accidents that are littered throughout the issue.

So, despite using yet another Roxanne distress plot with a mediocre villain, “Wheels On Fire” is easily the best issue of the fledgling series so far. An enjoyable read that marks one of the last horror-heavy stories before the change in writers that’s coming in the near future.

For Roxanne Simpson, this is just a regular Tuesday.