The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again (1991) # 3

"Temptations!"/"Tears of a Clown!"

Cover Date: September 1991

On Sale Date: July 1991

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Dave Simons
Letterer: Rick Parker/Diana Albers
Colorist: Bob Sharen/George Roussos
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

Johnny Blaze is contacted through a dream by the Ghost Rider, who demands to be released to punish the guilty. Johnny wakes up, wondering if the Ghost Rider is becoming strong enough to eventually take him over. Meanwhile on the carnival grounds, Corky and his son Eliot have a conversation about being clowns when they hear the sound of an explosion. A man flies through one of the main show tents, snapping the poles and destroying equipment. Before he leaves, the mysterious figure leaves a note. When Ralph Quentin and the rest of the carnival members investigate the tent collapse, Eliot finds the note and crumples it up, realizing the message was for him. The next night, a strange cowboy uses an electrified whip to destroy the carnival’s transformer, forcing it to close for the night. Eliot finds another message written in the dirt and wipes it away. Another day brings another tragedy, as two acrobats beat up and rob the ticket cashier for the carnival, leaving yet another message for Eliot.

The next evening, Corky finds Eliot packing up to leave and realizes his son has something to do with the mysterious accidents. After Eliot leaves another mysterious figure lights Corky’s tent on fire, setting it ablaze. While Red Fowler holds Eliot back from going after his father, Johnny enters the burning tent and finds the unconscious Corky. Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider, who throws Corky out of the burning tent in a fit of rage. Johnny fights to regain control of his body, forcing the Ghost Rider to jump through the fire, setting his clothing aflame. Red drapes the Ghost Rider with a sheet, protecting Johnny’s secret as he douses the flame while Blaze regains control. 

Later, at the emergency room, Eliot is told that his father’s treatment will cost several thousand dollars, which Eliot states he can provide. At the carnival, Johnny sees Eliot leaving and follows him into the forest. He sees Eliot stop to put on face paint and a costume before walking into a small camp of men who welcome Eliot back into their ranks. Johnny is discovered and knocked unconscious, brought before the reunited Circus of Crime, including Eliot as the villainous Clown.

The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again (1991) # 2

"Freaks!"/"The Tears of Adam Henderson"

Cover Date: August 1991
On Sale Date: June 1991

Writer: Roger Stern/J.M. DeMatteis
Artist: Bob Budiansky/Don Perlin
Inker: Dave Simons/Danny Bulandi
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: Bob Sharen/George Roussos
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

At the Quentin Carnival, a misshapen man named Jeremy who works as the carnival's "monster man" works on a drawing of reporter Cynthia Randolph.  She is less than flattered by the artwork, mistaking his gesture as infatuation when its not.  She and Johnny Blaze are then introduced to Eliot, the son of carnival clown Corky, and Cynthia is again taken off guard when Eliot shuts down her advances after learning that she's a reporter.  The carnival troupe finish packing their trucks and move along to the next town, while during the drive Corky asks Eliot if he's going to actually go straight this time.  Meanwhile, at a mysterious island, an agent named Renaldo is given orders to retrieve Jeremy and bring him to the island by a man with a particular interest in "freaks".

Several days later, Renaldo attempts to strongarm carnival owner Ralph Quentin into "selling" Jeremy to him.  He's interrupted by Johnny Blaze, who forcefully throws Renaldo off the carnival lot.  Renaldo returns that night after the carnival has closed down and unleashes an army of his own freaks to exact his revenge.  While Johnny stuffs his familiar leathers into a bag with the intention of disposing of them, hoping to distance himself from the Ghost Rider, his friends' card game is interrupted by the attacking group of freaks.  Johnny is also attacked and knocked unconscious, and the freaks take both him and the captive Jeremy.  Blaze wakes up in a hotel room, tied and gagged before Renaldo and the freaks.  Realizing that Renaldo plans to beat him to death, Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider and fights through the freaks, though Renaldo is able to escape.  He follows Renaldo and the remaining freaks, including the captive Jeremy, to the local airport where he halts their escape by melting the tires of their van before they can reach their plane.  He then pulls Renaldo out and fries his soul with hellfire, leaving him a quivering mess, before transforming back into Blaze.  The freaks are too frightened to do anything, and Jeremy tells Johnny that he's going to go to the island to be with his brothers, intending to stand up to Renaldo and his boss.  Johnny watches their plane fly off into the distance, wishing his friend good luck.

The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again (1991) # 1

"The Curse of Jonathan Blaze!" & "Personal Demons"

Cover Date: July 1991
On Sale Date: May 1991

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Josef Rubinstein & Dave Simons
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

During a late night thunderstorm, a priest walks through his church with candle in hand. He hears the doors creak open, and when he turns he finds a lone man standing in the archway. The priest asks who is there, unable to see him with the power out due to the storm. Johnny Blaze walks in an apologizes for startling him, then says that he guesses he's looking for sanctuary. He was out on his bike when the storm took him by surprise. The priest, still shaken, invites Johnny inside and provides more light with some candles. Johnny notices that the ornaments in the church are all made from solid gold, but the priest dodges the statement by asking if Johnny needs any guidance. Johnny reluctantly acquiesces and says he'd like to make a confession. The priest agrees and leads Blaze into the confessional booth, the two men separated by a steel gate.

Johnny, unsure of how to begin, goes back to the beginning for his confession. He tells the priest about his father dying and him then being adopted by Crash and Mona Simpson. As he grew older, he began to practice for inclusion in his foster parents' cycle show...until one day, when a bike accident killed Mona. On her deathbed, Mona asks Johnny never to ride in the show, to which her agrees. Johnny then explains that after Mona's death he began to go in weird directions. Taking a heavy interest in the occult, he was disgusted by most of what he read and went back to simple mechanic work for the cycle show, keeping his promise. He told neither Crash nor Roxanne Simpson, their daughter and the woman that Blaze loved, making them think he was a coward. It hit Johnny that while he vowed never to ride in the show, that didn't mean he couldn't ride for the sheer thrill of it...so he began to practice at night until finally being discovered by Roxanne. While the cycle show grew in popularity, Crash was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Blaze tells the priest that there was nothing anyone could do...anyone except him.

Going back to the occult books, Blaze contacted Satan himself and offered the demon his soul in exchange for Crash's life being spared from the cancer. The next night, however, Crash died anyway - not from the disease but from a motorcycle accident. The next night, Satan came calling for Johnny's soul, but was interrupted by Roxanne, who chants a spell read from Blaze's books that drove Satan away. In the confessional, Johnny breaks down, saying that Roxanne saved his soul and he doesn't even know now if she's alive or dead.

The priest tries to calm Blaze by saying the devil was merely a delusion, to which Johnny snaps back that he wishes he was crazy. He tells the priest about the Ghost Rider, a demon taken from Hell and bonded to his soul, and about the hellfire at the demon's command. Johnny is locked in a constant struggle against the Ghost Rider, but he admits that there are times he wants to set the demon loose to give the guilty what they deserve. He then tells the priest that tonight he came across a man laying in a ditch. A man left for dead...a man that was a priest. Before the man died, he told Johnny that his murderer had stolen his clothing, which had puzzled him until he saw all of the gold in the church. As the "priest" removes a gun from his jacket, an intense light begins to glow through the grate separating the confessional booths...and suddenly a flaming skeletal hand comes ripping through the grate.

The murderer runs from the confessional, chased by the Ghost Rider. As he runs out the front door, the "priest" steals Blaze's motorcycle and rides off, only to see the Ghost Rider - on his hellfire cycle - right behind him. After a frantic chase across the countryside, the killer is eventually knocked off the road and falls onto train tracks, his arm painfully lodged between the steel rails. As a train bears down on him, the Ghost Rider appears and frees his arm. The demon says that "death is too good for you"...and then fries the man with hellfire.

The next morning, paramedics and police pull the man up to the road on a stretcher. He is paralyzed by fear, his mouth wide open but no sound coming out. Johnny Blaze talks with one of the police, who tells Johnny that while normally he'd hold him for questioning they just found out that the victim is wanted for a string of thefts and the murder of a priest. The cop asks what would possess a man to do such a thing, to which Johnny replies "a man can have a lot of demons locked up inside of him".

Ghost Rider (1973) # 73

"Tears of a Clown!"

Cover Date: October 1982
On Sale Date: July 1982

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Dave Simons
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

Trapped in the void, the Ghost Rider rages about the events of the previous issue. Johnny, meanwhile, is tied up and unconscious in the trailer of the Circus of Crime. The Circus members (Live Wire, Fire-Eater, Strong Man, Cannonball, and the Gambonno Brothers) elect the newly returned Clown as their leader. The Clown leads the group back to the Quentin Carnival, where he has a private discussion with Ralph Quentin, Cynthia, and Red. Back in the trailer, the Ghost Rider's astral form forces Johnny back to consciousness. Blaze unties his ropes and heads out for the Carnival, refusing to let the demon out.

Quentin holds an assembly of the Carnival workers, with the Clown standing behind him. He tells them that the Circus of Crime has offered to help keep them going. Ralph then declares that he refuses to touch their dirty money, and the Clown continues by saying that the Circus are responsible for his dad, Corky, being in the hospital. He tells the carnies that he's brought the criminals to them, and for them to take them out. The carnies revolt, and one by one the Circus of Crime members are taken out. Eventually, the only one left standing is the Fire-Eater, who proceeds to burn down the Carnival as the Clown pursues him. From the hill overlooking the Carnival, Johnny sees the flames, prompting the Ghost Rider to demand his freedom. An explosion from below knocks Blaze to his feet, where he sees his cycle leathers lying in the glass, blown to him from the explosion.

The Clown catches up to the Fire-Eater, but before the two can fight, a wall of fire cuts off their only way of escape. The Ghost Rider flies through the wall on his bike, and upon stopping picks the vehicle up to throw at the Fire-Eater. The criminal attempts to fight back, but quickly realizes that his inferno discs do little against the demon. The Rider gives him a choice: face him, or jump through the wall of fire. The Fire-Eater chooses the latter, jumping through the flames and burning most of his body. The Ghost Rider then grabs the Clown and fries his soul with hellfire. As the demon revels in his victory, Red Fowler comes through one of the tents and says that the Clown led the Circus there so they could be captured. The Ghost Rider has punished an innocent man, and upon learning this, the demon is taken aback in guilt. Using this chance, Johnny fights his way back into control. He and Red talk about what's happened, unsure of what to do now that the Carnival has been destroyed.

Poor Johnny, he never stood a chance.

THE ROADMAP

Elliot Franklin, the Clown, arrived at the carnival in Ghost Rider (1973) # 70. The Circus of Crime soon followed, arriving in Ghost Rider (1973) # 72.

Red Fowler learned that Blaze housed the demon in Ghost Rider (1973) # 65, when he witnessed Johnny's transformation.

CHAIN REACTION

To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 73 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!

Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider From 1972-1983: Munn, Chris, Ishizaki, James, DeMatteis, J.M.: 9798702991832: Amazon.com: Books

Man, that's brutal.

Ghost Rider (1973) # 72

“Temptations!”

Cover Date: September 1982
On Sale Date: June 1982

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Dave Simons
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

Johnny Blaze is contacted through a dream by the Ghost Rider, who demands to be released to punish the guilty. Johnny wakes up, wondering if the Ghost Rider is becoming strong enough to eventually take him over. Meanwhile on the carnival grounds, Corky and his son Eliot have a conversation about being clowns when they hear the sound of an explosion. A man flies through one of the main show tents, snapping the poles and destroying equipment. Before he leaves, the mysterious figure leaves a note. When Ralph Quentin and the rest of the carnival members investigate the tent collapse, Eliot finds the note and crumples it up, realizing the message was for him. The next night, a strange cowboy uses an electrified whip to destroy the carnival’s transformer, forcing it to close for the night. Eliot finds another message written in the dirt and wipes it away. Another day brings another tragedy, as two acrobats beat up and rob the ticket cashier for the carnival, leaving yet another message for Eliot.

The next evening, Corky finds Eliot packing up to leave and realizes his son has something to do with the mysterious accidents. After Eliot leaves another mysterious figure lights Corky’s tent on fire, setting it ablaze. While Red Fowler holds Eliot back from going after his father, Johnny enters the burning tent and finds the unconscious Corky. Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider, who throws Corky out of the burning tent in a fit of rage. Johnny fights to regain control of his body, forcing the Ghost Rider to jump through the fire, setting his clothing aflame. Red drapes the Ghost Rider with a sheet, protecting Johnny’s secret as he douses the flame while Blaze regains control. 

Later, at the emergency room, Eliot is told that his father’s treatment will cost several thousand dollars, which Eliot states he can provide. At the carnival, Johnny sees Eliot leaving and follows him into the forest. He sees Eliot stop to put on face paint and a costume before walking into a small camp of men who welcome Eliot back into their ranks. Johnny is discovered and knocked unconscious, brought before the reunited Circus of Crime, including Eliot as the villainous Clown.

Genuine night terrors!

THE ROADMAP
Eliot Franklin arrived at the Quentin Carnival in Ghost Rider (1973) # 70 after his father Corky mailed him a letter in Ghost Rider (1973) # 66.

CHAIN REACTION

To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 72 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!

Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider From 1972-1983: Munn, Chris, Ishizaki, James, DeMatteis, J.M.: 9798702991832: Amazon.com: Books

Yep, Ghost Rider's a straight-up villain now.

Ghost Rider (1973) # 70

"Freaks!"

Cover Date: July 1982
On Sale Date: April 1982

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Dave Simons
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

At the Quentin Carnival, a misshapen man named Jeremy who works as the carnival's "monster man" works on a drawing of reporter Cynthia Randolph.  She is less than flattered by the artwork, mistaking his gesture as infatuation when its not.  She and Johnny Blaze are then introduced to Eliot, the son of carnival clown Corky, and Cynthia is again taken off guard when Eliot shuts down her advances after learning that she's a reporter.  The carnival troupe finish packing their trucks and move along to the next town, while during the drive Corky asks Eliot if he's going to actually go straight this time.  Meanwhile, at a mysterious island, an agent named Renaldo is given orders to retrieve Jeremy and bring him to the island by a man with a particular interest in "freaks".

Several days later, Renaldo attempts to strongarm carnival owner Ralph Quentin into "selling" Jeremy to him.  He's interrupted by Johnny Blaze, who forcefully throws Renaldo off the carnival lot.  Renaldo returns that night after the carnival has closed down and unleashes an army of his own freaks to exact his revenge.  While Johnny stuffs his familiar leathers into a bag with the intention of disposing of them, hoping to distance himself from the Ghost Rider, his friends' card game is interrupted by the attacking group of freaks.  Johnny is also attacked and knocked unconscious, and the freaks take both him and the captive Jeremy.  Blaze wakes up in a hotel room, tied and gagged before Renaldo and the freaks.  Realizing that Renaldo plans to beat him to death, Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider and fights through the freaks, though Renaldo is able to escape.  He follows Renaldo and the remaining freaks, including the captive Jeremy, to the local airport where he halts their escape by melting the tires of their van before they can reach their plane.  He then pulls Renaldo out and fries his soul with hellfire, leaving him a quivering mess, before transforming back into Blaze.  The freaks are too frightened to do anything, and Jeremy tells Johnny that he's going to go to the island to be with his brothers, intending to stand up to Renaldo and his boss.  Johnny watches their plane fly off into the distance, wishing his friend good luck.

Legitimately creepy.

THE ROADMAP

Johnny Blaze and Cynthia Randolph both joined the Quentin Carnival in Ghost Rider (1973) # 63.

Corky's son, the "famous circus clown", will be revealed as the Clown from the Circus of Crime in Ghost Rider (1973) # 72.

Renaldo's boss, the Freakmaster, will send a second agent to the Quentin Carnival, Steel Wind, in Ghost Rider (1973) # 75.  Renaldo returns in Ghost Rider (1973) # 77 and the Freakmaster himself arrives at the Carnival in Ghost Rider (1973) # 79.

CHAIN REACTION

To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 70 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!

Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider From 1972-1983: Munn, Chris, Ishizaki, James, DeMatteis, J.M.: 9798702991832: Amazon.com: Books

The scariest this book has ever been, I think.

Ghost Rider (1973) # 69

"Personal Demons"

Cover Date: June 1982
On Sale Date: March 1982

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Dave Simons
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

While on a nighttime ride through the countryside, the Ghost Rider is seen and pursued by a motorcycle policeman.  After causing the officer to crash, the Ghost Rider tells him that not everyone that has raced against him has walked away with their soul intact.  The Ghost Rider returns to the Quentin Carnival, stopping on a hilltop overlook that is filled with construction equipment.  The demon briefly entertains the idea of attacking the Carnival, but Johnny Blaze is able to wrest control of his body back.  He goes down to the Carnival and changes into his costume just in time for his set to start, fielding questions from Corky the clown about a telegram Johnny had agreed to mail to his "famous circus clown" son.  Red Fowler assists Johnny with his bike before Blaze goes out to perform, and Red thinks to himself about Johnny being the Ghost Rider, though Blaze is unaware that Red knows.  In the crowd watching Johnny's performance are three people: Harry Donovon, his girlfriend Shirley, and their mutual friend Burt.  After the show, Harry decides to hit up a local bar, while Shirley stays with Burt to get Blaze's autograph.  Burt and Shirley decide not to join Harry at the bar, deciding that they would rather spend time with one another at the Carnival.

The next morning, a drunk Harry drives his truck into the Carnival and attacks Blaze, who he thinks must have kidnapped Shirley.  Mr. Quentin is able to drive the drunkard away at gunpoint and Harry leaves in his truck.  Afterward, Corky is given a telegram that's from his son, saying he is coming to the Carnival.  That night, Johnny Blaze goes out for his cycle show, and Shirley and Burt are again in the stands watching as a couple.  Harry, still drunk, drives onto the hilltop overlooking the carnival with a rifle, intending to shoot Blaze.  When he pulls the trigger, however, he realizes that the gun has no bullets.  He sees the construction equipment on the hill and walks toward it, an idea coming to his drunken mind.

Down below, Blaze is performing when Harry busts through the carnival stands in a giant earthmover.  Blaze attempts to ride around the machine, keeping it from hurting any innocent people, but soon finds himself boxed in.  He attempts to jump the earthmover on his bike, but is unable to clear it and finds himself hanging for his life on the front of the machine.  Harry drives the earthmover out of the carnival and into the desert, followed by Shirley and Burt in their car, having recognized Harry as the driver.  To save himself, Blaze has no choice but to transform into the Ghost Rider, who attacks Harry in the cockpit of the machine.  In pursuit, Burt's car hits a rock, which causes Shirley to be thrown from the vehicle.  The Ghost Rider takes control of the earthmover and spins it around, this time with Harry hanging on the side, and they see Burt and an unconscious Shirley directly in their path.  While Burt runs away, leaving Shirley behind, Harry fights back against the Ghost Rider to save the girl's life.  Ghost Rider rips the steering wheel out of the machine while simultaneously slamming on the brake, stopping the earthmover right before it reaches Shirley.  Harry is thrown from the vehicle to the ground below, and he's immediately grabbed by the Ghost Rider, who fries him with hellfire.  His desire for vengeance sated, Ghost Rider returns control to Johnny Blaze, who is faced with the cowering Harry.  While Johnny is guilt-ridden over what has happened, he doesn't realize that the Ghost Rider's hellfire will have had a positive impact on Harry's life, causing him to think twice before drinking or losing his temper, in effect driving out his own personal demon.

Yikes!

THE ROADMAP

Corky's son, the "famous circus clown", will arrive at the Quentin Carnival in Ghost Rider (1973) # 70 and be revealed as the Clown from the Circus of Crime in Ghost Rider (1973) # 72.

Red Fowler learned that Johnny is the Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider (1973) # 65.

CHAIN REACTION

To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 69 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!

Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider From 1972-1983: Munn, Chris, Ishizaki, James, DeMatteis, J.M.: 9798702991832: Amazon.com: Books

The power of vengeance, indeed!

Ghost Rider (1973) # 68

"The Curse of Jonathan Blaze!"

Cover Date: May 1982
On Sale Date: February 1982

Writer: Roger Stern
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Letterer: Diana Albers
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Bob Budiansky

During a late night thunderstorm, a priest walks through his church with candle in hand. He hears the doors creak open, and when he turns he finds a lone man standing in the archway. The priest asks who is there, unable to see him with the power out due to the storm. Johnny Blaze walks in an apologizes for startling him, then says that he guesses he's looking for sanctuary. He was out on his bike when the storm took him by surprise. The priest, still shaken, invites Johnny inside and provides more light with some candles. Johnny notices that the ornaments in the church are all made from solid gold, but the priest dodges the statement by asking if Johnny needs any guidance. Johnny reluctantly acquiesces and says he'd like to make a confession. The priest agrees and leads Blaze into the confessional booth, the two men separated by a steel gate.

Johnny, unsure of how to begin, goes back to the beginning for his confession. He tells the priest about his father dying and him then being adopted by Crash and Mona Simpson. As he grew older, he began to practice for inclusion in his foster parents' cycle show...until one day, when a bike accident killed Mona. On her deathbed, Mona asks Johnny never to ride in the show, to which her agrees. Johnny then explains that after Mona's death he began to go in weird directions. Taking a heavy interest in the occult, he was disgusted by most of what he read and went back to simple mechanic work for the cycle show, keeping his promise. He told neither Crash nor Roxanne Simpson, their daughter and the woman that Blaze loved, making them think he was a coward. It hit Johnny that while he vowed never to ride in the show, that didn't mean he couldn't ride for the sheer thrill of it...so he began to practice at night until finally being discovered by Roxanne. While the cycle show grew in popularity, Crash was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Blaze tells the priest that there was nothing anyone could do...anyone except him.

Going back to the occult books, Blaze contacted Satan himself and offered the demon his soul in exchange for Crash's life being spared from the cancer. The next night, however, Crash died anyway - not from the disease but from a motorcycle accident. The next night, Satan came calling for Johnny's soul, but was interrupted by Roxanne, who chants a spell read from Blaze's books that drove Satan away. In the confessional, Johnny breaks down, saying that Roxanne saved his soul and he doesn't even know now if she's alive or dead.

The priest tries to calm Blaze by saying the devil was merely a delusion, to which Johnny snaps back that he wishes he was crazy. He tells the priest about the Ghost Rider, a demon taken from Hell and bonded to his soul, and about the hellfire at the demon's command. Johnny is locked in a constant struggle against the Ghost Rider, but he admits that there are times he wants to set the demon loose to give the guilty what they deserve. He then tells the priest that tonight he came across a man laying in a ditch. A man left for dead...a man that was a priest. Before the man died, he told Johnny that his murderer had stolen his clothing, which had puzzled him until he saw all of the gold in the church. As the "priest" removes a gun from his jacket, an intense light begins to glow through the grate separating the confessional booths...and suddenly a flaming skeletal hand comes ripping through the grate.

The murderer runs from the confessional, chased by the Ghost Rider. As he runs out the front door, the "priest" steals Blaze's motorcycle and rides off, only to see the Ghost Rider - on his hellfire cycle - right behind him. After a frantic chase across the countryside, the killer is eventually knocked off the road and falls onto train tracks, his arm painfully lodged between the steel rails. As a train bears down on him, the Ghost Rider appears and frees his arm. The demon says that "death is too good for you"...and then fries the man with hellfire.

The next morning, paramedics and police pull the man up to the road on a stretcher. He is paralyzed by fear, his mouth wide open but no sound coming out. Johnny Blaze talks with one of the police, who tells Johnny that while normally he'd hold him for questioning they just found out that the victim is wanted for a string of thefts and the murder of a priest. The cop asks what would possess a man to do such a thing, to which Johnny replies "a man can have a lot of demons locked up inside of him".

Sums it up pretty well, I think.

THE ROADMAP

This issue features a re-telling of the Ghost Rider's origin from Marvel Spotlight (1972) # 5. In fact, many of Budiansky's panels are a straight homage to Mike Ploog's original artwork.

The "Satan" that Blaze contacts is revealed in this issue to actually be Mephisto, lord of the underworld. This retcon was reversed nearly 20 years later in Ghost Rider (2006) # 1, once again making Lucifer the originator of Blaze's curse, until it was retconned back into being Mephisto in Ghost Rider (2011) # 1.

The "Ghost Writers!" letter column featured an article by new series writer Roger Stern titled "Confessions of a Ghost Writer".

This issue featured the first interior work on the series by Bob Budiansky, who had been the regular cover artist since Ghost Rider (1973) # 33.

CHAIN REACTION

To read my review of Ghost Rider (1973) # 68 see my book Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider: 1972-1983!

Wheels On Fire: An Unofficial Guide to Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider From 1972-1983: Munn, Chris, Ishizaki, James, DeMatteis, J.M.: 9798702991832: Amazon.com: Books

Best sequence in Ghost Rider history!