Marvel Tales # 255

"Panic On Pier One!"/"Shock Therapy"

Cover Date: November 1991
On Sale Date: September 1991

Writer: Chris Claremont/Scott Lobdell
Artist: Sal Buscema/Vince Evans
Inker: Pablo Marcos/Phil Sheehy
Letterer: Irv Watanabe/Jade Moede
Colorist: Jan Cohen/Mike Thomas
Editor: Archie Goodwin/Kelly Corvese
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter/Tom DeFalco

On a night time New York street, a Hollywood production crew sets up to shoot a live stunt for the Stuntmaster television show. Coincidentally, the shoot is taking place directly in front of Peter Parker's apartment building, prompting he and Mary Jane to stop and watch. Johnny Blaze, the resident stunt cyclist for the show, suits up and starts the stunt, unaware that danger lurks from a nearby rooftop. As Blaze's bike touches down on the roof of a car, a sticky substance of some sort is shot onto the wheel, ripping the front half of the bike off. Unable to get the bike under control, Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider in order to survive. Luckily for him, Parker has climbed a building and donned his trust web-shooters, which pull Blaze away from what could have been a messy wreck. Peter dons his Spider-Man costume and joins Blaze on the street, but before any explanations can come about, a stream of fast-hardening paste wraps around Spidey's body, carrying him into the air. Above them, the terrible Trapster says that after he finishes Spidey off, he'll be back for Blaze!

Suspended from his flying platform by the paste line, Spidey is forced to listen to the Trapster's explanation on how he escaped from prison. Finally, using his web-line to gain leverage, Spidey leaps onto the platform to attack the Trapster. The villain gets the upper hand, however, and hurls Spider-Man from the platform! Riding on the street below on his mystical flame-cycle, the Ghost Rider sees Spidey's fall. Riding in a tight circle, Blaze creates a heat vortex that slows the wall-crawler's fall and allows him to be caught without injury. The Trapster, his sky-sled damaged from the fight, crashes on a nearby aircraft carrier, followed quickly by Spidey and GR. Blaze follows the Trapster into the ship's nuclear weapon loading area, and corners him in front of some volatile chemicals. Spidey tries to stop GR from using his hellfire, for fear of causing a nuclear explosion, but the hero is instead put on the receiving end of Blaze's soul-searing flame. Ghost Rider then turns his attentions to the Trapster, blasting him with a stream of hellfire, which burns not his body, but his soul. The Trapster falls, screaming in agony, while Spidey condemns GR for what he's done. He tells Blaze that they're supposed to be the good guys, and that they should be better than the guys they fight. Blaze merely responds with "I am what I am." before riding off, leaving Spidey to take the Trapster to a hospital.

Marvel Team-Up (1972) # 58

"Panic On Pier One!"

Cover Date: June 1977

On Sale Date: March 1977

Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Pablo Marcos
Letterer: Irv Watanabe
Colorist: Jan Cohen
Editor: Archie Goodwin
Editor In Chief: Jim Shooter

Cover Artist: Al Milgrom

On a night time New York street, a Hollywood production crew sets up to shoot a live stunt for the Stuntmaster television show. Coincidentally, the shoot is taking place directly in front of Peter Parker's apartment building, prompting he and Mary Jane to stop and watch. Johnny Blaze, the resident stunt cyclist for the show, suits up and starts the stunt, unaware that danger lurks from a nearby rooftop. As Blaze's bike touches down on the roof of a car, a sticky substance of some sort is shot onto the wheel, ripping the front half of the bike off. Unable to get the bike under control, Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider in order to survive. Luckily for him, Parker has climbed a building and donned his trust web-shooters, which pull Blaze away from what could have been a messy wreck. Peter dons his Spider-Man costume and joins Blaze on the street, but before any explanations can come about, a stream of fast-hardening paste wraps around Spider-Man's body, carrying him into the air. Above them, the terrible Trapster says that after he finishes Spider-Man off, he'll be back for Blaze!

Suspended from his flying platform by the paste line, Spider-Man is forced to listen to the Trapster's explanation on how he escaped from prison. Finally, using his web-line to gain leverage, Spider-Man leaps onto the platform to attack the Trapster. The villain gets the upper hand, however, and hurls Spider-Man from the platform! Riding on the street below on his mystical flame-cycle, the Ghost Rider sees Spider-Man's fall. Riding in a tight circle, Blaze creates a heat vortex that slows the wall-crawler's fall and allows him to be caught without injury. The Trapster, his sky-sled damaged from the fight, crashes on a nearby aircraft carrier, followed quickly by Spider-Man and Ghost Rider. Blaze follows the Trapster into the ship's nuclear weapon loading area, and corners him in front of some volatile chemicals. Spider-Man tries to stop GR from using his hellfire, for fear of causing a nuclear explosion, but the hero is instead put on the receiving end of Blaze's soul-searing flame. Ghost Rider then turns his attentions to the Trapster, blasting him with a stream of hellfire, which burns not his body, but his soul. The Trapster falls, screaming in agony, while Spider-Man condemns Blaze for what he's done. He tells Blaze that they're supposed to be the good guys, and that they should be better than the guys they fight. Blaze merely responds with "I am what I am." before riding off, leaving Spider-Man to take the Trapster to a hospital.

Marvel Spotlight (1972) # 22

"Journey Into Himself!"

Cover Date: June 1975

On Sale Date: March 1975

Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Bob McLeod
Letterer: Artie Simek
Colorist: Phil Rache
Editor: Len Wein

Cover Artist: Sal Buscema

Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, has fallen into a comatose state, while his astral body is trapped in a nightmare caused by the witch Madame Swabada.  Hellstrom is led through various dream encounters with his childhood and forced to fight old enemies.  One stop on his dream journey is the gravesite of his mother, Victoria Hellstrom, from which rises Linda Littletrees, the former Witch Woman saved from Satan's servitude by Hellstrom.  He continues on his dream journey, falling through a hole in the earth only to land on the back of Johnny Blaze's motorcycle.  The Ghost Rider is riding down a ribbon of highway floating in space, and he tells Daimon the "good news" that he is now free from Satan's control as well.  The astral project of Blaze tells Daimon that some part of Hellstrom is hiding Swabada's presence inside his own mind, which urges Daimon to confront the witch inside a dream church.  At the church, Hellstrom is confronted not only by his sister, Satana, but by a physical manifestation of his own Dark Soul, freed by Swabada.  Before he can be destroyed, Hellstrom accepts the Dark Soul as part of himself and re-absorbs it, then blasts Swabada out of his consciousness, allowing him to finally wake up from his coma state.   

Ghost Rider (1973) # 11

"The Desolation Run"

Cover Date: April 1975

On Sale Date: January 1975

Writer: Tony Isabella
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inkers: John Tartag & George Roussos
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Phil Rache
Editor: Len Wein

Cover Artist: Gil Kane

In the most desolate desert area of the United States, a cross-country motorcycle endurance race is preparing to go underway. One of the bikers is Johnny Blaze, who took the Stunt-Master's place in the race as a way to forget his most recent battle with Satan and the departure of Roxanne Simpson. Among the other racers are Terry Fairbanks and Nora Joyce, a divorced couple that were once a riding team but who are now opponents, and Douglas Forester, the man funding the race who is also a competitor. While Blaze checks his bike before the race, the race's starter - a man named Lemuel Driftwood - attempts to strike up a conversation with him. Even though Johnny really doesn't want to talk, he listens as Driftwood tells him about Forester's family dying in a plane crash, and that he sponsored the marathon as a way to forget his pain. Lemuel then says that he himself was raised in an orphanage and was sick a lot as a child - a turn of discussion that causes Blaze to brush off the conversation by saying he needs to check over his bike. Disappointed, Driftwood decides it's time to start the race and fires his pistol into the air, prompting the racers to begin. After a few quick moments, however, Lemuel makes an impulsive decision to prove that he's just as good as the bikers, hopping on a stand-by bike and joining the race himself. 

Unknown to Blaze, among the fans at the race's start lurks the disguised Inferno, who has been charged with the task of making Johnny die while committing an evil act, hence condemning his soul to Hell. Inferno resumes his demonic form as he teleports to another part of the desert, finding the pawn he plans to use to trap the Ghost Rider: none other than the incredible Hulk. Using his fear-inducing powers, Inferno causes the Hulk to be attacked by an illusionary version of the Ghost Rider. The hallucinatory Rider causes the Hulk much pain, but then just as suddenly as he appeared he disappears. The Hulk is now in a furious rage at being attacked, and he leaps off to find Blaze (whose location has been placed in the man-brute's mind by Inferno). Inferno watches the Hulk leave, sure that when the monster attacks the bikers Blaze will run to save himself...and then, after the Hulk kills Blaze, his soul will belong to Satan.

Back at the race, Blaze undergoes the transformation into the Ghost Rider, having forgotten that most of the race takes place at night. While he scrambles for an explanation, Mr. Forester tells him that his ghost tricks won't scare anybody out of the race, and John thanks himself for having the foresight to include the Ghost Rider bit into his cycle act. The six racers continue on until, suddenly, the Hulk crashes down in their path, determined to kill the Ghost Rider. Unable to stop in time, Forester jumps off his bike, allowing it to crash into the Hulk. Annoyed by the crash, the Hulk prepares to kill Forester...but, to the surprise of all, Lemuel Driftwood rides to the rescue, barely pulling Forester away in time before the Hulk strikes. Blaze attempts to lure the Hulk away, but finds that his hellfire does little to harm the rampaging monster. The Hulk attacks, knocking Blaze from his bike, but before the advantage can be pressed, Fairbanks and Joyce manage to distract the goliath while Forester and Driftwood help Blze to his feet. Having regained his senses, Blaze blankets the Hulk with hellfire, burning up all of the oxygen around his head. Eventually, the Hulk passes out due to lack of oxygen and falls to the ground defeated. The bikers celebrate momentarily before Blaze recommends that they leave the area before the Hulk wakes up. Later, after the weary bikers make it to the finish line, the one racer that continued on during the Hulk's attack (and subsequently won the race), asks Blaze why he helped a bunch of losers instead of winning the prize money. Johnny looks back at the four people who helped him and tells the other man that he's got it wrong, "there isn't a loser in the pack".

Marvel Two-In-One (1973) # 8

"Silent Night...Deadly Night!"

Cover Date: March 1975

On Sale Date: December 1974
 

Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Mike Esposito
Letterer: Charlotte Jetter
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Len Wein

Cover Artist: Ron Wilson

On Christmas Eve, Johnny Blaze is riding through the Arizona desert. When three mysterious men on camels appear in the road in front of him, Blaze swerves and wrecks his bike. The men check on him, unshaken by his flaming skull, and they tell Johnny that they are three kings following a star toward a child of prophecy. Understandably confused by what's happening, Blaze rides ahead of the kings in order to find answers.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Fantastic Four are celebrating the Christmas holiday - all except for Reed Richards, who is too busy studying the new star that's appeared in the sky despite the advice of Ben Grimm, the Thing. Back in Arizona, Ghost Rider arrives at a city that appears to be from biblical times, only all the residents are Native Americans. While investigating the town, Blaze finds the stable, within which is an Indian couple and their baby in a manger. Then, Blaze is startled by a shadowed figure who forbids him to enter the stable. The unknown man claims to be the child's creator, and he sweeps Johnny and his motorcycle into a tornado, which carries him back to the hills outside the city.

At the Baxter Building, Richards has discovered that the new star is pointing toward the Indian reservation of their friend, Wyatt Wingfoot. Reed is preparing to go investigate, but Grimm offers to go in his place so Richards can spend the holiday with his family. The Thing takes off in the Fantastic Four's Pogo Plane, and within an hour he has arrived at the reservation where he's met by Ghost Rider, who fills Grimm in on what he's seen. They see the three wise men approaching on their camels, and Blaze stops them with a ring of hellfire and demands their help. Later, Ghost Rider and the Thing sneak into the town, disguised as two of the three wise men. There they find an old enemy of the Fantastic Four, the Miracle Man, who transforms the stable animals into beasts to restrain the heroes. The Miracle Man explains that he had been imprisoned by the Indian mystics the Cheemuzwa, but he managed to escape and steal their power. In order to attain godhood, he transformed the Cheemuzwa and the reservation into a replica of Jerusalem, where he has created a new immaculate messiah.

Suddenly, though, the Miracle Man's powers fade away when he attempts to kill Ghost Rider. The Thing frees himself and attacks, but Miracle Man's powers work just fine against Grimm. Miracle Man sets fire to the city, hoping to destroy it and the heroes, before fleeing to the hills. Blaze tells the Thing to go after the villain while he rescues the spellbound Indians. The Thing catches up to his foe, and after a brief fight he manages to knock the Miracle Man unconscious. At that moment, the villain's spell fades; the town and its residents return to their normal state. The freed Cheemuzwa appear and take Miracle Man away with them, but the "messiah" child remains at the reservation to be cared for by the Native Americans. Ghost Rider and the Thing say their goodbyes, but while he drives away Johnny tries to figure out why the Miracle Man's powers wouldn't work on him.