Featuring: Ghost Rider
Release: February 14, 1967
Cover: April 1967
12 cents
Edited by: Stan Lee
Written by: Gary Friedrich
Drawn and plotted by: Dick Ayers
Inked by: Vinnie Colletta
Lettered by: Artie Simek
17 pages
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|---|---|---|
| X-Men #31 | Reading order | Avengers #38 |
| Ghost Rider #1 | Ghost Rider | Ghost Rider #3 |
Hold, sons of Satan! If it is your wish to protect– then protect yourselves– from the wrath of the Ghost Rider!
After dealing with some cattle rustlers, Ghost Rider returns to his secret cave. We are reminded of his origin and how some of his tricks work.
A pullstring from a tree opens the cave. The lantern projects his own image in a ghostly manner, and covering parts of his body makes parts of the image seem to disappear, so he can appear to have no head or no chest. His lasso is black to the point of being invisible at night.
They spend a lot of time making very clear to the reader there is nothing supernatural going on. And I wonder if that’s entirely for narrative purpose. Or if the audience also includes the censors from the Comics Code Authority, who generally forbade supernatural concepts in Code-approved comics. So it may have been important to clarify that Ghost Rider was not in fact a ghost.
Sufficiently friendly ghosts seemed to be acceptable to the Comics Code.
We then meet the Tarantula, who will be Ghost Rider’s arch-nemesis. He has a notable Hispanic accent.
We also meet Natalie’s fiancé, Clay Rider.
Nudge. Nudge.
We learn Natalie and Ben’s surname is Brooks, and that the town is named Bison Bend.
Tarantula is offering a protection racket, forcing everyone in town to pay him $100 per month. Only Ben Brooks stands up to him.
Well, Ben and the Ghost Rider.
Natalie finds herself a captive for the second time in two issues.
Tarantula is sufficiently impressed by Ghost Rider’s apparent supernatural nature to run away.
If Ghost Rider stopped him instead of letting him run away, that might have saved us the next 5 issues.
At least unmask the dude first. Make sure he’s not anybody you know.
Ben’s bravery causes the town to suggest he be the sheriff. If he accepts, his first act will be to take down the untrustworthy Ghost Rider.
But does Ben want to be the sheriff in a town full of such cowards? Has he seen High Noon?
The backup story reprints a tale from Kid Colt #99, 1961.
We get a note that the reprint is courtesy of Leading Mag. Corp. As though Kid Colt had been published by a different company.
When I first learned the history of Marvel as a child, I got in my head that Marvel had been named Timely, then later Atlas, then later Marvel. And that is just false. But nobody can keep track of the truth, which is that Martin Goodman owned several basically shell companies he used to publish an assortment of magazines and comics. These comics occasionally had different branding on them, and the three names mentioned above were prominent brands on Goodman’s comics at different times. Why the crazy web of companies? I can only guess he was dodging both tax and postal regulations all over the place.
That fake “courtesy of” credit exists to maintain a thin illusion of separation between these concerns.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 51/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I have a different cover than GCD shows.
What is with that figure in the logo? Is that supposed to be Ghost Rider?
My version lacks that weird figure, and my logo is notably black, rather than purple.
Looking at the few comics for sale online, I see the logo ranges from purple to black, due to the idiosyncrasies of printing at the time, but that weird little figure doesn’t appear anywhere. Either GCD has a very limited version of the cover, or they have one where someone has drawn a weird little figure in the logo.
Characters:
- Ghost Rider/Carter Slade
- Banshee
- Jamie
- Tarantula
- Natalie “Nat” Brooks
- Ben Brooks
- Jed Higgins
Minor characters:
- Bart (cattle rustler)
- Sam (a local)
- Mabel (a local)
Story notes:
- Ghost Rider joins a posse of ranchers against some cattle rustlers.
- Ghost Rider appears headless, then bodiless.
- There is some doubt and disagreement if he is on the settlers’ side.
- A rope hidden among branches makes the entrance to Ghost Rider’s secret cave swing open.
- The lantern-projector allows him to appear intangible, and create the effects like appearing headless.
- Tarantula has Hispanic accent.
- Tarantula uses his whip to disarm and impress the owlhoots. They agree to join him against Ghost Rider.
- Carter and Jamie are planning to finish rebuilding Jamie’s place. They recap issue 1 in dialogue.
- Natalie wants to talk to Slade about education, but Ben wants to talk to him about Ghost Rider.
- Natalie is engaged to Clay Rider.
- Tarantula offers a protection racket; $100 per month from everyone.
- Slade can’t change to Ghost Rider when Tarantula attacks because his outfit is back in the hideout.
- Settlers mostly decide to pay to protect their families.
- While working on construction of the schoolhouse, Slade falls and is hurt. The doctor thinks he’ll be okay by morning. This will make his absence later less suspicious.
- When Tarantula returns the next night, only Ben defies him.
- Ghost Rider scares the gang away, but Tarantula fights back.
- Tarantula’s bull-whip brings down a roof on Ghost Rider. Or does it?
- Ghost Rider shoots and breaks the whip.
- Tarantula kidnaps Natalie.
- Jamie has been handling the lanter-projector for Ghost Rider’s tricks.
- Ghost Rider tries to lasso Natalie with his “lariat of darkness”, but he is not as practiced with rope-tossing.
- Tarantula runs away.
- Ben nominated for sheriff. But he’s concerned about the guts of the townspeople.
- If Ben becomes sheriff, he will want to get rid of Ghost Rider.
| Previous | #670 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #31 | Reading order | Avengers #38 |
| Ghost Rider #1 | Ghost Rider | Ghost Rider #3 |
