One of the many comics I collected in the 70’s was the supernatural themed strip GHOST RIDER.
Although Ghost Rider’s origins began within the Marvel Universe I.E. battling super-villains and teaming up with the various heroes of the Marvel Universe (even joining THE CHAMPIONS for awhile), to me, the comic didn’t really “find” itself until scribe Michael Fleisher took over the writing chores in issue #36 or so.
Mike was already famous for his work on the DC title JONAH HEX, and I’ll be darned if he didn’t bring that whole experience along and apply it to the legend of Johnny Blaze, as well!
Gone was the superstar stuntman Johnny Blaze, living in the big city, hiding his secret identity from a girlfriend as he did double-work as an adventurer and part-time member of the aforementioned Champions,( a group that never seemed quite believable to me anyway- Hercules? In a group with Iceman and Angel AND a hell-spawn demon?) and in its place was a Ghost Rider that seemed much more attuned to its lonely demonic origins.
Fleisher took elements of his two more famous works, JONAH HEX and THE SPECTRE, and, along with awesome illustrator Don Perlin (who really had that Jonah Hex western style of art), painted a glorious picture of a supernatural demon wandering across the desert wastelands, helping those in need, with the hangman (or rather, the law) always just one step behind him. In effect, Johnny Blaze became a demonic hellspawn “Man with No Name”!
When I first began reading GR, the series was a bi-monthly title, (and it was EXCRUCIATING waiting the long time between issues!) but once the comic became a monthly venture in issue #40, the strip really took off with the most haunting, memorable tales including Johnny Blaze getting amnesia and one where a wizard splits Johnny and the Ghost Rider into two separate entities!
But by far, my favorite arc in the series came up on issue #45. Fleisher revisited Johnny’s days as a famous stunt cyclist and in effect drew that chapter of his life to a close, freeing him to continue on as the tortured palefaced rider of the desert plains…
We arrive on the scene as the Ghost Rider is tying up a few loose ends of his previous adventure, catching a trio of crooks who have been pawns in a bizarre plot against him by magician Azazaih in the previous issue. After giving them a punishment of cold, burning Hellfire, The Rider reverts back to Johnny Blaze, and wearily makes his way down to the local pub to have a beer.
When Johnny arrives inside, the local townsfolk are huddled around the bar’s television set, watching in amazement as Stunt Cyclist Flagg Fargo breaks a new motorcycle somersault stunt record, a feat only executed before by Johnny himself! The crowd goes wild, until Flagg starts bad-mouthing Johnny, calling him a coward for not meeting him on challenges he’s been making at every stop of his tour. The bar crowd angrily protest the accusation, saying the Johnny Blaze was the best stunt-cyclist there ever was! Then one of the patrons looks over, and immediately recognizes Johnny as THE Johnny Blaze, stuntman extraordinaire!
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The crowd rallies around Johnny, begging him to come out of retirement and put an end to all of Flagg Fargo’s bravado. After a bit of indecision, Johnny agrees, to the cheers of the barroom!
As Johnny leaves the bar that night, he sees a gang of thieves robbing a nearby warehouse. He hesitates changing into Ghost Rider, and that’s all the time the crooks need to get away. Off in the distance, he sees Flagg Fargo’s trailer, but thinks nothing of it.
In the days that follow, huge coverage has been made over Johnny’s return to Stunt -cycling, and everyone is turning up to see brash newcomer Flagg Fargo take on famous champ Johnny Blaze! But right off the bat, Johnny realizes how rusty he is. He hasn’t trained for this kind of maneuvering in years, and in his very first stunt, he lands quite awkwardly.
Flagg, on the other hand, is steady and sure of himself, and completes his stunt flawlessly. At the end of the heated challenge, with Flagg locked in competition with Johnny, the score has ended up at Flagg’s 325 to Johnny’s 225. Johnny takes it hard, but his sponsors cheer him up, confident that he’ll catch up in the next day’s events.
As Johnny rides home from the arena, he comes across the gang of thieves he’d chased the other night. Not wanting to give himself over to the Ghost Rider, he decides to chase the crooks himself, but is cut off by a car attempting to block any pursuers. Johnny crashes into the car, and as it speeds off, Johnny picks himself up and exclaims, “You want to know something, Blaze old Kid? This just hasn’t been your night!”
Day Two of the Motorcycle Championship at Claremonte Arena is about to commence with newcomer Flagg Fargo versus Johnny Blaze, former champ, just out of retirement! As the two motorcyclists prepare for the night’s events, Flagg’s constant goading of Johnny is starting to get to him, and he finds he can barely control himself. When Johnny looks like he might strike Flagg, the ref steps in and warns Johnny to keep professional during the event.
The championship starts, and though it begins smoothly, Johnny makes a mistake on the final turn of the obstacle course. Flagg aces the course, and seems to set the pace of the day. For every course Johnny wins, Flagg wins two. And so it is that at the end of Day 2, the scores are Flagg at 625 to Johnny’s 400. Fargo lips off at Johnny after the game, chiding “You’re in way over your head- If I were you, I wouldn’t even bother comin’ back tomorrow!” And this time Johnny doesn’t hold back, walloping Flagg in the chops. The ref comes to break it up and dismiss them. Fargo states “ While You been ridin’ around the country feelin’ sorry for yourself, I been workin’! I been practicing!” Johnny leaves to find his backers are starting to have their doubts that Johnny can pull it off, as well.
During his meal at the diner, a tough thug comes in picking up a huge order of food. Johnny immediately recognizes the man as one of the warehouse robbers he’d seen the night before. Following the thug to a waiting van outside, he changes into Ghost Rider, and goes off in hot pursuit of the crooks. But after a wild chase, the crooks mysteriously disappear again, and this time Johnny notices that both times, Flagg Fargo’s trailer has been nearby.
He deduces that Flagg must be in on it, and smashes in on the startled Flagg Fargo relaxing inside. He manhandles Fargo, demanding he admit to both leading the warehouse crooks AND cheating in the motorcycle championship. He leaves Fargo with, “Once I have caught your slimy accomplices and made them confess, I will return to inflict the full vengeful fury of the Ghost Rider unleashed!”
Later, Johnny laments the foolishness of his acts. He has no proof that Fargo is either a crook or a cheat…and what if he’d accidentally killed him as Ghost Rider? He doesn’t want to even think about that! Winning the championship means so much to him, he even briefly entertains using his Ghost Rider powers to cheat and get ahead, but thankfully opts to race the race honestly.
Johnny knows he must get a good night’s sleep for the final challenge the following day, but after tuning up his cycle, finds he cannot sleep. He drives around aimlessly all night, till he realizes it is morning. He is about to head back, when he sees Flagg’s trailer. Standing atop a mountain view, he can see a nearby hidden road covered by brush that hide the criminals vans from street view! So, here is where they have been escaping to! He bursts in on them as Ghost Rider, and makes quick work of them. He tries to get them to confess involvement with Flagg Fargo, but they insist they have nothing to do with him.
With the capture of the warehouse robbers behind him, Johnny arrives at the Arena with a newfound determination to win. Flagg comments that Johnny looks like he’d been up all night, but Johnny brushes it off, and prepares for the duel! This time, Johnny pulls out all the stops and performs incredible stunts. But Flagg is professional, too, and in the end, just barely manages to still beat Johnny with a close call of 825 to 820.
Johnny’s backers are furious. “Get outta here, Blaze you Bum!” they yell. “Yeah, take a powder, you has-been!”. But it is Flagg Fargo himself who comes to Johnny’s defense. He remarks that all his life he’d wanted to be the best, but what he’s seen Johnny do tonight he can only dream of. So even though Flagg won, he considers Johnny the winner. He offers the trophy to Johnny, but Johnny declines it. “You won fair and square.”
Late that night, Johnny takes one last look at the scoreboard of last night’s narrow defeat against challenger Flagg Fargo, 825 to 820. “ Face it Johnny Boy", he says to himself, "You can stare at that scoreboard till the cows come home, but that still isn’t gonna change it. You lost fair and square.” He realizes he has to accept the fact that he is no longer the world champion of anything.
As he leaves the empty arena, he realizes that most of the blame for his loss came from the fact that he spent more time as Ghost Rider than practicing and getting rest. Musing on how the Rider has completely taken over his life, he decides once and for all to leave the identity of Ghost Rider behind him, and concentrate on becoming his own person. “No matter what happens, I swear here and now, that I will never become the Ghost Rider again!”
Next time we see Johnny, it is three days later, and though Johnny hasn’t changed into the Ghost Rider, he is beginning to feel the symptoms of withdrawal. He can feel the spirit of the Rider rising up in him, trying to come up to the surface. He stops at a roadside bar where he hopes a few beers will calm his nerves down and keep the Rider in him at bay.
Inside the bar, he orders a beer from the barmaid, but before he can enjoy his brew, is suddenly harassed by a trio of Motorcycle thugs who’ve instantly recognized Johnny from his televised Championship defeat. They approach Johnny and goad him into a brawl. He slugs one in the gut and cracks one across the face before the bartender comes out with a stick to chase out the ruffians. After making sure Johnny is alright, they get him another beer on the house.
Later that night (and quite a few beers later as well), Johnny feels it is enough to “keep the demon down”, and stumbles out into the streets, where he find the three motorcycle thugs waiting for him on his motorcycle. The inebriated Johnny cannot even see straight, and the thugs begin beating him with chains and crowbars. The leader called Raz is about to stomp his heel onto Johnny’s head, when a policeman arrives in time to chase the thugs off.
The policeman and his companion, a pretty girl named Amy who is being taken in for loitering, check on the bruised Johnny, and determine he’s alright. Amy offers to take Johnny in if the cop will cite her some other night . He reluctantly lets her go. Once in the car, Johnny is coming to, and tries to thank her for her kindness, but she says she recognized Blaze because her brother is a motorcycle fanatic, and the pleasure is all hers!
At her little home, she shows him the couch to crash out on, and he promises to “sleep like a lamb.” His slumber is restless, however, for his nightmares are crowded with the specter of Ghost Rider haunting his mind. He dreams of torturing the thugs with hellfire, and wakes up with the bloodlust of the Rider bubbling up. He desperately needs another drink to drown the Ghost Rider back down into his subconscious. Amy thinks she is looking at a classic alcoholic when he demands a drink, but relents, and lets him have one, if only to relax him. He has managed, just barely, to keep the demon down again.
The next day is a happy one for the couple. Johnny apologizes to Amy for his actions the night before, as they make their way to the field, where they plan on having a relaxing picnic. After a meal together, Johnny and Amy are cozying up to each other, when Johnny hears the dreaded voice of the motorcycle thugs. They’ve come back to harass Johnny, but this time, all he wants is for them to leave.
They rummage through his motorcycle pack, and pull out his Championship Outfit. One of them puts it on. Then they say they are taking Johnny’s cycle, and want his leather jacket, too. Johnny is angry, but Amy tells him to just do it so they will leave. Johnny reluctantly backs down, and taking off his jacket and handing it to them, growls, “Here, you rotten…Here it is!”
The three thugs ride off and Johnny is furious, but Amy is proud of him for not resorting to violence. She points out that the important thing is that they have each other. But no sooner have the words left her lips, when the thugs return.. and accost Amy! The thugs push themselves onto the helpless girl, and this is the final straw! Johnny has had enough, and as four days of demonic repression burst forth in one huge explosion of rage, Johnny become the Ghost Rider again, insane with anger!!!
This is the first time we have seen the Ghost Rider without his leather jacket on, and for the first time, we see what the Rider’s “muscles” are composed of, swirling, flaming muscular sinews roar around the bones of the enraged Ghost Rider ! With a demonic gesture, he conjures up his chopper in a billow of hellfire, and speeds on to catch his fleeing prey. He immediately has them in his grasp where they are immediately engulfed in icy hellfire, the cold flame searing through them and obliterating their very souls!
Once the horrific deed is done, the fire and brimstone are suddenly sucked back into a weakened form of Johnny, where a frightened Amy rushes to his side. She fully understands his meaning of “Keeping the Demon down” now. “That’s what you meant, isn’t it?” “ That…That awful Thing!” Johnny admits that it is. As Johnny gets onto his cycle, Amy begs him to stay with her. “We can beat this thing if we stay together…I know we can!”, but Johnny sadly drives off, never looking back, thinking, “The Demon is inside me, Amy.” “It’s inside to stay.”
