By 
Marvel's horror-craze only lasted a few years, beginning in late 1970 (with Marvel Spotlight #2 featuring Werewolf by Night) and ending during the first half of 1975 (the last issue of the black and white monster magazines). The longest lasting characters to survive the horror boom were Werewolf by Night (43 issues), Tomb of Dracula (70 issues), but Ghost Rider beat them all with 81 issues and numerous comebacks. Part of his survival is due to writer Tony Isabella (taking over when Gary Friedrich left the series) deciding to usher Johnny Blaze into the superhero population. The dramatic event occurred in Ghost Rider #9. The cover proclaimed: This is it! The final fearful Showdown with Satan!
As Tony Isabella said in his interview with Alex Ness at Pop Thought: "When I was assigned to write GHOST RIDER, two things were obvious to me. Without artist Mike Ploog, the supernatural-based stories weren't working as well as they had during his stint on the book, leading me to consider whether or not that book might sell better if I emphasized the super-hero aspects of the title. The second thing was that there were plenty of Satan avatars active in the Marvel Universe, but precious little evidence of the loyal opposition. I hit a point in the extended storyline where it made wonderful sense to have Jesus Christ prevent Satan from claiming Johnny Blaze's soul."
From that point forward, Johnny Blaze became more of a superhero and less of a demonic figure. Issue #11 featured him holding his own against the Hulk. Ghost Rider made numerous appearances in Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-In-One, then joined a west coast superhero team called The Champions. He teamed up with Daredevil and even dated Matt Murdock's old girlfriend, Karen Page.
After a few years of superhero oriented stories, horror themes crept back into the series. Jim Starlin wrote and drew a memorable single issue story in issue 35 ("Death Race"), where Johnny Blaze must outrace the personification of Death (a Starlin favorite). Death rides a Harley and Johnny must cheat in order to win! While this issue was set in a flashback, it makes a point in the opening caption: "A memory of another time, another desert...a time when the curse of the Ghost Rider was less consuming, more under control". Writers like Roger McKenzie and Michael Fleisher had started writing the Ghost Rider with his own distinct personality. Johnny Blaze suddenly had no control over the Ghost Rider, but it was something the writers failed to explain.
Roger Stern fixed that when he came onboard as regular writer with Ghost Rider #68. He retold the classic origin story from Marvel Spotlight #5, but with a difference: Satan was replaced with Mephisto. In the Marvel Comics that existed in 1982, there was no room for Satan any longer. Despite this revision, the handful of issues that Stern wrote were a breath of fresh air. Stern also explained that Blaze lost control of the Ghost Rider after his initial adventures. We see that now the Ghost Rider exists to punish the guilty--in this issue he scares a Catholic priest to the point of insanity. Issue 69 has the Ghost Rider screaming "I am VENGEANCE!" to his latest victim. Later, Ghost Rider proclaims himself to be "the Spirit of Vengeance", which became the subtitle for the Daniel Ketch character.
By the time Ghost Rider's final issue #81 was published, we had a name for the demon possessing Johnny Blaze: Zarathos. Blaze and Zarathos battled for the right to stay on Earth, with the loser getting exiled to Hades. Like she did in the very first Ghost Rider tale, Roxanne Simpson saved Johnny with the strength of her love. With Zarathos trapped inside Mephisto's realm, Blaze rode off into the sunset with his sweetheart, free at least from the nightmare of Ghost Rider. It seemed appropriate at the time, in the Shooter-era Marvel Comics, with Secret Wars and Alien Symbiote costumes--was there any room for a supernatural hero? We thought we had seem the last of that flaming skull...but his most popular days were yet to come. Nuff said.
See also:
Mike Ploog's Classic Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider Part 2: The HellCycle
Leave a comment