writer: Gary Friedrich
artist: Mike Ploog
inker: Frank Monte
letterer: Herb Cooper
editor: Roy Thomas
on stands: December 1972
The long holiday weekend, a change of jobs, and a cranky scanner have caused me to fall behind on this blog, but I haven't given it up!
When last we left off, Curly (Really Crash Simpson in disguise) had hypnotized Roxanne. Marvel Spotlight no. 7 opens with him dumping her unconscious body into an empty drum of ACE cleaning compound and trundling her out to a taxi in order to haul her across town to his satanic lair.
Meanwhile, after a page of recap, Johnny (in full Ghost Rider flames) is on the prowl and attracts the attention of the police (uh, maybe he shouldn't be driving so fast ~ you think?). The dorky cops, dubbed Harvey and Barn, pursue him recklessly and Ghost Rider makes all manner of fancy jumps in order to escape them (in second person address, of course: "hurtling toward your fateful rendezvous like a streaking eagle with its wings shot off" ~ honestly, Friedrich, come on). While Johnny recuperates in a graveyard (Ghost Rider gets tired!), Curly sets the stage to sacrifice Roxanne to the devil (like any good father would do, right?).
Come dawn, Johnny races home to make coffee and relax before his next show. But then Bart Slade arrives (the road manager) to announce Roxanne's disappearance. Tempers flare (and a couple of thought bubbles conveniently establish Bart as a rival for Roxanne's affections: cue soap music). After the show, Bart also tells Johnny that Curly was there and Johnny somehow makes the connection that Curly must be involved. So Johnny waits for nightfall, pops into his Ghost Rider flames, and goes hunting.
Of course the gang gives Curly's location up where a black mass is underway (complete with Roxanne all rigged out for Satan's delight ~ dressed in what all the sacrificial girls were wearing in 1973. A few silly occult incantations later and Curly pulls out the Devil's Dagger! This is all looking very dire for our perky heroine, but of course before she can be impaled, Ghost Rider arrives.
This pisses off Satan who decides it will be a contest between Ghost Rider and Curly "in his real form" and enhanced with mystical weaponry. To the death, of course. So Curly changes into a disturbingly panty-clad Crash Simpson, takes up a sword, and we're left with them facing off with a very excitable "to be continued!" across the bottom of the page.
artist: Mike Ploog
inker: Frank Monte
letterer: Herb Cooper
editor: Roy Thomas
on stands: December 1972
The long holiday weekend, a change of jobs, and a cranky scanner have caused me to fall behind on this blog, but I haven't given it up!
When last we left off, Curly (Really Crash Simpson in disguise) had hypnotized Roxanne. Marvel Spotlight no. 7 opens with him dumping her unconscious body into an empty drum of ACE cleaning compound and trundling her out to a taxi in order to haul her across town to his satanic lair.
Meanwhile, after a page of recap, Johnny (in full Ghost Rider flames) is on the prowl and attracts the attention of the police (uh, maybe he shouldn't be driving so fast ~ you think?). The dorky cops, dubbed Harvey and Barn, pursue him recklessly and Ghost Rider makes all manner of fancy jumps in order to escape them (in second person address, of course: "hurtling toward your fateful rendezvous like a streaking eagle with its wings shot off" ~ honestly, Friedrich, come on). While Johnny recuperates in a graveyard (Ghost Rider gets tired!), Curly sets the stage to sacrifice Roxanne to the devil (like any good father would do, right?).
Come dawn, Johnny races home to make coffee and relax before his next show. But then Bart Slade arrives (the road manager) to announce Roxanne's disappearance. Tempers flare (and a couple of thought bubbles conveniently establish Bart as a rival for Roxanne's affections: cue soap music). After the show, Bart also tells Johnny that Curly was there and Johnny somehow makes the connection that Curly must be involved. So Johnny waits for nightfall, pops into his Ghost Rider flames, and goes hunting.
Of course the gang gives Curly's location up where a black mass is underway (complete with Roxanne all rigged out for Satan's delight ~ dressed in what all the sacrificial girls were wearing in 1973. A few silly occult incantations later and Curly pulls out the Devil's Dagger! This is all looking very dire for our perky heroine, but of course before she can be impaled, Ghost Rider arrives.
This pisses off Satan who decides it will be a contest between Ghost Rider and Curly "in his real form" and enhanced with mystical weaponry. To the death, of course. So Curly changes into a disturbingly panty-clad Crash Simpson, takes up a sword, and we're left with them facing off with a very excitable "to be continued!" across the bottom of the page.
THE COSTUMES: There are just a couple of new pieces for this issue (and a lot of red and orange!). Johnny wears a red bathrobe (page 10) while he drinks his morning coffee and yaps with Bart (we never see below his waist, so I have no idea what the length of the robe is or whether he's got any jammies on under it). Then later (page 11), during the show, Johnny sports a lovely set of orange leathers with a big red star (it's similar in design to the one previously worn by Roxanne. Star-chested sneetches anyone?)
And finally there's Roxanne's sacrificial get-up (page 15): a sort of spangled halter top and a long red loin cloth with some baubles hanging off it it. The design changes subtly from frame to frame, so I just tried to put as much detail as I could. She also has a little headband thing that she wears with this, but I omitted it. Mostly because it would be very tiny. This is the first issue in which Roxanne's hair is suddenly and inexplicably blonde, by the way.
And finally there's Roxanne's sacrificial get-up (page 15): a sort of spangled halter top and a long red loin cloth with some baubles hanging off it it. The design changes subtly from frame to frame, so I just tried to put as much detail as I could. She also has a little headband thing that she wears with this, but I omitted it. Mostly because it would be very tiny. This is the first issue in which Roxanne's hair is suddenly and inexplicably blonde, by the way.