writer: Gary Friedrich
drawn by: Tom Sutton
inks: Chic Stone
letterer: Shelly Leferman
editor: Roy Thomas
on stands: April 1973
Tom Sutton's Ghost Rider's jaw is fused to his skull and he has a weird, fleshy neck. It's a combination of bizarre anatomy that makes for one of the worst handlings of the character in Ghost Rider's long history. But let's try to move past that and on to the story:
Alice Cooper (er, I mean Snake Dance ~ the two are kind of hard to tell apart), has tossed Ghost Rider over the edge of the canyon, causing him to pancake at the bottom while the shaman does a lot of random chanting (you know, stuff that shamans do).
Meanwhile, literally back at the ranch, Casey could care less that Johnny's missing, but Roxanne is frantic. Casey tells Sam to drive her out to the canyon to check it out. On the way out, Sam waxes political on the injustices to his people, then informs Roxanne that Johnny is dead, kidnaps her, ties her up (because what comic geared toward adolescent boys in this era didn't tie up the heroine whenever the plot could make it plausible (or even implausible!), and hauls her back to the reservation for ~ of course ~ a human sacrifice!
Again, back at the ranch, Bart Slade (who is suddenly about 20 years younger and sporting a Prince Valiant hairdo!), announces that if Johnny's gone, he'll do the stunt jump over the canyon. For the first time since we've met Bart, we realize that he's a "cripple". Something to offend everyone in this one!
In the canyon, Satan resurrects dead Johnny because, well, he can't be dead, right? Some mumbo-jumbo about keeping him alive in order to buy time to yet claim his soul later (it's not the right time, Satan says ~ guess Johnny's not ripe enough?). Anyway, having basically laid the foundation for Ghost Rider's near-immortality, Johnny is rescued from the canyon by a passing helicopter.
On the reservation, Snake Dance tells Sam that the "gods" will be pleased with Roxanne as a bride for the Snake God (someone doesn't know native American spirituality from their elbow, I guess). But wait, there's a plot twist! It turns out that Snake Dance is a fraud who's only doing all of this to revenge himself on bad white people! Nobody saw that coming!
Johnny returns to his dressing room to "change leathers" (apparently he has a dozen suits and they all look the same, just like any respectable superhero, right?). Johnny's wardrobe here and Sutton's villains share that quality. Bart Slade and Snake Dance are nearly indistinguishable in the scene that follows during which Johnny warns Bart that he couldn't "jump a sawhorse with that bum leg." Bart tries to rev on by, but Johnny clotheslines him off his bike and reclaims the show.
Cue ridiculous bike stunts.
But Johnny's concentration is off, worrying about Bart and Roxanne and, oh, I don't know, being a flaming skull-headed demon, so he mash potatoes himself into a retaining wall. But don't worry, folks, he's just fine (because, as we learned before, he's kind of semi-immortal!) He emerges from the rubble to catch Sam and interrogate him about the canyon business ~ with his fists, of course.
drawn by: Tom Sutton
inks: Chic Stone
letterer: Shelly Leferman
editor: Roy Thomas
on stands: April 1973
Tom Sutton's Ghost Rider's jaw is fused to his skull and he has a weird, fleshy neck. It's a combination of bizarre anatomy that makes for one of the worst handlings of the character in Ghost Rider's long history. But let's try to move past that and on to the story:
Alice Cooper (er, I mean Snake Dance ~ the two are kind of hard to tell apart), has tossed Ghost Rider over the edge of the canyon, causing him to pancake at the bottom while the shaman does a lot of random chanting (you know, stuff that shamans do).
Meanwhile, literally back at the ranch, Casey could care less that Johnny's missing, but Roxanne is frantic. Casey tells Sam to drive her out to the canyon to check it out. On the way out, Sam waxes political on the injustices to his people, then informs Roxanne that Johnny is dead, kidnaps her, ties her up (because what comic geared toward adolescent boys in this era didn't tie up the heroine whenever the plot could make it plausible (or even implausible!), and hauls her back to the reservation for ~ of course ~ a human sacrifice!
Again, back at the ranch, Bart Slade (who is suddenly about 20 years younger and sporting a Prince Valiant hairdo!), announces that if Johnny's gone, he'll do the stunt jump over the canyon. For the first time since we've met Bart, we realize that he's a "cripple". Something to offend everyone in this one!
In the canyon, Satan resurrects dead Johnny because, well, he can't be dead, right? Some mumbo-jumbo about keeping him alive in order to buy time to yet claim his soul later (it's not the right time, Satan says ~ guess Johnny's not ripe enough?). Anyway, having basically laid the foundation for Ghost Rider's near-immortality, Johnny is rescued from the canyon by a passing helicopter.
On the reservation, Snake Dance tells Sam that the "gods" will be pleased with Roxanne as a bride for the Snake God (someone doesn't know native American spirituality from their elbow, I guess). But wait, there's a plot twist! It turns out that Snake Dance is a fraud who's only doing all of this to revenge himself on bad white people! Nobody saw that coming!
Johnny returns to his dressing room to "change leathers" (apparently he has a dozen suits and they all look the same, just like any respectable superhero, right?). Johnny's wardrobe here and Sutton's villains share that quality. Bart Slade and Snake Dance are nearly indistinguishable in the scene that follows during which Johnny warns Bart that he couldn't "jump a sawhorse with that bum leg." Bart tries to rev on by, but Johnny clotheslines him off his bike and reclaims the show.
Cue ridiculous bike stunts.
But Johnny's concentration is off, worrying about Bart and Roxanne and, oh, I don't know, being a flaming skull-headed demon, so he mash potatoes himself into a retaining wall. But don't worry, folks, he's just fine (because, as we learned before, he's kind of semi-immortal!) He emerges from the rubble to catch Sam and interrogate him about the canyon business ~ with his fists, of course.
Cut to Snake Dance's sacrificial ceremony with Roxanne now wearing a super-cheesy Princess Tiger Lily outfit (the cheesiest!). Ghost Rider breaks up the party, but too late: Roxanne has been bitten by the venomous snakes. No amount of hellfire and excruciatingly retarded proclamations threatening damnation will save her, but these antics do manage to reduce Snake Dance's minions to gibbering idiots.
Ghost Rider trashes the place, takes up Roxanne, and goes speeding away with her draped like a carcass during hunting season over the back of his bike.
One really begins to wonder how these characters ever managed to get their own comic.
THE COSTUMES: Nothing too fancy here, folks. On page 5, Roxanne's got a red tank top paired with her brown pants and boots. It's not until page 21 that she is revealed in her Indian outfit. She has a pair of moccasins that goes with this, but I didn't draw them (oops!). Anyway, now you have your choice of dressing Roxanne up to sacrifice her to Satan or the Snake God ~ just think of the hours of imaginative play!
Ghost Rider trashes the place, takes up Roxanne, and goes speeding away with her draped like a carcass during hunting season over the back of his bike.
One really begins to wonder how these characters ever managed to get their own comic.
THE COSTUMES: Nothing too fancy here, folks. On page 5, Roxanne's got a red tank top paired with her brown pants and boots. It's not until page 21 that she is revealed in her Indian outfit. She has a pair of moccasins that goes with this, but I didn't draw them (oops!). Anyway, now you have your choice of dressing Roxanne up to sacrifice her to Satan or the Snake God ~ just think of the hours of imaginative play!