February 1967: Those Ghostly Memories

So Ghost Rider is a supernatural motorcyclist who made a deal with the devil to save his father, and got a flaming skull-head for his trouble?

Well, no. 

Originally, Ghost Rider was an Old West lawman turned trickster dressed in spectral white. 

The Magazine Enterprises character was created for editor Vincent Sullivan in Tim Holt 11 (Nov. 1949), combining the superhero trappings then fading in popularity with the horror elements that would dominate comics over the next few years.

Ghost Rider’s dramatic design — a caped white figure with a full face mask, a pale wonder horse and lots of ghostly tricks — proved popular enough to propel the character into a respectable four-year run. 

Marvel Comics decided to revamp and revive the hero in 1967. 

Roy Thomas recalled, “The idea to revive ME’s Ghost Rider was Stan’s — or, though I wasn’t told, it could have been Martin Goodman’s, since he was big on picking up the occasional ‘abandoned trademark,’ as he had wanted to do earlier with Gleason’s Daredevil. This time, though, I do know that Stan loved Dick Ayers’ Ghost Rider.”

Thomas said he too had been a fan of the character since he’d seen the origin story in an issue of Tim Holt. Rex Fury had previously starred in a backup feature in Tim Holt as the Calico Kid. But in the 11th issue, artist Ayers and writer Ray Krank upped the ante by turning him into a 19th century mystery man superhero.

Thomas and Gary Friedrich joined with Ayers to bring Ghost Rider to Marvel. 

This time he was one Carter Slade, tricked up in a costume identical to the original and fighting bandits instead of monsters. 

“While we could apparently legally use the name and outfit of Ghost Rider, other things were still officially under copyright so he couldn’t have the same identity,” Thomas said. “Somehow, though, the rest of Ghost Rider’s modus operandi — pretending to be a ghost, etc. — was not off-limits.” 

For more info on Ghost Rider, check out the Marvel in the Silver Age blog.