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.”
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| For more info on Ghost Rider, check out the Marvel in the Silver Age blog. |
Charles Hoffman
ReplyDeleteTim Holt was a cowboy star popular enough to have his own comic, but oddly enough, appeared as Georgie Minifer in The Magnificent Ambersons, Orson Welles' followup to Citizen Kane, adapted from a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Booth Tarkington.
I replied:
Yea. A fascinating career. He played opposite Endora herself.
Alin Silverwood:
ReplyDeleteLater represented in the modern era as the descendent of Carter Slade, the mantle was taken up -- as Phantom Rider -- by Hamilton Slade (a nod to Harrison Ford, probably implying an Indiana Jones-like element to the modern version). Phantom Rider was used to avoid confusion with the cycle-riding Ghost Rider. Phantom Rider had some control over a lightforce type of energy, able to manifest a gun, a whip, and a steed. (I wrote a short story with him in Marvel Comics Presents 102, writer Gary Barnum.)
Paul Was-Hess:
ReplyDeletePhantom Rider as Sam Elliot was the best part of the bad ghost rider movie.
Johnny Williams:
ReplyDeleteDan, I was a fan of Marvel’s cowboy heroes and titles - Kid Colt Outlaw, The Two Gun Kid, and The Rawhide Kid. Plus as you well know I was a big fan of costumed superheroes. The (western) Ghost Rider was an exciting combination of both. The was hooked from the very beginning.
Interestingly enough the modern, motorcycle riding version never captured my interest to the extent that the cowboy version had.
I replied:
Agreed. And I had no idea of the western character's storied history.
James Thompson:
ReplyDeleteThe Ghost Rider name might have been an easy theft, as names can't be copyrighted. The reprint use of the Night Rider name was a terrible idea by Marvel. They apparently did no research to see how that phrase had been used otherwise.
I replied:
They were embarrassed.
Mark Staff Brandl:
ReplyDeleteI bought all the cowboy Ghost Riders. I liked it far more than the motorcycle version. I was happy he cameoed in the movie.
Robert Berman:
ReplyDelete"Pretending to be a ghost" also applied to The Spirit, right? And in the case of The Spectre, it was even true.
I replied:
The Creeper, too, pretended to be some kind of supernatural being. As did the Phantom.
David M. Lynch:
ReplyDeleteDick Ayers told me that he never really cared for the Carter Slade secret identity of Marvel's Ghost Rider. He preferred Magazine Enterprises' Rex Fury. In fact, in the 1980s, Dick Ayers almost did a graphic novel establishing that the Rex Fury Ghost Rider was Sgt. Nick Fury's granddad.
Bruce Guthrie"
ReplyDeleteWhere does this graphic come from? It's rather good.
I replied:
I made it in Photoshop. Thanks!
Dennis Anderson:
ReplyDeleteThe original Ghost Rider also had his white costume coated with phosphorus from his cave HQ and the *inside* of the cape was black. By wrapping the cloak around himself inside out, his body couldn't be seen and he appeared to be simply a floating disembodied head!