The Original Ghost Rider

The original Ghost Rider was created in 1967, about five years before the modern-day, flaming skull/motorcycle version showed up. Created (sort of) by writers Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas along with artist Dick Ayers, his origin was recounted in Ghost Rider #1 (February 1967).

Actually, this Wild West version of Ghost Rider wasn't the original. Dick Ayers had co-created (with writer Ray Krank) a western Ghost Rider in 1949 for the publisher Magazine Enterprises. His stories were horror-themed, so came to an end when the Comics Code was instituted. Magazine Enterprises closed up shop in 1958.

When the trademark on the name lapsed, Marvel rebooted the character. That's the guy who shows up in 1967.

But poor Ghost Rider didn't get to keep his name. When Johnny Blaze debuted in 1972, the Wild West Ghost Rider briefly became Night Rider (until someone remembered that's what Klu Klux Klan terrorists were called in the 19th Century) and then Phantom Rider. In the meantime, when AC Comics reprinted the original 1949 stories in 1980 by AC Comics, he was renamed the Haunted Horseman because Marvel had the trademark for Ghost Rider.

Have you got all that? There'll be a quiz tomorrow that will represent 20% of your final grade.

Anyway, today we are looking at the origin of Marvel's first Ghost Rider. It begins with a guy named Carter Slade riding towards the small Western town at which he's been hired to teach school. But when he sees Indians attacking a small ranch, he tries to play hero.

But he's not very good at playing hero yet. Though he discovers the "Indians" are actually white men in disguise, he fails to stop them. Instead, he's badly wounded and left for dead.

Fortunately, there is one survivor from the burning ranch. Young Jamie Jacobs was hiding in the cellar. Jamie tries to get the dying Carter across twenty miles of empy land to the nearest town, but it doesn't look like either of them will make it. Another bit of fortune strikes when they are seen by Indians.

Carter heals up and the medicine man declares him to be an answer to prophesy, destined to be a hero. Carter, who is pretty good at kicking butt despite being trained as a school teacher (Hey, those snot-nosed kids won't be able to take him down!), embraces this role. He steals a little Lone Ranger thunder by befriending a wild white horse no one else had ever been able to catch, but then adapts a more original M.O. using a white costume coated with a dust that glows brightly even in dim light. By covering himself or portions of himself, he now has a way of freaking out the bad guys.

He learns that attacks on the local settlers has been instituted by an evil land baron, who wants to drive everyone else off government land so he can claim it for himself. There's no real proof he's behind it, though, so Carter (now in his Ghost Rider persona) steps in to first frighten off the bad guy's men and then "encourage" the bad guy to pack up and move away.

Dick Ayers' art carries the story along at a brisk pace and the script uses various Old West cliches effectively, with Ghost Rider's creepy vibe adding a nice touch of uniqueness to the tale.

As I said, Ghost Rider would soon be changed to Phantom Rider. Before the name change, Carter would get killed saving his brother Lincoln in Western Gunfighters #6 (1972), though Carter would be used one more time some years later when Johnny Blaze time travels and teams up with him.

After Carter died, his adopted son Jamie (the kid that saved him in the origin story) takes up the identity, but doesn't have the skill to go with it and soon gets killed himself. So Carter's brother Lincoln takes over. Lincoln largely disappeared into Comic Book Limbo for some time, but then popped up again in West Coast Avengers in the 1980s when the Avengers were enduring some time travel shenanigans. Lincoln, unable to handle his powers, has moved into Crazy Town by this point and, after kidnapping Mockingbird and brainwashing her to love him, ends up dead himself. The WCA story as a whole is actually a very good one, but whether Lincoln's descent into madness is a betrayal of the character is something for fans to decide on an individual basis. I'm actually okay with it as long as that version of the character wasn't Carter Slade, but its a close call.

Next week, as long as we are visiting the Marvel Wild West, let's stick around for awhile and look at the origin of the Outlaw Kid.