Comic Review #62: Ghost Rider #6-7 (1974)

Alright! It's finally time to talk about one of the coolest dudes in the history of Marvel Comics, the mother fuckin Ghost Rider. Yeah! Ghost Rider. The story of a man who sells his soul to the devil only for the devil to kill the man he was trying to save. He has to fight off demons, ghouls, goblins and your run of the mill Supervillain crazies. It was a fun as hell series from the first issue to the last! I can't believe I actually waited till the Super Cool, Really Scary, Will Spook You to Your Core, Halloween is Cool and Good, Super Spectacular Fun Time Spooktacular to actually talk about him. There have been many different versions of Ghost Rider over the years but my favorite is still the 1970s dude with his bell bottoms and disco music, Johnny Blaze.

HIS Ghost Rider comic ran for 81 issues between 1973 and 1981.  He first started out in Marvel Spotlight. You could have called Marvel Spotlight, Marvel Horror or something because the first ten issues pretty much just had horror related characters like Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night (do not worry we will get to that fuzzy rascal during the Cool Halloween Spectacular Time for Good Boys and Girls and People of Ambiguous Gender Identity). Today's two parter was written by Tony Isabella a pretty good comics writer and drawn by Jim Mooney. Jim Mooney had one very long career in comic books. He did a ton of Supergirl comics in the 1950s and 1960s. I like his art and I'm glad I finally get to discuss a comic he did.

This two party is a doozy of a pickle so let's get to it. We see Leo of the Zodiac gang of supervillains (a set of Supervillains based around the well, Zodiac star system thingamagig) but the narration tells us the Avengers put the Zodiac away not even a few weeks ago! MYSTERY! This guy is after Cornelius Van Lunt's money and information that will put him away for life (Ol' Corey being the leader of this version of the Zodiac). I've always enjoyed the Zodiac gang. We then move from Leo to Johnny Blaze himself talking about how he stopped a villain and now won't be going to jail. He just has to talk to the D.A. 

However it's not going to way he thinks and it turns out that the District Attorney wants him to do another case, find out what's up with the Zodiac having seemingly escaped from prison. The D.A. son pretty much threatens the shit outta Ghost Rider and you think his dad would have tried to calm him down but nah. Ghost Rider and his babe Roxanne just nope right outta the office and go to some stadium. Only to find Dave, the D.A.s son has followed them there. He finds out that Ghost Riders powers are real and still decides to fight him, taking hold of Roxanne. He really really wants the Zodiac gang man! 

It turns out that they had wrecked his career with the FBI and given him a nervous breakdown. That's probably the only time I've seen something like that mentioned but you'd think it would happen more often. You'd think running into a super villain would freak your shit out. I guess most people in the Marvel Comics Universe have stones of steel or something. Anyway Ghost Rider almost throws him off the stadium when Roxanne shows up unharmed. Don't mess with Ghost Rider's lady damnit! The Ghost Rider let's him down and Dave freaks out. Ghost Rider then goes I WONDER WHAT THE ZODIAC DID TO HIM TO GET HIM TO BE LIKE THIS. Yeah, the Zodiac made him try to fight you but you're still kinda to blame for his second nervous breakdown. Anyway Ghost Rider rides off and finds TAURUS! of the Zodiac! This is where part one ends!

Taurus and Ghost Rider yell at each other (I would assume they would have too seeing as both of them are on motorcycles) and Taurus escapes. However as luck would have it a THIRD guy who's good at motorcycling sees the commotion and says fuck it to his actual job. He just walks out the door in the middle of an autograph signing. It's actually pretty hilarious. Anyway this guy is the Stunt Master and he's an obscure character that fought Daredevil once and then teamed up with him. He hasn't been in many comic books but I do like him. Of course they see Taurus change into Scorpio and he attacks them knocking the shit outta both of them. He takes them to his lair and changes back into his original form, the Zodiac member Aquarius.

He then tells them all about how he had gotten a rare lung disease from being out in space in Van Lunt's space ship. He then tells them he had gotten a year left to live. He yells and screams and freaks the fuck out until a demon comes by and goes "yo bro calm down just give me your soul and we will go fuck up Van Lunt's shit" he does and is given all the Zodiac's powers. All 12 in one guy. He changes into several different members while fighting Ghost Rider (Stunt Master gets his dumb ass beat and just fucks off for the next 4 decades until his next appearance) It's Aquarius as the Ram man from the Zodiac (I am legit too lazy to check his real name) and once he changes from that back to Aquarius to finish off Ghost Rider the demon who gave him his power shows back up and tells him that he's used up his year. His full ZODIACAL YEAR by using all 12 powers. Aquarius is like FUCKIN HELL MAN THATS A PILE OF BULLSHIT and the demons like lol fuck you. You'd think he'd want till Ghost Rider beat him to see if Aquarius somehow could stop Ghost Rider because he'd be a bigger get for the big S (that being Satan). I guess this demon just wanted to get back to his house in hell and was tired of this shit.

FINAL VERDICT: a fun two parter with a fun little twist at the end. I guess you wouldnt use all 12 powers had you known that Aquarius! What i'm saying is don't trust demons or devils because those guys are jerks. Goblins are fine tho.