GHOST RIDER # 14 (volume 1)
SYNOPSIS
On the Hollywood soundstage for the Stuntmaster television show, Johnny Blaze prepares for his first on-the-job stunt, dressed in a copy of the Stuntmaster's costume. Johnny starts his motorcycle and begins the stunt, but is interrupted when a man rushes in front of him and commands him to stop. Johnny wrecks the bike while avoiding the man, and recovers in time to see the director, Coot Collier, arguing with the newcomer. The man, whose name is Cosgrove, is there for the studio and tells Collier that he can't continue with the stunt because Blaze isn't a member of the stuntmen's union. Johnny tries to attack the accountant, but is stopped by the Stuntmaster. The two bikers walk away just as a tour group passes by...but no one notices the ghostly image of the deceased Orb floating above the tour guide. The guide and the group then attack Johnny, who undergoes his transformation into the Ghost Rider due to the amount of danger. He rings himself and the injured Stuntmaster in a ring of hellfire to keep the crowd back, but he then sees the giant ghostly Orb hovering over the people. The Orb tells Blaze that he's come back from the grave to exact his revenge on the Ghost Rider, and he then orders the people under his mental command to walk through the wall of fire. Before they reach it, however, a blast of water drenches the crowd and awakens them from their spell. The Orb fades away and Johnny returns to normal, while Karen page and her stand-in, Katy Milner, approach with two firehoses. Karen rushes to Johnny's side and acts concerned about him, but then gives him the cold shoulder and walks away. Confused, Johnny talks with Katy, who tells him that in return for running an errand for her she will tell him about Karen's past.
A little while later, Katy and Blaze meet and she asks him to pick up a package from her brother at the UCLA Medical Center. Johnny agrees, and the two go on a motorcycle tour of the studio. Katy tells Johnny that Karen's had her heart broken by a string of men - including the lawyer Matt Murdock - and that she's afraid to let anyone else get that close again. Johnny then mentions that he'll need to find a new place to stay, since he had been crashing in Karen's guest-room. Katy tells him that two of her friends who work for the studio have a beach house with a spare room that Johnny could possibly rent. Katy takes Johnny to meet her friends, Richard and Wendy Pini, on a back lot of the studio, but their meeting is interrupted by another thrall of the Orb, who attacks them with a forklift. While the other three people scatter, Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider and returns to his cycle, riding circles around the forklift. He's surprised by a laser attack from the Orb's ghost, which puzzles Blaze. The Ghost Rider jumps over the forklift and blasts it with his hellfire, destroying the vehicle and knocking the driver unconscious. The Orb fades away while Johnny returns to human form, just as Wendy, Richard, and Katy make their way back to him. Johnny then asks for directions to UCLA so he can run Katy's errand before they start shooting their next scene.
When he arrives at UCLA, Johnny first encounters the rest of the superheroes that will join together with him as the Champions. After their first adventure, Johnny has returned to Delazny Studios, in despair over the Champions' failure in the mission. During one of his stunts, Johnny catches the falling Katy, but then feels himself transforming into the Ghost Rider. While riding through the air, he looks to his side and sees the Orb appearing above Karen page, who is being ordered by the villain to shoot Blaze with the gun in her hand.
ANNOTATIONS
The Orb seemingly died in his battle with Ghost Rider and Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up # 15.
Johnny's trip to UCLA takes place in The Champions # 1. The last two pages of this issue take place after The Champions # 2.
Blaze took a job as a stuntman for the Stuntmaster television show in Ghost Rider # 13 (vol. 1). In the same issue, Johnny discovered that his transformations into the Ghost Rider are now triggered by danger instead of nightfall.
Katy Milner asks Johnny to retrieve a package from her brother at UCLA, but this is impossible since she is actually Roxanne Simpson under a spell and as such has no siblings (other than Johnny, her foster brother). Katy's identity as Roxanne is revealed in Ghost Rider # 19 (vol. 1).
This issue is reprinted in Essential Ghost Rider vol. 1.
REVIEW
The second issue of the new "superhero" status quo of the series brings us the only real "supervillain" Ghost Rider has had by this point: Drake Shannon, the Orb. Of course, the Orb died at the end of his first appearance, crushed under a subway train; so this story gives us a return to the character in a way that's pretty much a no-brainer for a villain in this series. Consumed by his desire for revenge against Blaze, not only for his death but for cheating him out of his ownership of the Simpson Cycle Show, the Orb has returned as a ghost, while still retaining his ability to mesmerize others with a look and the powerful laser in his helmet (hmm, curious for a ghost to have a laser beam).
It's obvious with "A Specter Stalks the Soundstage" that Tony Isabella is in a much more comfortable place in the new status quo he's set up. And, as much as I'd like to say it shouldn't, the new locale and supporting cast for Johnny works well. Coot Collier, Katy Milner, the Pinis, and even the Stuntmaster all shine under Isabella's pen, and in at least one of those instances it's obvious why (Wendy and Richard Pini are based on two of Tony's real life friends, the creators of the legendary Elf Quest comic series). The only character that sticks out as being forced is poor Karen Page, who is here simply to replace the departed Roxanne Simpson as Johnny's on-again off-again love interest. A refugee from the Daredevil comic, Karen simply doesn't feel right in the pages of Ghost Rider...and it seems that her only point so far is to give Johnny another potential damsal-in-distress to rescue on a bi-monthly basis.
The mystery of the Orb makes for quite a good tale, given that its a supervillain now with a ghostly twist. Naturally, Johnny just immediately believes that the villain has returned from the grave as a ghost...why wouldn't he, when he knows for a fact that Hell and the afterlife exist? It's a good set-up for the twist coming in the next issue, and it's also a good mystery with the clues spread sparingly throughout the issue. Plus, the Orb (almost) always shines as a villain, and his presence here is much more welcome than that of the Trapster in the previous issue.
George Tuska has also grown more comfortable with the character since his debut in the prior issue, providing some good solid superhero comic art with some fairly dynamic action scenes. I don't care much for his sparse - and often completely empty - backgrounds, but his work on the ghostly vision of the Orb is very good indeed. We also, naturally, have plenty of examples of the now-famous "Tuska Teeth" that fans of his art like to think of as his trademark.
All in all, a solid issue from the Isabella/Tuska team that provides some really good set-up for the conclusion next issue.
Grade: A-
Ghost Rider # 14 (volume 1)
Published: Oct. 1975
Original Price: $0.25
Cover: Ron Wilson
Title: "A Specter Stalks the Soundstage!"
Writer: Tony Isabella
Artist: George Tuska
Inker: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Phil Rache
Editor: Marv Wolfman