GHOST RIDER # 28 (volume 1)
SYNOPSIS
Following his run-in with the Manticore, the Ghost Rider has been riding through the desert for hours. Exhausted, he's unable to keep his flame-cycle solid beneath him, and he takes a hard fall onto the ground, reverting back to his Blaze form after losing consciousness. A while later, a driver comes across Johnny's body in the road, and after waking him up gives him a ride. Eventually, after accepting rides from several different people, Blaze arrives in the nearest town. Roxanne Simpson arrives in the same town around the same time, searching for Johnny, and comes across Brahma Bill, who tells Roxanne that he's never seen Johnny before when he had actually met him only a few days prior. After Roxanne shoots down Bill's advances and rides off, he notices a strange biker riding through the streets.
Across town, Johnny tests out a new bike at a neighborhood motorcycle shop. He fails to notice Roxanne at the gas station across the street, and as she runs after him and shouts his name, she is grabbed from behind by an unknown person. The attacker tells Roxanne to look at him, and her eyes glaze over. As she wanders down the street, her memories erased, the stranger laughs maniacally. Completely unaware of what's happened, johnny purchases the bike and heads over to a supply store, wher ehe buys camping equipment for his trip across the desert. Brahma sees Blaze as he leaves town, and after a moment of thought about stealing Roxanne for himself, he decides that Johnny is probably headed for trouble and will need his help...so he follows Blaze out into the desert. Hours later, Johnny encounters a cycle gang that are under the thrall of an unknown force, all repeating that they must kill Blaze. Before Johnny can transform into the Ghost Rider, he's hit in the back of the head by a heavy chain, kncking him to the ground. As he loses consciousness, he sees Brahma Bill amongst the bikers.
When Johnny awakens, he finds his old enemy the Orb standing over him, determined to finally kill Blaze once and for all. Tying the helpless Johnny to the back of his bike, the Orb proceeds to drag him down the highway, the pain being too much for Johnny to concentrate on becoming the Ghost Rider. Suddenly, a gunshot breaks the chain holding Johnny, who sees Brahma riding past him, firing at the biker gang. Bill tells himi that he decided to tag along with the bikers after spotting them, and that he'll keep them busy until Blaze can get back to his bike. Bill then gets a shock when he sees Blaze transform into the Ghost Rider and immediately take off after the Orb. The villain's laser blasts fail to stop the demon biker, and Blaze tackles him off his bike. While the Ghost Rider defeats his mindless slaves, the Orb again attempts to blast his foe with his laser and manages to bury him under a landslide of rocks. When the Orb begins to gloat that his victory was too easy, the Rider explodes with hellfire, removing the rocks and frying the villain with the soul-searing flame. His helmet lost, the Orb commands his minions to take him away, unable to fight after being hit by the hellfire. Johnny returns to his normal form, exhausted, and Bill helps him to his feet...neither men noticing the Orb's discarded helmet laying behind them. Johnny asks Bill to ride east with him, but Brahma says that he has a woman waiting for him back in town. Johnny and his friend part ways, and when Bill returns to town he finds the amnesiac Roxanne and tells her that the two of them are old sweethearts.
ANNOTATIONS
The Orb last appeared in Ghost Rider # 15 (vol. 1).
The forgotten helmet of the Orb, which is forshadowed as being important to an upcoming story, is left as a dangling subplot when writer Roger McKenzie leaves the book after Ghost Rider # 34 (vol. 1). When the Orb returns in Ghost Rider # 54 (vol. 1), he has a new helmet modeled after the one lost in this issue.
Brahma Bill met Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider # 27 (vol. 1).
This is the last appearance of Roxanne Simpson for quite a number of years, until she finally makes a return to the series in Ghost Rider # 79 (vol. 1).
This issue is reprinted in Essential Ghost Rider vol. 2.
REVIEW
It's the first issue under new series writer Roger McKenzie, and this is obviously nothing much more than a deck-clearing exercise of the few dangling subplots left from Jim Shooter's run. Roxanne is shuffled off into supporting character limbo (for a surprising amount of time, actually, given her importance to the first few years of the series), and we're given a fairly by-the-numbers return engagement against the orb, arguably Johnny's only recurring nemesis so far.
Being fairly apparent that we've seen the last of the Delazny Studios supporting cast, McKenzie sets up the longest status quo the first Ghost Rider volume would enjoy: that of Johnny Blaze being the drifter desert cowboy with nary a supporting character in sight. While it's a concept that will flourish under future writer Michael Fleisher, this kick-off issue for the new direction is not a spectacular start. The script isn't great (giving us a rather groan-inducing scene early on with Johnny hitchhiking from a dope-smoking hippie), and even the artwork suffers by a mid-issue switch in artists.
We're also given a return of Brahma Bill, a ridiculous character with some truly bizarre concepts of "friendship". While he's obviously over-eager to steal Roxanne away from Johnny, he also risks his own life to save Blaze from the Orb's trap. I believe McKenzie meant for Bill's role to be an example of masculine biker "brotherhood", but it's still really confusing. It also doesn't help that Bill is pretty detestable in his treatment of Roxanne, especially at the end when she confesses to him that she has amnesia and he lies to make her stay with him.
Even the Orb, whose previous appearances have been quite good, failis to shine in this issue. His plan to kill Blaze is fairly idiotic compared to the rather smart methods he implimented in his prior appearance, and it's left a mystery just how the villain found the nomadic Johnny in the first place. It is nice to see the Orb acknowledge the growing ferocity in the Ghost Rider during their battle, and his first experience of having his soul burned by hellfire helps to illustrate that the Orb's growing fear of Blaze to be perfectly in character. Still, the battle between the two is bland and unimaginative.
The artwork is split this issue between regular series artist Don Perlin and former series artist Tom Sutton. While both are excellent artists and have turned in some truly incredible work on Ghost Rider, the rushed drawings here are not good examples of what the two are capable of.
Definitely a disappointing issue, both for McKenzie's first story and the return of the Orb.
Grade: D+
Ghost Rider # 28 (volume 1)
Published: Feb. 1977
Original Price: $0.35
Cover: Ernie Chan
Title: "Evil Is the Orb!"
Writer: Roger McKenzie
Artists: Don Perlin & Tom Sutton
Inker: Pablo Marcos
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Archie Goodwin