I can’t make sense of this. Lots of different writers and plotters, and lots of demons doing all kinds of things. Lots of cars chasing Ghost Rider-and car chases don’t translate well in a comic.
Then The Zodiac Gang comes in. Zodiac took on the Avengers, but apparently Ghost Rider is powerful enough to fight them alone. Oh, and Taurus is riding a bike now.
And alongside Ghost Rider, Stunt Master. You remember him, right? From Daredevil #58? It’s OK. Nobody remembers him. He’s dumb. There’s also a demon named Slifer.
And then a guy who seems like Jesus shows up and gets Johnny Blaze’s soul back from the Devil. But for some reason, Blaze is still Ghost Rider.
So it all ends with Satan creating another demon who will tempt Johnny into committing a sin so Satan can get the soul back. We all know it’s really Mephisto though.
No. Seriously. It IS Mephisto.
And Jesus happens by (seriously, that’s what happens) and drives The Devil away.
This book is awful AF.
Creators were Gary Friedrich (script #4, plot #6), Doug Moench (#5) with Marv Wolfman (plot #5), tony Isabella (script #6-9) and Jim Mooney
Grade is a D-. It’s not quite an F because Ghost Rider is cool looking, and if you go for devil stuff I suppose you might like this.
Well, I DO happen to like “devil-stuff”, as I find it to be consciousness-expanding, ( if you are not inclined towards religion, you gotta get it from somewhere ) although I continue to maintain my lifelong resolution to skip the works of William Peter Blatty, as I have no desire to become warped. ( at least any further than what I already am ) You gotta touch the stove to know it’s hot, and if the Devil in Marvel Comics is as close to getting burned as you get, then I would say you are batting .1000. Lots of kids and other such deluded people join Satanic cults for “kicks”, and because they are stupid and don’t know any better. I never joined any cults, despite serious peer-pressure on me to so, but I read enough Marvel Comics to understand who Satan/Mephisto is, and, being a fellow of reasonable intelligence, I got the point. Satan is bad news, wants to trick you/deceive you into forfeiting your soul to him in order to further promote his war on God and Heaven. Get it. Johnny Blaze is a fictional stand-in for every human being who ever sold his/her soul to Satan and Hell in order to achieve whatever they wanted to achieve. Marvel’s “Ghost Rider” series, and character, provides an excellent service to the world in educating us against such stupidity, however regardless of how attractive the idea of exchanging our souls in exchange for superpowers ( or whatever/whoever ) we want may be. Enough soapbox. Two points: A) Why don’t car chases translate well into comics-?? I never got that impression. Sure, reading a car chase in a comic-book is not as cool as ( or debatably as enjoyable ) watching one in a movie or TV show, but what is-??? That applies to everything! As an entertainment medium, comic-books are not as impressive as TV shows or movies! Just the way it is! B) I disagree with your assessment that the Ghost Rider is “not powerful enough” to take on the entirety of Zodiac by himself. The Zodiac cartel would give ol’ Bone-head a good battle, but my money would be on GR!! GR is more powerful than you realize!! He is hellishly strong, completely incapable of being destroyed, ( due to the fact that he is already dead- “ghost”, remember??? ) and, boy, can he sling Hellfire!! Just because he has been punched out by Iron Man ( ‘Iron Man Annual’#4, 1977 ) Hercules, ( ‘The Champions’#10, 1977 ) and the Incredible Hulk, ( ‘Ghost Rider’#11, 1975 ) doesn’t mean the ol’ boy isn’t tough, and can’t get the job done! Excelsior! Ten-four! Have a nice day!