A Phantom Rider story. I wonder if he has to say “Phantom do your stuff” to activate his power? Like the cartoon version of Human Torch had to say “Flame on!” (At least I think he did.)
Ghost Rider, which was the original name of Phantom Rider, is now a series regular in MCP, so here’s the Western version. And just like Ghost Rider recently took on D’Spayre, so does Phantom Rider here.
My understanding of D’Spayre is that he’s like a Tinkerbell for sadness, feeding off the emotion of despair to enable him to … Do something. Not sure what. Anyway, apparently the way to beat him is just shoot him.
The rest of this issue is installments of multi-issue stories.
You didn’t read the story? He doesn’t beat him by shooting him. He defeats him by eliminating the negativity he’s feeding on from the audience, convincing them it’s only a show. This weakens D’Spayre and makes him beatable (and then a shot of supernatural power, not lead, comes in handy).
Interesting they used him against Ghost Rider more recently. After enough time, characters can face off again. They do it all the time.
At the time of this story, Phantom Rider had recently been in a West Coast Avengers story. He’d been misbehaving, but it turned out he was possessed by a bad ancestor or something. They cleared that up, leaving him a good guy who could tap into this “phantom force.” I think he was meant to become an Indiana Jones type of adventurer with a supernatural infusion. I base this speculation on the name they gave this version: Hamilton Slade (clearly meant to mimic Harrison Ford).
I guess my reading comprehension is low….
Hah! I doubt it. I think a lot of these old stories “don’t matter,” so they get skimmed rather than actually read. It’s not the end of the world.
I saw on the Marvel Wiki for Phantom Rider that they say the incident takes place at UCLA — which it doesn’t. It takes place at the La Brea Tar Pits. I figure I’ll try to get the details sorted when I see things like this and can help.