Ghost Rider Artwork... By jove, I think they really get it...

http://baimun.home.comcast.net/ghostrider1.jpg

Full article and 3 more pics.

[ March 14, 2006 07:24 AM: Message edited by: B?im?n ]

I'm Ghost Rider ignorant... is this some kinda wild-wild west full of flaming motorcycles and dead things?

i do not get it. never have... ghost rider just makes no sense to me whatsoever...

I like it.

But there's something I don't get, is the cowboy GR will be in the movie in a kind of "flasback" sequence or it's only conceptual arts?

Quote:

Originally posted by MM4:
I wonder the same....never heard of an early ghost rider in the old western......

But is an interesting idea, it might even be the begining of a new comic book series for GR....

The first "Ghost Rider" was a cowboy....

http://pages.prodigy.net/t53/popcomics/ghostrider9.JPG

http://www.collectorsauthority.com/V...mics/GRW-7.jpg

[ March 14, 2006 01:46 PM: Message edited by: Guyver ]

Oh, now I remember...

But he wasn't related to the present time GR, or was it ?

"Ghost riders ..... in the sky"
[img]biggrin.gif[/img]

I'm guessing there will be some sort of a "Passing the torch" scene to Cage's character...

Real Name: Rex Fury

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Federal Marshall

Affiliations: Sing Song (sidekick), Spectre (horse)

Enemies: Unknown

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Calico Kid, Haunted Horseman

Base of Operations: The Western U.S.A., c.1880s

First Appearance: as Calico Kid Tim Holt #6 (Magazine Enterprizes, May 1949)
as Ghost Rider Tim Holt #11 (Magazine Enterprises, October 1949)

Powers/Abilities: Good gunfighter, expert with whip and lasso. Skilled horseman. Used a variety of tricks to appear like a supernatural being.

History: Rex Hart was a federal marshall, who, for reasons best known to himself, created a masked identity, the Calico Kid, an apparently cowardly gunslinger who wandered from town to town with his Chinese sidekick, Sing Song, doing good deeds (supposedly) in spite of his better judgment.

Abruptly, with no reason given, he decided to drop the act, returning to his true identity. Even though criminals feared the dauntless Marshall, Rex seemed to like having the freedom to fight crime that a dual identity had given him, so he created a new masked persona: The Ghost Rider.

He coated a white outfit in phosphorus so that it glowed in the dark, and then did the same for his guns and horse (Spectre), and for one side of a cape; the other side he painted black as midnight. In low light he could use the cloak to shield his body, so that he appeared to consist of a floating head and eerie, white hands. To this ensemble he added a black lasso and whip - his skill with these was such that in the dark he could make it appear as if he was snatching things from a distance without actually touching them. His act was so convincing that several criminals fully believed that the Ghost Rider was a supernatural being, and would confess and surrender without a fight. Those who didn't were often using a similarly scary schtick themselves, and in some cases, were genuinely not human - among his other opponents were vampires and werewolves.

Comments: Created by Vincent Sullivan, Ray Krank and Dick Ayers.

Originally appearing as the Calico Kid in Tim Holt #6, the character was reimagined in Tim Holt #11 as the Ghost Rider, with no apparent explanation for the change of identity. Presumably Marshall Rex Hart had been under some sort of deep cover when he was acting as the Kid, because he rarely slipped out of character as the somewhat cowardly gunslinger. As the Ghost Rider he remained a guest star in the title (Tim Holt also soon adopted a costumed persona, that of Red Mask, and his comic retitled), gradually growing in popularity and appearing in various titles throughout the company's line of comics. In 1950 Magazine Enterprises gave Ghost Rider the title role in several issues of their A-1 Comics anthology (#27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 44, 51, 57, 69, 71, 75, 80, 84 and 112 correspond to Ghost Rider #1-14, with the covers reflecting the later title and numbering), but with the creation of The Comics Code, the Ghost Rider's horror-filled adventures were numbered. His last title appearance was in 1954 with Ghost Rider #14 (A-1 Comics #112). He returned to back up strips in other comics, eventually making his last appearance in the title that spawned him, in Red Mask #50 (November, 1955).

In 1967, several years after Magazine Enterprises had folded, Dick Ayers was working for Marvel Comics. With the Code now more relaxed, he decided to relaunch the Ghost Rider character. The Marvel version had similar powers, but a different background. With the appearance of a motorbiking Ghost Rider in the 1970's, Marvel's western character was re-dubbed the Phantom Rider and the Night Rider, and even given a modern day descendent complete with genuine spectral abilities. Meanwhile AC Comics tried to revive the original Magazine Enterprises character in the early 1980s, using the name The Haunted Horseman, but as far as I can tell, only a single issue was released.

Although not actually owned by Marvel during the 1940's or 50's, I've included Ghost Rider under the Timely (Marvel Comics of the 1940's) section of the site as well as under Magazine Enterprises, because he later became theirs in the 1960s. However, I haven't listed details of the Marvel versions here (real identities, powers or aliases) as this profile is for the Golden Age character.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Ghost Rider, the Marvel version of him, a.k.a. Phantom Rider
Ghost Rider, any of the flaming skulled bikers from Marvel

Phantom Rider
First Appearance: Tim Holt #11 (1948) (See the Note below).
Appearances:
I: Ghost Rider v1 #1-6, Night Rider #1-6, Incredible Hulk #265, West Coast Avengers v2 #8-9, 31-32, 41.
II: Western Gunfighters #7.
III: West Coast Avengers v2 #31-32, 34-35, 39, 41.
IV: Blaze of Glory #3-4.
Years Active: 1870s-1885.

The Phantom Rider has also been known as the Ghost Rider (his Golden Age name) and the Night Rider (his brief name during the 1970s). The character is currently known as the "Phantom Rider," "Night Rider" having unpleasant racist associations and "Ghost Rider" being taken up by the modern Ghost Rider, and so I'm going to use the "Phantom Rider" name here.

In the 1870s a Comanche shaman, seeing a falling meteor, took this to be a sign from the heavens, and on hearing a voice followed its directions, collecting all the glowing dust he could from the meteor, saving the dust for when a champion would be sent to him, and naming himself "Flaming Star." Later, when Carter Slade, a schoolteacher, was gunned down by a band of men working for a frontier land baron, Slade was brought to Flaming Star, who believed that Slade was the champion that the voice had promised him. Star nursed Slade back to health and gave him the phosphorescent dust, a cloak covered in the dust, and a wild, untamed horse. Slade himself believed that he'd been saved from death by God for a purpose, and decided to use Star's gifts to become a masked gunfighter who would frighten evildoers and appear to be a supernatural being. So Slade tamed the horse, calling him Banshee, and made a costume that made use of the cloak and the glowing dust, so that he appeared to be a literal phantom--hence his name, the "Phantom Rider."

The Phantom Rider had a number of adventures, sometimes teaming up with other costumed gunfighters like Kid Colt. Eventually, however, Carter Slade teamed up with his brother, Marshall Lincoln Slade, to fight against a criminal band; Carter Slade was killed in the final shoot-out, and Lincoln Slade, on discovering who his brother really was, took on the identity of the Phantom Rider and became Phantom Rider (III), pretending to be the same ghostly crimefighter. However, Lincoln Slade eventually went insane, and on encountering Mockingbird of the Avengers, who had traveled in time back to the Old West, used an "Indian potion" on her to make her fall in love with him. When she recovered from the effects of the potion, she confronted and fought with him, and during the fight he fell off a cliff and died.

Notes: Phantom Rider (II) was Jaime Jacobs, the sidekick of Carter Slade. When Slade was killed Jacobs put on the Rider's outfit but was immediately killed. Blaze of Glory showed a woman named "Ghost Wind Rider" who was the granddaughter of Flaming Star, the implication being that Phantom/Ghost Rider had a daughter at some point. Blaze of Glory also noted that Phantom/Ghost Rider was called, by the "Indians," "He-Who-Rides-The-Night-Winds." Phantom Rider (IV) was Reno Jones, who briefly took on the cowl to help free the town of Wonderment.

The whole story behind the shift from "The Ghost Rider," published by Magazine Enterprises, to the "Phantom Rider," published by Marvel, is an interesting one, but one that I lack the energy to recount here. Go to the Ghost Rider site mentioned above and read it there.

ah, so that has nothing at all to do with Marvel's modern character of the same name... thanks for bringing up info that contradicts the reason you brought it up [img]smile.gif[/img]