Ghost Rider #1
Ghost Rider #1 (September 1973) marks the graduation of Johnny Blaze from a tryout feature in Marvel Spotlight into his own self-titled ongoing series — a commercial vote of confidence that anchored the character as one of Marvel's core Bronze Age horror-adjacent properties alongside Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf by Night. The issue carries a second, equally significant weight: it contains the first appearance of Daimon Hellstrom (Son of Satan), shown lurking in shadow across multiple panels, a deliberately suspenseful introduction that Friedrich used to seed an entirely new character who would immediately take over Ghost Rider's vacated slot in Marvel Spotlight. That structural move — using Ghost Rider #1 as a backdoor launch for another major character — made this single issue the origin point of two distinct Bronze Age franchises simultaneously. The story also deepened Marvel's willingness to engage with explicitly Christian-demonic mythology at a moment when popular culture, primed by The Exorcist, was hungry for exactly that kind of supernatural dread.
In "A Woman Possessed!", Daimon Hellstrom is summoned to exorcise a demon possessing Linda Littletrees, while Johnny Blaze struggles to survive after a violent encounter with law enforcement. Written by Gary Friedrich and illustrated by Tom Sutton, with inks by Syd Shores and colors by George Roussos, this pivotal Ghost Rider issue blends supernatural dread with raw human cost. The cover, by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott, captures the tension with striking intensity.
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Ghost Rider had debuted in Marvel Spotlight #5 (August 1972), co-created by writer Gary Friedrich, editor Roy Thomas, and artist Mike Ploog. After strong sales across a seven-issue tryout run in that anthology, the character earned his own magazine with Roy Thomas serving as editor. The Daimon Hellstrom concept originated when Stan Lee, encouraged by Ghost Rider's success, pushed for a book starring Satan outright; Thomas redirected that impulse toward the more defensible premise of Satan's half-human son, and Gary Friedrich — along with artist Herb Trimpe, whose precise contribution to the character's design remains disputed — developed Hellstrom in time to debut him as a shadow figure in this debut issue. The issue's story, titled 'A Woman Possessed!', picks up directly from Marvel Spotlight #11 and was scripted by Friedrich, pencilled by Tom Sutton, inked by Syd Shores, and features a cover by Gil Kane.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First issue of Ghost Rider's self-titled ongoing series, continuing directly from the story in Marvel Spotlight #11 (August 1973).
- First appearance of Daimon Hellstrom (Son of Satan), shown in shadow across multiple panels — classified by most sources as a cameo; his full costumed appearance follows in Ghost Rider #2 and his origin is told in Marvel Spotlight #12.
- Written by Gary Friedrich; interior art by penciller Tom Sutton and inker Syd Shores; cover by Gil Kane (inked by Joe Sinnott per GoCollect); edited by Roy Thomas.
- Third appearance of Witch-Woman (Linda Littletrees), who is depicted as fully possessed by Satan in this issue; her father Snake-Dance and fiancé Sam Silvercloud appear as supporting characters; Bart Slade dies in this issue.
- Satan appears as the primary villain — at this stage in the series explicitly referred to as Satan rather than Mephisto; later stories would retroactively reassign that role to Mephisto.
- The issue served as a deliberate 'backdoor pilot' for Daimon Hellstrom: as Ghost Rider graduated to his own title, Marvel Spotlight #12 handed the anthology slot to the Son of Satan, launching a second horror franchise in the same story arc.
- The series ran 81 issues through 1983, establishing Ghost Rider as a fixture of Marvel's Bronze Age supernatural corner alongside Werewolf by Night and Tomb of Dracula.
- Ghost Rider #1–5 (along with Marvel Spotlight #5–12 and Marvel Team-Up #15) were collected in Marvel Masterworks: Ghost Rider Vol. 1 and in Essential Ghost Rider Vol. 1 (2005); the issue is also reprinted in Ghost Rider Epic Collection: Hell on Wheels (2022).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Vampyr #10 (1973), The Comic Reader #97 (1973), Etranges Aventures #44 (1975), Ghost Rider #1 (1977), Atlantic special #3/1982 (1982), Atlantic Spesial [Atlantic Special] #3/1982 (1982), Motorista Fantasma #6 (1982), The Original Ghost Rider #8 (1993), Essential Ghost Rider #1 (2005), Essential Marvel Horror #1 (2006), Marvel Firsts: The 1970s #2 (2012), The Son of Satan Classic #[nn] (2016), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #21 (2017), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #128 (2018), Marvel Masterworks: Ghost Rider #1 (2019), Hellstrom: Evil Origins #[nn] (2020), Les trésors de Marvel #2 (2021), Ghost Rider Epic Collection #1 (2022), Biblioteca Marvel. Motorista Fantasma #2, Devil - Ghost - Iron Man #113
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