Ghost Rider #4: "Death Stalks the Demolition Derby"

Probably the only comic-book hero inspired by the once popular crooner Vaughn Monroe, the original Ghost Rider first galloped onto the scene as a backup feature in ME's Tim Holt #11 in 1949. In reality he was Rex Fury, a federal marshal in the Old West who dressed up in a luminous white outfit that included a glowing cape and Stetson. Eventually he added a skull mask to his ensemble, and the sight of him mounted on his glowing white stallion was sufficient to scare even hardened owl-hoots out of their wits.

Marvel proved that bikers were more popular than cowboys with their next version of Ghost Rider. In 1973 they introduced a contemporary Ghost Rider who rode a motorcycle. Johnny Blaze was a clean-cut, blond young cyclist who became the unwilling host of a spirit named Zarathos. When Zarathos was in ascendancy, the hapless Johnny turned into a demon biker with a blazing skull instead of a head. When in this mode, much like the Hulk, he didn't take any crap from anybody. More successful than any prior Ghost Rider, he survived for eighty-one issues until the spring of 1983.

Script: Gary Friedrich
Pencils: Jim Mooney
Inks: Vince Colletta

Reprinted:

• in Original Ghost Rider, The (Marvel, 1992 series) #12 (June 1993).
• in ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER (Marvel, 2005 series) Vol. 1 (September 2005).
  

Strange Sports Stories #2: "Tall in the Saddle!"

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Curtis Douglas Swan studied art at the Pratt Institute and was a staff artist on Stars & Stripes during World War II. After the war, he signed on with DC and remained there from then on. His early work, on such features as The Boy Commandos and Tommy Tomorrow, was stiff and rather bland. Gradually, however, Swan developed an effective and forceful style. He first drew Superman in 1951, remaining with him until 1986. He returned in 1988 to draw him for three more years. He worked on other characters while with DC, but Superman remained his favorite.

In his final years personal problems curtailed his production in comics.

Script: Frank Robbins
Pencils: Curt Swan
Inks: Murphy Anderson

Marvel Treasury Edition #8: Doctor Strange in "Eternity, Eternity"

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A character who combines the best qualities of Zatara and Dr. Fate, Dr. Strange began humbly as a backup character in somebody else's comic book in the early 1960s. Gradually, though, the popularity of the Master of the Mystic Arts increased, and by the late 1960s he had a title of his own. He was able, with a layoff now and then, to keep working for several decades.

Dreamed up and initially drawn by Steve Ditko, with scripts by Stan Lee, the scholarly sorcerer entered comics by way of a five-page story in Marvel's Strange Tales #110 (July 1963). Lee cited as one of his sources of inspiration the radio serial Chandu the Magician, which first aired in the early 1930s. The show, years earlier, also inspired the funny paper magician Mandrake. In the radio serial, American Frank Chandler learned the secrets of magic in the mysterious East. Similarly, the eminent and arrogant Dr. Stephen Strange found his way to India after an accident ended his medical career. There he studied with a world-class mystic known as the Ancient One.

Back in America, Dr. Strange set up shop as a sort of freelance ghostbuster. Among his frequent early opponents were Baron Mordo, a turncoat pupil of the doctor's own mentor, and Nightmare, a nasty strangler from the realm of dreams. Ditko rendered the doctor's supernatural adventures in inventive ways, assimilating some of the techniques of the psychedelic posters of the sixties.

Strange's popularity continued to grow. He became the star of Strange Tales. Then the magazine title was changed to Dr. Strange with #169 (June 1968). Except for one hiatus, that title continued until 1987. From 1988 through 1996, the magus was seen in a new title Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme.

Among the other artists and writers who contributed to the doctor's mystical saga were Frank Brunner, Gene Colan, J. M. DeMatteis, Dan Jolley, and Tony Harris.



Credits

Script: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Gene Colan
Inks: Tom Palmer

Reprinted:

• from Doctor Strange (Marvel, 1968 series) #180 (May 1969), which is pictured inset.

• in Marvel Treasury Edition (Marvel, 1974 series) #8 (1975) [16 pp.]
• in Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange (Marvel, 2003 series) #4.