For a storied nightmare character like Ghost Rider who has, in his 52 years, seen the most gruesome horror of the Marvel Universe, the early days were almost quaint in their lightheartedness.
This was the 1970s; the Comics Code ban on horror had been loosened enough to allow for horror-tinged heroes like Morbius, Werewolf by Night, and Man-Thing, and a flaming skeleton riding around on a bike while yelling about Satan wouldn’t trigger parent groups until the Satanic Panic hit full swing in the 1980s (the first volume of Ghost Rider concluded in 1983). This was fresh territory, not only for Marvel Comics but for their Distinguished Competition, who had launched Jack Kirby’s The Demon a year before Ghost Rider’s debut.
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The comics collected in Ghost Rider Epic Collection: The Salvation Run read as if the creators aren’t quite sure of what they can get away with. The character has mostly become distanced from his Hell-born origins, having (mostly) freed himself from Satan (with the help of an unnamed comic book Christ) at the end of the previous collection, and it seems that series writer Tony Isabella isn’t quite sure where to ground the character without that conflict.
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For one, it must have been a blow to realize that, without Satan, Johnny Blaze hadn’t really established a regular supporting cast. Further, the character had been a ramblin’ road character for his first 11 or so issues – have motorcycle, will travel. With his mentor Crash Simpson’s circus out of the equation, Johnny couldn’t reasonably pick up a sidekick or love interest and expect them to bounce from dusty Western town to dusty Western town.
The solution to this problem laid in the only place where a motorcycle stuntman might find regular employment: Hollywood. A job offer from television star (and fellow wheel-man), the Stunt-Master, gives Johnny an entire cast and crew with which to develop relationships; Karen Page, recently released from the pages of Daredevil, comes on board to complicate his love life.
Though the supernatural is never completely absent in these issues, it is primarily supplanted by your standard supervillain baddies, none of which quite jibe with the Rider’s vibe. The Trapster (née Paste-Pot Pete) is a recurring irritant, and both Gladiator and the Eel make brief showings. These stories struggle to find traction, if only because there are other heroes to handle this sort of thing.
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Salvation Run excels when it embraces the looney, four-color “horror” Ghost Rider was created to interact with; though that means another half-hearted appearance from Satan, it also allows for a refining of the Rider’s powers, giving him a sort of proto-Penance Stare in the form of cold, soul-searing hellfire, and allowing him to change between Johnny and the Bone Boy at will.
Ultimately, Ghost Rider Epic Collection: The Salvation Run does little more than tweak the format of Ghost Rider’s adventures, desperately casting about for a formula that might sustain the book. The important stuff – the shift from Satan to Mephisto, the introduction of Zarathos, and all of the things that would influence the franchise moving forward – is still some ways away; Salvation Run features the growing pains of a character who can’t yet embrace the dark.
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