Epic Collection: Ghost Rider—Hell on Wheels by various artists and writers

 

(oversized pb; 1972—1975, 2022. Collects Marvel Spotlight #5-12, Ghost Rider #1-11, and Marvel Team-Up #15.)

From the back cover

“In 1972, one of the most iconic characters in comic book history, the flame-skulled Ghost Rider, burned his demonic presence into readers’ minds. Forevermore, a legion of fans were addicted to the Rider’s combination of hell-on-wheels drama and action-horror adventure. And it begins here when Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil to save his friend’s life. The payment due? Transformation into the Ghost Rider. The stories that follow will take the horror hero to Hell to battle Satan, pit him against the tempting Witch Woman and team him with Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan. Written by Gary Friedrich and Tony Isabella and gloriously illustrated by Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton and Jim Mooney.”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review of these fifty-year-old comics.

GR = Ghost Rider

JB = Johnny Blaze

These opening issues of GR are fun, sometimes above-average reads, especially toward the later issues shown in this collection. Initially, there’s a lot of repetitive framing in consecutive issues (Satan, having made a crooked deal with a naïve, curiously childlike JB, seeks to reap JB’s soul via different, malefic operatives). Then there’s the issue of why JB sells his soul, his reasoning—beyond his short-sightedness and masochistic personality—reading as paper-thin. If you can get past that (I eventually did), GR, at least in these issues, is entertaining, with more plot variation and character deepening. Good tween-to-teen-mindset stuff, for the most part, with consistent, stellar artwork.

Followed by Epic Collection: Ghost Rider—The Salvation Run.

 

Review, issue by issue

Marvel Spotlight: “Ghost Rider” (#5): A desperate situation leads an adolescent, stunt-motorcyclist Johnny Blaze to make a dumb decision: he sells his soul to Satan, who cheats Johnny via a sly loophole. Johnny now turns into a flaming-skull, nighttime demon (Ghost Rider), even though Satan has yet to fully claim Johnny’s soul.

This origin-story issue works if Johnny is a sixteen-year-old; such is the adolescent emotionalism that drives him to sell his soul. . . for what? That an emotionally abusive old man and supposed friend (Crash Simpson) has a few more years of life? Both Crash and his daughter, Roxanne—also Johnny’s potential girlfriend—treat Johnny like crap over a misunderstanding, one he doesn’t bother correcting them on. This is all too plot-convenient dumb, even for a comic book. While this doesn’t entirely ruin the issue, it makes for an at-times badly written read with two key emotionally schizophrenic characters (the Simpsons) who are wildly inconsistent in their mood swings.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Angels from Hell” (#6): Johnny Blaze tangles with a biker gang, led by the temperamental, ginger-Afro’d Curly Samuels. When it’s revealed that Curly worships Satan, who seeks to claim His bounty on Johnny’s soul, things get worse for Johnny.

This is an interesting, okay issue story-wise, as Curly’s character (and his true identity) ring strange, when one considers that he’s eager to sacrifice Roxanne “Roxie” Simpson (Johnny’s emotionally schizophrenic romantic interest) to Satan.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Die, Die, My Darling!” (#7): Curly Samuels, Satanic biker—revealed to be the angry soul vessel of Crash Simpson (Roxanne’s father)—is commanded by Satan to sacrifice Roxanne, something Samuels/Simpsons struggles with.

Meanwhile, Blaze/Ghost Rider, looking for his kidnapped girlfriend (again, Roxanne) evades motorcycle cops and maintains his stuntman roadshow while his surly road manager (Bart Slade) plots against Blaze.

Fun, slightly ridiculous issue: Why would Simpson sell his soul to Satan to right a minor-at-worst slight against Johnny? Still, the artwork is appropriately dramatic, as is the dialogue and overall writing.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Hordes of Hell” (#8): At the end of the last issue, GR and Crash Simpson/Curly Samuels were about to fight in front of the altar where Simpson’s daughter (Roxanne) was soon to be taken by Satan. Simpson’s strange revenge on Johnny (over an imagined “cowardice”) is reiterated by the frustrated Simpson.

Melodrama takes a downturn as a bigger threat to Crash and GR appears—a threat that Simpson/Samuels might have to fight too. This situation gets a curious, just-as-shifty-dangerous resolution.

Johnny Blaze/GR finds himself in further (possible) danger when he preps for a stunt, a motorcycle jump across Copperhead Canyon (part of the Grand Canyon). This section of canyon is a hotly contested territory, once part of Apache/Native American land: seems the Apache want it back, and they’re willing to fight for it anew, led by a fierce-minded shaman (Snake Dance), who has an intense dislike of Blaze/GR—as do Snake Dance’s followers.

Another cliffhanger finish to this action-packed, uneven but ultimately entertaining issue.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Snakes Crawl at Night. . .” (#9): Blaze/GR has a thought-to-be-fatal encounter with his Copperhead Canyon motorcycle jump.

Meanwhile, Bart Slade (Blaze’s surly road manager) tries to take over his Blaze’s traveling roadshow. Not only that, Snake Dance, the Apache shaman, with help from an ambivalent fellow tribesman (Sam Silvercloud, introduced in issue 8) mean to sacrifice Roxanne Simpson to their fiery snake god!

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Coming of Witch-Woman!” (#10): GR rushes to get Roxanne Simpson to the hospital before she succumbs to the snakebite she received during Snake Dance’s sacrificial ritual.

Meanwhile, Sam Silvercloud and other Apaches challenge the gone-wild Snake Dance—just as Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman), Snake Dance’s twenty-something daughter, shows up. Can she provide the anti-venom snake serum that Roxanne desperately needs.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “Season of the Witch-Woman” (#11): Linda Little-Tree, aka Witch-Woman—in the employ of Satan—recounts her life journey to Johnny Blaze/GR thus far while holding him prisoner in a metaphysical realm. (Is there anyone in this comic book who isn’t somehow under Satan’s sway?) She means to give him over to the dark overlord, but GR manages to escape, rushing to make his scheduled/roadshow jump across Copperhead Canyon.

 

Ghost Rider: “A Man Possessed!” (#1): Johnny Blaze, shot by police—unlike his GR alter-ego, he isn’t bulletproof—rides to protect Roxanne Simpson and winds up in a hospital.

“Several miles away” from Blaze’s “crash site,” Sam Silvercloud and Snake Dance (the latter no longer under malevolent influence) grapple with how to waken Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman) from her Satan-induced coma. To do so, Sam contacts a helpful Daimon Hellstrom, also known as a “Son of Satan.”

At Copperhead Canyon, Blaze’s treacherous road manager (Bart Slade) prepares to make the jump that Blaze can’t make (given Blaze’s injuries and hospital stay). Few, it seems, believe Slade can make that jump.

 

Ghost Rider: “Shake Hands with Satan” (#2): GR confronts Satan, who’s possessed Linda Little-Tree (aka Witch-Woman) in the netherworld while a biker gang (Ruthless Riders), led by Big Daddy Dawson—a huge, intimidating man—threaten Roxanne Simpson, Blaze’s girlfriend.

Daimon Hellstrom, rebellious “Son of Satan,” arrives at Snake Dance’s house, only to find Linda/Witch-Woman gone. But there’s a greater danger Sam Silvercloud and Snake Dance must face, one even Hellstrom can’t save them from.

 

Marvel Spotlight: “The Son of Satan!” (#12): Daimon Hellstrom, now under the nighttime influence of his aggressive alter ego, seeks Satan to usurp his power.

Elsewhere, Big Daddy Dawson and his bike gang menace Roxanne Simpson; Dawson claims the cowering young woman as his property.

This is an entertaining, good issue that brings together GR’s multiple characters and plotlines from previous Marvel Spotlight – GR issues. Unlike issues 5-11 of Spotlight, this issue ends on a less dire cliffhanger note. There’s still danger and imminent death situations for its lead characters but it’s relatively less melodramatic.

 

Ghost Rider: “Wheels on Fire” (#3): Daimon Hellstrom leaves GR and Linda Little-Tree (now free of Satanic possession) in the desert—thing is, when GR reverts to his Johnny Blaze alter ego, the wounds he sustains while GR (when he’s impervious to bullets, broken bones, etc.) afflict him when he’s no longer his flaming-head self. . . this is important, because in recent issues, GR/Blaze has accrued some physical damage. Can GR maintain his relative invulnerability to natural wounding until he and an unconscious Little-Tree escape the deep desert?

Meanwhile, Hellstrom has more pressing issues. One aspect of his alter (“night”) ego is that he wants to rule Hell as an innovative head—this means he must depose Satan first, while he’s still in his “night” self, and not in his “day” (more chill, humble) self. And since he’s in “night” mode.

GR finds a way to try and rescue Roxanne Simpson from Big Daddy Dawson, lead biker of his gang; when that rescue goes awry, Blaze (now the predominant alter ego) winds up in the hospital. Can he recover in time to track the on-the-run Dawson, who’s kidnapped Roxanne Simpson, Blaze/GR’s love? And is GR willing to commit murder to protect her?

This is one of the best GR issues I’ve read. It’s consistently solid, good, with no melodrama and it reveals a latent power GR didn’t know he had: he can create an on-fire motorcycle, one that exists while he’s in his GR persona.

 

Ghost Rider: “Death Stalks the Demolition Derby” (#4): After running afoul of a police roadblock—Blaze/GR is wanted for some of his supposed actions in previous issues—he’s arrested and hospitalized anew, his wounds still fresh. A new employer (the shady Duke Jensen) hires Blaze after he’s cleared of charges, and two months later, Blaze, as GR, rides in Jensen’s destruction derby, one that might kill GR.

Roxanne Simpson works undercover for the local Attorney General in Jensen’s office, to catch crooked operator Jensen. When she overhears a conversation she wasn’t supposed to, she’s in immediate danger again.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “And Vegas Writhes in Flame!” (#5): As cops bust into Duke Jensen’s derby-arena office, he reveals his true form; he’s Roulette, a reptile-faced demon! Alongside him, his right-hand man (Slifer) also transforms into his demonic self before they vanish into a ring of fire—Roxanne Simpson is safe from the demons, but the fire enveloping the office may claim her life.

Roulette, slinging fire bolts at GR, give him a choice: save the tied-to-a-chair-in-the-burning-office Roxanne, or save Las Vegas, NV, which is being set aflame with Roulette’s fire bolts. This is Roulette’s revenge, getting back at the crooks who ruined his life when he was a mere mortal. Can GR save Roxanne and Las Vegas, or will one, or both, be torched out of existence?

Good issue, with a villain whose backstory is interesting, and who (of course) is in the employ of Satan.

 

 

Marvel Team-Up: “If An Eye Offend Thee. . .” (#15): During one of Johnny Blaze/GR’s roadshows (poster-advertised as “Ghost Rider’s Motorcycle Extravaganza”), a new villain—The Orb, with his round eyeball-shaped helmet/mask—hypnotizes most of the packed arena while kidnapping Roxanne Simpson. Seems The Orb wants Blaze/GR to sign over ownership of his roadshow to him; years ago, he was merely Drake Shannon, Crash Simpson’s original/former partner, from decades ago, before an accident disfigured his face and nearly killed him. Now The Orb wants what should’ve been his!

Fortunately for GR, Peter Parker/Spider-man happens to be in the audience. Of course, having encountered GR in the past in a cooperative manner, he helps “flame-head” (as Spider-Man calls him) take down The Orb and his motorcycle thugs while GR tries to rescue Roxanne (again).

Good, entertaining issue, one that seeds GR with an interesting/recurring villain (The Orb).

 

Ghost Rider: “Zodiac II” (#6): In San Francisco, California, a quartet of costumed villains (Leo, Libra, Gemini and Sagittarius)—former members of Cornelius Van Lunt’s Zodiac gang—heist money from their ex-boss’s transport trucks. Their thieving tracks, character-wise, except all of them are also physically in prison!

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Johnny Blaze/GR tries to rescue Roxanne Simpson from gone-mad kidnapper Dave Barnett. Dave is the son of Vegas Attorney General Barnett (also a former FBI agent). It seems Dave was incensed by Blaze/GR’s reluctance to travel to San Francisco to stop the ex-Zodiac gang doppelgängers.

This is a fun set-up issue for GR’s next showdown with Zodiac (next issue), though Dave Barnett’s motivation is especially irrational and short-sighted (even for a comic book character), resulting in a paper-thin plot for this issue (#6)—it’s almost as paper-thin as Blaze’s teen-dumb reasoning for making a deal with Satan at the start of GR’s original run: Satan, as anyone who’s Christian-biased might guess, is almost certainly going to cheat his deal-partners, especially in a Marvel universe work!

 

Ghost Rider: “. . . And Lose his Own Soul!” (#7): GR and The Stunt-Master (making an impromptu decision to aid GR) pursue former Zodiac supervillain Taurus on motorbikes. Can they stop him before his full powers—and true identity (“Aquarius. . . the one man Zodiac!”)—are revealed, and the one who makes them possible (duplicitous demon Slifer, from GR #5) succeed in their plans?

This is another fun read, a solid wrap-up to the Zodiac II storyline (began in issue 6), with a clever, character- and GR-true twist, making this is one of my favorite GR issue-endings.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “Satan Himself!” (#8): Satan works against JB/GR on two fronts: first, he torments Roxanne Simpson with  visions of her father (Crash) in Hell—he does this because Roxanne is Blaze’s pure-soul key to staying out of the Devil’s clutches. Second, Satan transforms diminutive sized demon Slifer (GR, issues #5-7) into a kaiju eiga-sized, Cyclopean hell-beast, “Inferno the Fear-Monger.” With his terror-causing hand rays, Inferno creates widespread panic in San Francisco, CA.

Meanwhile, Satan reveals to Roxanne that he was actually the robed, seemingly benevolent “Messenger” who told JB that he’d take Crash Simpson’s soul out of Hell (Marvel Spotlight #8)—a promise that wasn’t kept!

This is an exciting, firing-on-all-creative-cylinders issue, one of their best thus far.

 

 

Ghost Rider: “The Hell-Bound Hero!” (#9): GR, still warring against Inferno in San Francisco, CA, seems doomed. Satan has him dead to rights when an unexpected, but-not-entirely-egregious divine being blocks Satan’s intentions, reframing the elements, relationships and limits of JB’s life and powers: as GR, he’s no longer invulnerable to bullets and other weapons, but he’s also no longer beholden to Satan for the crooked deal he made with the giant, horned demon king.

Not only that, Slifer—no longer in his Inferno manifestation—gets a new physical form and more powers, to further bedevil JB/GR.

While the last-minute divine intervention element/character feels cheesy, bordering on writerly, this shift and its repercussions also ushers in a new, possibly more varied and exciting period for GR and those around him. . . a mixed-bag issue, it’s still above average for most of its visual and plotted delivery.

 

Ghost Rider (#10): This issue is a reprint of the August 1972 issue of Marvel Spotlight (#5), where GR battles The Incredible Hulk. See that issue review for details (it’s the first listed issue in this collection).

 

Ghost Rider: “Desolation Run!” (#11): During a desert motorcycle race—JB was told about it by The Stunt-Master (GR, #8 and 9)—GR and his fellow bikers are forced to contend with The Incredible Hulk, who’s been tricked into thinking that GR attacked him earlier that day. The trickster in question is Slifer, shape-shifting demon, and recurring GR villain (issues #5-9).

The writers included the following “Note”: . . . these events “occur between page 6, panel 2, of Hulk #184 and page 10, panel 3 of that same issue.”

Fun, solid issue, one that is “respectfully dedicated to the memory of [Batman co-creator] Bill Finger, giant motorcycle and all.”

Essential Marvel: Man-Thing, Vol. 1 by various authors and illustrators

(pb, graphic novel; 1971-75, 2006, collects Savage Tales #1, Astonishing Tales #12-13, Adventure into Fear #10-19, Man-Thing #1-14, Giant Sized Man-Thing #1-2 and Monsters Unleashed #5, 8-9)

From the back cover

“Whosoever knows fear will see just how much there is to know in this compilation of staggering swamp sagas! Explore the heights of the cosmos and the depths of the soul with the mindless Man-Thing! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four, Ka-Zar, Daredevil, Korrek the Peanut Butter Barbarian! And featuring the first web-footed steps into adventure of Howard the Duck!”

Overall review

Man-Thing, Vol. 1 is a great comic book collection, with impressive artwork, surprisingly nuanced lead characters as well as solid, moralistic and ecology-friendly storytelling. This is especially impressive because of how willing the creators of this comic series are willing to indulge in wild and mostly effective break-the-Man-Thing-mold writing.

A few of the issues feel like single-shot filler tales, but they are still entertaining and the artwork visually exciting. There are also the inevitable 1970s sexist, hippie and corporate greed stereotypes, along with some heavy-handed thematic overreaches (which further the egregiousness of the stereotypes), but these issues are relatively few, given how many issues are contained in this anthology.

Despite the above caveats, this graphic novel is worth owning. Followed by Essential Marvel: Man-Thing, Vol. 2.

Issue / story arcs

Warning: possible spoilers in this issue breakdown.

“Savage Tales – ‘. . .Man-Thing!’” (#1): In the Florida swamps, a scientist (Ted Sallis) discovers that his not-quite-developed super-soldier serum is intended for horrific misuse in horrible ways by his employers. He tries to escape his laboratory/camp (Project Gladiator) with the only serum sample to keep it away from them. Complications and deaths ensue, leading to Sallis becoming the Man-Thing.

“Astonishing Tales – ‘Terror Stalks the Everglades!’” (#12): Ka-Zar and his sabretooth tiger (Zabu) join Dr. Barbara Morse and Dr. Paul Allen in their swampland search for the missing Ted Sallis. Those who helped bring about Sallis’s Man-Thing transformation in “Savage Tales” #1, a nefarious agency known as Advance Idea Mechanics (AIM), try to sabotage that search, kill the search party and Man-Thing.

“Astonishing Tales – ‘Man-Thing!’” (#13): Picking up from the cliffhanger finish of issue 12, Ka-Zar and Man-Thing fight, realize they have a mutual enemy (AIM agents), sort of team up, and set out to rescue Ka-Zar’s fellow search party members (Dr. Barbara Morse and Dr. Paul Allen) from AIM soldiers. Of course, betrayal complicates this already violent conflict, further flavoring this pulpy tale.

“Fear – ‘Cry Monster!’” (#10): Man-Thing rescues a swamp-abandoned baby from his terrible father.

“Fear ─ ‘Night of the Nether-Spawn!’” (#11): After two teenagers (Andy and Jennifer Kale) open a portal to a hell-realm with a book “borrowed” from their grandfather, Man-Thing tries to send a demon back to its home. The book: Tome of Zhered-Na.

“Fear ─ ‘No Choice of Colors!’” (#12): A black fugitive (Mark Jackson) flees into the mucklands to escape a racist cop (Wallace Corlee). Both encounter Man-Thing, whose sense of fairness and justice is briefly challenged by the violent conflict.

“Fear ─ ‘Where Worlds Collide’” (#13): Man-Thing, Andy and Jennifer Kale (issue 11) are drawn into a netherworld via the Mists of Maalok, where Thog, demon overlord, rules. It is a world of illusion and temptation─will Man-Thing kill the teenagers to regain his human form, or will he remain true to his natural convictions?

Also: Man-Thing battles the Cult of Zhered-Na and a sand demon. The metaphysical elements of the Man-Thing’s natural abode are revealed.

“Fear ─ ‘The Demon Plague!’” (#14): Man-Thing, Andy and Jennifer Kale (issues 11 and 13), along with their grandfather (Joshua Kale) find themselves in danger from Kale’s fellow cultists (Cult of Zhered-Na). The reason: a missing spell book, the Tome of Zhered-Na, “borrowed” and destroyed (in this realm) by Andy and Jennifer in issue 11.

Also: a murder-madness plague spreads throughout humanity. The Mists of Maalok reappear─a netherworld portal─are again opened by Kale’s cult, and Man-Thing and Jennifer, who have a psychic link, are brought through it to the world of Sandt. There, an evil enchanter (Dakimh) tries to ensure that the earthly demon plague engulfs humanity. The only person slowing its spread: Man-Thing!

“Fear ─ ‘From Here to Infinity!’” (#15): The murder-crazed/demon-sourced plague spreads further into our world (issue 14). The history of the Cult and Tome of Zhered-Na are revealed by Joshua Kale. His granddaughter, Jennifer, and Man-Thing are swept into another mystical realm by the enchanter Dakimh (issue 14), who may not be as “evil” as initially thought. Jennifer and Man-Thing’s mission: retrieve the Tome of Zhered-Na, the only thing that can stop the four-issue cycle of madness and destruction.

“Fear ─ Cry of the Native!’” (#16): Man-Thing is caught between a construction crew bent on ousting some of the swamp’s denizens (a group of Native Americans) and the Native Americans, who have dug themselves in for fight. The Kale family (Jennifer, Andy and Joshua) make a brief appearance in this issue.

“Fear ─ ‘It Came Out of the Sky’” (#17): After Man-Thing opens a crashed, gleaming spacecraft, he frees Wundarr─a superman with a childlike mentality, also the last surviving member of the planet Dakkam. A misunderstanding births a brief brawl between them, one that spills out into the streets of nearby Citrusville, Florida. Meanwhile, Jennifer Kale─her psychic link to Man-Thing still severed─has wake-up-screaming nightmares.

“Fear ─ ‘A Question of Survival!’” (#18): A drunk driver (Ralph Sorrell) crashes into a bus, causing it to crash near the edge of the swamp. Bus-crash survivors─Mary Brown (a nurse), a wounded boy (Kevin Kennerman), a hot-headed ex-POW (Jim Arsdale) and a callous war protester (Holden Crane)─try to make their way to safety through the swamp with Sorrell, all the while screaming at each other. Man-Thing watches all this, the men’s self-interest and clashing rage about the Vietnam War making his head hurt, even as he tries to help Mary get the boy to relative safety (at the Schist Construction Camp, site of various Man-Thing battles in previous issues).

Also: Jennifer Kale’s nightmares become shriek-worthy daytime visions. Jaxon, her date-mate─last seen in issue 13─also makes an appearance.

This issue is, not surprisingly, comic book-simple and anachronistic with its extreme “microcosm” statement about Vietnam, a blessing or a curse depending on the reader’s perspective.

“Fear ─ ‘The Enchanter’s Apprentice’” (#19): Jennifer Kale and Man-Thing’s shared nightmare of an alternate dimension (Sominus), where a battle of unlikely foes and allies takes place, becomes a surrealistic reality when Dakimh the Enchanter (last seen in issue 15) takes them there, so that they might prevent a disastrous collision of worlds. Cliffhanger finish to this one.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Battle for the Palace of the Gods!’” (#1): Man-Thing, Jennifer Kale (apprentice to Dakimh the Enchanter) and Korrek (issue 19) battle the strange-mix army of the Congress of Realities, led by the Nether Spawn, in a shifting, hallucinatory realm. Daredevil and Black Widow make a fun, two-second appearance in this tale of colliding, surreal worlds. The Nether Spawn last appeared in “Fear“ (issue 11).

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Nowhere to Go But Down!’” (#2): Man-Thing protects a bummed-out “loser” (Richard Rory) and a hippie nurse (Ruth Hart) from a biker gang who are pursuing Hart. Man-Thing must also contend with a deadly house of laser-bouncing mirrors, designed by a mercenary (Hargood Wickham, nicknamed Professor Slaughter), who has been hired by F.A. Schist (owner of F.A. Schist Construction), which has been trying to build an airport in the swamp since issue 16─only to see its construction goals consistently thwarted by Man-Thing.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Day of the Killer, Night of the Fool!’” (#3): A murderous, spandex-wearing nutjob with a messianic complex (the Foolkiller) heads to the murklands to kill his next three targets: F.A. Schist (construction company owner), Richard Rory (issue 2) and Ted Sallis─now the Man-Thing!

“Man-Thing ─ ‘The Making of a Madman’” (#4): The Foolkiller’s backstory is revealed as well as Richard Rory’s history with the aforementioned nutjob, whose stalk-and-kill mission, started in the previous issue, ends in a way he doesn’t expect.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Night of the Laughing Dead!’” (#5): A clown (Darrel) commits suicide, reuniting Man-Thing with Richard Rory and Ruth Hart (issues 2-4), and introducing Ayla Prentiss (a carnival high-wire artist), as well as new villains (Mr. Garvey, carnival owner, and his freak-tall thug, Tragg), who want to kill Man-Thing and his allies.  Cliffhanger finish to this.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘And When I Died. . .!’” (#6): Darrel the suicidal clown, with the aid of supernatural “critics,” forces the characters of issue 4 to reenact key events of his life in a deadly “play”─actually a trial for Darrel’s soul.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘The Old Die Young!’” (#7): F.A. Schist and his employees finalize the razing of his construction camp, ending a yearlong campaign to drain the swamp and “build an airport”─in actuality, a cover for Schist’s seeking of the Fountain of Youth, which he has not given up on. Man-Thing engages ageless, ancient Spaniards (who benefit from said Fountain) in combat, and makes a startling, possibly fatal, discovery about his relationship with the Fountain. Cliffhanger ending to this.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘The Gift of Death!’” (#8): F.A. Schist and Professor Hargood Wickham (a.k.a. Professor Slaughter) find the Fountain of Youth that Schist is so fervidly seeking. Man-Thing, being treated by the Fountain’s kindly, five-hundred-year-old guardians, is caught between them and Schist, who─in a violent twist─gets his misguided, monstrous wish.

This issue has a touch of heartbreak to it because of Man-Thing’s near-return-to-humanity, not the first time he’s had a near-miss with resumed humanity.

“Giant Size Man-Thing ─ ‘How Will We Keep Warm When the Last Flame Dies?’” (#1): Robed cultists (the Entropists) attack Omegaville, an environmentally friendly, experimental commune in the swamp. Helping─manipulated by─the Entropists is the “Golden Brain” of Joe Timms (a.k.a. the Glob, last seen in issues 121 and 129 of “Hulk”), who goes through serious mental and physical changes. Mixed up in all this, of course, is Man-Thing.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Deathwatch!’” (#9) to “Nobody Dies Forever” (#10): A swamp rat (Ezekiel Tork) and his dog (Dawg) are terrorized by the incarnate jealousy and frustration of Tork’s wife, Maybelle. Man-Thing helps Tork and Dawg fend off her shadow self’s variable-form attacks.

“Giant Size Man-Thing ─ ‘Of Monsters and Men!’” (#2): Vivian Schist, widow of F.A. Schist─who died in issue 8─and his less-than-enthusiastic daughter (Carolyn) search for the presumed-dead construction company owner. Vivian swears vengeance on Man-Thing for his presumed crimes, and at her behest a high-tech, clever trap is set for the anomalous creature. Man-Thing gets unwanted freak-show trip to New York before his inevitable, raging return to the swamps of Citrusville, Florida.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Dance to the Murder!’” (#11): Richard Rory, last seen in issue 6, meets Sybil Mills, an escapee from a group of masked kidnappers, whose mysterious aspects are easily espied.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Song-Cry of the Living Dead Man!’” (#12): A mentally ill man (Brian Lazarus) fights an ineffectual battle against his personal traumas, which have taken on the form of a money-demanding mob. He meets Sybil Mills (from issue 11), who helps him battle his weirdly realized tormentors, along with a more-confused-than-usual Man-Thing.

“Man-Thing ─ ‘Red Sails at 40,000 Feet’” (#13) to “Tower of the Satyr!” (#14): Man-Thing, trapped aboard seafaring ship in the Bermuda Triangle, is drawn into a conflict between undead pirates, a curse-adept satyr (Khordes), modern sailors, and a scientist with a forgotten, relevant-to-the-above-situation past (Dr. Maura Spinner). This is one of the wilder storylines in the series, one whose tone─read with the current liberal outlook─falls into a sexist groove: it’s a woman who causes many of these problems, and, at repeated points, acknowledges that. The plot is out-there, but so is the character of Man-Thing, so─aside from the sexism─this is an otherwise fun, definitely-written-in-the-1970s story arc.

“Monsters Unleashed! ─ ‘All the Faces of Fear!’” (#5): Ellen Brandt, Ted Sallis’s traitorous, greedy girlfriend─last seen  in Amazing Tales issue 12─is a day away from having her face-covering bandages removed from her (a result of Man-Thing scorching her face). She is also having nightmares about Sallis/Man-Thing, wrestling with her guilt over her actions, mixed with a burning sense of revenge toward Man-Thing. She takes her doctor, Leonard, to the Man-Thing-trashed A.I.M. (Advanced Ideas Mechanics) camp, site of her former employers, who bribed her to betray Sallis. There, she and Leonard confront her emotionally befuddled nighttime tormentor, with─surprising to her─results.

“Monsters Unleashed! ─ ‘Several Meaningless Deaths, Part 1’” (#8): Christopher Dale, fleeing New York City and memories of his girlfriend’s murder, ends up in the Everglades, near Citrusville, Florida. Also a victim of writer’s block, he’s trying to break through that. Then a sixteen-year-old girl, named Elaine (like his dead girlfriend) pounds on his front door. She’s fleeing her murderous father, who mistakenly thinks he’s Ted Sallis, and in a further mistake, thinks Sallis raped his daughter Elaine. Of course, violence ensues and Man-Thing makes his inevitable appearance.

This is a mostly-text-with-some-illustrations work, an entertaining and Man-Thing-familiar story.

“Monsters Unleashed! ─ ‘Several Meaningless Deaths, Conclusion” (#9): The mostly-text-with-some-illustrations story is wrapped up, in a satisfying, Man-Thing-true way.

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The resulting movie, Man-Thing, aired on the Sci Fi Channel (now the Syfy Channel) on April 30, 2005. Brett Leonard directed the film, from a screenplay by Hans Rodionoff. Leonard also played a supporting character, Val Mayerick.

Conan Stevens, billed as Mark Stevens, played Man-Thing. Matthew La Nevez played Kyle. Rachel Taylor played Teri. Jack Thompson played Schist. Rawiri Paratene played Pete Horn.

Essential Marvel: Tales of the Zombie Vol. 1 by various artists and writers

(pb; 1973─1975, 2006: graphic novel. Collects Dracula Lives #1─2 and Tales of the Zombie #1─10.)

From the back cover

“He lives! He strikes! No grave can hold him! Nothing can stop the man without a soul! Marked for human sacrifice by voodoo practitioners, Simon Garth was instead reanimated by mystical means ─ to be controlled by whoever holds the fabled Amulet of Damballah. And so begins the Tales of the Zombie! Terrors criminal, corporate and just plain creepy are reprinted here for the first time in more than a quarter-century! His stare’s the only thing that’s empty about the adventures of Simon Garth through mad science and madder magic!”

Review

The Tales magazine was a mix of 1970s atmospheric, pulpy voodoo artwork and stories (their themes often rooted in revenge, greed, lust and redemption) and informative articles about the voodoo religion, and films and books related to the subject─e.g., White Zombie, 1932, Ian Fleming’s 1954 James Bond novel Live and Let Die (which resulted in the 1973 movie) and George A. Romero’s 1968 iconic Night of the Living Dead.

Tales also has a recurring, titular character, also called Simon Garth, whose often-violent and troubling journey through unlife is recounted in at least one piece per collected issue. Garth is a sympathetic and subconsciously troubled character: his comic book actions─reprehensible or  kind─are mandated by his ever-changing masters (who hold the Amulet of Damballah, which control Garth).

Brother Voodoo’s loa-based heroics earn him recurring comic book status, as well. He, like Garth, also has sometimes uneven-in-quality adventures.

Overall, this is a fun, well-drawn and-inked (and short-lived) series. Some of Tale‘s articles and comic book storylines are thrilling, others are not. If you are into 1970s Marvel monster comics or  pulpy voodoun works, there is a good chance you will enjoy Tales. If you are not, but curious, borrow this from your local library─if it has it─or pick it up for an especially low price.