Near-Mint Copy of Ghost Rider’s First Appearance Could Break Price Records After MCU Announcement

Ghost Rider has been a fan favorite since he first blazed onto the cover of 1972’s Marvel Spotlight #5. With his striking design, evocative name, and death-defying powers, it would be more of a surprise if he didn’t catch on. It’s even less of a surprise that ever since the live-action rights to the character returned to Marvel Studios in 2013, fans have been trying to manifest the character’s big screen Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. Last Saturday night in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center, those dreams finally came true when Marvel Studios announced that Ghost Rider would be coming to theaters in 2028. 

Ryan Gosling has already been confirmed for the title role, though fans are divided on whether he’ll be playing the original Johnny Blaze incarnation of the character, or Blaze’s successor, Danny Ketch. Regardless, collectors and speculators are hedging their bets: since Saturday, more than three dozen copies of Marvel Spotlight #5 have sold on eBay. The highest grade of these, a CGC (Certified Guarantee Company)-graded 9.4 Near-Mint copy, went for almost $12k – nearly a record for the book in that condition. This Friday, Heritage is set to auction a 9.0 Near-Mint Marvel Spotlight #5, with this copy also having record-breaker potential. 

How Johnny Blaze Became Ghost Rider

Both within and outside the Marvel Universe, the name “Ghost Rider” predates Johnny Blaze. It was first used by Magazine Enterprises in the late 1940s for a white-costumed, supernatural cowboy character appearing across their line of western titles. It captured the imagination of a young Roy Thomas, who in 1966 launched an identical character with the same name and powers virtually the instant the by-then bankrupt Magazine Enterprises’ copyright expired. For the title, Thomas and writer Gary Friedrich even partnered with Dick Ayers, artist on the original golden age Ghost Rider comics. 

This original Ghost Rider was Carter Slade, and bore no real supernatural powers: he was a schoolteacher who donned a phosphorescent costume that gave him an eerie spectral while he fought crime astride his horse Banshee. The title lasted seven issues, cancelled by the end of 1967. 

Friedrich liked the name, and several years later, pitched Thomas a modern “Ghost Rider,” a stuntman who would ride a motorcycle in the vein of Thomas’s Daredevil opponent Stunt-Master or Friedrich’s own Hell-Rider. The concept evolved into a hero with a blazing skull and a motorcycle wreathed in flame, cursed with supernatural powers in a deal with the Devil. A years-long legal battle played out between Friedrich and Marvel over the extent of his role in the character’s creation, with the courts ultimately siding with Marvel Comics and Roy Thomas. 

Within the pages of Marvel Spotlight #5, the story of “Ghost Rider” is credited as “conceived and written by Gary Friedrich.” Friedrich is aided in telling Ghost Rider’s origin story by the awesome pencils of Mike Ploog, who contributed to many of Marvel’s best horror titles of the era before working as a conceptual artist on films like John Carpenter’s The Thing. 

Johnny Blaze is a daring motorcycle stuntman and son of the great motorcyclist Barton Blaze, raised by his father’s partner Crash Simpson after Barton’s fiery demise. When Crash is diagnosed with terminal cancer, a heartbroken Johnny makes a deal with the Devil (later retconned as Marvel’s own Mephisto) to cure it, agreeing to have his soul bound with the demon Zarathos in exchange. As tends to happen with deals with the Devil, Johnny is tricked: Crash’s cancer is cured, but he is killed in a stunt gone wrong during his next performance. Now, each night, Johnny Blaze is condemned to haunt deserted city-streets as the skeletal Satanic emissary known as Ghost Rider.

How Ghost Rider Evolved in the Bronze Age

Ghost Rider ran as a feature in Marvel Feature through issue eleven, after which he was spun off into his own title, Ghost Rider in 1973. In these issues, Johnny would transform into Ghost Rider in the presence of evil, exacting vengeance upon evil-doers and returning their sin to Hell. Friedrich would modify the character in these early appearances, gradually giving him more control over his transformations and softening him into an anti-hero. 

To this end, Friedrich had a convenient “out” for Johnny’s pact with Mephisto: Johnny had already pledged his soul to Crash’s daughter, Roxanne Simpson. Her love shielded him from Mephisto’s domination, enabling him to gain control over his transformations. Around this time, Ghost Rider would be integrated into the larger Marvel Universe, battling characters like the Hulk in the pages of Ghost Rider and appearing in team-up books Marvel Two-in-One and Marvel Team-Up. This culminated in Ghost Rider joining Marvel’s first try at a West Coast-based super-hero team, the Champions, in 1975. 

Michael Fleisher, best known for his work with DC’s own spirit of vengeance, the Spectre, took over the Ghost Rider title in 1979. Fleisher brought the character back to his roots, writing increasingly dark and violent stories where Blaze would wrestle with Zarathos for possession of his body and soul – with Zarathos sometimes winning. Fleisher would also pair Johnny Blaze with the original Ghost Rider, now known as “Phantom Rider” for the first time in issue #50. 

Fleisher stayed with the comic until 1982, when writing duties were assumed by Roger Stern and later J.M. DeMatteis. DeMatteis scripted the final issue, and gave the long-suffering Johnny Blaze peace: after a final conflict, Johnny’s body and soul are separated from Zarathos, freeing him from the curse of his dual identity. The character of Ghost Rider would remain dormant for almost a decade.

Johnny Blaze’s Successors & Ghost Rider on the Big Screen 

Marvel debuted a new Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch, in 1990. Johnny Blaze would return as a supporting character in this new Ghost Rider series, a depowered supernatural adventurer who would aid Ketch’s Ghost Rider in his battle against evil. With Ketch, Johnny founded the “Midnight Sons,” a team of Marvel’s supernatural heroes, who together would vanquish Zarathos at last. This was short-lived, as a resurrected Zartathos would repossess Johnny in 2001, transforming him back into Ghost Rider. 

Along with Friedrich’s original issues, it was this era that would inspire the previous two Ghost Rider films, 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Nicholas Cage played Johnny Blaze in both, and it was after the underwhelming performance of Spirit of Vengeance that Sony relinquished the rights to the character back to Marvel Studios. Johnny Blaze would make a cameo appearance in a 2016 episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, resurrecting Robbie Reyes to become the new Ghost Rider. Otherwise, there had been no serious movement on a new live-action version of the character since 2013. 

Rumors of an MCU Midnight Sons have been prominent ever since Marvel Studios announced its (now canceled) Blade reboot in 2019. These rumors have fueled speculation that Johnny Blaze, as a founding member of the team, would be joining the MCU – either in a Midnight Sons film or in a solo project. With Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider confirmed, the speculation will turn to eagerly await every casting update to see if they can glean what other supernatural heroes will be joining him in the MCU’s Midnight Sons. And as these updates come and the hype builds, the price of Ghost Rider’s iconic debut will only continue to climb.

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