Guardians of the Galaxy Writer Settles the Cosmic Ghost Rider Debate

Long before the Guardians of the Galaxy graced the silver screen and became one of Marvel Studios’ largest franchises, a version of the team took to the stars to fight crimes in a peak-1990s comic series. Jim Valentino launched a new Guardians title in 1990 and before long, a space-faring version of Ghost Rider appeared in the title — in Guardians of the Galaxy #13 (June 1991), in fact.

It’s this appearance that’s been the subject to some controversy over the better part of the past two years. You see, superstar Marvel writer Donny Cates introduced a character called Cosmic Ghost Rider in the pages of Thanos #13, an issue that quickly became a hot item among collectors and speculators alike. As fate would have it, comics fans soon argued amongst themselves on whether Cates’ Thanos was the first true appearance of the character or if it was that issue from Valentino’s Guardians of the Galaxy over 20 years ago.

Finally, Valentino himself has commented on the matter, telling the fans accusing Cates of swiping the idea to lay off the new Marvel hotshot. “Why do people insist on telling a creator were [sic] he gets his ideas or what he was thinking of when he created something?” Valentino asked his followers on Facebook. “It’s called synchronicity; two people, same idea and let’s face it, this is just not all that original an idea: Take an existing character, make a derivative thereof. Cates says he came on this indepedently [sic], take his word for it.”

Valentino’s full comment can be found below.

Coincidentally enough, Cate is also currently writing Guardians of the Galaxy, a storyline that has featured the new iteration of Cosmic Ghost Rider. Guardians of the Galaxy #10 is set for release on October 16th — it’s full solicitation can be found below.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #10
DONNY CATES (W) • CORY SMITH (A) • Cover by PATCH ZIRCHER
Mary Jane Variant Cover by ArthUr Adams
• The threat of the Universal Church of Truth looms large over the cosmos!
• As the galaxy threatens to crumble under the onslaught of the Patriarch’s growing power, Rocket’s struggle to hold his failing body together has reached critical status!
• The only question is: can he hold on long enough to make a difference?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Have you been keeping up with the current Guardians of the Galaxy run? What do you think of Cosmic Ghost Rider? Share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt!