Demon - Ghost Rider
I always thought the second character cited could have been named “the Phantom Rider,” or something else, since he’s not a ghost. But the Ghost Rider was one of Marvel’s bigger successes in the 1970s: the Comics Code allowed horror and occult imagery around that time again after 20 or so years of post Wertham pressure. Haven’t see the movie yet.
And apparently, there’s some debate as to whether the Demon, one of of Jack Kirby’s enduring creations for DC in the '70s, should always speak in rhyme. Of course he should!
Commonalities:
Vengeful, horrifying creatures from hell bent on dispatching the souls of bad folks to eternal damnation, bonded to human personas! And both often erupt hellfire! Fuck yeah!
Differences:
Blood did not preexist as a man prior to his creation as a corrective to the Demon’s excesses. Whereas Blaze was a real dude. And while the Demon no ridey motorbike, Ghost Rider no speak in rhyme.
Alternate histories:
DE: The Demon Etrigan falls afoul of Neron, the most powerful demonic figure in the netherworld. Neron punishes Etrigan by bonding the Demon to the body of Jason Blood, a man who “sells his soul” to save a colleague’s life. Thereafter, Blood wanders the United States and transforms into the Demon whenever confronted with evildoers. But Blood can only sporadically control the Demon.
GR: Zarathos is a demon who is summoned by the wizard Merlin to defend ancient England from evildoers: afterwards, the creature is neutralized when the wizard creates a human aspect, John Blaze, who acts as its conscience. Blaze survives for centuries, and in the current day can only sporadically control the creature, known colloquially as the Ghost Rider, during its never-ending mission to send the wicked to their fates.
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1 comment:
the movie was nowhere nearly as bad as one would have suspected. I'd would rate it squarely in the middle of the marvel cinema canon.
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