Strictly judging from the spinning-its-wheels repetitiveness of ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER: VOL. 1, the “most supernatural superhero of all” isn’t the strongest character to have his own series. That’s why the new GHOST RIDER TEAM-UP collection brings out the best of the flaming-skull cyclist, because he’s better having other heroes to fight alongside and fight with, depending on his feeble moodswings.

With half-a-dozen stories from almost as many titles, the anthology is worth it just for the opening issue of MARVEL PREMIERE #28 – a four-way LEGION OF MONSTERS smackdown that finds Ghost Rider on the sinister side of Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night and the vampire Morbius. One of Marvel’s ’70s horror characters is good news enough; four is spoiling us. More, please.

Then it’s on to GHOST RIDER #27, in which he joins forces with both Hawkeye and The Two-Gun Kid in order to rid the West of the Manticore. The 50th issue tosses him back in time to ride alongside the Night Rider, an all-white cowboy avenger who basically was the first incarnation of the Ghost Rider character.

An issue of MARVEL TEAM-UP pits him against Spider-Man amidst the colorful backdrop of a carnival, complete with freak show. Marvel’s other beloved team-up book was MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, and that’s here, too, with Ghost Rider making problems for a down-in-the-dumps The Thing. And then ol’ Ghosty pisses off the whole lot of The Avengers, sending Angel to the hospital and trying to blind Iron Man. You know what? Ghost Rider’s kind of an ass.

And that’s why GHOST RIDER TEAM-UP is such a blast. When you’ve got a character once possessed by Satan, you’d expect him to have a broken halo every once in a while. These adventures all come from the late-’70s/early-’80s Marvel era on which I grew up, which automatically endears itself to me. So does the reprinted letters page, on which you can spot plugs for issues of such forgotten Marvel titles as MICRONAUTS, ROM, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the adapatation of the film XANADU. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF GHOST RIDER:
• ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER: VOL. 1
• GHOST RIDER by Greg Cox
• GHOST RIDER #3
• GHOST RIDER: ROAD TO DAMNATION