Although all of the previous entries in this gallery feature heroes from the Golden Age, this one gives us a character straight from the Bronze Age of the 1970s. Lasting for a whopping two-issue run, Hell-Rider was published by the equally short-lived Skywald Publications. The character's creator was Gary Friedrich, who LATER created the Ghost Rider for Marvel. That's right -- Hell-Rider was no Ghost Rider wannabe, because he came first.
But boy, he surely never made it anywhere near the heights of popularity that GR did. His black-and-white magazine comic loved to feature scantily-clad women -- no full frontal mind you, but nekkid babes with strategically placed objects blocking nipples and such. Kinda like your average issue of FemForce, basically a titty-fest. And if you read FemForce, that's what you were looking at, don't deny it. We all know.
While Hell-Rider couldn't shoot any flames or hellfire himself, his motorcycle did have a flame thrower on the front., which he didn't hesitate to use to roast the bad guys. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, better known for their work on Spider-Man, did the art chores.
The Rider is featured here by the great VAL MAYERICK. Its my first work by Val, but not my last. I loved Val's work from back in the day on such titles as Marvel's FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER, THE LIVING MUMMY, THONGOR. and MAN-THING. It was on the latter title where he co-created one of his most infamous creations, Howard the Duck.
Val turned this commission around in less than a week after receiving payment. Specially thanks to him and his rep, Jake Mackessy, for their efforts to bring this to fruition. You can reach Jake at [email protected] and get your own Val Mayerick commission. You won't be sorry.
