Cosmic Ghost Rider Concept Sketch #1 (2015)

This is the first of 3 concept sketches Ian Bederman did of Cosmic Ghost Rider in 2015 at the request of Donny Cates - 2 years before the character first appeared in Thanos #13 on November 22, 2017. These sketches are from Ian's personal sketchbook, where these sketches had resided for the past 7 years. It brings me incredible joy to welcome these amazing pieces of comic history to my Cosmic Ghost Rider collection and display them alongside the greatest published images of the character.

This sketch is almost directly pulled from Ian's "FTP" painting and expands upon the design. You can see the addition of chains around the character's right arm as well as a leather biker jacket. The sketch also further details the "space tubing" arms and elbow pads which would both make their way to and further stylized in Geoff Shaw's final design. Very lightly in blue pencil, you can make out Ian's side and reverse views of the character. The side view shows a detachable arm - possibly indicating Ian's consideration of creating an action figure of the design (he did it for Cyberzerker!).

The back of the page is likely a prelim for one of Ian's paintings. You can also see where the opposing page of the sketchbook has rubbed off some, helping to place the sequence and age of both pages.