History ComicBook / TheGhostRider

The series and its star aren't to be confused with Marvel's ''other'' hero ComicBook/GhostRider (the one with the flaming skull, the motorbike and the genuine occult powers), who didn't debut until the 1970s. After the modern Ghost Rider launched, Slade's Western hero was retrospectively renamed for subsequent appearances, firstly to the 'Night Rider'. then later to the 'Phantom Rider'.

The series is a [[TheWestern Western]] starring the titular [[Characters/MarvelComicsWesternCharacters Ghost Rider]], a masked and caped vigilante who's secretly schoolteacher Carter Slade. The Ghost Rider was an unambiguous {{Expy}} for a 1940s character with the same name, a WeirdWest hero published by Magazine Enterprises - ''The Ghost Rider'''s creator Dick Ayers was also the artist on that 1940s series.

* TontoTalk: Some of Flaming Star's tribe lapse into pidgin English, even when speaking to each other.

The series and its star aren't to be confused with Marvel's ''other'' occult hero ComicBook/GhostRider (the one with the flaming skull and the motorbike), who didn't debut until the 1970s. After the modern Ghost Rider launched, Slade's Western hero was retrospectively renamed for subsequent appearances, first to the Night Rider and then to the Phantom Rider.

* FalseFlagOperation: In the very first issue, the 'Indians' who kill Jamie's parents and leave Carter Slade for dead are actually thugs working for crooked rancher Jason Bartholomew. However, they're not very good at misdirecting the blame. On their first outing, Slade knocks an attacker's hat off, revealing that his face is darkened with makeup and his hair's light brown. On their next mission, they talk too much and their words and accents make it clear they're not Native Americans.

* FalseFlagOperation:

Left for dead by raiders, Slade is healed by the Native American medicine man Flaming Star, who tells him that he is TheChosenOne, destined to become 'He Who Rides the Night Winds'. At least initially, Slade is not a great gunfighter - but when he's presented with mysterious glowing dust from a falling star, he crafts an elaborate white costume and becomes the Ghost Rider, a TerrorHero and MasterOfIllusion who appears and disappears in darkness, convincing his foes that he has supernatural powers.

''The Ghost Rider'' is a 1967 comic book series from Creator/MarvelComics, initially scripted by Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas, with plot and art by Dick Ayers and inks by Vince Colletta.

* AnthologyComic: Most issues included an unrelated Western story as well as the Ghost Rider's own adventure. These back-ups were largely reprinted from ''Kid Colt: Outlaw'', although a couple came from other sources.
* {{Expy}}: The Ghost Rider is a very clear copy on the 1940s WeirdWest hero of the same name, whose adventures were published by Magazine Enterprises. Creator Dick Ayers had been the artist on that earlier series, and as Magazine Enterprises no longer existed and trademarks had lapsed, Ayers simply recreated the character for Marvel. However, the Marvel series uses trickery rather than overtly supernatural elements, and Carter Slade himself is a new character, rather than a copy of the original Ghost Rider's alter ego.