Ghost Rider – Vengeance For Sale – Ryan K Lindsay

5 PANELS

Note: This would have to be Chris Eliopoulos doing this one.

1. Ghost Rider sits behind a lemonade stand type stall made of wood. It reads: Vengeance 4 Sale. Of course, some of the E’s are backwards and it looks pathetic. He’s sitting with his elbows on the stand and his flaming face in his hands.

Credits

VENGEANCE FOR SALE

2. A lone and young kid rides his bike down the street. The bike has a pole with a flag at the back, there’s a card pegged into the front wheel. The whole nine yards.

NO COPY

3. The kid pulls up in front of Ghost Rider’s stand. Ghost Rider looks excited, optimistic.

Ghost Rider: Vengeance for sale!

4. The kid flips a coin on the stand in front of Ghost Rider.

NO COPY

5. The kids rides off on his bike that has been Vengeance-ified. The flag is trailing flame, the handlebars are flaming. It still looks like the kid’s original bike but it’s cutely flaming. The kid is doing his best to look hardcore while still actually being cute.

Kid: Aw, yeah!

Ghost Rider - At The End Of The World - Dan Hill

I went a little 'off reservation' with this one. I've always been fascinated with some of the people who had the mantle of Ghost Rider before Johnny Blaze. In fact a mini-series or a batch of one shots would be great (similar to the one Ennis did about the Civil War era Rider).

At The End Of The World

Page One (Six Panels)

1.1

Large panel. We OPEN on a tight shot of Ghost Rider atop his bike screaming across a body of water, kicking up steam as he goes.

The first thing we notice is that this isn’t Johnny Blaze. The bike is slightly different (/Gallery A/Norton Dominator 650SS 66 1.webp) and the clothing is closer to what Brando wore in The Wild One.

The second thing we notice is that this Ghost Rider appears to be falling apart with bits of his blazing skull shedding and trailing behind him like ash.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): My name is Richard Kale.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): I am the Ghost Rider.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): And I’m dying.

1.2

Kale has come to a stop somewhere on a stark looking beach. Everything looks dead or frozen. We’re a long way from civilization.

Reference: http://v5.cache2.c.bigcache.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/32476903.jpg?redirect_counter=1

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): This is a good a place as any.

1.3

Close up on Kale, his skin continuing to shed.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): They did something to me.

1.4

Large panel. ZOOM OUT to show a large group of HOODED ACOLYTES encircling and approaching Kale.

Kale has stepped off his bike, a small chain hanging at his side. He walks towards his enemies. He’s not afraid.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): Foolish zealots of Ba’al eager to please their master.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): They don’t understand.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): I’m just a safety on a loaded gun. A container.

1.5

Inset panel. Tight on Kale. Shafts of Hellfire have started to shoot out from the cracks in his face. The end is coming.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): It’s happening.

1.6

Large panel. Similar to Panel 1.4. Kale is near critical mass. Beams of hellfire shoot off from him in every direction, killing some of the acolytes in the process.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): “The Lord is a jealous God filled with vengeance and wrath.”

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): I love you, Christina.

RICHARD KALE (CAPTION): I’m sorry.

CAPTION: Novaya Zemlya, 30th October 1961.

Ghost Rider – And Now for Something Completely Different - MK Stangeland Jr.

(If this idea has been used before, then I apologize. I don’t have much familiarity with the character, so any similarities this has to any existing Ghost Rider comics is purely coincidental.)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: JOHNNY BLAZE is on his bike on the side of the road, and looks annoyed. He doesn’t look like GHOST RIDER at the moment. Behind him, a Motorcycle Cop has parked his bike, and the cop – OFFICER JONES (No Reference) - is standing next to JOHNNY BLAZE.

JOHNNY BLAZE: Something wrong, officer?

OFFICER JONES: Sure is. Where’s your helmet?

Panel 2: JOHNNY BLAZE isn’t looking at OFFICER JONES, but has a very annoyed look on his face – the kind that says ‘why am I putting up with this?’

OFFICER JONES is pulling his ticket book out of its pouch.

JOHNNY BLAZE: I don’t wear one.

OFFICER JONES (1): tisk, tisk

OFFICER JONES (2): Can’t have you riding around without a helmet, can we?

Panel 3: There’s a fire that’s starting to light up in JOHNNY BLAZE’s eyes.

OFFICER JONES: Mr…?

JOHNNY BLAZE: Rider.

OFFICER JONES: Alright, Mr. Rider. Can I see your license and registration, please?

Panel 4: JOHNNY BLAZE is looking up at OFFICER JONES.

JOHNNY BLAZE: Don’t you have anyone better to go ticket?

OFFICER JONES: Sorry, Mr. Rider, but law’s the law, and it’s for…

Panel 5: JOHNNY BLAZE has lit up and become GHOST RIDER. OFFICER JONES is rather shocked by this turn of events.

SFX: (From JOHNNY BLAZE transforming into GHOST RIDER) gghhhhuuuFF!!!

GHOST RIDER: It’s for what?

OFFICER JONES: GUAH!

Panel 6: OFFICER JONES has fallen to the ground in surprise. Panel looks up as GHOST RIDER looks down on OFFICER JONES.

GHOST RIDER (2): For my own good? My own safety?

(END PAGE)

Ghost Rider - Burdens - Grant McLaughlin

Four rows of panels.  The first row is a single, thin panel stretched across the page.  The second row is comprised of three panels (2 through 4), all of equal size.  The third row is comprised of two panels (5 and 6), also of equal size.  The fourth row is again a single panel stretched across the page, but it can be a little taller than panel 1.  Frankly, rows two through four can all be, more or less, of the same height.

1 – Night time. A far shot of Ghost Rider driving across a desert road. The road stretches form one side of the page to the other. There's no light other than Ghost Rider's own fire, which is brilliant against the night's darkness.

JOHNNY BLAZE (caption): It's a lonely road being the Spirit of Vengeance.

2 – Swing down to a 3/4ish shot from behind. Still pretty far off. It looks like there's a dingy bar off in the distance.

JOHNNY BLAZE (caption) (1): Souls cry out to you for retribution.

JOHNNY BLAZE (caption) (2): And they won't stop until you've made things right.

3 – The shot is still pretty far off. Ghost Rider is pulling into the parking lot. There's only one other bike there.

JOHNNY BLAZE (caption): You can say goodbye to your hopes and dreams. This here is a full-time gig.

4 – Ghost Rider stands in the bar's doorway, silhouetted by the light coming from within.

JOHNNY BLAZE (caption): You'll never get any thanks. There's nothing glamourous about it. And you can forget about ever being a “hero”.

5 – Shot from behind Ghost Rider's flaming skull. Ghost Rider is looking down at the drink on the bar.

JOHNNY BLAZE (caption): At this point, I know what you're thinking.

6 – Close-up of Ghost Rider's hand around the aforementioned drink. The hand is, of course, on fire, slowly boiling the drink.

GHOST RIDER: Then why do it?

JOHNNY BLAZE (off-panel): Darlin'...

7 – Switch angle to a straight on shot of Ghost Rider.  There's two reveals happening in this panel.  First, the Ghost Rider we've been following throughout the page is actually Alejandra, the young woman who got the GR mantle coming out of the events of Fear Itself.  Second, she is not alone.  Johnny Blaze sits next to her, but he is without any powers, just a regular man.  Alejandra is slouching forward, tired and defeated. Johnny has his hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her.

JOHNNY BLAZE: You do it because you're the only one who can.

Ghost Rider - Last Man Standing – Rol Hirst

Panel One.

A man in a dentist’s smock rides a satanic golf buggy across a scenic green, swinging a burning golf club before him. Middle-aged men in golfing pants run screaming in terror. It’s a glorious summer afternoon. The buggy leaves scorching tread marks across the green. The man’s head is a flaming skull, distinguished by a pair of those thick plastic safety goggles dentists wear.

Dentist: Under par? Under par!? I’ll give you under par!

CAP (Dr. Strange): A dentist in Wyoming with a faustian five iron…

Panel Two.

A 2 year-old girl in a fiery Hello Kitty push chair tears through a Parisian children’s playground, raising hell. This baby ghost rider is armed with a brightly coloured plastic toy flame-thrower. French parents grab and shield their children, running for cover. What remains of the child’s mother is dragging along behind the pushchair, her hands seared to the handles.

Child: Je ne veux PAS une glace fraise!

CAP (Dr. Strange): A Parisian toddler who hated strawberry ice-cream…

Panel Three.

An enormous fat trucker with a flaming ghost rider skull sits at a table a motorway service / transport café. The table before him is filled with body parts, served up as a ghastly meal. Lots of blood and gore but also the occasional tyre mark scarring the skin of the arms and legs and torsos he is feasting on. Outside the café window behind him we can see a flaming, hellish juggernaut truck. His ride.

The man is thumping his fist on the table, demanding service from a terrified waitress.

Trucker: More ketchup!

CAP (Dr. Strange): A British truck driver with a necrophagic penchant for human roadkill…

Panel Four.

Close on Dr. Strange, looking worried. If Dr. Strange is looking worried, things are BAD. He’s wearing casual clothing (a brown jacket and tie) rather than the full-on Strange suit but he does have a swirly, Ditko-patterned cravat so we know it’s him. Although we can’t see much of the background, he’s standing in a seedy, dimly lit bar. We also can’t see who he’s talking to in this panel, but obviously it’s Johnny Blaze.

Strange: And that was just the first three. There have been hundreds more in the past seven days. It’s taken me that long to find you.

Blaze (O/P): Complete and utter waste of a week.

Panel Five.

Pull out to a wider shot. Johnny Blaze sits at the bar, staring into a whiskey glass. There’s a three quarters empty bottle of bourbon on the bar next to him and a nervous looking bartender eying him warily. Strange stands behind Johnny, trying to persuade him how BAD things are getting. Johnny doesn’t want to know.

Strange: You don’t seem to grasp the severity of this situation, Johnny. The whole world’s going Ghost Rider!

Johnny: Not the whole world…

Panel Six.

Finally Johnny turns to face Dr. Strange. But something's wrong with the good doctor. His face is starting to smoke, his skin starting to bubble, his hair starting to frazzle. Johnny's face looks terrible: wracked with guilt and remorse worse than he's ever experienced before. What has he done?

In the background, the bartender's head goes up in flames.

Johnny: See, I made another deal, Stephen...

Johnny: I’ll never be Ghost Rider again.

NEXT: One Man vs. One Billion Ghost Riders.

Ghost Rider – Own Private Hell - Ben Rosenthal

1. A room in an intensive care unit. Johnny Blaze lays in the bed, hooked up to various medical machines. He is gaunt – a shell of who he once was. He is barely conscious. An unknown woman is by his side. She loves him, and is with him in what appears to be Jonny’s final hours.

JOHNNY

It’s alright. I’ve served Him well.

2. A close up of Johnny’s face. His eyes closed for the last time.

JOHNNY

It’ll be.....

3. Same as Panel 2. Johnny is unmoving.

4. Same framing as Panel 2, however Johnny’s head has burst into flames, skull beginning to show as Johnny’s flesh burns away.

5. Ghost Rider is getting himself out of bed, pulling the various cables out of his body. The unknown woman is screaming at him. She knows of Johnny’s alternate identity, and is furious that he cannot let Johnny rest peacefully

WOMAN

Why can’t you just let him rest? JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE DAMN YOU!

GHOST RIDER

Your boy Johnny’s soul is owned by Mephisto. He goes to hell once he dies.

6. Ghost Rider stands tall, looking sad for Johnny.

GHOST RIDER

I am his Hell.

Ghost Rider – Bounty Of The Beast. - Shaun Richens.

PAGE 1.

5 PANELS.

1. A run down bar at the side of a desert road. Motorcycles are parked up outside. We are looking straight on at it.

CROOK (FROM INSIDE THE BAR) 1: Oh Shit

CROOK (FROM INSIDE THE BAR) 2: No man, come on. What the fuck?

2. The body of the crook comes smashing through the front window of the bar, glass going everywhere.

            SFX: KA-SSH

3. Ghost Rider walking out of the bar. He has a shotgun in hand and a slight grin on his face. This is the ‘damn’ Ghost Rider looks badass panel.

4. We look down over Ghost Riders spiked shoulder as he points the shotgun towards the crook laid out on the ground. Little sparks of electricity fizz from the fingertips of the crook as he raises his arms to defend himself.

GHOST RIDER 1: A little electricity power?

GHOST RIDER 2: Is that all a souls worth these days?

GHOST RIDER 3: You can explain yourself on the way.

5. A page wide panel. We are looking down from a bird’s eye view. A desert road stretches form the left hand side right across the centre of the panel to the right. The Ghost Rider is on his bike speeding down the road, his flaming skull leaving a slight trail of smoking flame behind it. Dragging alone the rear of the bike is the crook, attached to the bike by a thick chain.

            CROOK: Let me go man, I’ll do whatever you want.

GHOST RIDER 1: Can’t do that I’m afraid.

GHOST RIDER 2: You gotta date with a demon. Seems a two-bit cons soul ain’t much of an investment. He wants his power back.

This idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while. It’s a mini series idea that tells a tale that would see the Ghost Rider on a countywide mission to bring in crooks who had been selling their souls to other worldly demons for a slice of demonic power. Ghost Rider playing the role of super powered sheriff. Riding out to bring ‘em all in. It would play out like a dirty rock ‘n’ roll superhero road movie.

Why Ghost Rider?

Ghost Rider is one of the most visually interesting characters on the marvel rooster, from his flaming skull to the leather jacket and huge motorbike. He is pulp at its best, and yet he is always over looked.

His comic series have had ups and downs and even with this week’s release of the Ghost Riders second go at making it on the big screen. I sadly see little hope for our flaming hero having the same silver screen success as those other guys, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Peter Parker, you may have heard of them. This is a crying shame. So much potential lies in this material.

So it falls to us, the writers of Thought-balloons to show the world why Ghost Rider deserves their attention as much as those other heroes. Are you up to the challenge?

What with the him being the earthly embodiment of hellfire and vengeance, plus a motorcycle riding stuntman to boot it shouldn’t be to hard to showcase how awesome Johnny Blaze is.

So mount up and ride out.

It’s time to burn some rubber and set the world ablaze.