TITLE-Hell Rider issue #01
PUBLISHER-Skywald
Look at that cover! If I had seen that cover when it came out I am sure I would have spent the 60 cents it was priced at. But I wasn't even born when this title came out.
Bit of history,Skywald was one of the many companies that in the 70s tried to take the success Warren had with Creepy,Eerie and Vampi and make their own series of magazine sized,b/w art comics. Stuff that cause of the size of the publication fell outside the tight regulations of the Comics Code Authority. Skywald is best remembered for their 3 horror mags,Scream/Nightmare/Psycho.
In 71 Skywald published the first of what was a 2 issue run for Hell-Rider. And like all the other magazine sized Skywald comics Hell-Rider wasn't properly copyrighted. I think they didn't the proper notice in the published comics,but no matter what the issue is it means all those Skywald b/w magazines are public domain. So you can goto places like comicbookplus and download legally scans of all the Skywald stuff. Also means a company like Gwandanaland Comics can published a TPB collecting both issues. While I am using jpgs from the scan of Hell-Rider issue 1 I got from Comicbookplus for this review,I read the TPB that I got almost 3 years ago. Back when Gwandanaland published all their TPB and hardcover collections of Public Domain comics through Amazon's print on demand service. Something happened in 2022,near the end of the year,and Gwandanaland left Amazon and is now selling their stuff through Barnes&Noble online. So if you are interested in Hell-Rider 1 you can either go download the scan LEGALLY FOR FREE at Comicbookplus. Or if you want a physical copy google "Gwandanaland Comics"+"Hell Rider" that should get you to the proper page at the B&N website.
Who is Hell Rider? He is just your average child of a well off family. Our titular lead doesn't want to work for his father. So he takes some inheritance and moves to the west coast. While there in a rough bar Hell Rider meets a group of bikers known as the Wild Bunch. Once he impresses the Wild Bunch,Hell Rider buys a motorcycle and lives the life of a biker for a bit.
Brick ,Hell Rider's real name,gets drafted and goes for a tour in Nam.After being injured in the Vietnam War our lead gets injected with an experimental drug. Every day for a year Hell Rider gets shot up with this drug then spends most of his day working out.
Brick has gained super strength and other abilities from this drug. What other abilities are not really spelled out in this first issue. And we learn that Hell Rider's powers can just fade out without a warning. They always come back after some time.
Like how this is to show us that while Brick isn't a total clean cut hero like we were use to in comics back in the early 70s,he was still a good dude. Plus love how that last panel looks. Tempted to take that panel and use it for some art projects I am working on.
Reconnecting with a friend in the music business,Brick waits as she goes back to her dressing room at a club. Where she finds our bad guys, in black hoods with metal claws,trying to get a pair of boots the singer owns. The Claw gang wants these boots cause between the inside lining of the boots is a pile of heroin.The lady singer has sent the boots to her friend,Marian Michaels who works in Las Vegas.
I want to point out that there is a lot of drug references in this comic. Proving that it wouldn't have gotten that CCA stamp on the cover. Also a few times in the comic a drug like pot isn't as demonized as a harder drug like Heroin is.
Brick on his chopper follows the Claw gang as they leave with his singer friend. He thinks he is being sneaky. He isn't and takes a gun butt to the back of the head and is knocked out. Waking up the next morning to find his friend gone and a note.
With the first chapter in this comic done we see the birth of Hell-Rider.
Chapter 2 introduces us to The Butterfly. Now I might be wrong on this. The research I have done seems to prove my theory about The Butterfly being the first Black female superhero to be true.
The Butterfly is really Las Vegas singer Marian Michaels. Marian finishes her song and the crowd loves it.
Back in her dressing room our old friends The Claw gang are there. Looking for the boots from chapter 1.
Ms Michaels gets past the Claw hoods,and flips the light switch. Filling the room with darkness. So she can changed into her Butterfly outfit. Which she uses to blind the Claw Gang. From what the Butterfly says I am guessing her suit can make a light so bright it will cause permanent blindness.
The Claw Gang leaves with the boots. And Butterfly flies after them. We learn that she flies thanks to a rocket on her back. Noticing her fuel is low,and as a way to intro another of her abilities,Butterfly swoops in low and with the suction cups on the tips of each finger attaches herself to the roof of the Claw Gang's getaway car.
With not much fuel Butterfly has to decide if she will follow the helicopter or make it back to Las Vegas. She decides to follow the chopper.
Yea low on fuel she fights her way into the chopper. To try to get these boots back.
Butterfly beats up the Claw Gang,gets her boots back and leaves a message with the chopper pilot.
She tries to fly back to Vegas but runs out of fuel. Safely landing. Marian thankfully had stored her stage clothes in her pack. She changes back into them and wonders if there will be anyone on this lonely desert road that will give her a ride back to Las Vegas.
The Wild Bunch biker gang from the first chapter appear again. They want to see their friend Marian. She is gone. With her missing they are heading to see their friend Brick. And who do the Bunch find on the side of the road Butterfly aka Marian. The lady member of the Wild Bunch takes Marian and heads back to Vegas. While the rest of the gang take the boots and head off to Brick's home. End of Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 starts off with that great splash page of the Wild Bunch in a big fight. That splash and the next 2 pages lets us know a bit about each member of the gang. Then we cut to present time. Wild Bunch is heading from Vegas to LA. Tasked with safely bringing the boots to Brick aka Hell-Rider.
The guys pull over to the side of the road for a quick rest. A big black fancy car passes them and cut to the inside of the car. Guess who is in the back seat? The leader of the Claw Gang. And the leader happens to notice that on the back of one of the Wild Bunch's bikes is the boots that the Claw Gang wants to badly. So the car stops and we get a big brawl between Claw thugs and the Wild bunch.
Yep the leader of the Claw gang has an extending metal cyborg arm. Which is limited to 6 feet!! And for what feels like the 100th time in this comic those blasted boots change hands.
The Wild Bunch catches up with the car and stops it. But the leader calls in for backup and a pile of helicopters show up. They drop a big net and every Wild Bunch member,besides Slinker,gets caught in the net. Slinker on the other hand gets the boots and hauls ass.
Now on his own Slinker heads back to Vegas to bring the boots back to Marian. The rest of the male members of the Wild Bunch are held on the Claw Compound and chapter 3 ends.
Chapter 4 starts with Hell-Rider regaining his super strength. Escaping from the cell the Claw put him into in Chapter 1.
Brick not only kicks the Claw thugs asses but he helps his singer friend escape. But it might be too late. The Claw already shot her up with heroin. Hell-Rider puts her on his bike and rushes to the nearest hospital.
Slinker gets back to Vegas. Brings the boots and the female Wild Bunch member finds the heroin hidden in the boots.
The three Wild Bunch members being held captive at the Claw Compound get free,find their bikes and notice the compound is on a plateau. So we get a big bike jump from the Plateau to freedom.
They manage to escape. The Claw leader is now in Vegas about to kill Slinker,Butterfly and the female member of the Wild Bunch. But Hell-Rider uses his amazing bike riding skills a 2x4 that is just laying around and I am guessing the biggest thing was the writer realized he had almost no pages left so had to wrap this up fast,and HELL RIDER takes his motorcycle and goes up the side of the building and in through a window. Stopping the evil Claw leader.
And the evil hooded leader of the Claw gang is unmasked. Revealed to be Hell-Rider's uncle. The end.
Wow that was a nutty comic. After finishing it I wondered if maybe Hell-Rider was Skywald's rip off of Ghost Rider from Marvel. Nope Hell-Rider appeared a few years before Ghost Rider.
The art is pretty good. The story is wacky and full of just insanity. And I loved it.
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