DC Comics' Ghost Rider (DC, 1970)

When people think of the Ghost Rider, usually only one comes to mind: Johnny Blaze, the demonic motorcycle-riding antihero that leapt off the covers of Marvel Spotlight in 1972.

But would you believe that DC Comics' had their own Ghost Rider, who was also an undead biker out for revenge and appeared a full two years before Johnny Blaze?

Believe it. In 1970, artists Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano created a three-page story titled "Ghost Rider". The story appeared in the back of DC Showcase #88, which also featured a story by the same artists called "Jason's Quest".

This Ghost Rider story tells the tale of a biker gang out to rob two kids at a lover's lane, when they spot a familiar face on a bike in the darkness. They flash a light on him and freak out, taking off on their bikes in fear screaming "Can't be him! He's dead!". The mysterious biker chases the gang through the woods until they jump off a cliff, falling to their deaths. Later, the two kids relate the story to the police, who only find an old rusty motorbike where the mysterious biker had been.

It's a short story, but it's enough to have possibly been inspiration for Marvel's skull-flamed version a few years later. Check it out below!