Issue(s): Ghost Rider #64
Cover Date: Jan 82
Title: "The kiss of doom!"
Credits:
Michael Fleisher - Writer
Jack Sparling - Penciler
Tom Sutton - Inker
Mark Gruenwald - Assistant Editor
Tom DeFalco - Editor

Review/plot:
Instead of featuring a super-villain like in most of Ghost Rider's recent comics, this issue features the return of the demon Azmodeus that appeared in Ghost Rider #53.

I've been observing that Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty weak, and that's partially due to the mismatch between the nearly all-powerful demonic "hero" and his villains, who are mostly low-powered guys (dart guns and laser helmets!) probably better suited for, say, Daredevil. So having a repeat demon villain makes a sort of sense. But arch demon stories are pretty formulaic and this is no exception. Johnny Blaze asks reporter Cynthia Randolph out on a date again, and she rejects him again, but then Azmodeus captures her and replaces her with one of his minions, and "she" then tells Johnny that she's changed her mind, and then "she" kisses him, which weakens him so that she can bring him to Hell. The problem is that Ghost Rider is pretty much unstoppable even in Hell.

So Azmodeus is forced to send Ghost Rider (and Cynthia) home just to get rid of him.

I guess it's not that formulaic since most of these stories don't end with the good guy terrorizing the crap out of the demon lord, but it's not much of a story.

Cynthia wakes up with no memory of any of it, and she wonders if she was drugged.

She vows to learn Johnny's secret, whatever it is.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Azmodeus appeared previously in Ghost Rider #53.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Essential Ghost Rider vol. 3