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Frank frazetta is perhaps the most famous and acclaimed fantasy artist of the last century, and while it’s hard to imagine that much of his work is little seen and underestimated, his Ghost Rider covers for Publisher Magazine Enterprises might well match this bill. The character combined elements of horror with a classic equestrian action hero in a way that suited Frazetta extremely well, and her cover for Tim Holt # 17 from 1950 is one of the best of the group. There is a Tim Holt # 17 (Enterprises Magazine, 1950) CGC NM-9.2 Off-white to blank pages available this week 2021 June 13-14 Sunday and Monday Comics, animation and art auctions heritage auction.

If you don’t know there was a Ghost Rider character before the Marvel versions, the typical explanation looks like this: This comic book version was created by Dick ayers under the direction of the Editor-in-Chief of Magazine Enterprises Vincent sullivan. “Vin would come in, sit down and describe what he wanted in The Ghost Rider”, Ayers later recalled. “He told me to go see Disney’s Sleepy Hollow – Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman – then he told me to play the Vaughn monroe recording, “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” And then he started talking about what he wanted the guy to wear. “

But that’s only part of the story. There are several examples of very similar characters pulp and romantic eras. They were sometimes even called Ghost Rider. The nod to a Headless Horseman gives us another clue to where the legends of Ghost Rider came from, but it’s not exactly Sleepy Hollow. The true roots of the Spirit of Vengeance go firmly back to the American West.

Some of the inspiration for this tale can be attributed to a legend surrounding Texas Ranger Taylor Creed. The story continues this him and others had a skirmish with horse thieves, and after killing one of their gang, beheaded him and sent his corpse into the night tied to his horse, as a warning to the other bandits. Another account of the incident shows that the horseman keeps his head and becomes a sort of masked spectral figure with shining eyes, and still others where the horseman becomes a protector rather than a warning.

But the Spirit of Vengeance aspect of the historical figures of Ghost Rider is also probably inspired by the terrible exploits of Felipe Espinosa, who brutally killed 32 people in Colorado in 1863 on a mission of what he called divinely inspired revenge, and was eventually killed and by the legendary tracker Tom Tobin. The legend of Espinosa has also grown to include a spectral horseman riding the night over time.

Thinking back to Espinosa, who clearly troubled him all his life, Tobin said: “It occurs to me that the question is not whether there is a choice between bad and good, but though some men are even aware of the difference. At what point, I wonder, does that stop being revenge? “

It would be an extremely accurate commentary on how Ghost Rider is portrayed in the comics and movies to this day. The true story of Ghost Rider makes the character an important part of the American pop culture landscape, and Tim Holt # 17 is a spectacular example of the first version of the comic. There is a Tim Holt # 17 (Enterprises Magazine, 1950) CGC NM-9.2 Off-white to blank pages available this week 2021 June 13-14 Sunday and Monday Comics, animation and art auctions heritage auction.

Tim Holt # 17 (Magazine Enterprises, 1950) CGC NM-9.2 Off-white to blank pages. Frank Frazetta Ghost Rider / Branded Iron Torture Blanket. Dick Ayers art. Overstreet value 2020 NM-9.2 = $ 1,000. Census CGC 21/6: 2 in 9.2, 1 higher.

View the certification for CGC Certification ID 3727488001 and purchase Rater Notes if available.