Ghost Rider was more than just a guy with creepy gimmicks. He was an actual supernatural being with a flaming skull. Not someone to mess with. Ghost Rider was Johnny Blaze, a stunt rider who just happened to have meetings with Mephisto (a recurring devilish Marvel character). So Johnny found himself fused with Zarathos, a soul-eating demon which caused him frequent transformations into the Ghost Rider. He would zip through the city, usually at night, and throw balls of fire. Later on, he would only change in the presence of evil. Later still, Johnny was able to control his transformations.

The new direction into this scary genre didn’t really catch on to the degree that was expected. By the mid-70's, Ghost Rider got together with Man Thing, The Werewolf and Morbius the Living Vampire. Their Legion of Monsters only made one appearance, likely due to the difficulties this would make for the writers to have a reason to bring these nasty characters together. The second group called The Champions lasted a little longer than the first. Ghost Rider teamed up with The Black Widow, the Marvel version of Hercules, The Angel and Iceman.

In the very last issue of Ghost Rider, Blaze manages to get Zarathos trapped in a bottle where he will have to fight with his enemy, Centurius for all eternity. It is unusual for a series to have an actual ending like this leaving us with an ordinary Johnny Blaze performing his stunts again.