That was then: Gone but not Forgotten: Hell-Rider

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Gone but not Forgotten: Hell-Rider - Skywald Publishing

As we enter the Halloween season, I thought it would be a good time to look at one of the 1970's most underrated (and almost forgotten) publishers of horror and violent comics, Skywald. The brainchild of Israel Waldman and Sol Brodsky, Skywald (the name being a blend of their surnames) was primarily known as the publisher of contemporary gothic black and white comics referred to as "Horror Mood" . The core of the companies’ output were the titles Psycho, Nightmare and Scream however, they also published the short lived costumed " Hell-Rider" magazine (above: cover to issue 1 -August 1971) - by Harry Rosenbaum).

Hell-Rider(created by Mile Friedrich) was Vietnam war veteran and lawyer Brick Reeves who rode a flame-thrower equipped bike and with his temporary super strength ( obtained through the experimental drug Q-47) he would violently dish out his own form of justice (as can be seen from the above splash-page and the page below by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito).

Hell-Rider also featured 2 other strips “Butterfly" (by Gary Friedrich and Rich Buckler) who was the first ever African American super-heroine in comics and the "Wild Bunch" (by Friedrich and Esposito) - splash pages to both stories below.

Sadly, Hell-Rider would only last for one more issue before ceasing publication. Not long afterwards Mike Friedrich would be working for Marvel where he would co-create a similar bike riding hero that used fire...Ghost Rider.

Above: The seconds and final issues of Hell- Rider (cover from "Cover Browser").

6 comments:

KidOctober 20, 2024 at 2:18 AM
I remember reading somewhere that Mike Friedrich repurposed Hell-Rider as Ghost Rider, but I don't think I ever saw what the first incarnation looked like. (If I did, I'd forgotten.) Nice to see. Incidentally, I've added some images to my post you just commented on.
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McSCOTTYOctober 20, 2024 at 12:07 PM
I replied to your updated post but Im not sure if it went through.
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KidOctober 20, 2024 at 12:30 PM
Couldn't have done, McS - no sign of it in my email alerts, nor in my awaiting moderation list.
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Rip JaggerOctober 20, 2024 at 12:40 PM
I have no idea why I bought these some decades ago. Likely it was the Ross Andru and Mike Esposito artwork, which I have great appreciation for. I still have these tucked away somewhere or other.
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McSCOTTYOctober 20, 2024 at 7:13 PM
I picked up almost any US comic when I was around 11 - 13 years old and Hell-Rider was one such comic. I don't think it was due to anything other than the title - the word "Hell" seemed so exciting /mature in 1971/2 to an 11 year old. Saying that it must have had its attraction to me as I picked up my current copy ( having swapped my 1971 purchased original) when I saw it on sale in Glasgow around 25 years ago .
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