Instead of a letters page, Doctor Strange #13 had a text page by Steve Englehart in which he stated Frank Brunner would return to alternate as artist with Gene Colan. Six issues later, Englehart had quit Marvel, Colan was off Doctor Strange, and Brunner did not return as artist, although he did later draw covers to #28-30 & 33.
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In Ghost Rider #19, two readers...Larry Twiss and Giles Dyer...both complain about Marvel's use of Satan in the comic, and Marvel's response to both letters is to assure the readers that this is being addressed. Satan, they claim, will no longer appear in the book as they have decided it is not their place to meddle with religion, which they appreciate is a very personal thing. They are sure that Giles and Larry will now be appreciating the horny red dude's absence from the book.

This is the cover of the issue in question...

I would suspect that's it; I'm sure the story in that comic was produced a good while before its letter page. As a reader, had I noticed the discrepancy, I would have assumed that "from now on" Satan won't appear in this book anymore.



A complete, complete cop-out that emasculated Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, Satana and to some extent Dracula.

Those horror books were born during the supernatural fad of the era, with films like The omen, the exorcist, Rosemary's baby et al. They all featured chilling tales based on the Judaeo-Christian version of God, of Satan, of Heaven and Hell, and of how Satan is constantly trying to get our poor mortal souls. They're also works of fiction, and never pretend otherwise.

One of my good friends in the early '80s was a Catholic priest. And he loved "devil" movies! They were fiction, so he didn't mind at all that his religion was used (and often MISused) as a prop, so long as the story was fun!

I recall asking him how to fight vampires according to the Catholic church (the real-world one, not the one from the movies). His answer? "Vampires don't exist!" -I really loved that answer.

In the pages of Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze sells his soul to Satan to save the life of someone he cares for... and as happens in this type of story, he gets bamboozled, the person he saved dies anyway for another reason, and the poor fellow ends up damned and cursed to ride the night as the Ghost Rider. What a great origin story! Also one that really loses steam when you reveal that Satan is actually just a bad guy from another dimension. (Mephisto, in this case, I believe).

Later, Johnny is rescued by a bloke who tells him not to despair; that guy really looks like Jesus, although he's not named. And that's perfect! That's exactly what Jesus would do if he were a comic-book character, but just to avoid offending anyone, he's not actually identified and is unlikely to make too many return appearances anyway. Why retcon that story? To anyone who wants the mysterious saviour be Jesus, it can be. To those who don't want him to be, he doesn't have to. As for Satan, hey... It's a comic-book Satan! Having him appear in comics is not a religious statement; it's a plot element. Just as having ghosts is not a religious statement, or having Asgard actually exist is not a religious statement.

Marvel really dropped the ball on this one!

I can't read the title of this thread without hearing it sung along to that "These are People that Died" song.

I vaguely remember too, and this was given as the explanation for why gods need someone to believe in them, otherwise they would cease to exist. But at the same time it poses a new problem since not many people would believe in Odin by the 20th century, and yet there he was. I suppose a more logical explanation would be "the belief and knowledge" of living beings, so for example the Vikings' belief created Odin and his pantheon, and then they survived thanks to their stories being told over the centuries as myths more or less everybody has heard of.