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| - Lasting two 64-page issues, Hell-Rider (cover-dated Aug. & Oct. 1971) starred the titular vigilante motorcyclist, a Vietnam War veteran, lawyer, and black belt martial artist named Brick Reese. With his customized, flamethrower-equipped motorcycle, and temporary super-strength courtesy of the experimental drug Q-47, the Los Angeles, California-based Hell-Rider battled the Claw, a masked, heroin-smuggling, secret society leader in issue #1, and a bestial rampager called the Ripper in issue #2. The stories featured scantily clad rock starlets, nightclub waitresses, and groovy, pot-smoking ' 70s chicks all quickly losing what little clothing they wore.
- After graduating from Harvard, Brick Reese is drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. There, he's wounded with a bullet to the base of the skull. Since the wound is inoperable, Brick grants doctors permission to try the experimental drug Q-47 on him. The doctors say, "We don't know what kind of side-effects this might have." After a month of daily shots, the slug dissolves and Brick gains tremendous strength. However, since his powers are only intermittent, he puts them from his mind, returns home, and takes a job with the Los Angeles law firm of Williams and Williams. Only when rock singer/client, Julie Storm, is abducted does he soup-up his motorcycle, design a costume and put his occasionally heightened muscles to work as Hell-Rider.
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| abstract
| - Lasting two 64-page issues, Hell-Rider (cover-dated Aug. & Oct. 1971) starred the titular vigilante motorcyclist, a Vietnam War veteran, lawyer, and black belt martial artist named Brick Reese. With his customized, flamethrower-equipped motorcycle, and temporary super-strength courtesy of the experimental drug Q-47, the Los Angeles, California-based Hell-Rider battled the Claw, a masked, heroin-smuggling, secret society leader in issue #1, and a bestial rampager called the Ripper in issue #2. The stories featured scantily clad rock starlets, nightclub waitresses, and groovy, pot-smoking ' 70s chicks all quickly losing what little clothing they wore. The series was created by Gary Friedrich, who would go on to co-create the better-known, Marvel Comics Supernatural motorcyclist Ghost Rider, and illustrated by the veteran team of penciler Ross Andru and inker Mike Esposito. Skywald partners Sol Brodsky and Israel Waldman are listed as publishers, with Brodsky additionally credited as editor. Gary Friedrich is listed as "script editor", while Golden Age great Bill Everett, creator of the Sub-Mariner in 1939, has an unexplained credit for "special effects", which Al Hewetson, an editor of other Skywald titles, said in 2004 "probably refers to art corrections, assists and/or character designs." The title character's name is sometimes spelled "Hell Rider", without a hyphen, in the stories. A house ad for the never-published Hell-Rider #3, with cover art by Gray Morrow for a story titled "The Zodiac Killers", appeared as the back cover of Skywald's Psycho #5 (Nov. 1971).
- After graduating from Harvard, Brick Reese is drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. There, he's wounded with a bullet to the base of the skull. Since the wound is inoperable, Brick grants doctors permission to try the experimental drug Q-47 on him. The doctors say, "We don't know what kind of side-effects this might have." After a month of daily shots, the slug dissolves and Brick gains tremendous strength. However, since his powers are only intermittent, he puts them from his mind, returns home, and takes a job with the Los Angeles law firm of Williams and Williams. Only when rock singer/client, Julie Storm, is abducted does he soup-up his motorcycle, design a costume and put his occasionally heightened muscles to work as Hell-Rider. Hell-Rider has a black belt in karate to fall back on when his muslces fail. His Harley sportster motorcycle is equipped with a flame-thrower under the headlights, rocket boosters for a nearly vertical ascent, napalm tanks and a jet which throws out an oil slick from the front. He teamed up with Butterfly on more than one occasion.
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