2 out of 5

Original Ghost Rider was, I assume, a reprint series starring its titular lead.  This issue, in turn, was a reprint of one of Gerber’s Marvel Two-in-Ones, which had a loosely connecting cosmic story starring The Thing with issue by issue guest stars.  Guess who was the guest this issue?

I believe this was the end of Gerb’s TiO run, so his plot was mainly wrapped up at this point, and this issue is a standalone, making it acceptable reprint fodder.  Alas, TiO was only okay as it was; this issue, on its own, is pretty messy.  There’s a confoundingly silver-aged tale with a surprise villain making up a three prophets / guiding star / miraculous birth proxy (’twas a Christmas themed story) in order to “prove” he’s a God – of massive importance, that – and the story constantly feels like it’s struggling to create drama.

But there’s some funny chummy Gerber dialogue and Buscema, so, sure.

Some original content via a Phantom Rider back-up (by Tom Brevoort, Mike Kanterovich and Dan Slott, with Dick Ayers art) but the snippet here isn’t of much import.