Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms #3
Firepower!
The ancient vampire lord known as Dracula has sent his agent Comte St. Germaine to recover the Amulet of Zarathos from the possession of Sue and Johnny Storm, their friend Cammy Brandeis and her uncle Max Parrish. St. Germain and his minions have cornered their prey at Max's apartment building. Unwilling to give up the Amulet over to Comte, the three teenagers and Max fight back. Sue grabs the Amulet of Z from Johnny and she and Cammie escape up the elevator to the penthouse of the building. As the Comte squeezes through the elevator doors, Johnny and Max rush out the door to get some distance from Sue. Once Johnny and Max get to Cammie's car the Amulet mystically transfers back to Johnny as it has consistently done since Johnny first handled it.
Meanwhile the Comte begins absorbing parts of the building in order to increase his mass and overpower his prey. Elsewhere as Johnny and Max continue putting distance between themselves, suddenly the strange glowing entity reappears. Showing its true form the being introduces itself as the spirit of vengeance known as Zarathos. As Sue and Cammie struggle to get away from the Comte, Zarathos offers salvation by bonding with Johnny and turning him into his Ghost Rider. Both Max and Johnny agree to begin the ceremony to bond the youth to Zarathos, however, at the last minute Max interrupts grabbing the Amulet of Z and completing the ceremony with himself offered as a sacrifice instead.
Forming a make-shift motorcycle, Max -- as the Ghost Rider -- arrives just in time to save Cammy from falling off the building. With the girls brought to safety, the Ghost Rider -- having determined that the Comte is vulnerable to water -- lures him near a water tower. The Ghost Rider then smashes the tower flooding their foe with water, dissolving him into nothingness. St. Germain's defeat is felt by Dracula back in Transylvania who hows in agony at this most recent defeat. With the Comte defeated, Zarathos intends to make Max his new Spirit of Vengeance. However before the Ghost Rider can flee, Sue reaches out and talks to Max. This confuses the Ghost Rider as Max tries to fight for control. When it tries to flee, Johnny leaps at it and pulls the Medallion of Power from the front of the make-shift motorcycle as the Ghost Rider tries to leap off the building. This frees Max from Zarathos' control, and the two narrowly avoid falling to their deaths on the streets below by grabbing the edge of the building. The "motorcycle" crashes down to the street and reverts back to its original form: Cammy's car. Eventually, the ruins of the car and the Medallion end up in a junkyard in Brooklyn near Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Three days later, the Storms, Cammie, her mother and Max, all visit the grave of Cammy's father to pay their respects. Cammie's mother explains how Max will be staying with them for a while. Sue is also leaving for California to pursue her career as an actress, telling Johnny that this is what she needs to do. Johnny tells her that they will always be family and that she should go out there and break a leg and reach for the stars.
Recurring Characters
Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, Cammy Brandeis, Ghost Rider, Zarathos, Comte de St. Germaine, Dracula
Continuity Notes
The Amulet of Z is actually the so-called Medallion of Power first seen in Ghost Rider Vol 3 #1 where it gave Danny Ketch the power to become the Ghost Rider. It ends up in the junkyard where Danny will discover it roughly nine years after this story per the Sliding Timescale.
The depiction of the original Twin Towers at the sight of the World Trade Center should be topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. As this story details the events of individuals with the normal aging processes that are active in the modern age, it too is governed by the rules of the Sliding Timescale.
At the time of this story, Dracula was trapped with a stake in his heart in his castle in Transylvania following his battle against the Scotsman, as seen in Tomb of Dracula #15.
