Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of…Johnny Blaze?!

In a Multiverse of Madness, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that somewhere out there is a dimensional plane in which Paul Revere was joined on his famous midnight ride of April 18, 1775, by the Ghost Rider, Marvel Comics’ supernatural motorcyclist. The roar of that skull-faced bike probably did more to rouse the citizens of Massachusetts than Revere’s cries of “The British are coming!”

The art for this turbo-charged cover of The Comics Reader—published in 1976 during America’s Bicentennial celebrations—is by penciler Frank Robbins (Marvel’s Ghost Rider, Captain America, and Invaders, and DC’s The Shadow) and inker P. Craig Russell (Marvel’s Doctor Strange and Killraven, and DC’s The Sandman). 

Robbins drew some of the wonkiest anatomy in comics—arms and legs whirling around like the characters’ joints were broken, coupled with wide-eyed maniacal expressions that made everyone look insane (even Captain America!)—but for a demon-possessed superhero like Ghost Rider, his style worked just fine.

So, ride on, Johnny Blaze and Paul Revere! And a happy and safe July 4th weekend to all of you!