NIGHTRIDERS
MEMBERSHIP: "Kid" Cassidy; others unnamed
PURPOSE: To drive the population from Wonderment by any means necessary
AFFILIATIONS: Clay Riley (Tarantula, employer), Marcel Fournier (silent partner)
ENEMIES: Gunhawk, Caleb Hammer, Kid Colt, Outlaw Kid, Phantom Rider (Reno Jones), Rawhide Kid, Red Wolf, Two-Gun Kid; citizens of the towns of Wonderment; Native American tribes around Wonderment
BASE of OPERATIONS: outside Wonderment, Montana
FIRST APPEARANCE: Blaze of Glory#1 (February, 2000)
HISTORY: (Blaze of Glory#1+2 (fb)-BTS) - The town of Wonderment was built near a valley with a river, and near mountains rich with copper ore. Clay Riley sought to build a smelting factory for this ore, but only one thing stood in the way of him gaining this land: the rightful owners. Wonderment had been settled by a group of Exodusters (African-Americans who had left the south and headed for lands in Kansas and the territories). Riley decided to obtain the property anyway, and mimicked the motif of the original Night Riders (see clarifications), hoping to draw on the fear from that group to drive out the former slaves and other poor blacks in the town.
(Blaze of Glory#1(fb)-BTS) - The Nightriders assaulted the town of Quantrill.
(Blaze of Glory#1-4) - The Nightriders
assaulted Wonderment, using hit and run raids to terrorize the
townspeople. One of the residents of Wonderment, Reno Jones,
allied himself with Marcel Fournier to seek aid from some of the
legendary cowboy heroes of the era. Flaming Star recruited Red
Wolf to join the effort. After recruiting a number of heroes, the
group returned to Wonderment, but walked right into an ambush by
the Nightriders (Fournier was actually a traitor to the heroes
and was working for Riley). The heroes were pinned down in the
valley, but Red Wolf appeared and picked off their attackers.
When next the Nightriders rode into Wonderment, the heroes drove
them off. Meanwhile, a pair of bounty hunters, Gunhawk and Caleb
Hammer, trailed Kid Colt (one of the heroes defending
Wonderment), hoping to bring him in for his crimes. The
Nightriders captured the two bounty hunters and prepared to make
them face off against each other, but a new Phantom Rider showed
up to stop this, driving off the Nightriders in the process. The
two bounty hunters traveled to Wonderment and joined the fight
against the Nightriders.
After learning that the Phantom Rider was involved (presumably
neither knowing nor understanding that this was not the same
Phantom Rider he had fought), Riley devoted all of his resources
into taking the town, and finally winning against "that
spook." Red Wolf rallied a number of Native Americans from
the local tribes, and they, too, joined the fight against the
Nightriders.
Riley's forces rode into battle against the Western heroes. The
Nightriders (and Riley) were eventually slain, but not without
heavy casualties. Among many others, the Outlaw Kid and the
Two-Gun Kid fell in battle.
COMMENTS: Created by John Ostrander and Leonardo Manco.
While I enjoy the original, goofy, Western comics, I think Blaze of Glory was a work of art. I would love to see many more similar projects--can't wait for Apache Sky!!!
Reno Jones and Kid Cassidy were former partners in the Gunhawks series. In Blaze of Glory, Jones says not to believe everything you read, hinting that the Western comics were watered-down versions of what really happened. I'd love to see Ostrander and Manco retell some of these.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Not to be confused with:
Night Rider, an alias used by many of the
Phantom Riders, @ Night Rider#1...or was it Ghost Rider II#50
Night Rider, an alias used to
describe Lilith, @ Ghost Rider III#28
Knight Rider, that show about the car, Kit,
starring Michael Hasslehoff, whom the German love!
Last updated: 08/02/02.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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