"GHOST MINER"

Real Name: Unknown

Identity/Class: Human spirit; magic user

Occupation: Transforming sacred land into an oasis;
    formerly: Miner

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: "Desert Lizard", Puma (Thomas Fireheart)

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Desert in New Mexico

First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents I#44/4 (1990)

Powers/Abilities: He was a human spirit with telepathic abilities. He had knowledge about the sacred ground of New Mexico and knew how to shape reality to his advantage in this area.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#44/4) - The spirit of a former miner came to the sacred grounds of Puma's tribe in New Mexico. He claimed the land for himself and planned to transform it into an oasis for himself. The spirit turned sand into water, and Puma jumped right into it. He confronted the spirit who made his giant lizard attack Puma. Through the lizard the old man spoke to Puma and berated him because Puma had no connection to his tribal religion and couldn't even alter reality on this sacred land like the old man could. Puma agreed to let the lizard claim the ground if he taught him how to shape reality, but then he realized that the old man was speaking through the lizard and attacked him. The spirit of the old man disappeared suffering from the desert's heat. Hours later when it was dark the miner's spirit returned and Puma gave him one of his credit cards so the spirit could go to cooler and wetter places. The miner's spirit was thankful, but he didn't understand why Thomas made this expensive deal rather than letting him stay. Puma explained that the tribe wouldn't like it, that money paid no role for him and that cats didn't like water.

Comments: Created by Ed Simmons, Javier Saltares & José Marzan.

Profile by Markus Raymond

CLARIFICATIONS:
"Ghost Miner" has no known connection to:

• Ghost, the Flying Dutchman @ Silver Surfer I#8
• Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie Lumpkin foe @ Marvel Comics Presents#18/4
• Ghost of Springdale High, Speedball foe @ Speedball#4
• Ghost of Stone, Vision of Earth-Morgan Conquest @ Avengers III#2
• Ghost-Maker, Shang-Chi foe @ Master of Kung Fu I#110
• Ghostmare, of the Force Four @ Power Pack#50
• Ghost of Ravenlock, Nick Fury foe @ Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD I#3
• Ghost Rider, aka. Max Parrish @ Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms#1
• Ghost Rider, of Earth-Barbara Ketch was Ghost Rider @ What If II#45
• Ghost Rider, of Earth-Charnel @ Death³#2
• Ghost Rider, of World War I @ Ghost Rider III#89
• Ghost Wind Rider, Red Wolf character @ Blaze of Glory#2
• or to anyone else with a similar name

"Desert Lizard" has no known connection to:

• Desert Fox, World War II Nazi @ Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#6
• Desert Ghost, leader of X-Men 2099 @ X-Men 2099#1
• Desert Hawk, World War II middle-eastern sheik @ Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#37
• Desert Hawk, daughter of the guy above @ Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos#107
• Desert Sword, middle eastern warriors @ New Mutants Annual#7
• anyone else with a similar name

"Desert Lizard"

It was the miner's spiritual pack animal. The miner spoke through it and let it fight for him against Puma. The lizard even turned into a humanoid form to fight Puma, but in the end Puma realized that the "Ghost Miner" was behind all the lizard's actions and words. It disappeared with the "Ghost Miner" when Puma attacked him.

--Marvel Comics Presents I#44/4

images:
Marvel Comics Presents I#44, p27, pan1 ("Ghost Miner" & "Desert Lizard")
Marvel Comics Presents I#44, p27, pan2 ("Ghost Miner" head shot)
Marvel Comics Presents I#44, p28, pan5 ("Desert Lizard" body shot)

Appearances:
Marvel Comics Presents I#44 (February, 1990) - Dan Mishkin (writer), Gavin Curtis (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)

Last updated: 09/18/13/