| Mona Simpson |  This agony is of your own making, Johnny!  |
| Johnny Blaze | Mona! |
| Mona Simpson | Freedom can be yours if you simply realize that your life's defeats and disappointments have been more than balanced by acts both decent and worthy--none more so than your constant struggle to hold the Ghost Rider in check! How many countless innocents have been saved by your ceaseless striving for control? |
| Johnny Blaze | I wish I could accept that, Mona...but everything I've seen here--all that the Ghost Rider and the others said...it's true. |
| Mona Simpson | If guilt is all you understand, Johnny Blaze--then it's guilt you'll have! For if you continue to lay here, consumed by your past, you will bring the most awful guilt of all down upon your head! You will have set the Ghost Rider free in the world with no constraints; no humanity or compassion to temper his inhuman fury! And that is a burden you will have to bear--till time's end! |
| Johnny Blaze | No! I can't be responsible for that! And I won't be! |
Appearing in "The Empire of Sleep"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Eliot Franklin (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Doctor Strange
- Son of Satan
- Doctor Druid
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Crash Simpson (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Roxanne Simpson (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Barton Blaze (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Clara Blaze (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Mona Simpson (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Steel Wind (Mentioned)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Empire of Sleep"
As Johnny was strapped to a table by Renaldo, he saw Mona and other people in his life in a dream before Zarathos snatched her away. Zarathos burned Johnny with hellfire before taking control of his body and preparing to kill Renaldo. Before Zarathos could kill Renaldo, Johnny regained control of his body.
Notes
- The story in this issue established that Johnny Blaze was an only child whose mother, Clara Barton, had walked out on Johnny and his father when Johnny was still a baby.
- Seven years later, Danny Ketch and Barbara Ketch were introduced in Ghost Rider (Vol. 3) #1.
- Three years after that, in Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #16, Caretaker revealed that Johnny and Danny were brothers.
- Four years after that, in Ghost Rider (Vol. 3) #-1, the mother of Johnny, Barbara and Danny was revealed to be Naomi Kale who had died thirteen years before Barbara was killed. The story also implied that Johnny's father, Barton Blaze, was not the father of Danny and Barbara.
- Ten years after that, Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #5 contradicted this when Johnny had a flashback in which he recalled how, on the night his father died, he had gone into his parents' bedroom and seen his mother sleeping in the bed with his two younger siblings. The next morning, Johnny's Mom was gone and she had taken Johnny's little brother and sister with her. Since then, Johnny had always felt that he was responsible for his mother leaving.
- Thirteen years after that, in Ghost Rider (Vol. 9) #3, Danny stated that Johnny was his half brother, not his brother.