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Description

Drake Shannon was a stunt motorcyclist and professional motorcycle racer who co-founded a traveling stunt cycle show with fellow competitor Craig “Crash” Simpson.

The show became highly successful with Crash emerging as the star attraction due to his increasingly dangerous death-defying stunts but Drake's recklessness and jealousy of Crash began to erode their partnership.

Drake decided he wanted the show for himself and challenged Crash to a cross-country race for sole ownership. Crash accepted but Drake realized hours into the race the two were too evenly matched and there wouldn't be a clear winner if both finished at the same time.

Desperate to win Drake resorted to trying to kick Crash’s motorcycle over while the two were racing at speeds well over 95 MPH but it threw Drake off-balance making him lose control of his cycle which violently flipped him onto the blacktopped road where he skidded 25 yards on his face and head before stopping.

Drake was in the hospital for weeks but despite the surgeons best efforts his face was too mangled to restore. Embittered and driven insane by the loss of the show and his face Drake became a loner who shunned society until the criminal group They Who Wield the Power recruited him to be one of their special agents.

Outfitting him with protective cybernetic eyeball helmet that could shoot energy beams as well as hypnotize others who met his gaze, laser pistols and a customized turbo-charged stunt cycle. They also gave Drake command of his own biker gang which he trained in stunt riding. Dubbing himself The Orb, Drake and his gang committed various crimes on behalf of They with the promise of getting his revenge on Simpson.

When Drake discovered Crash had died years earlier and willed the cycle show to his daughter Roxanne and adopted son Johnny Blaze he and his gang attacked one of their shows and kidnapped Roxanne in order to force Blaze into signing the stunt show over to him.

Peter Parker as Spider-Man teamed up with Blaze who was The Ghost Rider and both tracked down the Orb to an abandoned subway power room. The duo rescued Roxanne and defeated the Orb’s gang but when they pursued the Orb into the subway tunnels on motorcycles the Orb was seemingly killed when he crashed into an oncoming train.

Since then the Orb has resurfaced time and again from what should have been fatal injuries to attack Ghost Rider and seek revenge on him for ruining his revenge on Simpson and his heirs.

For this piece I redid the moment in the Orb’s first appearance where he told his origin to the captive Roxanne and revealed his disfigured face to her while saying,

“I’m not stealing it Roxanne merely collecting on a twenty-year debt. Don’t you think I deserve something? After all, when the race was over, your father had everything… and all I had was THIS!”

Ross Andru’s art depicting Shannon’s face is probably one of the most disturbing reveals from that era of comics. As much as I loved it I always hated that because of comic book censorship back in that era the colorist had to depict the wounds as green rather than realistic colors.

So, using Ross Andru’s art as a basis I tried as best I could to redo the wounds he depicted as realistically as possible and add in as much detail as I could. I’m pretty happy with the results.

The Orb, Drake Shannon and above-mentioned characters are all copyright Marvel Comics

Description

Drake Shannon was a stunt motorcyclist and professional motorcycle racer who co-founded a traveling stunt cycle show with fellow competitor Craig “Crash” Simpson.

The show became highly successful with Crash emerging as the star attraction due to his increasingly dangerous death-defying stunts but Drake's recklessness and jealousy of Crash began to erode their partnership.

Drake decided he wanted the show for himself and challenged Crash to a cross-country race for sole ownership. Crash accepted but Drake realized hours into the race the two were too evenly matched and there wouldn't be a clear winner if both finished at the same time.

Desperate to win Drake resorted to trying to kick Crash’s motorcycle over while the two were racing at speeds well over 95 MPH but it threw Drake off-balance making him lose control of his cycle which violently flipped him onto the blacktopped road where he skidded 25 yards on his face and head before stopping.

Drake was in the hospital for weeks but despite the surgeons best efforts his face was too mangled to restore. Embittered and driven insane by the loss of the show and his face Drake became a loner who shunned society until the criminal group They Who Wield the Power recruited him to be one of their special agents.

Outfitting him with protective cybernetic eyeball helmet that could shoot energy beams as well as hypnotize others who met his gaze, laser pistols and a customized turbo-charged stunt cycle. They also gave Drake command of his own biker gang which he trained in stunt riding. Dubbing himself The Orb, Drake and his gang committed various crimes on behalf of They with the promise of getting his revenge on Simpson.

When Drake discovered Crash had died years earlier and willed the cycle show to his daughter Roxanne and adopted son Johnny Blaze he and his gang attacked one of their shows and kidnapped Roxanne in order to force Blaze into signing the stunt show over to him.

Peter Parker as Spider-Man teamed up with Blaze who was The Ghost Rider and both tracked down the Orb to an abandoned subway power room. The duo rescued Roxanne and defeated the Orb’s gang but when they pursued the Orb into the subway tunnels on motorcycles the Orb was seemingly killed when he crashed into an oncoming train.

Since then the Orb has resurfaced time and again from what should have been fatal injuries to attack Ghost Rider and seek revenge on him for ruining his revenge on Simpson and his heirs.

For this piece I redid the moment in the Orb’s first appearance where he told his origin to the captive Roxanne and revealed his disfigured face to her while saying,

“I’m not stealing it Roxanne merely collecting on a twenty-year debt. Don’t you think I deserve something? After all, when the race was over, your father had everything… and all I had was THIS!”

Ross Andru’s art depicting Shannon’s face is probably one of the most disturbing reveals from that era of comics. As much as I loved it I always hated that because of comic book censorship back in that era the colorist had to depict the wounds as green rather than realistic colors.

So, using Ross Andru’s art as a basis I tried as best I could to redo the wounds he depicted as realistically as possible and add in as much detail as I could. I’m pretty happy with the results.

The Orb, Drake Shannon and above-mentioned characters are all copyright Marvel Comics